Team OPS: 8th in the NL (739)

Team OBP: 8th (.332)

Team runs scored: 13th

What gives?  Why isn't the lineup's overall production not translating into runs?  Are there better stats to judge run production that make the Giants look like worse hitters?  Or have the Giants been unlucky?

One thing I noticed is that the team is dead last in the league in OPS with runners in scoring position (672).  And we also lead the league in double plays.  Should we expect those numbers to, what's the term, regress toward the mean?

Another way to phrase this is: which do you think is a truer representation of the Giants' offensive capability: the team OPS or the team runs scored?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4179864

Thought this deserved its own fanpost.  Curious to see what the Giants' response will be:

As San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry prepared to undergo surgery for a circulatory problem Tuesday, his agent charged the team's medical staff with misdiagnosing a forearm injury 14 months ago, subjecting Lowry to an unnecessary arm operation and turning a potential short-term recovery into a lengthy medical ordeal.

I don't post here very much, but I thought we should have a thread to thank Steve S for his amazing contributions to this site.  The daily minor lines are a must-read for me every morning, and I've learned a ton about our farm system specifically and the minor leagues in general by reading Steve's posts and the discussions they generate.  Let's face it - we're prety spoiled.  Steve puts in the hard work every day (GAMER!), and we get to reap the fruits of his labor.

So: Thanks, Steve!!  Keep up the good work!

From SFGate:

Outfielder Dave Roberts has swung the bat well in his first three rehab games with Triple-A Fresno. In eight at-bats he had a double, triple, homer and three RBIs. He also walked twice. If he keeps swinging like that, he could find himself back in San Francisco sooner than the 45 to 60 at-bats manager Bruce Bochy suggested he would need.

Some fans are not looking forward to Roberts' return for fear that Bochy will install him as the starting left fielder over Fred Lewis. A team source said that will not happen.

Here's some food for thought: In his ESPN.com chat today, Steve Phillips answered a question about buying at the trading deadline.

Q: What is your view on giving up top prospects for a 2 month rental, and not knowing if that player will return the next year (ex. Carlos Lee, Mark Teixera, C.C. Sabathia)? 

A: The answer to that question is different for every organization based on the time and place in which they find themselves...You never know from year to year whether you will be in a position to make the playoffs and ultimately win a Series. When you find yourself in that spot, you have to go for it. For the Cubs and Brewers, their past neccessitates going for it. They have to give their fans a shot to experience the playoffs. That can be worth anywhere from $10 to $30 million based upon your market and your past. That is an awful lot of money with which to replenish your farm system. 

I think this is an interesting point that people miss when talking about the Giants.  Obviously the club is in a weird spot where there's actually a chance they could make the playoffs, even though the team isn't very good.  People are talking about whether Sabean should buy or sell, and most of the sentiment on this board is that we shouldn't trade away our young players for short term gain (which I tend to agree with).  But what Phillips is saying is that if you take that risk and you do make the playoffs, the club will make enough money to sign more prospects (that are obviously farther away) - in fact, so much money that the farm system actually may end up being stronger for it in the end.

What do you guys think?

From the Chron:

The Giants have promoted some notable minor-leaguers. First baseman Travis Ishikawa, who had 24 at-bats in the majors two years ago, is going to Triple-A Fresno after hitting .291 with eight homers and 48 RBIs at Double-A Connecticut. Catcher and first baseman Pablo Sandoval, 21, will move from Class A San Jose to Connecticut after dominating the California League with a .359 average, 12 homers and 58 RBIs.

From the Chron:

Horwitz is the first Jewish player on the Giants since the 1995-96 tenure of pitcher Jose Bautista.

Jose freakin' Bautista?!?  The guy whose last name means "Baptist"?  Well, here's an ESPN article for you:

Jose Bautista, a baseball journeyman whose mother is Israeli and father Dominican, honored his faith. Bautista, who pitched for five teams in a ten-year career that ended in 1997, told the Village Voice, "My family and I go to synagogue when we can and we pray every Friday. We fast on Yom Kippur and not only do I not pitch, I don't even go to the ball game."

Now you know!

San Francisco Giants left-hander Noah Lowry had another MRI exam on his surgically repaired throwing forearm and won't be pitching any time soon -- maybe not at all this season.

"That's questionable," manager Bruce Bochy said Wednesday. "We don't know if he will be back on the mound this year. It's fair to say we're getting to that point that it's a fair question."

Lowry was examined Tuesday by Dr. Robert Gamburd, the same physician who did some of the pitcher's preliminary tests back in spring training. The 27-year-old Lowry was shut down April 30 for what the team called a significant amount of time, still experiencing tingling in his left forearm that forced him to undergo surgery to repair his nerves in March.

Rest of the story: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3426268

Henry Schulman writes in SFGate's Splash blog:

The Giants designated lefty Erick Threets for assignment, a move that would not have happened without Alex Hinshaw's emergence. I haven't talked to the brass about Threets today, but I know they have tried to trade him. If they can't, I'm guessing they hope he clears waivers and will go down to Fresno again.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=22&entry_id=26969

This is probably going to take exactly one comment to answer, but here goes: what's the easiest way on McC to see when the next Giants game is?  I seem to remember there used to be a thing on the right side toward the bottom of the page that had the pitching matchup and stuff, but I can't find it any more.  "Schedule" just shows the entire year's schedule.  What am I missing?

The papers are reporting that Omar will be activated today.  There's a chance the Durham goes on the DL, but if not, either Burriss or Bocock will get sent down.  Which one should it be?

Mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/03/AR2008050302303.html

Nice to see the hometown paper rooting for one of its own.  It's a shame that DC hasn't put out more ballplayers.  It's a bigger baseball town than people think.  I went to Walter Johnson High School in the MD suburbs, which is the first high school in America named after a baseball player.

I also wish the Giants had sportswriters like Dave Shenin.

From the AP recap of Tuesday's game

The Giants are waiting until Wednesday to activate RHP Vinnie Chulk (strained throwing shoulder) from the disabled list, perhaps trying to make a trade before bringing him back.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=280415126

Anyone up for predicting the move?

Here's my prediction: I will write enough words to make this post 75 words long mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes mashed potatoes

EDIT: Looks like the AP stringer was wrong, and Yabu got sent down.  The AP story has been revised to say:

The Giants are waiting until Wednesday to activate RHP Vinnie Chulk (strained throwing shoulder) from the disabled list, but cleared roster room by optioning RHP Keiichi Yabu to Triple-A Fresno after the game a day after his first victory in nearly three years.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/09/SPSJ102JH1.DTL

"We've tried all the drastic measures and I'm still at square one right now," said Roberts, who was told that this surgery would be more extensive than a typical arthroscopy. That means he would miss more than the normal four to six weeks.

Manager Bruce Bochy said Fred Lewis will get most of the starts in left field, but Rajai Davis and Daniel Ortmeier will play there, too.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3332526

Giants reliever Keiichi Yabu was hit across the eyes by an elastic band, right fielder Randy Winn bruised his right ankle when he hit himself with a bat and center fielder Aaron Rowand's ribs were still sore, manager Bruce Bochy said Sunday before San Francisco played the Milwaukee Brewers.

Yabu, wearing sunglasses in the clubhouse, hurt himself on Saturday when he was doing arm exercises at his locker.

Anyone find it ironic that "gamer" Aaron Rowand got hurt diving in the outfield?  Is this our comeuppance?

Is anyone else seeing this problem?  The Fan Posts show up at the very bottom of the right-hand column on the main page of the site - I have to scroll all the way down the page to see them.  I'm using Internet Explorer 6 (don't laugh).

Check this out:

Webb 2004 - 7-16, 3.59 ERA, 208 IP, 164 SO, 1 CG
Cain 2007 - 7-16, 3.65 ERA, 200 IP, 163 SO, 1 CG

Guess who won the Cy Young two years later? :-)

Highlights:

On upgrading offense: "In moving forward without Bonds, we understand that we will need to address the need for a middle-of-the-order presence. We'll thoroughly explore the trade and free agent markets, knowing that our pitching depth may engage us in trade talks for such a player. "

More on upgrading: "We're definitely looking to build this team around pitching, speed and defense, all attributes that are suited to both AT&T Park and the style of play in the National League West. Our starting pitching is among the best in the game, and there are a lot of clubs that would like to be able to say that. Again, we realize that we have to upgrade our offense and our bullpen."

On Frandsen: "Kevin will probably be given a chance to be an everyday player with a position to be determined."

Q: In your opinion, who was the Giants' 2007 MVP?

Sabean: Bengie Molina.

On Ortmeier: "Ortmeier has impressed everybody with how quickly he's been able to pick up the first-base position. Hopefully, he'll develop the power desired from a corner infielder. "

On potential #5 starters: "Correia and Sanchez will be given that opportunity. "

Q: Are Matt Cain and Lincecum "untouchable" as far as possible trades in the offseason?

Sabean: Probably.

On Schierholtz: "Schierholtz will play in the Arizona Fall League this offseason and gain more at-bats against quality prospect pitching. He obviously played well enough at the big-league level this year to be in the mix for playing time next year."

On Velez: "Velez will participate in the Arizona Fall League, playing mostly second base."

Q: What were positives this year?

Sabean: Unquestionably, our starting pitching and the emergence of Wilson, Walker and Hennessey at the end of the year.

Tim Lincecum's hair is still wet from a postgame shower, which must be worth at least an extra pound. He has a fat, silver belt buckle holding up his jeans -- call it another pound or so, including the jeans. The tight, designer T-shirt with the cool Japanese lettering is pretty flimsy -- a few ounces at most. Throw in the retro sneakers and the cap pulled low over his eyes, and Tim Lincecum might be all of 174 pounds.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/16/AR2007071601678.html

From Buster Olney's chat on ESPN.com:

Was up in Fenway over the weekend and there is a lot of thought with the Giants that they may make a very hard run at A-Rod, when/if he opts out of his contract (which is almost a sure thing, considering the monster year he is having... he's going to get a deal for something in the range of 8 years, $200-240 million from somebody...) Giants don't have a lot of good young players in their system, however, according to evaluators with other teams. Remember, that's why the Red Sox found it so tough to talk trade with the Giants about Ramirez during the off-season -- they just didn't find a lot of inspiring stuff in the way of position players...

This guy is on the trading block - shouldn't we go after him?  How does he compare to other 1B options (Sexson etc.)