Kuzul

For all of the grief that Giants fans give to general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy, there is one factor that has dictated the decision-making of those two more than anything else: the disabled list.

Before you start getting into ripping San Francisco upper management for paying big money for damaged merchandise, stop for a second and think.

Professional athletes probably get the most advanced medical treatment in the country, if not the world. New, experimental treatments are tried all the time on sports superstars. Just ask footballers Hines Ward (plasma-rich platelet therapy in the knee) or Kevin Everett (drastic lowering of body temperature to perform spinal surgery). 

Yet even with all of the groundbreaking surgeries and treatments, these athletes are still human, and they still need to recover. Fans never seem to understand the impact of an injury on an athlete’s ability to do his job. Remember, their job involves being in peak physical condition for a whole season while enduring bumps and bruises from other people in peak physical condition. 

Right now, the Giants seem to be scrambling to fill roster spots and spontaneously sending players on rehab assignments. This is because injuries cannot be prevented, and only in certain situations can be neutralized.

This year, even the offseason signings were dictated by roster health.

Justin Miller was left unsigned because of a late-season elbow injury, despite an ERA under 2.00 for most of the season. Randy Johnson pretty much ended his year (and career) with a torn rotator cuff last July. 

It also pushed away Nick Johnson, who is up in the air for the rest of this season because of a wrist injury.

Juan Uribe was re-signed for the most part to be the starting second baseman UNTIL Freddy Sanchez returned, when Uribe would subsequently become a super-utility player. 

At the end of the offseason, it looked like the San Francisco roster was pretty much set, even with the shoulder surgery for Sanchez. 

But now we’re 43 games into 2010, and there are injuries still throwing wrenches into the gears of the Giants offense. And its not exactly what was expected.

Aaron Rowand tore up pitching in Spring Training, started to streak a little bit, and subsequently got nailed in the face by a Vicente Padilla fastball. Cue the insertion of Andres Torres into the lineup and his meteoric rise to starter-dom. 

Juan Uribe began the year filling in for Sanchez, like expected, but then Edgar Renteria went down with a groin injury. Enter second-baseman Matt Downs, who came out of the gate with a nice swing and played a big role in the Giants first win over San Diego a couple days ago. 

This gets further complicated with Juan Uribe leaving the game early last night, but should be offset with the announcement that Renteria is coming back off the DL today.

Most importantly, starting left-fielder Mark DeRosa is clearly not recovered from his wrist surgery. We’ve heard all about it, from DeRosa describing the tendons flapping around to Jayson Werth’s seemingly preposterous four-year recovery time. 

On the positive side, DeRosa’s absence has once again opened up a spot for Andres Torres to get regular playing time. With Nate Schierholtz also banged up, John Bowker is also seeing innings in the field and producing. 

DeRosa finally went on the DL this week after underwhelmingly occupying the fifth spot in the order all year. It can only be assumed now that he will require surgery at some point, and that he will also be missing significant time this year after signing a two-year, $12 million deal.

The other two-year, $12 million deal that people are talking about is that of Freddy Sanchez. Many fans are ready to call him a bust, and a waste of a top prospect in Tim Alderson, but I’d like to look at another side of this.

First of all, Giants fans have seen the most limited of sample sizes when it comes to his gameplay. And last year, even though he only appeared in 25 games, he still hit .293 and made the All-Star Game.

This year, he actually came back off the DL weeks ahead of schedule, and in two games has seemed to jump right back into the big league swing of things, going 2-for-3 last night against the Athletics. 

Sanchez plays a stellar second base, and with DeRosa out of the lineup, he fills the role of a smart, patient hitter that Hensley Muelens and the Giants have been so wanting for this season.

(And, once-top prospect Tim Alderson is 2-2 in AA Altoona, sporting a 6.08 ERA in 40 IP.)

Clearly, injuries on a team are inevitable. But just as DeRosa’s surgery may not have worked, it looks like Freddy Sanchez is on the right track.

How you replace them is instrumental. But for each Andres Torres run batted in, there has been a costly Eugenio Velez misstep. 

If, and only if, the Giants can get healthy all at once, a la Sanchez, this lineup will be more solid up and down than it has been all year. If you’ve constantly got one of your Opening Day starters on the disabled list, as it has been with San Francisco, then your team is NOT the one that it was built to be at the outset. 

It’s time for the Giants to stop having to rely on replacements, and instead for the starters to get back in the game and get back to doing what they do. But please, make sure you’re healthy enough before you come back in the game, because everyone is tired of players “aggravating” an injury that you’re trying to come back from. 

With a piecemeal lineup, the Giants have been playing consistent second-place ball. They have won a lot of series, taking two out of three from some of the best teams in the country.

But a series win over the Cardinals means nothing if they keep getting swept by the Padres. Luckily no one has really taken hold in the NL West, and San Francisco has been hanging around. 

Once the lineup solidifies, the Giants should be able to go on a run and make some noise. Let’s hope that day comes sooner than later. 

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When Barry Zito signed his $126 million deal with the Giants in December of 2006, everyone thought it was too much money. Zito was the third starter of the A’s Three Aces, and the only one NOT to be traded away, with Tim Hudson going to the Braves and Mark Mulder to the Cardinals.

The consensus was a gross overpayment on San Francisco’s part. When he didn’t perform up to expectations, going 11-13 with the highest ERA of his career (4.53), critics deemed him a failure in contract negotiation by Giants brass. 

When the Giants proceeded to sign Aaron Rowand a year later to a seemingly similarly bloated contract, a five year deal worth $60 million, it seemed like deja vu for Giants faithful.

The Giants had just decided not to re-sign Barry Bonds, and the offensive replacement they brought in was an all-out all-the-time center-fielder whose best offensive season brought in 27 homers, a paltry sum when compared with the all-time homerun king. 

Neither has been what the Giants needed when they signed them.

Zito has hardly been the ace of the staff that he was expected to be, and his BEST record came that first year in 2007 with a sub-par .458 winning percentage. Zito’s overall record with the Giants is an underwhelming 31-43, with a 4.56 ERA.

In the other corner, Rowand was far from the offensive force that he was supposed to be replacing, hitting only 28 home runs in two years, with a .266 batting average. Not many people can justify paying $12 million a year for a sixth or seventh hitter in the lineup. His centerfield play was stellar, but “web gems” don’t have the same game-winning qualities that RBIs have. 

Going into 2010, expectations needed to shift, and those two needed to produce.

Barry Zito’s attitude change was outlined here, highlighted by a deferral of attention from him to the new ace, Tim Lincecum, and the fact that there were new huge contracts to talk about. 

Aaron Rowand also had a change, mostly in shape. He biked all off-season, losing 15 pounds and coming back to Spring Training in the best shape of his career. He tore through the spring with a .429 average, and looked to carry it over into the regular season. 

And since the start of the season, both of these players have started earning their big money.

Zito is in the top five in Wins and ERA, with a 5-0 record and a miniscule 1.29 ERA. All of the starts have been quality starts, and his shortest outings were two 6.0 inning outings to start off the year. Since then, he has pitched into the eighth inning four times.

I think its safe to say that he’s had the best start of his career, and one that has caught a lot of critics with their mouths open. He’s dominating every start, and his pinpoint control with all of his pitches has been noticed.

Rowand took a more balanced stance into the Spring, and when he started off the year by grounding out on the first pitch, fans were worried. When he proceeded to take an 0-10 in the first two games of the Houston series, his struggles took a back seat to Renteria’s smoking start.

Since then however, he took a few multi-hit games and brought his average up to .304 before taking a Vicente Padilla fastball off the cheekbone. Although Rowand probably tried to sneak in the lineup the next day, he went on the DL and had to wait to be reactivated. 

After looking like he was shaking off the rust after a few days off in his first game back against Colorado, Rowand has had 8 hits and 9 RBI’s in four games. His average now stands at .333, and he has been a catalyst in the leadoff position for the Giants. 

It will be hard to say with a straight face that these clips will continue all season. But the mentality is there, something that will persevere through slumps and emerge more often than not. 

If Rowand can stay on this streak and continue to be a consistent leadoff option, the Giants will keep setting the table and scoring runs. 

If Zito can keep pitching like he has, I’m pretty sure he will NOT finish the year 34-0 as projected by his stats by far, but he could possibly win close to 20 games this year if we account for a little variation. That would be around $1 million per win, which isn’t bad at all seeing as they’ve paid him $43 million for 36 wins so far.

These two veterans are now becoming just that: veterans. Their clubhouse presence is also being paid for, not just their stats. But now, they do have the stats to back up their veteran images. 

They’re earning their money now, and even though their contracts might still be a little inflated, having a good year will definitely make everyone forget that. 

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Barry Zito has been known as a slow starter throughout his career. Since he came over to San Francisco, fans have come to the conclusion that he’s not worth watching until July.

But in 2010, a new mindset and new approach has quickly led him to the front of the pack of National League pitchers. With Brian Wilson’s first blown save of the year falling after a brilliant start by fellow fast starter Tim Lincecum, Zito is now first on the team with 4 wins in five starts.

In those five starts, Zito has been more or less dominant. All five outings have been quality starts. His ERA is a paltry 1.53, and opposing hitters are managing a measly .167 average against him. 

Most impressively, Zito has struck out 24 in 35.1 innings while only walking 11. Never really a strikeout pitcher, Zito has emerged this year as more than able to strike guys out and also getting strikeouts in key situations. And when was the last time Zito went eight innings in back-to-back starts? 

Many feel that this year, he’s finally starting to pitch like he deserves his 7-year, $126 million contract. But if you look at his recent history, this year’s progress has actually been a couple years in the making.

In 2006, Barry Zito was basically signed to take the place of Barry Bonds. The Giants brass basically figured that, since the Giants already had a chant for Bonds, they could use it for Zito without having to learn anything new. But it has taken four long years for Zito to hear that chant coming from the home crowd. 

Remember, he was expected to be the ace of the staff and the anchor of the rotation. Yet as I have said before, when he had all of his great years in Oakland, including his Cy Young year in 2002, he was pitching BEHIND Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson. Although one of the Three Aces, Barry Zito had never been the centerpiece of a team.

This immense pressure, and that of signing the largest contract for a pitcher in history, weighed down on Zito heavily, and that showed in his pitching. He wasn’t pitching like he used to, and even tried reinventing his pitching motion in 2008. 

But that all changed when Tim Lincecum came to town. With Lincecum becoming the Giants ace almost overnight, a lot of that power shifted from Zito. After Lincecum brought home his second Cy Young award, the expectation of Zito to assume the ace position faded. 

And although some players might love that spotlight, Barry did not. This year he changed zip codes in the locker room, moving from Barry Bonds’ old locker at the front of the locker room to Rich Aurilia’s old locker on the opposite side. Lincecum took over Bonds locker.

It seems that the star of the team should take that locker, and I feel like it’s safe to say that Zito understands that it’s not his anymore. Instead, he’s moved to the veteran side of the locker room. 

Lincecum is surrounded by kids his own age, sharing space with Sergio Romo and Pablo Sandoval. Zito is rubbing shoulders with Aubrey Huff, Mark DeRosa, and the longest-tenured Giant Matt Cain, who is mature beyond his years (actually YOUNGER than Lincecum). Never truly outspoken with the media, he can now openly defer to The Freak or The Panda while quietly going about his 4-0, 1.53 ERA business. 

With Randy Johnson gone after 2009, Zito is no longer the ace of the staff, but the veteran presence with sage wisdom to impart. Although not the light-out stud, Zito is taking a balanced and tempering leadership role on a club that can get a little exuberant in their youthful energy. 

He took the lead in his first spring start of the year, nailing Prince Fielder in the back in retaliation for his homerun celebration last year. Although not a flamethrower, Zito does have accuracy, and Fielder wore a bruise for a few days reminding him that it was no mistake. 

Zito also quietly disagreed with those who praised Matt Cain and preferred him over Zito for the number two spot in the rotation. Although Cain has had his share of hard luck losses already this year, Zito has been the better pitcher and earned that number two spot. 

It comes down to comfort. Zito is clearly more comfortable now more than ever to be wearing a Giants uniform. He’s not under the microscope that he used to be under.

Zito and pitching coach Dave Righetti have figured out how to get rid of those problems that existed in year prior. He’s throwing more confidently knowing that this year’s Giants offense can actually score some runs behind him.

Although no one can expect him to continue this success all season, Zito is pitching like it’s already July, gaining full midseason form here in April. If that’s the Zito that comes out in May, I won’t be surprised. 

He’s here for another three years (at least), so Giants fans, let’s get used to some dirty curveballs and high socks, because Barry Zito’s one of us now. He loves this team and this city, and I think it’s time we repaid the favor. 

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