Kuzul

As the season winds down, more and more teams are getting closer to clinching a playoff berth. The Yankee, Rays, Twins, Rangers, and Reds are all sitting very comfortably in the driver’s seat as their respective magic numbers drop by the day.

This is not quite the case in the wild, wild NL West.

The Padres’ struggles have opened the door for both the Giants and Rockies. Now only 1.5 games separate the three teams.

The Rockies, seemingly dead in the water two weeks ago, are pounding teams in September and are now a legitimate contender.

The Giants pitching staff has righted the ship and might just run away with the title if the Padres don’t figure out how to score more runs.

And at this point in the season, that isn’t going to happen.

Two of the three could conceivably make the playoffs as the Braves are starting to fall apart. They have relinquished the NL East lead to the Phillies. Now they are just hanging on for dear life in the wild-card hunt.

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For the entirety of the San Francisco Giants 2010 season, there has been an air of inconsistency that can only be described as Duane Kuiper has: torture. 

The team itself had a real good April (.591) followed by a .500 May, a sub-par June (.481), a torrid July (.714), and a dismal August (.464). 

This is the team that scored one run in three games against Oakland in May and then scored 11 runs in three straight games against the Reds in August. 

After having one of the top defensive teams in the country over the first portion of the season, San Francisco has made 23 errors in their last 30 games. 

They have had stellar starting pitching. In their best two months (April and July), the starters had ERAs of 2.64 and 3.29, respectively. The starters pitched 80% of the innings, keeping the bullpen fresh and sharp. 

But in their worst two months, it was a different story. In May they maintained a respectable ERA of 3.80, but in August it ballooned to 4.55, and it showed in other places as well. In August, the runs allowed jumped 20 runs from July, and the batting average against leapt up 40 points.

The starters only pitched 67% of the innings, meaning a lot of long relief and bullpen games, which can be both physically and emotionally draining for the team and the fans. 

But if you’re going to have a bad month followed by a good month, there’s no better time to have a spike in performance than September. We’re seeing that from the Padres right now: if you perform well all season and drop off in the last month of the season, nobody cares about the first five. 

On Wednesday Tim Lincecum followed up an abysmal August (0-5, 7.82 ERA) with a dominant start to September, hurling eight innings of one-run, five-hit ball and striking out nine batters for the first time since July 30. 

Hopefully Barry Zito can emulate that against the Dodgers. Usually a strong second half pitcher, Zeets had an equally rough August (0-4, 7.76 ERA) that included three losses in one week (one in emergency relief). But his career line in September (27-14, 3.65) is encouraging, to say the least.

Many were ready to write off Pablo Sandoval as a one-season wonder. His first-half line was unimpressive (.267/.322/.382) compared to 2009’s production. But then August came around, and even though the Giants didn’t have a great month on the pitching side, Sandoval suddenly rediscovered his stroke.

After hitting a low point on August 1 of .263, the Panda’s August average of .321 has raised his average significantly and is certainly encouraging to this Giants team. He also pounded six homers in August, matching the amount of dingers he hit in the entire season up to that point. 

In the middle of August, Freddy Sanchez had significantly cooled off from his torrid return from the disabled list, hitting a low point of .255 on August 11. Since then, he’s raised his average 40 points in 17 games, including back-to-back 4-hit games against Cincinnati. This comes at a good time for San Francisco, as Juan Uribe’s stats have dropped every month so far this year.

Baseball is a streaky game, and the Giants have been playing well lately. If not for the “Broken Bat Heard ‘Round the West” on Monday, they could have swept the Rockies (how often does that happen?). 

And even though there’s been our fair share of fan heartbreak in 2010, there have been just as many games that the Giants have proved worthy of praise. This 2010 team can come back from the dead (10-1 against the Reds to 12-11), can make things exciting (any time Brian Wilson comes in), and can win when they need to most (Darren Ford flying home against Ubaldo Jimenez). 

Now they’re entering the final month of the season in the heat of a pennant race. There are still four head-to-head games with San Diego, and six games against the Dodgers. 

And if we base this final month on the season as a whole, I can promise you that the rest of the way will be about as far from boring as possible. 

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Times are changing and Twitter has quickly become a great source of sports information. Everyone from sports stars to professional sports writers to Internet-famed sports bloggers are writing daily. So TheFantasyFix.com decided it was time to host a roundtable discussion with the LADIES of TWITTER!

So here was the question:

As the conclusion of the 2010 Major League Baseball regular season approaches, we would like to identify those players who fell short of expectations (busts) and those who exceeded expectations (surprises).

Name one bust/surprise to this point of the 2010 season (describe their 2010) and state what you expect from them in the 2011 season. (rebound, maintain, regress etc..)

And away we go!…

Biggest Bust Of 2010: Jason Bay | LF | New York Mets

Jason Bay was a highly coveted free agent after the 2009 season. He was a three-time All-Star who had just hit .267 with 36 home runs and 119 RBI. With the exception of a .745 OPS in 2007, Bay had an OPS of near .900 or better every season from 2003-09.

As a result, the New York Mets rewarded him with one of the worst contracts in Major League Baseball—a four-year, $66 million deal that could top $80 million with a vesting option in the fifth year.

Bay will turn 32 in less than a month. His age, history of injuries (shoulder surgery in 2003 and arthroscopic knee surgery in 2006), and sub-par defense (lifetime UZR/150 of -7.8 in left field) should have deterred the Mets from offering such a lopsided contract. The Boston Red Sox’s best offer in retaining Bay was a four-year deal between $60 million and $65 million; they refused to include a fifth year.

Thus, with his monstrous contract and even higher expectations for on-field performance, Bay is the biggest bust of 2010. He has not played since suffering a concussion in July nor do the Mets expect him to come back before season’s end.

Not only was his fielding below average (-3.9 UZR/150), he struggled with swinging the bat. Bay was batting .259 with six home runs, 47 RBI, and an OPS of .749. He’ll most likely miss 40 percent of the season. The Mets clearly didn’t pay Bay an average of $16.5 million a year for him to play bad defense, hit an offensive wall, and then sit out with an injury.

Continue reading >>>>

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The San Francisco Giants are still in the playoff chase, even after Monday’s mind-bending loss.

Really, could the gem that Jonathan Sanchez pitched have been wasted any more painfully that it was against Colorado in the series opener?

Could an apparently inspiring win have been lost any more quickly?

The Colorado lead-off hitter reached in the ninth before a misplayed fly ball led to a freaky bounce on an accurate throw to third. The Giants 1-0 edge became a 2-1 Rockies win in an instant.

Moving forward, the Giants do have reason to give great thought to the pending September call-ups. They are in position where they should ponder dropping a player from the 40-man roster to make room for a relief pitcher, or maybe a starter, who can help in the final month.

Players already on the 40-man roster who, most obviously, figure to be recalled are relief pitcher Waldis Joaquin and, potentially, starter Henry Sosa. The pen will get a lift when Dan Runzler returns from the disabled list. Chris Ray and Guillermo Mota will also come off the DL, but history indicates that won’t necessarily make the bullpen better.

The Giants have no business adding veteran Dontrelle Willis to the 40-man roster. First, adding him means dropping a player from the 40-man for a completely fallen star. Second, left-hander Matt Yourkin and right-hander Steve Edlefsen are far more deserving of a spot on the 40-man and in the big leagues in September.

Willis has only pitched in three games in Fresno. In three innings, the struggling veteran has walked four, given up two hits and allowed three runs. The southpaw Yourkin, who could start or relieve in San Francisco, is 7-8 with 4.36 ERA and 1.38 WHIP in 130 innings—mostly as a starter. Edlefsen is 7-1 with a 2.04 ERA and six saves coming out of Fresno’s bullpen.

Edlefsen is a career Giants farmhand who merits the big league bid more than Yourkin, at least based on numbers. Yourkin, however, is a journeyman who would give the club a fourth lefty in the pen. The Giants would get more use out of Yorkin as a situational lefty or, perhaps, as a spot starter to give the beleaguered rotation a break heading into September.

The players most likely to be dropped from the 40-man roster to make room for Yourkin, Edlefsen, or Willis include left-hand reliever Alex Hinshaw, right-hand starter Kevin Puecetas and journeyman utilityman Eugenio Velez.

The Giants can make a case for either of those pitchers having long-term value. Velez has the potential for short-term help as a pinch-runner or pinch-hitter. But, really, he has too often squandered opportunities to keep a big league job. How much help, really, will Velez provide in this playoff chase?

The Giants would be wise to trim Velez from the 40-man roster and add Yourkin, simply because the starting pitchers need a break and there isn’t a starting pitcher in the pen right now. And, there’s always a need for another lefty reliever.

Emmanuel Burris can be recalled to provide late-inning defense up the middle and pinch-run. Ryan Rohlinger could help at shortstop where Juan Uribe has played every single day since Edgar Renteria was hurt.

There are other hitters for the Giants to consider.

First baseman Brett Pill is on the 40-man roster and has a solid season in Fresno. Brandon Belt is, clearly, the first baseman of the Giants’ future. Belt is not on the 40-man, so bringing him up after hitting .217 in six games at Triple-A doesn’t make sense. There’s use for a right-handed bat like Pill.

Pablo Sandoval has finally gotten hot at the plate, but has become a defensive liability at third base. Lefty-swinging third baseman Conor Gillaspie hit .290 with a .350 on-base percentage for Double-A Richmond. The former first-round draft pick has six homers and 63 RBIs. He has 16 errors for the Flying Squirrels, but he still merits a spot in San Francisco in September.

Gillespie could pave the way to move Sandoval to first base some down the stretch—and fill in if Sandoval is needed to catch in an emergency. It would be nice to see and show where’s the young third baseman stands as a prospect.

The Giants could make recalls on the cheap. Save the meal money and hotel costs to house the extra players for 30 days. With a playoff spot there for the taking and the knowledge that we never know when the least likely player becomes the most inexplicable hero, the Giants should call all hands on deck.

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

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With the calendar down to the last day of August, Major League Baseball is about to fire the starting gun on its stretch run.

Much to the surprise of everyone outside of the 619, the San Diego Padres have been maintaining a nice cushion in the National League West all year and are serving me large helpings of crow with each day in first place. Let’s not mention the Friars’ record against our San Francisco Giants—I’ll leave that bit of vengeance to a Padre poster, should one stumble into hostile territory.

Even more troubling for the City, the Fathers were threatening to run away with the pennant until getting swept over the weekend by the Philadelphia Phillies. That makes four losses in a row for SD (five including Monday night’s), but the club still has a six-game advantage in the loss column over the lads.

Until this little bump in the road turns into a sincere losing jag for the front-runners, San Francisco’s best shot at the postseason remains to slip through the Wild Card side door.

But the Orange and Black will need a few things to happen, first.

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Fans haven’t been hesitant to point to the player or the plan that keeps the San Francisco Giants from soaring to the top of the NL West and well past the field in the wild-card race.

As it turns out, though, most things that fans insisted the Giants do to get things going have been done and things haven’t gone very well at all in the last month. The club is on the verge of falling out of the division race and has to keep pace with the Philadelphia Phillies, a tall order, to win the Wild Card.

It almost seems as though fans are…grasping at straws and calling for change for the sake of change. No!

Here’s a quick look at the most common complaints fans had, how the Giants addressed them and their impact on club that had gone 12-14 entering the final two games of August.

“Call up Buster Posey… now!”

The fear was that the organization was going to play it cheap and not recall Posey until June. Remember all that talk about the arbitration clock? Well, the club called on the phenom in May. Then, a deal that sent Bengie Molina to Texas made Posey the everyday catcher. Posey has had a magnificent season.

Calling Posey up sooner than later didn’t prevent the August meltdown.

“Don’t break up the starting rotation.”

Fans who believed the Milwaukee Brewers would trade Prince Fielder for Jonathan Sanchez notwithstanding, it was generally considered key that the Giants not trade a member of the starting rotation to get a full-time, run-producer. Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner stayed put.

Fans who insisted that the starting rotation would save the Giants have noted that it has been the club’s biggest problem over the last month.

“It’s Barry Zito’s fault!”

That’s not really a fan request, but most fans mumbled it when the Giants had a lineup without a big league hitter. In fact, now isn’t a bad time to mumble, “It’s Zito’s fault that … ” and add “the Giants couldn’t sign a big-time slugger” or “trade for Roy Oswalt and his big contract.” Right?

Mainly, though, Zito was outstanding early and then just OK. Now, he’s fallen on hard times yet hasn’t been any worse than his peers in the rotation were in August.

“They have to bench Aaron Rowand!”

Duly noted, obviously, because Rowand is buried deep on the Giants bench.

Getting Rowand out of the lineup didn’t exactly ignite a hot streak in August, did it?

“Add a big ‘bat’ right now!”

The Giants rescued left fielder Pat Burrell from the scrap heap and he has returned to somewhere near the form he showed when he was one of the NL’s top home run hitters with Philadelphia.

Burrell filled a spot in the middle of the order and delivered the goods but…

“Man, go get another ‘bat’ to help the pitching!”

Now, it’s easy to grumble, “I meant Adam Dunn or Manny Ramirez,” but the fact remains that Jose Guillen came over from Kansas City and has hit the devil out of the ball. He hasn’t ignited a series of personality conflicts and ruined the clubhouse chemistry either.

Two ‘big bats’ and… the August slump still hit hard.

“The pen stinks! Get some relievers.”

Veterans Javier Lopez and Ramiro Ramirez were acquired in trades. Jeremy Affeldt returned to health.

Apparently, the club needed to acquire Mariano Rivera because faces changed in the pen, but the results remained much the same.

“Shorten the leash on Jonathan Sanchez and yank him when he starts to unravel.”

If only the Giants would give the left-hander the hook sooner than later, right? Well, manager Bruce Bochy routinely replaces Sanchez in the fourth or fifth, even with a lead, if he starts to struggle.

An abundance of faith in Sanchez wasn’t the problem.

“Put John  Bowker in the lineup and let him hit home runs!”

Bowker was hitting .207 with the big club when he was dealt to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The woeful Pirates have yet to recall Bowker from the minor leagues. So, fans who thought Bowker was the answer have to explain how wrong two organizations are about him.

“What’s Dave Righetti doing? Find a new pitching coach.”

Looking back, it turns out that Righetti was the pitching coach during both of Lincecum’s Cy Young Award seasons. Righetti also presided over the staff in July when the Giants played so well they appeared poised to soar past the NL West-leading San Diego Padres.

Since none of the other things fans have insisted would save the Giants have saved the Giants, guess who becomes a fall guy? The rotation has fallen apart because Righetti’s not doing his job, apparently?

“Just put Andres Torres in the lead-off spot and the whole lineup gets better.”

Done.

His club MVP type season might have help keep the club from sinking from sight completely in August.

“Do something about Pablo Sandoval.”

Comcast baseball analyst Mycheal Urban suggested that, perhaps, Sandoval should be sent to the minors in June. Others felt he should bat second, fifth, seventh, eighth, etc. They also said his defense isn’t a problem, but that he needed to hit.

Sandoval’s hitting. His defense is a problem. Ouch!

“Bochy’s gotta go!”

Oddly, when an entire list of sure-fire fixes fail to prevent a tailspin, the manager is the guy who usually gets the blame. Even Bochy’s most ardent critics must have trouble believing the skipper is to blame for Lincecum, Zito, Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner all getting beat like drums at the same time in the same month. And, he likely hasn’t done anything that makes it more difficult for Sandoval to catch the ball then throw it straight.

It’s easy to blame the manager if Guillen can’t get to a fly ball. “Why wasn’t Cody Ross in there?” And, it’s easy to blame the manager if Ross strikes. “Nate Schierholtz should have pinch-hit!”

It’s hard to figure how putting any other manager in Bochy’s spot would’ve helped in August, though.

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

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Wednesday’s game got off to a lousy start, as Bumgarner served up three home runs. His final line was: 2.2 IP, 7 ER, 3 HR.

The Giants were at one point facing a 10-1 deficit against the Cincinnati Reds; but they rallied back. They rallied and rallied and rallied, scoring 10 runs in their third consecutive game.

With an 11-10 lead, the Giants couldn’t hold on, and would end up losing 12-11 in 12 innings, thanks in part to a throwing error by Pablo Sandoval, who really should be moved to first base ASAP.

In what’s become sort of a tradition, here are the multi-hitters from Wednesday:

• Pablo Sandoval, 4 for 6
• Mike Fontenot, 2 for 4, 2 R
• Andres Torres, 2 for 7, 2 RBI
• Jose Guillen, 2 for 5, 2 R
• Juan Uribe, 3 for 6, 1 HR, 3 RBI

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Heading into 2010 Pablo Sandoval was a consensus top seven third baseman. That may not mean much, but given the lack of depth at the position, he was the swing point between getting a good option and getting a big risk.

While some of the risks have paid off (i.e. Adrian Beltre), Sandoval’s 2010 has been nothing short of disastrous. Looking at his line thus far will make you cringe if you are one of the unfortunate owners who selected him:

417 At Bats
.264 Batting Average (110 Hits)
6 Home Runs
44 RBI
45 Runs
2 Stolen Bases
.322 On Base Percentage
.379 Slugging Percentage
.293 Batting Average on Balls in Play

Entering the year questions about his power would have been justified, but questions about his average would’ve bordered on the absurd.

Granted, his .330 last season was buoyed by a .350 BABIP, but Sandoval had always proven capable with the bat. Should there have been a warning signal? Yes, including his minor league career BABIP of .334.

Still, even if you saw a potential regression, you likely would’ve viewed him as a .300-.310 hitter. He has never struck out much, even this season with a strikeout rate of 14.4 percent, which helps him generate a good average. The fact is, no one would’ve expected this type of drop-off.

Yes, he was a career .303 minor league hitter, but he also spent significant time behind the plate. Getting out from there was supposed to help keep him fresh and in shape…

That easily could be the crux of the problem here. There were concerns even prior to the season about his weight. The San Francisco Chronicle posted an article on March 15 by Scott Ostler entitled “To Be Great, Pablo Sandoval Should Drop Weight”.

In the article, Ostler said:

“But Sandoval is rolling the dice if he expects to keep playing his high-octane, high-energy brand of baseball into his late 20s and well beyond while at 260 pounds and rising, as weight tends to do with age.

Sandoval’s standard should be way higher than Vaughn, Galarraga, and Cecil Fielder. They were excellent players, but mostly one-dimensional bombers who fielded adequately at first base. None are in the Hall of Fame, as both Sandoval and Prince Fielder someday could be.

If Sandoval at the end of his career is classed with Vaughn, Galarraga, and Cecil Fielder, his potential will have been wasted.”

To be talking about Sandoval as a potential Hall of Famer is a bit crazy, especially at that point in his career, but the basis of his comments do have some merit. Sandoval’s weight is a huge issue and could be one of the factors in his struggles at the plate this season.

The long ball is a different story. Sandoval does not have exceptional power. He hit just 35 home runs in 1,758 AB in the minor leagues. While he had 20 in 2008 between Single and Double-A (and another three in the Major Leagues), his 25 last season stuck out like a sore thumb, especially coming against significantly tougher competition then he had previously faced.

Maybe he will be able to become a steady 25 home run hitter, but it was a lot to ask of him to not only maintain that mark, but expand on it. His history just didn’t support it, despite a realistic 14.0 percent HR/FB rate. That’s not to say that we would have expected this big of a falloff, but a drop in power should not be a huge surprise.

Remember, you also have to factor in that he can’t run well, which will limit his ability to score runs. Nothing is going to change that, if he loses weight or not.

Can he rebound and get back to what many thought he would be? Absolutely, but his struggles have certainly brought expectations back to reality. Sandoval never should have been viewed as much more then a .310 hitter with 25 HR and 85 RBI.

That’s probably potential, give or take, so don’t expect him to be anything more then that. He’s a solid player, especially at a shallow position, but he’s not among the elite.

What are your thoughts on Sandoval? Am I being overly negative on him? Do you still believe he can develop into an elite third baseman?

Make sure to check out our recent Scouting Reports:

• Elvis Andrus
• Brett Cecil
• Wade Davis
• David DeJesus
• Jason Donald
• John Ely
• Brett Gardner
• Gio Gonzalez
• Tom Gorzelanny
• John Jaso
• Kila Ka’aihue
• Mat Latos
• Brad Lincoln
• Jonathan Lucroy
• James McDonald
• Kris Medlen
• Mike Minor
• Brett Myers
• Jonathan Niese
• Andrew Oliver
• Manny Parra
• Jake Peavy
• Buster Posey
• Sean Rodriguez
• Mike Stanton
• Andres Torres
• Travis Wood

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM

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Pablo Sandoval isn’t hitting. What makes things worse is that he’s average at best on defense and has all the speed of a water buffalo. His defense and lack of speed was acceptable because he hit baseballs like they were trying to steal his dinner, but this year he’s sporting an Aaron Rowand-like wOBA of just .303 and an OPS of .701.

Now before you go all Mel Gibson on me and start screaming obscenities that, while hilarious, are also quite disturbing, I’m not saying that the Giants should DFA Sandoval or send him down to Richmond, just that he has ceased to be an everyday player—for this season at least.

There has already been a lot made of Sandoval’s “slump” or, rather, lack of production since April when he had an OPS of 1.008. Some seem to believe that it’s due to his personal issues, or his eyesight, or even the vaunted sophomore jinx, but it has a whole lot more to do with his appetite than his ability.

This winter, Sandoval was coming off a break-out campaign in which he posted an OPS of .943 with 25 HR’s. However, the Giants rightly identified that the Kung Fu Panda would have a difficult time going all Daniel-san on opposing pitchers with any consistency at his then listed weight of 240 lbs. The Giants instituted “Operation Panda” in which Sandoval, along with his older brother Michael, stayed in San Francisco during the off-season and attended daily workout sessions, while also being educated on proper nutrition and eating habits. At first, “Operation Panda” seemed to be a huge success; Sandoval shed weight and seemed to be on a path to better fitness, health, and hopefully prolonged production.

At the end of “Operation Panda” Sandoval returned home to finish the winter ball season in Venezuela, but ran in to Mom’s cooking and put all the weight he’d lost back on.

Initially, this didn’t seem to effect Sandoval much and he had a great April, even though he struggled a bit from the right side. Since a torrid April Sandoval seems to be imposing a lot more fear in to the hearts of all-you-can-eat buffet owners than opposing pitchers. Instead of getting better, he’s getting worse. His 1.008 OPS in April, was followed by a .617 OPS in May, .645 in June and a .597 OPS in July.

Most of Sandoval’s decline in OPS can be measured in the D.B. Cooper-like disappearance of power that he’s suffered through so far this season. His ISO (Isolated Power or SLG-AVG) decline this year: April – .207, May – .108, June – .106 and July – .063.  Just as a frame of reference, the great slugger Brett Butler averaged an ISO of .086 over his career, while Barry Bonds averaged an ISO of .309.

As Andrew Baggerly recently pointed out in his blog, “The Braves’ three-run rally in the second inning began when Brooks Conrad’s poorly hit roller down the third-base line got past Pablo Sandoval for a double. Sandoval wasn’t playing off the line, either—the latest alarming evidence that the 23-year-old is slowing down.” It appears that Sandoval’s weight is slowing him down, and this was before he allowed the weakly hit ground ball off the bat of Alfonso Soriano to turn in to a double yesterday.

The problem is the Giants don’t have a better option, even with Sandoval’s meager production it’s more likely that he’ll suddenly snap out of his slump then for the Giants to get better production from Manny Burriss. However, much of Sandoval’s struggles this year have come from the right side, while he’s posted an OPS of just .604 from the right side, he’s posted a more respectable OPS of .736 from the left side; conversely, Edgar Renteria has a lifetime OPS of .912 against left-handed pitchers and would most likely pick up playing time if Sandoval sat.

While, the only real long-term solution for Sandoval is to call in Jenny Craig and Jillian Michaels of The Biggest Loser fame to tag-team the Kung Fu Panda this off-season and do something to make his body resemble a professional athlete outside of Bowling and Sumo wrestling, the short-term solution is to platoon Sandoval until he either picks it up or forces his way to the bench. 

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