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Official 2007 MLB Season Thread
- Thread starter Teh Don Ditty
- Start date
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Now, if the Giants could swing a trade for another legit hitter, they may really be in this race. You folks in Atlanta want to give up Andruw?
The time is right to trade Noah Lowry for a good bat. His value will never be higher, and I think his long term future is more or less Kirk Rueter: capable of winning games and a good guy to have in the rotation, but not a dominant pitcher.
That will also free up a rotation spot for Tim Lincecum, who's spinning his wheels at AAA with something like a 0.40 ERA and some seriously gaudy strikeout numbers. Now that's a mind-blowing pitching prospect...
Another bat is really, really needed, as teams are once again figuring out that it's best to pitch around Bonds. I thought he'd have a better year this year, but not quite this good...
I'd rather they trade Morris than Lowry, but depending on who they get back I'd be ok with such a trade. Sure be sorry to see Noah go though.
Timmy looks great and he's going to force the Giants to move sooner than later. You can't just keep him down in Fresno with those kinds of numbers. In a notoriously hitter friendly league he is now 4-0 with a 0.29 ERA. He also has 46 Ks to 11 BBs in 31 innings pitched. Lincecum looks to be a star in waiting.
Both McCann and Pena got hurt last night- jeez! We called up our top prospect catcher Jarrod Saltamacchia but they're waiting to activate him till after (or during) batting practice. This should be good.
Have been pretty avid in my Lincecum watch and he does seem to be the real deal. Have to imagine he'd come up something Santana like -- start working in the bullpen, then force his way into the rotation. Wouldn't be surprised to see Morris or Lowry get moved before the deadline, assuming the rest of the rotatoin stays healthy.
Was really surprised by Hughes last night -- who really hasn't been that great in AAA (everything I've read and heard about Hughes led me to believe he was another one of "those" Yankee prospects -- one that everyone says great things about and turns out to be nothing). Granted, Texas is god-awful, but that was a heck of a game he pitched last night.
We're in an era of good young pitching -- Harden, Liriano -- perhaps Hughes and Lincecum.
Would be curious to know if anyone roundabout Fresno has seen Lincecum pitch?
Was really surprised by Hughes last night -- who really hasn't been that great in AAA (everything I've read and heard about Hughes led me to believe he was another one of "those" Yankee prospects -- one that everyone says great things about and turns out to be nothing). Granted, Texas is god-awful, but that was a heck of a game he pitched last night.
We're in an era of good young pitching -- Harden, Liriano -- perhaps Hughes and Lincecum.
Would be curious to know if anyone roundabout Fresno has seen Lincecum pitch?
Those are great numbers to be sure, but as we know, funny things can happen to pitchers between A-ball and the majors. We've seen quite a few sure-things fold like the proverbial tent, or take several years of up and down between the minors and majors, and in and out of the bullpen, to adjust. The only point being, it's always risky to throw over a veteran starter for a rookie, no matter how good they look.
sorry i didn't tell you this last week, but i filled out two ballots so far for the all star game and will fill out more soon. i filled out the first on the first day of balloting on april 24th at the ballpark. alot of fun at that game.
also, salty is making his big debut tonight.
also, salty is making his big debut tonight.
redman was put on the dl, toe problem. perhaps that was his last start in a braves uniform (i hope so, that was terrible).
Hmm.... if he has a legitimate toe injury (which I think they probably falsified it to get rid of him) then that would effect his release point- thus causing the problems we have seen.)
Hey- why isn't ESPN showing this?
Ah- that makes sense. I was watching it on FSN but I wanted to hear the crap the ESPN commentators had to say.
Oh, that makes sense, all is clear now.
not much. they kept making fun of salty's name and berman was in the booth (ugh). i would have preferred boog instead of the espn garbage. but it's better than nothing.
The same is true for AAA, which is where Lincecum is current mowing 'em down.
And I too would rather trade Matt Morris, but who'll take him with his fat contract and obviously diminished fastball?
At least he's not on the DL like Jason Schmidt...
DL happens. In Schmidt's case it would be nice to know why, at least. In the meantime the Dodgers are getting quality work from Tomko and Erickson, so it's not hurting. When the Dodgers get Schmidt back and the top of the order starts producing, we're really going to see what this team can do.
As for minor league pitchers, I'm not predicting any melt-downs, but we've all seen what can happen when a top prospect is advanced too quickly. The Dodgers spent the better part of last season trying to break Chad Billingsley into the majors, and he was mowing them down pretty good in the minors too.
From what I read the Giants don't want to move him to the bullpen. They'd rather he stayed in AAA and got the innings under his belt. The only way he comes up is with an injury to a starter or a trade of a starter. Trouble is, because it's still so early in the season, no one wants to move a middle of the order type guy. I wouldn't mind seeing Morris go in such a trade, but if it's going to be Lowry it had better be a top notch prospect or established player.
I agree, but Lincecum looks to be the exception to the rule. I don't know what else he has to prove in AAA.
Is Schmidt coming back this season? I read a rumor he might be done for the year with surgery coming soon. If he's not coming back, I think you'll see the difference between him and his replacement pretty quick.
IJ, I know Billingsley is a great young talent, but I've got to tell you, what Lincecum is doing in his accelerated minor league career is truly amazing. It's just domination at every level he's been at since they drafted him last year. I'm excited to think of Cain, Zito, and Lincecum in the rotation for years to come.
You'da prefered BOOG?! Wow- I know they were bad then!
In other news: Langy got himself traded AGAIN! Poor guy- I hope he's able to settle down this time.
btw, saltalamacchia (yes, that's spelled correctly, i spent last night trying to spell it correctly), went 0-2 with a walk and a hbp. too bad.
yeah but he had a couple of well hit balls, the first at bat he hit that warning track one straight to center, and his third at bat he had a liner that curved foul right at the last moment.
Btw- I spent a few minutes learning it last night too, I broke it down.... salt-ala-macchia to help myself out.
And Hendrickson has pitched surprisingly well too (1 run in 6+ innings last night). We're really not in a position to complain. Give his psychologist/guru/hypnotist a bonus.
What really bothered me about the Schmidt thing is it started with the same kind of thing that felled Gagne the last couple years. Tells the media that he's fine, in no pain, even though something's clearly off. Then he goes on the DL and it's "oh, I've been sore for a while". Why lie about it? It just makes it harder to treat these things, especially with pitchers.
Right now, no one seems to know how serious Schmidt's injury is. It also fits with my nagging fear that the Giants let him go so easily because they knew he didn't have much left.
Take a deep breath, Sayhey. I know it's exciting to finally have some good prospects again, but they're still just prospects. And even when they pan out....well let's just say that five straight ROYs in the '90s didn't win us any playoff series.
Thus fitting in perfectly with his established pattern up north. We had gotten used to it up here. I don't know that the Giants thought he had much left or not, but based on what they got out of him the past few years, they decided it wasn't worth the money (and then they promptly dropped wheelbarrows of dough on Zito).
In the end, Schmidt's career as a Giant was a disappointment to me. He did a lot of great things and had a few very dominating stretches where he was probably the best starter in all of baseball, but had maddening bouts of inconsistency and injuries. Those 20 win seasons and Cy Young awards were not to be.
I don't know, I have to say that Matt Cain is working out really nicely, thanks. And I'm very satisfied with how Noah Lowry developed, though I don't think there's much more upside there (I keep thinking "Kirk Rueter" with him). You'll see us get really excited if the Giants ever develop another good hitter again...
I've seen plenty of good/great prospects come and go over the past 25 years, but Lincecum is off the charts. Still doesn't mean he's a guaranteed All-Star or anything, of course.
What we Giants' fans knew (can't speak for the Giants organization obviously) was that Schmidt has a history of nagging injuries. Those injuries seemed to rob him of 3 to 4 miles off his best fastball, but as long as he was healthy his combination of 93-95 mph heat and excellent change made him a top of the rotation pitcher. When he had control of his curve as well, he was near unhittable. What you guys may have gotten is another Kevin Brown. If you can keep him healthy he will help.
I'll start my Lamaze classes right away.
But my finely tuned insult detector thinks you might be taking a shot at the Giants' farm system? Actually we've had lots of pitching prospects over the last decade or so, most of who are gone in trades, but few position players coming out of the minors. That's not terribly surprising as the Giants have been drafting pitchers with their high picks for a very long time. If Lincecum takes over for Morris, the Giants will have 4/5 ths of the rotation coming from their own ranks, and much of the bullpen is homegrown (Sanchez, Taschner, Hennessey, and Correia.) With Lowe, Schmidt, Penny, Wolf, and Tomko as your starting rotation, I don't see any home grown talent until you get to the pen. There you at least have Billingsley and Broxton, who are good arms signed and developed out of the Dodgers' system.
I'd just as soon not compare the two farm systems regarding position players.
This article is about a week old but it's still kind of infuriating. It doesn't even mention Kelly Johnson amongst the top leadoff men. He has the sixth (fifth if you don't count Saltalamacchia and his 4 AB's) highest on base percentage in the NL (above all the mentioned leadoff men); the second highest run scored in the NL (behind Jose Reyes); and the third most walks. (I wish there was a stat that showed average pitches per AB) Yet he got no mention?
While he sits in the shadow of Reye's (undoubtedly the best leadoff man out there) he should have at least been in the top nine list.
While he sits in the shadow of Reye's (undoubtedly the best leadoff man out there) he should have at least been in the top nine list.
I don't have that much to add to the prospects debate, except the observation that many great position players made little impact until they were promoted to the majors, and that effectiveness in the minors is at best a mediocre indicator of success. Baseball is at least 50% a head game. A lot of guys with the physical tools just don't have the psychological makeup to deal with the expectations and pressures of playing in the bigs. Until they arrive, determining whether they've got the mentality for the game is pretty much a guess.