http://www.mercurynews.com/giantsheadlines/ci_10287196 Rowand has been a phenomenal addition to the team. A great teammate, a hard working guy, and he has performed well on the field. My only concern is him trying to be assistant GM. He previously mentioned that his good buddy Joe Crede would be a good addition, and he's not a player the Giants need to pay. It would just be another bloated contract holding them back.
Yep, Rowand is a stud. How about the new call ups too? Sandoval looks legit I'm really excited about him. Ishikawa and Rollinger are ok but I foresee them struggling more and more as teams figure out their weaknesses.
The pitching has been good, we just need the guys to give us some runs. It looks like we won't be in the playoffs this season, but I could see us contending for the NL West next year if we keep playing this well.
I'm not a huge baseball fan, so sorry for my ignorance but I always thought the Giants were like the most crappiest team in the league So this surprises me
I also don't want to see Sabean trade Jonathon Sanchez unless he really gets something decent in return. Last offseason he had the chance to trade him for Hideki Matsui and didn't do it. The fifth spot in the rotation has been a problem for most of the season and even with Noah Lowry coming back you can't count on him. If he gets an offer for a decent bat, then I have no problem with it. But I don't need to see another old guy, or someone who is a health risk. Sanchez is worth a lot more than that.
Charles, what happened to Noah Lowry? I don't follow much baseball, but I thought he had some potential a few years back but haven't heard much of him since.
He had surgery on his forearm in spring training. He may have a chance to pitch for them this year, but it's not likely at this point. Everyone is going to be down on him now b/c he's coming back from a big injury. He's also a soft-tossing lefty who has to use his curveball well in order to be effective (sound like someone we know?) But he's only 27, and he won 14 games last year. Sounds like his arm is fully recovered for the most part, which is good. Lowry is never going to be an ace, but he'll still do a good job. He did have an ERA under 4 last year.
I like Lowry a lot. Like you said Charles, hes no ace but hes a solid 3/4 guy in the rotation. Doesn't have a great arm but gives you a good chance to win and gets a lot of ground balls. I hope he comes back 100% because a rotation of Lincecum/Cain/Zito/Sanchez/Lowry is pretty damn solid. And we're reportedly CC Sabathia's first choice in free agency! Too bad we have Zito's huge contract and we have plenty of pitching.
The team really is changing a lot. At the beginning of the season, the plan was Rich Aurilia at first, Ray Durham at second, Omar Vizquel at short, and Kevin Frandsen at third. Vizquel got hurt and they brought up a young kid named Brian Bocock. Frandsen got hurt so they went out and signed Jose Castillo. John Bowker was playing first base everyday for a little while. Now they have Travis Ishikawa (and Bowker, although he got sent down) at first, Emmanuel Burriss at second, Ivan Ochoa at short, and Pablo Sandoval (a catcher until about two weeks ago) at third. None of them are expected to be superstars, but they're young, and they've got potential to be solid everyday players.
Yes. About a season and a half too late, but they did finally dump him. They have about four young second baseman that could be coming up and they kept playing Durham simply b/c they were paying him. He did help out a little this season by playing fairly well to keep up somewhat of a decent trade value, but he just didn't fit in with the teams rebuilding phase. They paid most (but not all) of his contract and got back two prospects, one a speedy outfielder w/ not much power, the other a pitcher.
