It's Just Talk

I logged into Magowan's chat yesterday, although I really didn't have the time to participate as I would have liked. I kept trying to form a coherent question to a difficult concept without being a jerk, which I found was quite difficult to do. Eventually I submitted another question that I could frame courteously, but it never got to Magowan. Not that I expected it to.

My submitted question: I assume the Giants, like other successful organizations, occasionally review past decisions. What mistakes do you think the Giants made the past few years? Seems a fair question to me. The question I couldn't spit out: The Giants often make a big issue about the size of Barry Bonds' contract, but isn't signing him to a big deal and then crying poor a bit of a half-measure? Doesn't signing him for big money indicate a commitment to spend a bit more to fill the lineup around him? To put it in poker terms, aren't you pot-committed with that contract?

None of that came up, of course. I didn't expect to see any earth-shaking comments from Magowan in the chat. He did manage to get some variation of "we still haven't won the World Series" in there at least four times. And I can't ever recall hearing a team make "defense" an offseason priority. I wasn't wowed by Magowan, but I didn't come away especially angry (I think El Lefty is taking care of that).

I am concerned, however, with what appears to be a "let it ride" attitude with the offense. The Giants obviously have some strategy, but I would like to see some recognition that some very strange things happened that aren't likely to happen again. Like Barry playing 147 games. Or J.T. Snow doing a Donnie Baseball imitation. Or a Tampa Bay reject hitting .292 and driving in 55.

Comments

[El Lefty]

I used to be very pot-committed, but I've cut way back in recent years.

[GiantJim]

Very funny, Lefty.

Now that the dust has settled on the 2004 regular season, it turns out that the "park formerly known as Pac Bell" played like a hitter's park and the not the severe hitter's park of the past. There were 10% more runs scored at Giant home games than in Giant road games. Which means that Giants ofensive stats are actualy INFLATED and not DEFLATED.

Baseball Reference has reflected this in their OPS+ which is adjusted for ballparks. 100 is major league average. 2004 Giants:

Bonds.....250
Snow......144
Durham....115
Mohr......113
Feliz......98
Grissom....95
Tucker.....95
Alfonzo....93
Cruz.......90
AJ.........85
Yorvitt....79
Neifi......61

This means that Grissom, Feliz, Tucker, Alfonzo, Cruz, AJ, Yorvitt and (no surpires) Neifi were below average hitters, which to the layman was what it looked like. The only regular who played a lot, besides Bonds, whos was above average, was Durham.

Earth to Magowen and Sabean. The Giants do not have an excellent offense. They have Barry Bonds and a lousy offense.

[crionna]

To put it in poker terms, aren't you pot-committed with that contract?

I think Magowan's proving that he's just trying to hang around without going to the ATM until someone else'll pay him for his seat.

[kintetsu]

Hi Marty. I totally agree that the Giants are liable to make a mistake by expecting too much out of the lineup and fail to make necessary upgrades. We'll know more after the decision on Grissom. If they bring him back, it should be as a 300-at bat guy. He was even better when he platooned with Dave Roberts in LA.

Also, I wonder if Felipe will review the way he uses pitchers. Magowan said in his chat that the bullpen got worn out partially because of their workload in the first half. Without looking at the numbers, I believe this was only partially due to lackluster starting pitching. It also was due to the Giants being in so many close games, and Felipe making (what I considered) many unnecessary walks to the mound.

One other comment before this post turns into a novel: Don't give up on Matt Herges. When the guy has some degree of rest, he's an outstanding pitcher. Gets great cut and sink on his fastball. Even in the Saturday meltdown at LA, he made some great pitches to Werth. Even the pitch Werth singled on was a good one. It's very, very tough to second-guess Felipe on bringing in Hermanson on a fifth day, but the second it was evident he was throwing flat stuff, Herges should have been in that game.

[Rick in DC]

I don't understand how Magowan can complain about Bonds' salary. He makes $18m in 2004, according to USA today. That places him 5th, behind Ramirez, A-rod, Delgado and Jeter. The remainder of the top 10 are Martinez, Mo Vaughn, Piazza, Shawn Green, and Bagwell. None of those players, with the possible exception of Ramirez are even mentioned for MVP. Does anyone believe that Barry will stop dominating the game in 2005? Compared to Manny at 22.5 and A-rod at 22, the 18 for Barry seems pretty good.