Kuzul

The are people who refuse to acknowledge reality and continue to insist that the San Francisco Giants needed to make a blockbuster deal before the trade deadline passed.

The Giants did exactly what they should’ve done. They gave up a minor leaguer for a veteran right-handed relief pitcher. Then, they traded two players with big league experience, but not much success, for a left-hander for the bullpen.

How anyone who has been paying attention to the club and its competitors since the All-Star break ended can think the Giants did anything but the right thing is baffling.

The Giants are scorching hot and just one and a half games behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West. They’ve managed stirring back-to-back wins that push the Los Angeles Dodgers further off the pace and put more room between San Francisco and the Colorado Rockies in the division.

The Giants are building a nice, little lead in a wild-card race where only the Philadelphia Phillies seem particularly imposing. The Cincinnati Reds are two games back and the Phillies three and a half. After that, there’s a log-jam that includes the Dodgers and Colorado Rockies between five and a half and six and a half games behind the wild-card race leaders.

The Giants didn’t need a journeyman hitter. Fans and media types who insist they should’ve landed someone like Washington slugger Adam Dunn ignore that the Nationals were asking for pitcher Madison Bumgarner.

So. lefty Javier Lopez comes from Pittsburgh for two popular Giants who just didn’t perform in fairly extended opportunities to do so at the big league level. Pitcher Joe Martinez and outfielder-first baseman John Bowker are Pirates now.

Bowker is a fringe big leaguer and a Triple-A all-star. Martinez is a right-handed starting pitcher who didn’t pitch well in the big leagues for a team that doesn’t need starting pitching to begin with. Love those guys? Well, they’ll get a chance to prove in Pittsburgh that they didn’t really get a chance in San Francisco.

Right-hander Ramon Ramirez comes from the Boston Red Sox for a kid pitcher named Daniel Turpen. 

There are going to be spouting the numbers that Lopez and Ramirez have put up in 2010. They’ll say that the two won’t help the Giants bullpen at all. They’ll be ignoring that the Giants have gone on a 15-4 streak that includes an 8-2 run without a lefty in the bullpen and without Brian Wilson to close in their last two victories.

At some point soon, somebody’s going to complain that Ramirez isn’t any better than the reliever the Giants send to Triple-A to make room for him. Before that somebody shouts the praises of, say, Santiago Casilla, consider that Ramirez has 31-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 42 innings pitched this season.

So, yes, many of the same people who’ve complained that Giants relievers don’t throw enough strikes will complain that they traded a minor leaguer for a strike-thrower and sent a notoriously inconsistent pitcher to the minors.

Incredible, isn’t it?

People are still lining up to moan that general manager Brian Sabean just can’t build a winner.

The Giants are winning with free agent acquisitions Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell and Juan Uribe playing very well.

If Sabean gets the blame for Aaron Rowand’s contract, he deserves all the credit in the world for Huff, Burrell and Uribe.

And, boy, are Sabean’s detractors hoping that no one mentions that Andres Torres was a 31-year-old career minor leaguer when Sabean invited him to spring training in 2009 and is paying the mercurial lead-off hitter $426,000 to play all three outfield positions, hit .286 and lead the league in doubles.

Yep. The boys in the Giants front office are responsible for Torres being in San Francisco.

Fans are going to whine that Sabean and the Giants didn’t add a big-time run-producer as they completely ignore the fact that catcher Buster Posey was added to the big league roster in May. Posey has had more impact on San Francisco’s lineup than any hitter who was traded in the last two weeks will have on his new team’s lineup.

Fans who’ve noticed that the Giants are playing the best baseball in the National League are pleased to know that the Giants didn’t try to fix what isn’t broken.

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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It’s tempting for the more seasoned (really old) followers of the San Francisco Giants to sit back and enjoy what has been a fabulous start to the second half of the season.

The club’s record is third-best in the National League and seventh in the big leagues three games into the Florida Marlins series in San Francisco. The Giants are 2 1/2 games out of the NL West lead and are atop the NL wild-card race.

Fans and media-types have to work, or ignore reality, to be critical of what were considered shortcomings with the Giants on a 11-3 streak since the All-Star break.

The team’s starting pitching has been superb. The bullpen has done a surprisingly good job getting games to closer Brian Wilson.

Manager Bruce Bochy has, apparently, become a great deal smarter in the second half. Unless he, alone, blew the three games the club lost in the last couple of weeks.

Every club can use another hitter, but the Giants are scoring plenty of runs. And, knocking situational hitting when a team is 11-3 seems silly.

Fans and the media should be relaxing and enjoying the fact that the Giants jumped from 10th to seventh on ESPN.com’s MLB power rankings this week.

Why bother worrying about the trade deadline when the Giants have one of the best records in baseball? Well, the cyclical nature of baseball indicates that the club’s flaws will become apparent again soon. So…

The Giants desperately need relief pitching (specifically left-handed relievers). The only way to get help for the bullpen is in trade. No help coming from the minor leagues and even the happiest of Giants fan likely quivers at the thought of relying too heavily on Denny Bautista, Joe Martinez, and Santiago Casilla.

While they’re poking around for a reliever or two, the Giants might as well see if any hitters are available for a decent asking price. Pablo Sandoval might return to first-half form. And Buster Posey just might not bat .368, with a .975 OPS and .571 slugging percentage for the final three months of the season. Although, nothing the kid does should surprise anybody.

There just isn’t a great deal of bullpen talent on the market, so trade rumors have focused on the organization’s reported interest in finding another proven hitter.

Oh, the Giants are going to get relief help. Before giving up anything in trade, the Giants might want to consider calling lefty Alex Hinshaw up to see if he can get outs or about giving Dontrelle Willis a shot as a lefty-vs.-lefty reliever.

The Giants have the luxury of giving a young farmhand and a fallen star a chance to stabilize the pen.

The club is a lot more likely to land an outfielder like Washington’s Josh Willingham or Kansas City veteran Jose Guillen than they are to trade for Adam Dunn. (Although, Dunn is on record now as denying that he ever said he would refuse to play in San Francisco. That, apparently, was an urban legend based on the assumption that AT&T Park is death to all lefty swingers who aren’t Barry Bonds.)

Dunn’s going to be a free agent at the end of the year, so the Giants aren’t interested unless they can sign him to a long-term deal before any trade is consumated. Teams typically allow for negotiations between a trade partner and a player in such a situation.

The Giants just aren’t willing to offer the type of package necessary to lure Dunn to San Francisco. The Nationals apparently turned down a Chicago White Sox offer featuring starting second baseman Gordon Beckham and insisted on a package featuring three top prospects headed by pitcher Daniel Hudson. Translation: Madison Bumgarner and two top prospects would, maybe, bring Dunn west.

Tampa Bay asked the Nats about Dunn and the Rays were told that any package for the slugger would have to include starting pitcher Matt Garza, who is having an outstanding season and pitched a no-hitter on Monday night. Translation: If Bumgarner’s untouchable, toss Matt Cain into the deal.

The Giants discussed Guillen with the Royals, the New York Post reported. The 34-year-old would, reportedly, go to San Francisco with cash to cover some of the $4.55 million left on his contract. ESPN’s Jayson Stark, however, reported that the Royals “have no real options” to trade Guillen—even while asking for little in return.

There’s word that the Giants are, again, interested in free agent-to-be Prince Fielder. Any package would start with trading left-hander Madison Bumgarner. Fielder’s out of the question.

Willingham can play right field, where he wouldn’t take any more at-bats from Pat Burrell.

The Giants had interest in Royals base-stealing outfielder Scott Podsednik, but the Los Angeles Dodgers wound up acquiring the left-hand hitter in exchange for two minor leaguers.

If first baseman Travis Ishikawa keeps producing, Aubrey Huff will split time between the outfield and first and the Giants wouldn’t necessarily have to add a hitter, because it appears that Aaron Rowand might be inching back to reasonable productivity after his single started Thursday’s game-winning rally against the Marlins.

It could be that this is the time for Giants fans to step back and acknowledge that the call for homegrown talent has gone on for years and, well, it could be that Nate Schierholtz, Ishikawa and, perhaps, a minor leaguer like infielders Emmanuel Burris or Ryan Rohlinger team to produce the runs the Giants need.

Why deal for a .260 hitter in Guillen if Schierholtz can hit .250 and contribute in every other area of the game, too?

The Giants are inching toward the trade deadline in position, remarkably, to just keep doing what they’ve been doing. That’s been plenty good enough over the last 14 games.

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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Eugenio Velez is “doing OK,” according to the San Francisco Giants medical staff after he was hit in the head by a foul line drive off the bat of Pat Burrell on Saturday night in Arizona.

The 28-year-old utilityman went through tests at a Phoenix hospital where he spent the night. The Giants finish a four-game series in Arizona on Sunday.

Reports indicate that Velez suffered a concussion. Manager Bruce Bochy confirmed after the game that the player did not suffer a fractured skull and that he, initially, “wasn’t really responsive.”

The incident and attempts to follow up on the condition of the fallen player have shown exactly how ill-equipped members of the sports media in the ball park are to actually track down information not directly related to the game.

When Velez was hit and knocked down by Burrell’s scorching liner into the dugout, the Giants TV team of Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow didn’t bother to even consider that there could’ve been an injury, let alone a serious one.

“That’s a serious ugly-finder,” Kuiper joked, referring to the duo’s running joke that any foul ball will “find” the ugliest player or coach in the dugout. Krukow did note, fairly quickly, that “somebody might have been hit.”

The Comcast Bay Area camera crew showed Barry Zito, Matt Cain and others looking visibly upset. The Giants training staff was scrambling to treat the fallen player.

All the while, Kuiper and Krukow were speculating about who was down and where the ball hit the fallen player.

Before Velez was treated in the dugout and taken away on a stretcher, Kuiper was urging for viewers to remember Velez in their prayers because Krukow, somehow, had determined the ball had struck him in the temple.

A blow to the temple could’ve taken the player’s life.

Minutes after Velez went down, San Francisco Chronicle Giants beat writer Henry Schulman posted on the newspaper’s “Giants Splash” blog that Velez had been struck by a line drive in the dugout.

Schulman’s post headline read: “Velez struck in head by Pat Burrell foul ball. It appears serious.”

The veteran beat writer then wrote: “I can’t see into the dugout from the press box and the TVs up here are showing an Arizona feed. So thanks to my many Twitter followers who reported seeing on the Giants’ broadcast that Velez was removed from the dugout…”

How he could speculate that the injury was “serious” based on reports from Bay Area TV viewers is unclear. Later in that initial blog, Schulman wrote, “Velez is on the way to the hospital…I will provide updates as soon as I get them, of course.”

Schulman did update the results of tests on Velez in his game story after the Giants beat the Diamondbacks 10-4.

The blog post simply detailing a potential “serious” injury was still posted as the lead item near five hours after the incident.

The members of the print and online media share the press box and, most assuredly, could’ve gotten an update on the condition of Velez with a trip downstairs to the Giants clubhouse.

Gathering specific information would’ve served all news outlets, and fans, better than leaving initial online reports posted for hours. And, fans could’ve gotten information in seconds.

The value of online reporting is, in theory, that information can be made available immediately.

Typically, it took only minutes for blogger Adam Jacobi at sbnation.com to produce a poorly conceived opinion piece merged with the news report.

In it, Jacobi went from reporting on the near tragedy to suggesting that all players might soon be required to wear protective helmets in the dugout.

And, he mixed in some ill-timed levity.

“He (Velez) was taken from the dugout by stretcher and rushed to a local hospital. There’s no video available,” Jacobi wrote, “but unless Eugenio Velez owes you a substantial sum of money, you do not need to watch him get hit in the head with a baseball.”

One wonders why the need to lighten the mood won out.

Jacobi proceeded to show that there is a noticeable difference between a reporter and a blogger. He wrote the following while Velez was en route to the hospital with an undiagnosed, potentially life-threatening, injury.

“When the extent of Velez’s injury is known, it’ll likely spark some debate about whether it’s still within baseball players’ best interests to not wear more protective headgear in several situations…”

Any fan who saw Burrell’s liner steam into the dugout and knock Velez down was far more concerned about the extent of the injury than whether it would “spark some debate” about players wearing helmets in the dugout.

Velez is, thankfully, on the mend.

The state of news-gathering efforts at big league ball parks remains in doubt.

—

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Contact Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The San Francisco Giants really need another left-hander out of the bullpen now that Jeremy Affeldt’s sidelined with a torn oblique muscle.

The club also needs minor league talent to attract a proven big league run-producer in trade.

Todd Wellemeyer’s pitching well for the Fresno Grizzlies in the Pacific Coast League, but that doesn’t mean that fans calling for the club to trade Jonathan Sanchez for a hitter have any idea how difficult it would be to fill the No. 4 spot in the rotation.

Oh, there are starting pitchers in Triple-A—but there’s a good reason that only one has ever reached the big league level and for the big club’s hesitance to turn a starting spot back over to Wellemeyer.

The organization does have some talent other teams might seek in trade, but the most proven player in Fresno is middle infielder Emmanuel Burriss and the Giants could use him themselves down the stretch.

Such is the playoff frenzy among Giants fans that some are insisting that Gino Espinelli is the answer in the bullpen.

Gino Espinelli?

Here’s a look at the key players in Fresno. Remember, the Giants can lure a big league hitter without giving up minor league talent and, rest assured, the organization would rather gut the Fresno roster than touch the nucleus of the Richmond Class AA team.

Pitchers

Matt Yourkin, LHP – Giants fans haven’t heard a thing about the 29-year-old journeyman left-hander, but he has pitched well in 16 starts this year (he hadn’t made a professional start in his five previous seasons). He’s 6-4 with a 3.74 ERA in 89 innings pitched. He pitches to contact. A Giants bullpen that has an excess of stuff and a need for command could potentially use Yourkin down the stretch. He has 76 strikeouts and only 26 walks.

It would require altering the 40-man roster to get Yourkin to the big leagues, so enjoy him in Fresno.

Dontrelle Willis, LHP — He’s 28 and serious baseball fans no his story. The Giants have him in Arizona where they are totally rebuilding his wind-up and delivery. Once the minor league pitching instructors feel he is ready, Willis will be sent to Fresno where he work as a situational relief pitcher. The Giants need nothing more, and more quickly, than they need a lefty in the pen. For anyone to expect Willis to provide big league help in a pennant race, after losing command and control of his emotions, would be a stretch.

Eric Hacker, RHP – He’s 11-5 in 20 starts, but that 4.52 ERA has enabled to bypass him a couple of times when there was a need for a fifth starter. Hacker has walked 42 and given up 122 hits in 109 2/3 innings. 

Joe Martinez, RHP – The righty replaces Affeldt on the big league roster in a bullpen without a lefty. His big league career has been nondescript, but he is 5-3 with a 3.32 ERA in 13 starts in the Pacific Coast League. The 1.28 WHIP could make him a potential throw-in if the Giants need to add a potential big league arm in a trade for a hitter. 

Steve Edlefsen, RHP – The numbers add up. He’s 6-1 with a 1.85 ERA and five saves. His 41 strikeouts and 22 walks in 48 innings indicate that he throws strikes. The 25-year-old is never mentioned when the big league considers adding a reliever. 

Gino Espinelli, LHP – Watch the Giants bullpen cough up leads in the middle innings often enough and, yeah, Espinelli starts looking good. The 27-year-old could find his way to San Francisco with only Jeremy Affeldt working as a lefty in the pen right now.

Espinelli is 4-2 with a 2.58 ERA and eight saves in Fresno. His inability to break through to the big leagues stems, in part, from the fact that he was judged a full-time reliever in 2007 and has never developed strikeout stuff big leaguers tend to need to shine late in games. 

Alex Hinshaw, LHP – If Martinez got the call to replace Affeldt, it’s unfathomable that the big club can’t look past Hinshaw’s 2-3 record and that 4.73 ERA in Fresno because the 27-year-old had 49 strikeouts in 45 2/3 big league innings with the Giants in 2008 and 2009. The lack of command that showed in the big leagues (36 walks) has slowed him in Fresno.

It doesn’t make much sense for a big league team with erratic, right hand relievers to look past a potentially capable lefty with 47 Ks and 27 BBs in Class AAA. Does Martinez help more coming out of the pen late in a game than Hinshaw might? Really?

Waldis Joaquin, RHP – The 23-year-old throws hard, but hasn’t thrown strikes in a couple stints with the Giants. Regardless of his numbers in Fresno, though, he’ll be in San Francisco in September when guys like Edlefsen and Hacker are headed home. Joaquin might be the most marketable arm in Fresno when the Giants talk trade.

Position players

Tyler Graham, OF – The Pacific Coast League is a hitter’s league, so it’s hard to tell what Grahma’s .343 batting average means in terms of big league potential. The 26-year-old lacks power, but has 24 stolen bases. His being a right hand hitter won’t hurt his chances of a September call-up. He could be a near big league-ready talent that could be a throw-in if a trade for a big league run-producer presents itself. 

John Bowker, OF-1B – Those who think 183 games and 475 big league at-bats aren’t enough for Bowker to have shown he’s really more than a .238 big league hitter will continue to insist he be recalled so that he can try, again, to turn PCL MVP-like numbers into serviceable big league stats.

His value on the open market hinges on which team the Giants deal with. Bowker’s minor league numbers would impress fans, briefly, as they bid farewell to an Adam Dunn, Josh Willingham, etc.

Juan Guzman, 3B-1B – The guy is a minor league hitter who, unlike Bowker, hasn’t received much opportunity to start and rack up big league ABs. He’s got 13 homers and 39 RBI. Guzman’s hitting .309, but has proven to be a big league DH who might attract limited interest as part of a bigger trade package.

Ryan Rohlinger, 3B-SS – He’s hitting .310 with five homers in Triple A, but has looked increasingly like a big league utilityman. He was recalled on Saturday to replace fallen Eugenio Velez, who suffered a concussion when struck by a line drive foul ball.

There are teams willing to accept a 26-year-old Rohlinger who can play multiple positions—as long as he’s packaged with younger, more touted prospects. 

Brett Pill, 1B – His 11 homers and 58 RBIs show he has upped his power potential at age 25. Pill could, in theory, be an attractive piece in a trade for a big league hitter—especially with Brandon Belt on the fast track to becoming the big league first baseman. Pill’s most certainly in line for a September call-up if he isn’t traded first.

Emmanuel Burriss, IF – The 25-year-old was the Giants opening day second baseman in 2009. Injuries sidelined him for more than a year, but he brings the big club a lot of what it needs. Burriss adds speed to a lead-footed lineup.

While he didn’t develop into the big-time big league shortstop he was drafted to become, he can bring young legs and range to the position. Burriss is a switch-hitter who, most certainly, will be on the big league roster soon. He’s batting .282 in 117 Triple-A at-bats. He has youth and a sufficient upside to be a key part of a trade for a big league batter.

Brock Bond, 2B – The Giants are committed to Freddy Sanchez, with Burriss ready to return to the big leagues. Highly touted Nick Noonan is considered by some the second baseman of the future (although Noonan’s struggling in Class AA this season).

Bond is a 24-year-old switch-hitter hitting .287 with 29 RBI. He’s not a power hitter, but gets on base (.405) OBP. It’ll be interesting to see if the Giants, or any other big league club, are noticing that the guy’s having a really good first year in Triple A.

So, there they are. Joaquin, Burriss, Pill, and Graham are all marketable minor leaguers. None, however, is the centerpiece of a trade that’s going to net the Giants a hitter.

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San Francisco Giants fans who have spent Bruce Bochy’s entire tenure as manager calling him names and blaming him for much of what troubles the club have to step back now.

The Giants rallied from a 5-1 deficit to beat the Dodgers, in Los Angeles, 7-5 on Tuesday night. Bochy deserves credit for putting a club that has done everything right since the All-Star break in position to come back, then win.

No, Bochy didn’t win the game when he noticed acting manager Don Mattingly had left the mound and returned in the ninth inning.

Mattingly talked to Broxton, then step off the dirt portion of the mound. He spun around quickly and stepped back onto the dirt to say something else. The latter move constituted a second visit in the same inning and forced the Dodgers to yank Broxton.

Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton was, actually, in the middle of another meltdown. His once blazing heater was barely scraping 91 mph. The right-hander couldn’t find the strike zone and the top of the Giants order was due up. The argument could’ve been made at the moment that Mattingly caught a break by being forced to replace his struggling closer with lefty George Sherrill.

The decision that put the Giants in position to win late came when Bochy removed Tim Lincecum from the game in the fifth inning, trailing 5-1. Lincecum had only thrown 80 pitches. He hadn’t thrown well, but was in position where Bochy could easily have let him struggle through the fifth and into the sixth in one of the outings intended only to save the bullpen.

Actually, if Bochy had stuck with Lincecum, he would’ve done it to keep from having to go to a group of embattled middle-inning relievers. Few would’ve criticized Bochy for letting Lincecum try to finish the fifth, but the manager went to Denny Bautista. Despite all the histrionics and his inability to throw the ball where he wants more than a couple times in a row, Bautista held the Dodgers scoreless for 1 1/3 innings.

Lincecum was getting hit—hard. Bochy realized that and made the right move. If Bautista and the troubled relievers are going to turn things around, they have to have chances to do so when big games are on the line.

There aren’t many bigger games than the red-hot Giants against a Dodgers team that had lost five games in a row. A big fifth inning for the Dodgers and the game’s over. Instead, Bautista ended things quickly.

The result of Bochy doing what had to be done was a three-run Giants uprising in the top of the sixth to make a game of it.

No. No. The Giants bats didn’t come alive because Bautista pitched out of a jam. Clayton Kershaw started to run out of gas and a group of hitters who’ve hit well in the last six games came back on him (the Giants didn’t win because they wanted it more or because they were more focused either. They got hits, made pitches and played defense).

Credit Bochy, too, for whatever he said to Santiago Casilla on the shortest mound visit in San Francisco Giants history in the seventh inning. It’s a mistake to think that Bochy’s not tough on his players simply because he’s not up screaming like a loon all the time. He likely suggested that there was a bus ticket to Fresno waiting for Casilla if he couldn’t throw strikes—immediately. Casilla responded and ended the inning.

It was a throwback Giants-Dodgers game, by the way. There’s lots of talk about the rivalry, but it’s long been a one-way deal. San Francisco area fans despise the Dodgers. But, Dodgers fans haven’t wasted much energy hating on the Giants for years. That changed on Tuesday night.

Lincecum wasn’t trying to hit Matt Kemp. Heck, the righty was so out of whack that he lost the grip on a curveball that slipped out of his hand and straight into the air. Still, Dodgers fans are sure Lincecum was trying to plunk Kemp.

Then, Bautista came in and had no idea where his fastball was going. But, welcome to the spotlight, um, Don Shaffer!

Shaffer was ejected for griping about a Bautista pitch that brushed Russell Martin back. Shaffer, who is the most unheralded bench coach in baseball, now has a claim to fame. He fanned the flames of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry (even the umpiring crew was baffled by Shaffer’s outburst. The umps, obviously, had seen Bautista at work in the past).

Then, in the ninth, Bochy called Mattingly on the incredibly obscure rule regarding what constitutes a visit to the mound. Whether Broxton was in the process of imploding or not — Dodgers fans and Mattingly himself were clearly upset with Bochy for pointing out that the Dodgers’ acting chief did leave the mound and return to the mound.

Hey, if it’s in the rule book it must be enforced. That, of course, doesn’t explain why rookie home plate umpire Adrian Johnson clearly jogged out to tell Mattingly that he wasn’t supposed to leave the mound and then return. Johnson was going to do Mattingly a solid—give him a heads-up. Bochy insisted they enforce the rule.

Credit the umpires, the guys who’ve just trashed the Giants the last couple of games, for making the call. You think anybody watching the game knew the rule so well that they’d have felt wronged if Broxton had been allowed to stay in the game?

Really?

By the bottom of the ninth inning, fans in Dodger Stadium were chanting, “Giants suck! Giants suck!” They’ve probably chanted it before, but…not very often. That type venom is reserved in L.A. for the St. Louis Cardinals and teams that have haunted the Dodgers lately.

For Giants fans who really haven’t lived through the real Dodgers rivalry, didn’t Jeremy Affeldt’s return to 2009 form taste that much sweeter when it quieted the L.A. crowd?

The rivalry will continue heating up tonight because the Dodgers have lost six straight and spit Tuesday’s game away. The Giants are sending Barry Zito to the mound and he’s aware that, at some point, the issue of Kershaw purposely hitting Aaron Rowand will need to be addressed.

Who’d have expected this?

The Giants-Dodgers is suddenly a powder keg that could blow tonight and Bochy’s in line for a great deal of credit after the type of victory that San Francisco fans might be recalling fondly in October.

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The San Francisco Giants have won four of their first five coming out of the All-Star break — five of five if not for a blown call at home plate that cost them a win over the New York Mets on Sunday.

The Giants blew into Los Angeles and beat the suddenly slumping Dodgers, 5-2, on Monday night. The Dodgers have lost five in a row after being swept in a four-game series by the St. Louis Cardinals.

Things are going well for the Giants. They look as though they could win the National League West.

Wait.

We’ve been here before, only to have things go terribly wrong. Right?

It’s different this time. These Giants aren’t winning by utilityman Juan Uribe is on a hot streak or because one of the half-dozen or so prospects-turned-suspects has shown a flash of big league talent. The Giants are winning because, well, they’ve somehow pieced together a team that does things that successful teams do.

The starting pitching is back in gear. Lincecum’s arm isn’t dead. Zito’s coming off a brilliant outing against the New York Mets. Matt Cain reminded fans the other day that only people with no understanding of the game or the patience of a gnat would ever suggest trading him for the ever elusive “big bat” that the Giants always seem to need.

Heck, forget the top three guys in the rotation for a second. The Giants have guys in the fourth and fifth slots who would be in the top three rotation slots for many teams. Madison Bumgarner is flashing signs of being the once-a-generation young pitcher that most teams only dream about. (The fact that he’s the third big-time pitching prospect the Giants have produced in this rotation alone is worth noting before the club loses and someone demands Brian Sabean’s head on a platter.)

And, the pitcher folks feel would be so easily to replace if he was traded for that “bat” pitched well again, too. The idea of messing with this rotation and trading Jonathan Sanchez to get a hitter like Corey Hart is ludicrous. Fans and media types who insist that no team has a good fifth starter and that Sanchez is expendable are loopy. There is a precipitous drop-off from Sanchez or Bumgarner to Joe Martinez. Man, how quickly people forget how dreadful things were when the Giants just had any, old fifth starter and he was Todd Wellemeyer.

The bullpen’s in chaos but the burning need to trade for a set-up man subsided a little on Monday when Jeremy Affeldt looked like he did in 2009. Everybody wants to trade for a vetean set-up man, while ignoring that the new guy would cost a prospect and would come with no more assurance of success than Affeldt does. Affeldt got an NL MVP vote last year. And, folks think just some guy on the Pittsburgh Pirates roster can come west and most assuredly be better than Affeldt could be when, as relievers so often do, he rights himself out of the blue?

Brian Wilson has become a lock-down closer. He’s still not at the level of consistency that Robb Nen was in his prime, but not many closers were as good as Nen in his prime.

The Giants are winning because the pitching staff appears in good shape at the right time of the season.

The biggest reason this this Giants hot streak is the real thing centers around the middle of the batting order. There are three, big-time run producers in the lineup. And, none of them cost the organization Sanchez or a package of prospects.

Aubrey Huff is having a big-time season with the bat and, frankly, playing defense and running the bases so well that teams who labeled him nothing more than a designated hitter seemed to have look right past the things he can do.

Buster Posey has become, well, Buster Posey. The phenom is hitting like a phenom. He’s batting fourth and hitting the devil out of the ball — even with the power some insisted he would never have. He’s handling the pitching staff, in spite of everyone saying he couldn’t do such a thing. And, is he making it tough on would-be base-stealers?

Where are the folks who suggested that Pablo Sandoval be sent to the minor leagues to rebuild his confidence or his swing or both? Patience, man, it’s a beautiful thing. Sandoval couldn’t have had the season he had in 2009 if he was really incapable of breaking the slump that haunted him through the first half of this season.

It was written here that Sandoval would supply the offense that others insisted could only come in trade. He has pounded the ball from both sides of the plate since the All-Star break. And, don’t mumble something about five games being a small sample size. Sandoval crushed the ball through the entire 2009 campaign and — he’s doing the same thing over the last five games. He showed what he can do last year. He’s doing it again right now.

The Giants are for real because they have two home-grown run-producers in the middle of an order anchored by Huff. Again, those who will want Sabean fired again at some point need to realize that four of the five starting pitchers, the closer and two of the top three run-producers came out of the Giants farm system. There are lots of teams with general managers who’d like to be able to boast of that type of minor league production.

Bruce Bochy’s going to get blamed for losing games. There’s no getting around that. He’s found a formula that works for this Giants team and is getting incredible output from first baseman Travis Ishikawa, center fielder Andres Torres and left fielder Pat Burrell. Ishikawa didn’t suddenly wake up a .340 hitter. Bochy’s used him against pitchers where matchups favor Ishikawa. The same has been true for Burrell. And, they’ve produced.

Oh, yeah, when fans are lining up to gripe that Bochy always sticks with veterans or high-paid players no matter what — remember that Aaron Rowand is a reserve outfielder and that Torres has won the center field job and has been a catalyst in the lead-off spot.

Bochy doesn’t have patience? He wouldn’t give John Bowker or Nate Schierholtz a chance? Not so fast. OK? Not so fast.

Torres won the job in center and got the lead-off spot — and kept it. When he slumped, Bochy stuck with him. If Bochy was pulling names out of a hat like his critics suggest, Torres would’ve been out of the lineup before the break.

Just because this Giants team is on a hot streak that makes them real postseason contenders does not mean that they’ll win five of six, 10 of 12, 16 out of 18 and 25 out of 27. They’ll be on a roller coaster, like most other teams in the National League. The bullpen will let some games get away and, eventually, Posey won’t be hitting at a .500 clip. (Of course, by then, Freddy Sanchez could be hitting like the NL batting champion he once was.)

San Francisco beat the Dodgers on Monday because Schierholtz, the guy who many whine never gets a chance, hit a two-run home run. Add Ishikawa and Schierholtz to the list of home-grown Giants contributing on Monday.

Now, really, would it improve the Giants markedly if they could get Jose Guillen from the Kansas City Royals to play right field? Fans have called for Schierholtz to get a chance and Rowand has shown that he can help in spots coming off the bench. Guillen’s a remarkable upgrade? For sure? Even if his arrival means Schierholtz becomes a full-time late-inning defensive replacement and Rowand bumps Torres out of the lineup more often?

Didn’t think so.

Forget getting Hart from the Milwaukee Brewers. No baseball man on the planet would trade Bumgarner to get Hart. So, while they’re at it, the Giants should dismiss out of hand the idea of creating a hole in the rotation and gutting the minor league system to get first baseman Prince Fielder. The San Diego Padres aren’t running away from the pack and, really, isn’t it more fun to be pulling for Giants we know as opposed to some highly-paid slugger who just happens to be wearing the black and orange uniform?

There might be a time, perhaps soon, when everyone groans, “They have to trade for a shortstop,” or “(Pick a reliever) has blown his last game! He has to go!”

Remember, though, that after the first game of the Dodgers series in Los Angeles in late July — the Giants had the pieces in place to be considered a real postseason contender. And, the bulk of the talent making that so came out of the Giants farm system.

Eugenio Velez is on the big league roster so the potential exists for a disastrous mistake that costs the club a game, and brings Sabean’s ability to fill the roster into question. Wilson will pitch — a lot — and the question will come up about how many times the closer can do the job without some help.

This isn’t the first chapter of a fairytale that will certainly end with the Giants winning the World Series. Got it?

It’s just written record that, really, the Giants have what it takes to win.

—

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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Alameda native Dontrelle Willis has signed a minor league contract to try to resurrect his career with the San Francisco Giants organization.

The 28-year-old attended Encinal High School, then exploded onto the big league scene as a star left-handed starter for the Florida Marlins. After signing a lucrative, long-term contract, Willis lost his his stuff and his ability to throw strikes.

He went from the Marlins to the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers eventually released Willis, who then signed with and pitched for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Arizona released him and the Giants inked him to a minor league deal after he cleared waivers. The Tigers are responsible for the bulk of the $12 million Willis is owed this season.

Willis will be at the Giants’ training facility in Arizona Monday after signing a Triple-A contract.

The Giants will be in no hurry with Willis. He was sent to the minor leagues by the Tigers in 2008 and 2009, but only pitched 28 innings in each stint before returning almost immediately to the big leagues.

The Giants will try to fix mental and mechanical problems that have prevented Willis from having an ERA of under 5.17 since 2006.

“You’ve got an arm like that, you get him in our system the way we prepare our pitchers, and maybe he’ll have some success,” vice president of baseball operations Bobby Evans told the San Francisco Chronicle. “He’s already accomplished a lot. You never know.”

Willis won 14 games and a World Series ring with Florida in 2003 then won 22 games in 2005.

Evans spoke to Willis and said, “He has the right attitude. I think he’s driven to succeed.”

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The San Francisco Giants need a big bat to make a big run at a National League playoff berth.

Guess what?

They don’t need to trade starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez (whose still got a 75 percent chance of being a productive big league winner) to get outfielder Corey Hart (who’d come with 50-50 odds that his offensive numbers would diminish in the move from Milwaukee’s cavernous Miller Park to San Francisco’s cavernous AT&T Park).

Odds are far better than 50-50 that Pablo Sandoval will find himself at the plate. So, even while fans foolishly suggest the 23-year-old third baseman be sent to the minor leagues—there’s a 70 percent chance that Sandoval will bump his power numbers up and move his batting average well past the .260 mark he’s hovering around now.

There’s a 50 percent chance Hart would go bust in San Francisco. There’s a 70 percent chance that the real Sandoval is a guy who’ll produce more than he did in the first half and less frequently than he did in 2009.

So the Giants will get the extra run production they need from Sandoval without trading Sanchez. And, the guys smoking dope in the Brewers front office who said they’d take Madison Bumgarner can go back to their bong. Trade Bumgarner? Yeah, sure.

The Giants would be risking losing a productive pitcher in Sanchez and create a hole in the rotation to get Hart, who would come with a 50 percent chance his production would drop. Too much risk. No deal.

Sandoval’s hit his entire career. He doesn’t need to have MVP numbers to help produce more runs. He’s only 23 years old. Why risk a disastrous trade for Hart if the Giants can wait for Sandoval? (Fans who want Pablo traded or demoted are in the Giants Fans Hall of Shame—along with those who booed Tim Lincecum when he struggled.)

Here’s a look at the odds the Giants will get what they need most from the players they have:

The starting rotation has to be strong. It’s absurd to expect all five starters to be lights out at the same time. There’s a 100 percent chance that the Bumgarner we’ve seen will be the lefty we see through September. Barry Zito’s traditionally pitched better in the second half—so, there’s a 75 percent chance that he’ll bounce back to his early season form. Sanchez, in San Francisco, remains a question mark that the Giants can afford to carry. Give the guy 10 starts and he’ll pitch well in more than six of them—so figure there’s a 60 percent chance Sanchez will carry the load.

That leaves it to Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain to make sure that one or the other is the slump-buster, the guy the opposition knows is going to hand them an almost certain loss. There’s a 95 percent chance that one or the other will be pitching like a big-time ace from now until September. However, there’s a 30 percent chance that one or the other will struggle.

The key for the Giants rotation will get ace-like efforts from Cain or Lincecum—consistently.

The bullpen is one area the club has to bolster in trade. The Giants need a left-hander and they’ll get one for, oh, a can’t-miss prospect like righthander Tim Alderson. You remember Alderson? Yeah, the guy that the Pittsburgh Pirates demoted to the Class A Florida State League on Tuesday.

Brian Wilson’s a sure bet to carry his load as the closer. He’ll drive the Giants nuts making things too close for comfort, but there are 95-5 odds he’ll do the job every time.

The rest of the bullpen? There’s a 70 percent chance that it will be the reason that the Giants fall short of the playoffs. Keep in mind, though, that set-up men like Jeremy Affeldt get it together as quickly as they lose it. Something indicates that the veteran will pitch better down the stretch than he has so far—give Affeldt a 72 percent chance of regaining his 2010 form.

The offense?

Buster Posey’s provided the big-time bat the Giants needed. He is who we thought he would be. There’s no chance he’ll hit an extended slump and, surprise, he’s hitting for the power all the nabobs who spend too much time reading minor league scouting reports said he would never display.

Aubrey Huff’s a pro—even if he produces 80 percent of the offense he produced in the first half, he’ll bump up the offense because Juan Uribe is back and healthy and he’ll make Huff more productive.

Travis Ishikawa has found his swing and could, mercifully, be a mid-20s talent who came up through the system. Based on how he’s swinging, and his professional attitude, there’s an 80 percent chance that Ishikawa will significantly help produce more runs.

No new hitters needed.

The chance that Uribe and Edgar Renteria both flop with the sticks in the stretch? Oh, 10 percent chance? Anything’s possible. Freddy Sanchez is a professional hitter who is certain to hit through the season like he’s  hit his entire career—no chance he’ll fail to produce.

Pat Burrell’s going to be key. He’s doing for the Giants what he did for the Philadelphia Phillies—hitting the longball and striking out a lot. Like it or not, though, the odds that Burrell could revert to the guy who couldn’t make contact for Tampa Bay are higher than fans want to admit. Figure there’s a 60 percent chance Burrell keeps doing the job.

The offense actually might live or die with Sandoval’s resurgence and lead-off hitter Andres Torres. There is about, oh, a 66 percent chance that Torres will keep hitting around .275, with some pop and flashing stolen base speed. If the 34 percent odds pay off and he flounders—Aaron Rowand will be the Giants hope.

The odds Rowand gets Giants fans off his back? (Don’t laugh…the guy works at his game.) 60-40…maybe 70-30. Keep in mind, it won’t take much for Rowand to improve his output.

The defense is good enough to win.

There’s a 100 percent chance the Giants won’t trade a current starting pitcher, so that means there’s 95 percent chance they won’t trade for big-time hitter.

That’s not terribly bad news, though. Fans have been calling for the club to develop talent and—the 2010 playoff hopes rest on Sandoval, Posey, Lincecum, Cain, Wilson, Jonathan Sanchez, and Bumgarner.

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Read Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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San Francisco Giants fans might want to think for a moment before they start crowing over the idea of slugger Corey Hart being acquired in trade to fill, once and for all, the right field.

Hart’s a 28-year-old right-handed hitter who is under contract through 2011. So, the idea of acquiring the guy who already has 19 home runs and 61 RBIs is incredibly appealing. He’s hitting .288 for the Brewers and even has the speed to steal bases.

Giants beat writers who are reported things like, “I heard the Giants are interested in Hart” are guilty of understatement. The club likely covets Hart greatly. The Giants don’t really have a need that Hart wouldn’t do much to fill.

What beat writers and other rumor-mongers aren’t providing Giants fans is information regarding what the Brewers would likely want in return for Hart. Milwaukee’s 37-47 and won’t find its way back into the playoff race this season. The Brewers will be sellers as the trade deadline nears.

What would Hart cost the Giants?

Left-hander Jonathan Sanchez is likely the first guy that San Francisco would have to offer up. Giants fans knows that he has trouble throwing strikes, but that still hasn’t kept the 27-year-old from a 7-6 record and impressive 3.15 ERA. He’s a strikeout pitcher, which comes in handy after back-to-back walks.

San Francisco would have to provide quality minor league prospects — most likely two. They’d be getting an outfielder so it figures the Brewers would ask for a top outfield prospect like Thomas Neal or Roger Kieschnick who are coming on strong after slow starts at Double-A Richmond.

Hart fills a hole in the everyday lineup and the Giants celebrate Madison Bumgarner’s first win in the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation by … beginning a search for a No. 5 starter after Sanchez is dealt and Bumgarner moves up to the No. 4 spot.

The Giants don’t have a capable starting pitcher ready to jump from the minor leagues. So, they’d most likely have to fill that hole with right-hander Joe Martinez or some other stop-gap guy who has yet to prove he’s ready for the big leagues.

As the Giants slowly rally from the near disastrous seven-game losing streak, fans might not get so excited about the prospect of Hart batting third and playing right field that they forget that Todd Wellemeyer’s travails in the No. 5 spot in the rotation were very costly. Remember?

Before suffering an injury, Wellemeyer got 11 starts in the fifth slot. The Giants lost seven of those games. His inability to perform in the No. 5 spot radically slowed the Giants during their quick start.

A deal for Hart makes sense, but the club would need to have a companion move in mind to fill the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation before it becomes the type deal that sends fans out to buy tickets for a certain, second-half rush toward the top of the NL West.

On the surface, it wouldn’t seem difficult to fill the No. 5 spot. It took the Giants until the 20-year-old Bumgarner completely righted himself at Triple-A Fresno to do it, though, so make no assumptions that there’s a veteran to be had in a steal of a deal.

—-

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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Bruce Bochy isn’t the worst manager in San Francisco Giants history.

That designation is reserved for a man most modern day fans have never heard of, who was scouting for the club when a mid-season manager’s change suddenly put him in control.

Where Bochy ranks among the best to manage the Giants in San Francisco is open for debate.

Here’s a look at how the skippers who’ve called the shots at Seals Stadium, Candlestick Park and AT&T Park rank:

16. Tom Sheehan (1960)—He was a former big league pitcher who had last coached in 1944 when owner Horace Stoneham gave Sheehan the call to take over a club that was floundering. Sheehan had been a big league scout before returning to uniform and became the oldest man to make his big league managing debut at 66. The Giants stumbled home 46-50 and Sheehan was replaced before the 1961 season.

15. Jim Davenport (1985)—One of the great all-time Giants players, the former third baseman had spent his entire career with the organization when he was tabbed to run the club entering the 1985 season. Aside from using the word “certainly” a million different way, most incorrectly, during interviews—Davenport was a forgettable manager. The Giants were 56-88 late in ’85 when he was fired.

But, Davy was certainly one of the most gifted defensive third basemen certainly in the, um, history of the Giants certainly…

14. Danny Ozark (1984)—The pennant-winning Philadelphia Phillies manager too over from Frank Robinson and piloted the club to a 24-32 mark. Bad as it seemed, the club might’ve wished it had stuck with Ozark. He was replaced by Davenport in the middle of one of lowest points in San Francisco Giants history.

13. Dave Bristol (1979-80)—This is a guy fans calling for Bochy to turn over the food table and raise hell in the dugout should wish could take over this year’s club. Bristol had managed three other big league teams to limited success. He was, however, an old-school tough guy.

It’s worth noting, for those who want Bochy to throw a fit to inspire the boys, that Bristol got into a fistfight with star pitcher John Montefusco and gave “The Count” a black eye. Bristol proceeded to go 85-98 with the Giants. So much for lashing out leading to victories.

12. Wes Westrum (1974-75)—Westrum was the starting catcher for the New York Giants 1951 NL champions and the 1954 world champions. He was only the second manager in the history of the New York Mets, replacing Casey Stengel in 1965 to run one of the worst teams in big league history. He returned to lead his old club that  His 1975 team finished a stunning 80-81—wildly over-achieving with Montefusco becoming a surprise star and Bobby Murcer hating every minute he spent in San Francisco after being traded from the New York Yankees for Bobby Bonds.

11. Clyde King (1969-70)—The former big league pitcher was the Pittsburgh Pirates pitching coach when he landed what was a prime gig leading the Giants at the end of the Mays, McCovey, Marichal era. He went 90-72 in 1969. Then, ownership showed what panic will do by firing King after a 19-23 start and turning the club over to Charlie Fox, who proceeded to let the aging but gifted team get into gear and finish 67-53.

10. Bill Rigney (1958-60, 1976)—Led the original San Francisco Giants to third-place finishes in 1958 and 1959. (Those were great teams!) For reasons unknown he was fired in 1960 with a 33-25 mark. The reigns were handed to …Sheehan. Yes, the worst manager in Giants history took over a team eight games over .500. Rigney was a baseball man to the core, did some broadcasting, told great stories and didn’t know when to say “no.” He returned to manage a horrendous group of Giants to a 74-88 mark, drawing 626,868 fans to Candlestick, in 1976.

9. Felipe Alou (2004-06)—His first two Giants teams were a combined 191-132. The first-round playoff loss to the Florida Marlins in 2004, along with the inability to get along with reliever Joe Nathan hurt Alou’s legacy. Nathan was traded to the Twins in, arguably, the worst deal in modern club history. Alou’s final two teams finished well under .500. He starred for the club from 1958-1963, but is sadly remembered by younger folks for sounding as though he was somehow managing to do the “Felipe Alou Show” half asleep before every game on KNBR.

8. Bruce Bochy (2007-present)—Fans will look back on Bochy’s tenure and realize he got a lot out of very limited teams that had good pitching and little else.

7. Joe Altobelli (1977-79)—Altobelli waited a long time hoping to get the Baltimore Orioles job, but wound up being hired by the Giants. After going 77-85 in 1977, he led the club to a thrilling third-place finish in 1978. An offense led by 22-year-old Jack Clark, 40-year-old Willie McCovey and former NL batting champion Bill Madlock finished 89-73 after Vida Blue was dealt from the Oakland A’s to go 18-11 and inspire more 1,700,000 fans who flocked to the ‘Stick.

6. Alvin Dark (1961-1964)—He managed the Giants to the 1962 NL championship, after starring at shortstop for the 1950s New York Giants. Dark managed the Giants in their golden era—Mays, McCovey, Cepeda, Marichal, Gaylord Perry, the Alou brothers and a young Jim Ray Hart starred. His tenure went up in smoke because he insisted that the club’s many Latin players not speak in their native tongue while in uniform. He also refused to rest Mays, who twice collapsed from exhaustion in the dugout.

5. Frank Robinson (1981-1984)—Anyone who follows Duane Kuiper and Mike Krukow on Comcast Cable TV games knows that Robinson was a tough guy, a former superstar who became the first black manager in big league history. His 1982 Giants, a motley crew at best, finished 87-75 and provided an exciting summer. Robinson knew something. He won with a starting rotation that included Bill Laskey, Atlee Hammaker, Rich Gale, Fred Breining and Alan Fowlkes. Robby effectively used Greg Minton in the still evolving closer’s role. “The Moon Man” earned 30 saves in ’82.

4. Charlie Fox (1970-1974)—The Giants won the NL West in 1971—giving Mays, McCovey, Marichal and Perry the spotlight together one last time. The 1973 club also finished over .500. It wasn’t the fault of Fox that his superstars got old together—or that somebody thought trading Gaylord Perry for erratic left-hander Sam McDowell made sense. While it was overlooked in the NL West title season of ’71, Fox hung around long enough to suffer the decision to trade future MVP George Foster to Cincinnati for shortstop Frank Duffy and pitcher Vern Geishert.

3. Herman Franks (1965-68)—After answering a question I mailed to the “Herman Franks Show” in 1966, this skipper won a special place in Giants history. For the record, he explained that the Giants likely weren’t really considering trading Mays for Mickey Mantle. Franks made Dark look foolish by leading the club to seasons of 95 wins, 93 wins, 91 wins and 88 wins respectively. He helped tear the hearts out of Giants fans everywhere when each team finished second—the first two seasons right on the heels of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers and the last two behind the St. Louis Cardinals.

Note: Franks had to try to beat a Cardinals team led by NL MVP Orlando Cepeda, who the Giants had deal for lefty Ray Sadecki in the middle of Franks’ tenure.

2. Dusty Baker (1993-2002)—Baker will be remembered for one thing and fans everywhere know what it was. Game Six of the 2002 World Series and the Giants are nursing a comfortable lead behind starter Russ Ortiz. With millions of Giants fans tearing at their skin and screaming, “Don’t do it,” Baker pulled Ortiz, gave him the game ball as he left the mound and turned the game over to his overworked, but brilliant bullpen. Tim Worrell, Felix Rodriguez and Rob Nen looked mostly overworked. The Angels rallied to win, then won Game Seven. But, really, Baker did do great things while managing the Giants.

1. Roger Craig (1985-1992)—”Humm Baby” was the last old-school, scratch n’ spit genius to run the Giants. Craig’s 1987 team won 90 games and the 1989 club won 92. They were sandwiched around teams that finished over .500. He handled pitchers magnificently and was a wildly creative offensive tactician for a former big league pitcher who enjoyed marginal success in a long career. Craig oversaw the debut of stars like Will Clark, Robbie Thompson and Matt Williams.

Craig managed guys who’d been trouble elsewhere—Jeff Leonard and Kevin Mitchell—to their finest season. In fairness, Craig was part of a tag team with crafty general manager Al Rosen. Rosen was the last wheeler-dealer to be in charge before the GM job became overrun by talk of Type A free agents, arbitration clocks, etc.

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