Brian Sabean phoned in an interview with XM's Baseball this Morning and as, I don't believe they archive any of their baseball channel shows (and it was about 5:00 a.m. SF time), I thought I'd jot down a few of things he had to say before I forget it all.

• Sabes is currently on a scouting trip, preparing for the June draft. The team's scouts and player evaluation team have by now come up with a list of "6 or 7 guys" they feel are solid for the #5 pick and Sabean wants to see all of them play in person "at least twice" before the end of the season. Last night he caught Gordon Beckham, in sadly an uninspiring performance ("I saw the wrong game, in scouts' lingo") and today he'll watch HS SS Tim Beckham play. Then he's off to Nashville to catch a UGA/Vandy tilt that will feature both G. Beckham and Pedro Alvarez. Sabean doesn't believe Alvarez will still be available at 5, but the hamate injury could concievably cause him to fall.
• Dick Tidrow was ga-ga for Tim Lincecum. So convinced was Tidrow that Lincecum was far and away the number 1 talent in the '06 draft, he spent much of the run up to the draft trying to figure out other team's draft strategies, obsessing over the idea that Timmy might fall to us (pretty funny story the way Sabes told it). He even convinced Sabean NOT to go to Washington to watch Lincecum, because he didn't want other teams to know how interested the Giants were.
• Matt Cain was also a Dick Tidrow call.
• Brad Hennessy apparently has yet another medical issue. Sabean opined that the reason for his fall in performance is "he's lost a bunch of weight this year and he just can't seem to keep any on him." They sent him down to Fresno, but Sabean suggested that what they really want to do is run him through a battery of tests to try to find out what's going on inside him. Sad. Poor Brad's body has been through enough.
• Alex Hinshaw has "an electric arm -- you'll see him in SF soon."
• Sabean's love of experience and moxie doesn't stop at the playing field.  Describing the front office reorg that went on this winter, he said "the great thing is we now have a whole room of veterans -- guys who've been around the block." One of those veterans Ed Creech (former Director of Scouting for the Pirates) was directly responsible for bringing in Jose Castillo, who the Giants are very happy with.
• Surprisingly, Sabean seemed to place a lot of faith in Lowry's role in the Giant's rebuilding process over the next couple of years. Lowry's "a proven winner who we're really missing right now" and who's return will make the team much better. (Personal aside, that strikes me as crazy talk in several different ways).
• Sabes thinks the Giants are the most improved team in baseball right now (from ST to now, I'd assume he meant).
• Though he grew up in New Hampshire, Sabes was raised a Dodgers fan by his fundamentals lovin' Dad (UGH!)

For those who haven't noticed, ESPN has been running an "All-Time Web Gems" for each team on Baseball Tonight and Sportscenter, and they're doing the Giants tonight.

Any ideas for the Top 3 in Giants' history?

I'm saying:

1. Willie Mays in the '54 Series.
   
2. Mays climbs over Bobby Bonds and fence to make catch.
   
3. Kevin Mitchell's bare handed grab of flyball (for sheer kitsch factor).

Anybody notice that the Marlins opted not to offer Todd Jones arbitration when they had the opportunity AFTER he'd already signed with Detroit?  In other words, in what can only be seen as a mickey mouse penny pinching move, they simply refused to take Detroit's #1 pick AND a sandwich round pick when they were there to be had, no risk, no questions asked.  How disgusted do Marlins' fans have to be this offseason?

LA tossed Antonio Perez into the deal too, for Andre Ethier.

This is from Bill Simmons most recent ESPN Page 2 column. Nice to see someone deviating from the hero line (Apart from the totally uncalled for Rick Barry comparison):

Yet another question: Is A.J. Pierzynski the most annoying professional athlete in recent memory? He's like the Rick Barry of this generation -- everything he does seems annoying for some reason, even his interviews. You can see why the Giants and Twins couldn't stand him. I don't even think he's a bad guy, he's just one of Those Guys. If you played at a $25 table in Vegas with him, he seems like the guy who would say stuff like "Wow, you're way up right now, huh?" and scream "Whammy!" every time he was dealt a blackjack. And he wouldn't even know he was being annoying, so his friends would think of convoluted ways to ditch him, stuff like, "Hey, A.J., I'm gonna go walk around, get some air, I'll be back in 10 minutes" ... and then they would scurry to another casino. That's A.J., right?

The rest of the column (on gut-punching losses) is pretty funny as well, and spares us much comment on 2002.

"Foppert could be a real coup. He hasn't bounced all the way back from Tommy John surgery in September 2003, but before he got hurt he was the game's best pitching prospect. The track record for recovery from that operation is very good, and Foppert is still just 25. If he regains the mid-90s fastball, hard slider and splitter he once had, look out. I'm still trying to figure out how Seattle got Foppert and a potential starting catcher who at worst is a good backup (Torrealba) for a mediocre big leaguer like Winn."