So predictable, we even predicted it

Just by reading the web address for The Lunatic Fringe, you know my feelings about Brian Sabean. Yes, he made a couple of pretty good moves during his early years (Jeff Kent, Roberto Hernandez, J.T. Snow, to name three), but over the last four years he's traded away too much young talent while spending bajillions of dollars on free agents that are way too friggin' old.

Anyway, here's Sabean's comments yesterday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle:

"There are two glaring things we need to do better. We need to score more runs on the average and we need to win more close games. We've had a hard time doing both consistently."

Translation? It's a weak lineup and a bullpen that leaks more oil than my first car - the one that DMo ran into in our high school parking lot.

The thing is that Sabean is confirming exactly what all the experts and pseudo-experts (a pseudospert, if you will) said before the season, which is that this team's starting pitching will be fine (it is), but the offense and bullpen will be weaknesses (it is). So, why is Sabean just figuring this out now?

More from Sabean:

"We're obviously still a work in progress, but so are 22 teams in the big-leagues," he said. "If you look at the standings there are only eight teams that are playing what I would say is pretty good baseball. After that, everybody is in and around .500 trying to find an identity."

In my job, we call that "attempt to justify your poor performance." It's an "but everybody is doing it" excuse that is pretty weak.

But wait, there's more (discussing Zito):

"He's had five good starts and four bad ones, including last night," Sabean said. "His first two weren't very good and his last two weren't very good. It is a small sample size. As long as he's confident, we're confident. He's got a track record of turning things around."

Small sample size? 1/3 of the season is a small sample size? Oh, I forgot about the Sabean "Track Record" Special. He uses that phrase more than anybody I know. You know who else has a track record? Pedro Feliz. With that in mind, why the hell does he still play every day?

Other players with track records: Marquis Grissom, Michael Tucker, Woody Rueter, Livan Hernandez, Rich Aurilia, Jim Brower, Steve Kline, Armando Benitez and the immortal Tsuyoshi Shinjo.

The guys over at Giants Cove talked about all the young pitchers Sabean has traded away in recent years. You know who is turning into a light's-out closer? Jeremy Accardo. Yeah, the guy we traded for three months of the Shea Hillenbrand experience.

Accardo's stats: 18 innings, 0.00 ERA, 9 hits, 5 walks, 19 K's. 3 for 3 in saves.

The Giants have a ton of early picks coming up in the draft on June 7, including six of the top 51 (10, 22, 29, 32, 43, 51). Sabean hasn't produced a position player from the draft in his tenure, so it will be interesting to see how all of these picks shake out. More on the draft and Sabean's Track Record coming soon.

About Saturday night at the yard:

• Have I been in a cave, or did Matt Cain unleash a new pitch (a curveball from hell) on Saturday night? If he can incorporate that hook regularly (it was coming in at 73 mph) along with his fastball and change, the kid can be pretty good. Clearly he's been spending some time with Matt Morris and his curveballapalooza act.
• This offense is beyond pathetic. While we need another bat, somebody needs to tell Sabean not to trade away any of their young pitchers for somebody like, say, Craig Wilson. Resist the temptation, Sabean. For God's sake, resist it.