We've said it all season. If you score four runs for Barry Zito, he will get you a win.
That is unless, of course, he gives up 8. Actually, Zito pitched well on Tuesday. But I can't get over the fact that he's throwing 86 mph fastballs (tops). It's like we signed Jamie Moyer to the richest contract in baseball for a pitcher. Or Woody.
Regardless, it was good to see the Giants win a game. They need to find a way to get Fred Lewis into the lineup. And I realize that's the 100th time I've said that. His swipe of second in the eighth was a pretty big play and his mere presence brings excitement into the game.
It's tradin' time.
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Dear "Lunatic Fringe,"
This is Brian Sabean. I am tired of your relentless criticism over the past several months. As a result, I am writing this response to continued blog posts. Imagine, a whole blog designed solely to criticize me.
There is this notion among some misguided fans (like those who read this site) and writers that I have not made any good moves since the 2002 World Series. In fact I have made several excellent decisions. I will highlight a few examples.
After the 2002 season I decided that Jeff Kent was washed up. Additionally, he was really starting to get under poor Barry's skin. We let him go and were able to sign Edgardo Alfonso and Ray Durham. I knew I could depend on Ray to play and produce day in and day out. Although many said that Alfonso had lost something, I felt that given an opportunity to play in a hitter's park like PacBell (as it was called then) would really help him.
I also traded Russ Ortiz for Damien Moss and Valdez. This was a very good trade for us. While Russ had come up in our farm system, Moss had the great opportunity to come up in the Braves farm system and everyone knew their farm system was much better than ours. Plus, I really like the Australian food, Vegemix, and knew I could share it with Moss since he was from Australia. During the 2003 year I traded for Sydney Ponson. I knew he had a reputation of liking to party and eating too much. However, I thought that in SF, he would finally little opportunity to engage in those two vices.
Prior to the 2004 season I made several excellent decisions. First, I received much unwarranted criticism from the fans about our decision not to pursue Vlad Guerrero. I got so angry that I even called them the lunatic fringe. However, two things they were not able to consider. First, I had knowledge that Vlad for some reason refused to take Steroids or HGH. As such, there is no guarantee that he will be able to produce like Barry Bonds was able to until his late 30s, early 40s. Second, I had to worry about the payroll. If I had signed Vlad I would not have been able to afford signing guys like Armando Benitez and Barry Zito to huge contracts in the upcoming years.
Plus, at that time (prior to the 2004 season) I was able to sign several excellent free agents like Michael Tucker, Dustan Mohr, Jeffrey Hammonds and Brett Tomko. These guys were definitely worth giving up our future draft choices for.
Prior to this season, I traded two pitching prospects Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser, plus Joe Nathan, who had prior arm problems for a proven all-star catcher in AJ Pierzynski. I was most happy about adding a veteran player like AJ to help out in the locker room.
Just writing this brings back so many good memories of my ability to outsmart other GMs. For example, last year I picked up a good, proven big league hitter named Shea Hillebrand for another pitching prospect named Jeremy Accardo. Although I thought that Jeremy had the ability to someday become a very good closer, we already had Armando Benitez, a proven commodity, to fill that position.
A couple of years ago, I signed Randy Winn to a lucrative deal after he became a free agent. I had been looking for another Marvin Bernard / Armando Rios type and he really fit the bill. Imagine if I had signed Vlad, we could have never affored to resign Randy.
Finally, this year, we were able to sign Barry Zito. He cost a lot, but it is invaluable to have a Jim Barr, Kirk Reuter type pitcher in the rotation to eat up innings. Yes, his ERA is up near 5.00, but I anticipate it getting back to just above 4.00 before the end of the year. Just think, we are only paying him about a litle over a million dollars for every two starts which he makes
Finally, the Gianst were able to resign Barry Bonds. I know we paid him a lot of money, but his agent told me that there were a lot of other teams bidding on him, so I knew that we had to pay to get him. Yes, he is really getting old and it probably does not help the team long term. But, just think of all the money the fans are giving us to see him break the record.
Despite repeated slams, our farm system has produced some excellent position players in the past 15 years like Todd Linden, Lance Niekro, Pedro Feliz, etc.
Finally, some good news for you fans. The Mets released Julio Franco, a proven hitter, and we anticipate signing him shortly.
Take care, GM Brian Sabean
way to build on the momentum. Today's game was sweet
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