Quick rundown of some of the free agent/trade moves that we didn't make this offseason.

Andruw Jones: .163/.274/.255, OPS .529, 1 HR, 34K in 98AB

short-term verdict: whew! dodged a bullet. Who was pushing hard for signing him? :)

Kosuke Fukudome: .342/.437/.491, OPS .928, 1 HR in 114AB

short-term verdict: doh! one might think that at some point the doubles-power would start turning into HR power in Wrigley, too.

Alex Rios: .310/.379/.474, OPS .853, 3 HR in 116AB

short-term verdict: still not worth The Franchise.

Scott Rolen: .267/.333/.500, OPS .833, 1 HR in 30AB

short-term verdict: incomplete; he broke a finger in spring training and wasn't activated until 4/23, but it doesn't look like he's washed up.

And the draft edition:
Beau Mills: .226/.371/.376, OPS .747, 3 HR in 93 AB (20 BB) in A+ Kinston (..261/.337/.761 in 245 AB combined at three levels in '07)

Not exactly breakout numbers for a college hitting star, but it's still too early to call.

Any other players we could've signed/traded for?

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-congress-clemens&prov=ap&type=lgns

Clemens, Pettite, Macnamee, and Radomski, as well as Chuck Knoblauch, were all asked to testify under oath to a Congressional committee on Jan. 16.

Ought to be interesting. I wonder if Clemens will forget how to speak English?

Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson will be among the initial inductees into the California Hall of Fame.

http://www.californiamuseum.org/Exhibits/Hall-of-Fame/hall-of-fame.html

Apparently mlb.com changed their digital video service, and due to the change in DRM, now videos purchased in the past are no longer playable without some kind of hacking.

Story here: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/11/07/mlb-rips-off-fans-wh.html

The New Yorker is running an excellent piece on Scott Boras, which is available here:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/29/071029fa_fact_mcgrath

Quick quote:

"He grew up ... near Elk Grove, California, about fifteen miles from Sacramento. ... As a boy, driving a tractor, Scott listened to San Francisco Giants games called by Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons on KSFO ..."

Slate is running an interesting article by Eriq Gardner about the Rockies' fantastic defense this year, and what that might mean for future roster construction.

Agree or disagree, it's an interesting read.

http://www.slate.com/id/2176565/

I never want to wish anyone harm, and I hope he's ultimately OK, but I must say, I'm not saddened by this:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/26/sports/s182046D52.DTL

From the LA Times:

But Sweeney, a pinch-hitter who was picked up last week in a trade with the San Francisco Giants, made a mental blunder that resulted in the game's final out. Appearing to lose track of the number of outs, Sweeney strayed too far from first base when Juan Pierre popped up. Catcher Brad Ausmus caught the ball in foul territory and threw out Sweeney to end the game. Shea Hillenbrand was on second base.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers15aug15,1,6478814.story?coll=la-headlines-sports&ctra ck=2&cset=true

Apparently he was released by the Padres' AAA team (after hitting .147 in 31 AB), and signed by the Dodgers to a minor league contract.

According to the Chron, Ortiz and Sanchez are on rehab assignments and appear to be looking good.  Not to mention Vinnie Chulk is likely to come off of bereavement leave soon.  So... who goes when they come back?  Atchison?  Misch?  Kline?  Taschner?

http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/

The Phillies are at 9992 losses and counting.  8 more, and they will become the first ever professional sports franchise to reach 10,000 losses in its history.

The Giants are, of course, still the only professional sports franchise with 10,000 wins.  Looking at that list, it seems the Cubs will be next, although since they need 62 more wins, it may or may not happen this year.

After the Phillies, the next-closest to 10,000 losses is the Braves, who are 333 losses away.

So, believe it or not, San Francisco's own AT&T Park is in the English textbook for 8th graders (2nd year junior high school) here at my school in Japan. It's slightly out of date, in that it's called SBC Park. :) The textbook mentions BARK, the old team of Portuguese water dogs that was formed by Father Guido Sarducci to jump in after splash hits on Sunday home games.

Doing a search, the Giants site doesn't mention them anymore, so I assume BARK isn't around. But when did they stop? What happened to them? We need VH1 to do a Where Are They Now? on the dogs.

Rockies designated Matt Herges for assignment.  He had pitched in 2 games, and his stat line was a little like this:

3.0 5 4 3 0 3 4 9.00 2.67 .357

In other words, not that much different than when he was a Giant...

Link: http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/col/notes

AP reports that in Bonds' new contract, he gave the Giants the right to unilaterally end the contract if he's indicted.

Story here.

The Dodgers are converting their right-field bleachers into a buffet.

I couldn't make stuff up this good.  $35 for advance seating, $40 for day-of-game.  Hot dogs, peanuts, popcorn, nachos and soft drinks are included; beer, candy, and ice cream are not included in the buffet.

Barry Bonds, in a prepared statement, apologized to Mark Sweeney, Sweeney's family, his other teammates, the Giants organization and the fans.

The game of "he said, she said" begins in earnest.

Has anyone ever donated a car to the Junior Giants (or anywhere else, for that matter)?  Was it a good experience?

I might be in the position to donate my old car, which is in SF and not running and I don't really want to repair it or pay insurance and registration on it anymore, and I remember those ads with Vida Blue that used to run on KNBR, and I was wondering if it's worth it.

A couple days ago, Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union Tribune wrote that the Giants and Orioles were both interested in 1B/LF Ryan Klesko.

This is the first I've heard of his name being bandied about...  Jeff Zerbiec of the Baltimore Sun wrote today that the Orioles have opened talks with him but have not made an offer.

Klesko spent most of the 2006 season on the DL, missing all but 6 games recovering from major shoulder surgery.  He has played about 60% LF and about 40% 1B in his career.  I don't remember much about his defense, but I get the "it's not so good" vibe.

The Chronicle reported the other day that the A's are interested in Cliff Floyd, perhaps to fill the Frank Thomas role as the aging star coming off of an injury year.

Floyd has played first base, maybe the Giants should take a flyer on him and see if he'd be amenable to a one-year incentive-laden contract to provide some pop to our currently-depleted lineup.

ESPN Insider's Rumor Central says that Durham is mulling an offer from the Giants for 2 years, $16 million, or one year, $10 million.

This tidbit comes from Keith Law of Scouts Inc.

Peter Gammons, on the Dan Patrick show on ESPN Radio, said that the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, and Mariners are interested in Daisuke Matsuzaka.  There's apparently a rumor that Seattle might post a ridiculous number, like $50 million, because their corporate parent has business dealings with Seibu, the owner of Matsuzaka's current team.  It might require some oversight from the Commish's office.  Gammons had heard Matsuzaka would prefer pitching for the Yankees over the Mariners or any other team.

Gammons also said that Bobby Valentine (whose team plays in the same league as the Seibu Lions, and thus sees them often) mentioned Matsuzaka didn't throw as well this year as last year, perhaps due to the extra work done for the WBC, or perhaps due to the mounting pitch counts in his career.

Nobody seems to be listing the Giants as a major contender for Matsuzaka's services.  This Chronicle article says that a Giants official says "don't count them out" but that it seems unlikely that they'd bid very high in the posting process.

I personally don't think the Giants will go after Alfonso Soriano that hard, as it would violate their stated goal of building up the system, and not necessarily having a "centerpiece" type player.

But Soriano has has reportedly turned down a 5 year, $70 million contract from the Nationals, and is likely to seek free agency.  Could he sign for 5 years, $80 million, as the article suggests?  Is he worth that much?

And by box, I mean country.  Here are some stats for some Japanese Pro Baseball players (unofficial stats as of October 5).  I haven't investigated their contract status (not sure how to look that up in Japanese), so many of these players may not be available.  Sorry I can't get it the stats to line up right, but I'm unschooled in the ways of this BBS.

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The Brian Sabean Show on KNBR with Tolbert and Barbieri.  It's available on podcast at knbr.com if you wanna listen.

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