Why do you need 75 words for a poll?  Why Can't you do a poll in a fanshot?
Why do you need 75 words for a poll?  Why Can't you do a poll in a fanshot?
Why do you need 75 words for a poll?  Why Can't you do a poll in a fanshot?
Why do you need 75 words for a poll?  Why Can't you do a poll in a fanshot?

According to the Los Angeles Times' official Twitter account, Dodgers owner Frank McCourt and his wife, CEO Jamie McCourt, have separated in "a move that could place the future ownership of the team in doubt."  Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports notes that a similar situation in the Moores family resulted in the sale of the Padres last spring.

 http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/10/odds-ends-lansford-rangers-jaramillo.html

Only need five more words.

Here are some facts to consider before you cast your vote.

The record for a first time arbitration eligable starting pitcher of $4.35M was first set by Dontrelle Willis after he finished 2nd in the 2005 NL Cy Young race.  Dontrelle went 22-10 in 236.1 innings with a 2.63 ERA and 11/55/170 HRs/BBs/SOs.  This record was tied last year by Cole Hamels after he won the 2008 World Series MVP.  Cole went 14-10 in 227.1 regular season innings with a 3.10 ERA and 28/53/196 HRs/BBs/SOs.

The top 5 salaries for first year arbitration eligalbe starting pitchers last year were as follows:

Cole Hamels' $4.35M with a Type A Ellis Ranking of 92.784 which only trailed Sabathia and Webb amongst NL starting pitchers.

Feliz Hernandez's $3.8M with a Type A Ellis Ranking of 87.791 which was 6th amongst all AL starting pitchers.

Ervin Santana's $3.8M with just a Type B Ellis Ranking but he finished 7th in AL Cy Young voting.

Justin Verlander's $3.675M with a Type A Ellis Ranking of 78.779 which was 13th amongst all AL starting pitchers.

Paul Maholm's $3.5M with just a Type B Ellis Ranking and the Pirates as usual were just out of their minds.

Tim Lincecum is likely coming off of a 3rd place finish in the 2009 NL Cy Young race that followed his 2008 Cy Young  Tim is ranked by Ellis as Type A with a 95.755 rating  which currently only trails Johan Santana amongst NL starting pitchers.

For the purposes of this analysis I am going to assume that Garko and Sanchez are just break even when they take PAs away from Ishikawa and Uribe even thow I think (and in Sanchez's case know) that the new guys are better.  What I want to look at is how much the Giants have gained by replacing the 130 PAs in the first 102 games Aurilia and Guzman got  with Garko and the 322 PAs in the first 102 games Burriss, Downs, and Frandsen got with Sanchez.

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We have already had plenty of discussion on the struggles of these two players thus far in 2009.  But these discussions have (at least on my behalf) been focused on the contributions (or lack there of) they have provided to the 2009 Giants thus far.  This time I want to look at it from the perspective of discussing the causes of both of their declines.  In this fanpost I am not interested in discussing who's decline is worse or which decline has hurt the Giants more.  I just want to discuss the causes and perhaps what can be done to address these causes.

First let's take a look at Bengie Molina.  For this I am going to look at just Bengie's years as a Giant (likewise by the way for Lewis when his turn comes up).  I am going to compare Bengie's K/PA, BB+HBP/PA, HR/PA, and BABIP thus far in 2009 with his combined average for these in 2007 and 2008.

07/08 Bengie was at .084 K/PA, .041 BB+HBP/PA, .032 HR/PA, and .286 BABIP 

2009 Bengie is thus far at .124 K/PA, .022 BB+HBP/PA, .040 HR/PA, and .258 BABIP

If Bengie's HR/PA rate was not up I would give consideration to an arguement that Bengie's increased Ks, reduced BBs, and reduced BABIP is a sign that his skill level has begun to decline.  But since his HR/PA is up and my eyes watching the game do not see a decline I am more inclined to believe that this is just normal varience and Bengie should return to producing at the talent level he showed in 2007 and 2008 without any changes.  I do wish Bengie was more patient in his approach as I think this would indeed lead to more walks and better pitches to hit but alas I think Bengie is one old dog this new trick can not be taught to.  What say the rest of the McCoven?

Now let's take a look and Fred Lewis using the same stats.

06-08 Freddie was at .223 K/PA, .103 BB+HBP/PA, .017 HR/PA, and .356 BABIP

2009 Freddie is thus far at .254 K/PA, .122 BB+HBP/PA, .015 HR/PA, and .344 BABIP

To me these stats too look like normal varience and not evidence of any change in skill level.  However, my eyes watching the game tell me another story.  I see pitchers pounding the outside corner on Freddie with fastballs and Freddie only being able to at best take the balls and foul off the strikes but much too often taking strikes and swinging and missing at balls.  My eyes tell me that Freddie has developed a hitch in his swing and is consistently late on these pitches.  Freddie pulls back his hands before he strides forward and thus is late in planting his front foot and therefore late in beginning his swing.  This seems to me to be correctable but for whatever reason it is not being corrected.  I think Freddie is only going to get worse until he corrects this.  What say the rest of the McCoven?