Giants risk not fielding a team at all
Now let’s catch up on the Giants’ feverish work on the free-agent market!
{{ crickets }}
Yes, as of today they have signed EXACTLY NOBODY — though Rich Aurelia and Dave Roberts are said to be done deals, and today a flare went up in the form of erstwhile Blue Jays catcher Bengie Molina.
Bengie Molina?? Are you freaking kidding me!?
It seems like every year the Giants cast a net and find a free-agent catcher on the back side of his career. They got Mike Matheny a couple years ago, and he crapped out this past season in, what, May. By a miracle, unknown rookie Eliezer Alfonzo was able to not only handle the catcher’s duties the entire rest of the season but caught a one-hitter and hit .266.
Before Matheny it was Benito Santiago. Great player! — for the decade previous. Good for a three-year free agent stint; after that, he was pretty much history.
Before him — remember the 2000 platoon of Bobby Estalella and Doug Mirabelli? I didn’t think so. Mirabelli is a classic case in point. He came up through the Giants’ farm system, worked his way into a starting job by 2000 — but the Giants didn’t trust him because, I don’t know, and they diluted his effectiveness with Estalella. Then they got rid of him when Santiago came along. So guess who became a legitamate star with the World Series champion Red Sox? Mirabelli, of course.
I can see them doing the exact same thing to Alfonzo. “He came up through our system, so he must suck — let’s get Bengie Molina.”
It’s just sad.
Meanwhile, don’t even ask what happened with that little fantasy about signing Manny Ramirez to replace Bonds in left field. At this point the Giants have a better chance of signing Hank Greenwald to announce games again.
Oh man, don’t even get me started on the Giants. When was the last time we actually fielded a team you could get behind? 1993, for sure (Soloman Torres has a special place in Hell reserved for him, I can guarantee you that). ‘97, maybe? The last time, I suppose was in 2000. That, in my mind, was our last chance to win it all. Sure we went to the Series in ‘02, but that team just didn’t have “it”. God, when I think of that Game 6, I start shaking.
Throughout the 90’s, Sabean has been lionized in SF. And to be fair, he’s consistently managed to put a winning team on the field. But the guy just doesn’t have it anymore. After establishing the core around guys like Bonds, Kent, Snow, Woody, Schmidt, and Nen, the team has just dwindled down to a bunch of temps.
I know there are a ton of economic issues that I’ll never understand, but I’d love to get an actual team to root for. And I mean core guys that I know will be around for years. I look across the Bay at the A’s with envy. Year after year, that team manages to develop and recruit young guys that you know will be exciting to watch, until, that is, they get too good and move out to NY or Boston or wherever else. But the Giants! Man, oh man. For the past few years, we’ve been the National League All Star team circa 1987. Bonds, Dunston, Davis, Gallaraga, Santiago. Forget about it.
If we’re gonna keep doin this, we might as well bring back Will Clark, Robby Thompson, Matt Williams, Rod Beck, and Jose Uribe. At least those were Giants.
Whoa! BREAKING!!!!!11!
The Giants have resigned Ray Durham to a two year contract.
Durham stats:
year games runs hits 2B 3B HR RBI AVG
—- —- —- — – — — —-
2003 110 61 117 30 5 8 33 .285
2004 120 95 133 28 5 8 65 .282
2005 142 67 144 33 0 12 62 .290
2006 137 79 146 30 7 26 93 .293
Ya know, they can hardly do better. Sure haven’t proved it yet, anyway.