The Giants are an awful, awful offensive team; this isn't much in dispute. You can scream about it (and I have - if  I had to pay a quarter for every time I've sworn here, I could pay off Renteria's contract), but there are limitations to what an awful team can do to improve its raw hitting ability as it, were. Nonetheless, the single most frustrating thing about this team is that the hitters repeatedly show a complete and total lack of patience - and worse, the idiots running the team (Bochy, Carney, Dunston) seem to do nothing about it. 

A look at the numbers, to start, with the Optimist and the Realist:

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Some of you may remember me from epics posts such as "Goddamnit Scott, don't swing at that slider away" and "Goddamnit Ishi, that breaking ball down and in is a BALL". Here, I'd like to bring back memories of a more recent proof of suckage - Bengie Molina. See the original thread, dated June 11, for a discussion of the issues: The Bengie Molina Paradox

At that point, Bengie was hitting .256/.264/.436, for an OPS of .700, but his god-awful OBP. Since then, Bengie has actually improved his OBP.... hitting a robust .261/.277/.377 (June 11 to Aug 2, not including today), for a total OPS of .654. As of today's line, Bengie's record is .258/.268/.411 - his OPS at .682. For reference, the only Giants regular with a similarly Aurillia-esque line is his partner in failure, Edgar Renteria, hitting .256/.311/.321.

The question remains - just how much does Bengie suck? And why does it matter so much to the Giants?

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There was an interesting discussion going on in this thread about the penalty of Bengie's base running, with the caveat offered by the original poster that he's still percieved Bengie as a good player and a good hitter.  Suffice to say, I think this is broadly wrong, for a multitude of reasons, and I thought I'd bring it out here. Basically, much as we like Bengie, he's just not that great. In fact, I venture that Fred Lewis is a significantly more valuable player than Bengie Molina to the 2009 SF Giants, a fact that makes the Damon Bruce crowd go broke.

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Wow.  That's seem like good luck that's very out of character for a SF-based franchise. If they pick up another RB, a lineman, and an edge-rusher later, it seems like a decent draft for them

Anyone else watching the draft? Comments other than LOL Raiders (which is appropriate again today)? I'm not a big NFL fan compared to baseball, but still interested.

PS - $42M guaranteed for Stafford - this should be interesting.

So,

anyone been to one of these before? I have to be up in the city on Saturday anyway, and wanted to drop by for a couple of hours if its fun/entertaining, and because damnit, I need baseball to be back already. People planning to go from here? Figure if we get a large enough flock of McCoven, can grab a beer or something before (9AM beer - always a good start) or after. I'm looking forward to deluding myself on how this will be our year.

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=7937

A couple of excerpts (keeping it short with copyright)

Look, I’m no radical, but I’ve never understood why we allow in sports what we would never allow in other professions. Engineering firms don’t draft the top engineers and pay them below-market rates, and while the early careers of attorneys can be daunting, they get to choose a firm to give 100 hours a week to for a few years. ...

We also wouldn’t tell them they had to work for a lousy firm, or in a city they might hate, far from their families. As a nation, we wouldn’t stand for that kind of thing, but we do in sports. In sports, we’re handing over the prime of players’ careers without ever giving them a chance to find out what they were worth. For many players, the step from amateur to professional is, in fact, the only time in their lives that they will have any leverage at all in their salary, if not their employer or place of work or management team. It is embarrassing to take so much away from them, then complain that they’re not being reasonable when it comes to the one thing that they can negotiate. If coming out of college I’d been told that I had no choice but to go copyedit for the Des Moines Register, you can be damn sure that I would have been a jerk about salary.

Seriously, this is the point that way too many people ignore - the idea that the players have some sort of duty to sacrifice "For the good of the game", or whatever bogeyman we owe today.  I'd like Buster Posey to be a Giant, but damn if I think he's wrong to maximize every penny he can get at this point.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/ - see Gary's post
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/events/

Anyone else going? I went a few years ago, and generally had a good time, and its a pretty decent cause.

Details on the events page - March 18 and March 27 - I'll be attending the March 18 in Menlo Park, which means Round Table.... spectacular.

From Rotoworld:

    Omar Vizquel's soon-to-be-finalized contract with the Giants will be worth $5.5 million and include a vesting option for 2009.
The option, which becomes guaranteed if he plays in 140 games, is worth $5.2 million. The 40-year-old Vizquel will be getting a raise from the $4 million he made last season even though he was as bad of a hitter as there was in the NL. When the Giants say they don't have the money to pursue Alex Rodriguez, it's because of decisions like this.

Seriously? Why does Brian Sabean have a job? Does he have a secret stash of Abe Vigoda pics that make him happy? YOu're giving a 40 year old who was the WORST offensive regular in baseball a 2 year deal? And you're giving him a raise?

From Rotoword:

Lincecum, their No. 1 pick in 2006, can be had for a quality bat."
Maybe he has Lincecum confused with Noah Lowry. It wouldn't be his sloppiest writing in the column. Ringolsby leads off his article with: "After giving up three of its top five pitching prospects in July of 2006 to acquire Livan Hernandez from Arizona ... Arizona finds itself searching for rotation help." Ignoring the obvious gaffe that they made the trade with themselves, the Diamondbacks actually gave up only two prospects and the deal was done in August. But other than that, he's nearly spot on. OK, back to Lincecum. He simply cannot be had for a quality bat. Maybe he'll be available in return for an exceptional bat. The only player we can think of that qualifies and might be available is Miguel Cabrera.

Seriously? Who wants to lead the pitchfork brigade?

Obviously, this is cherry picking - but still - I found this amusing in light of another discussion.

Pitcher A in his free agent season - 27 year old LHP: ERA+ of 139, 217 IP, 99 BB, 151K's, and 10 HR's.

Zito: 28 year old LHP: ERA+ of 116, ERA+ of 116, 221 IP, 99 BB, 151K's, and 27 HR's.

Ladies and gents, we've signed Mike Hampton.