Posts tagged BrianSabean at FanHouse

If you are failing to thrash Barry Zito when he faces you on the mound, you should feel ashamed. If you are getting absolutely dealt on by Zito, well, life's not good for you. The Dodgers got toasted by Barry on Saturday, in what was his best start of the 2008 season.

The Giants snapped the Dodgers' four-game winning streak and moved four games back of National League West-leading Arizona. The bigger story line, however, seemingly always is the fate of the $126 million man.

Zito was as aggressive in the strike zone as he has been all season, pouring in 73 strikes in 109 pitches, hitting a season-best 89 mph on the radar gun and locating a late-breaking slider throughout. After a first-inning hiccup that had the fans booing, he was dominant from the second to sixth innings, facing the minimum, allowing only one hit - which he erased with a pickoff - and striking out eight.

"Sometimes you want to make the fans happy, but you can't want it too much or you'll start pressing," Zito said. "You just have to let things happen, be yourself out there and not try to be anything more."

Zito went seven innings, striking out ten Dodgers as the Giants picked up the win. Is Zito back? I doubt it. I really do. But the game log is kind of looking up, no? Sure, he got smacked around by the Cubs but his start against the Indians (one earned, no walks) looked similar to the Dodgers outing.

I understand that temperatures were at record highs this weekend. So, taking some time off of work or finding the shade was a good thing for everyone. But that doesn't make the Giants needing time off to rest their old bones any less humorous.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy will likely give some of his veterans a rest for Sunday's afternoon game with the Nationals since Washington's extreme heat and humidity will be a factor.

[...]Bochy said it's likely that Omar Vizquel and Ray Durham will sit while Burriss and Travis Denker should get a shot at starting while the older guys take a break.

By all means, sit them down. The last thing we need is someone collapsing on the lawn at AT&T. Still, when you consider Brian Sabean's penchant for inking veterans, it becomes pretty hysterical that his team has to sit several players because it's too hot for baseball. Which is played every year ... in the summer.

(Karmic aside: I should probably mention that the air conditioner just broke in my office. But you're still old, Giants.)

Brian Sabean, ever tactful, made an error in judgment following this year's MLB draft by pointing out that Bengie Molina, enjoying one of his best offensive seasons for the surprisingly not terrible San Francisco Giants, was on his way out. Or at least he used a statement about sunsets that reflected on Molina's contract status and made the catcher upset.

Sabean said that [Buster] Posey 'is on the fast track and Bengie's clock is winding down.' On Friday, Sabean clarified he was referring to the end of Bengie Molina's contract after 2009 and the uncertainty of the free-agent market, not on Molina's career. Still, Molina did not like to hear that.

'I respect whoever they pick,' said Molina, who turns 34 next month. 'I understand they don't have too much catching down in the system. I'm not upset or anything like that. The only thing that really hurt my feelings was when he said my clock was running down.

'It hurt my feelings because I came here to work hard every single day. I give them everything I have. I've got to talk to him first and see what he meant before I say anything else. I'd like to know, because if I'm not in their plans for the future, then what am I doing here?'

To say that something like this out of Giants camp, and stemming from Sabean's mouth, is surprising would be a lie. Particularly when you consider his obsession/affinity with veterans and how poorly Posey really fits into his long term gameplan for the Giants organization.

You know, because of his upside and potential and everything.

We've long known that Brian Sabean subscribes to the theory that you can't trust anyone under 30 but it's a bit disheartening to see that his views are coloring the local scribes as well. The San Francisco Giants, scuffling along at 20-31 today, refuse to play anyone with a future that might include the next decent team by the bay. That should be something they catch hell for but, alas, it's not to be.

Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle thinks that he's discovered a conundrum at play with the Giants roster. It centers on the continued existence of Randy Winn, Ray Durham and Rich Aurilla in the everyday lineup.
I'll bite. Because they aren't playing all that well.

Schulman uses their May numbers to "prove" his point but when you take both months of the season into account, it's not looking quite so smart. Winn has the highest OPS at 773 and gets on base at a good clip which is okay unless you're a corner outfielder who should provide power as well. He'd be a much more defensible choice if the Giants didn't have Nate Schierholtz slugging .503 in AAA.

Peter Magowan expectedly announced his retirement following the 2008 season and the Giants have already decided on the man that will replace him, William Neukom.

Mr. Neukom is kind of a baller. Besides formerly being the top dog attorney with this little Microsoft company until he retired in 2001, with $107 million worth of stock, he is currently serving as the president of the American Bar Association.

Neukom's toughest task, of course, besides figuring out how to get rid of Barry Zito without eating his entire contract, will be deciding how much it takes to buy out whether to retain Brian Sabean.

Magowan answered some questions from the Chron -- which is a pretty funny read by itself, just for the Zito quote -- that shed some light on how Neukom feels about Sabean.

'He's certainly safe as far as I'm concerned. (New managing general partner) Bill (Neukom) has said he's got confidence in Brian. You can't say anybody's got a guaranteed job. I never had a guaranteed job. I've never operated my entire life with a contract. I hadn't had one in 16 years. Brian has one that has another year to go. People who are the bosses are free to do as they see fit.'

See, to me, that's nothing more than a classic "vote of confidence". Sabean is Magowan's guy, so there's little chance he would ever actually lob him under moving wheels. But at the same time he has to know that the moves the Giants have made recently, and their inability to succeed, falls squarely on Sabean's inability to either a) put a team around Barry Bonds or b) recognize the need to rebuild (or alternately, understand reality).

He's losing his mind. And I'm reaping the benefits.

If Brian Sabean isn't the worst GM in baseball, he's close. The Goog has made its spidery thoughts very clear on the matter. I'm not sure if "delusional" is also something you'd use to refer to Sabean; "worst GM" is probably enough. No reason to pile on. But If Sabo keeps saying things like he did today, people are going to start to wonder:

Sabean sees a San Francisco team that can contend. Not in two seasons, not next season, but in 2008. "As long as we've got a chance to stay in and around third place, why not?" Sabean said as he stood along the dugout rail and watched his players take batting practice. "Why wouldn't you want to think that way? These guys think that way. I don't think we're going to lose as many games as we did last year. If anything, we're going to be a second-half team."

Two possibilities here: Sabean doesn't actually believe this, and he's just saying it to keep fans happy and keep his job through a pretty ugly rebuilding situation. Every GM has to do it sometimes. Either that, or he actually believes what he's saying. I think we all know which scenario is more horrifying.

Rumors have been filtering out of the Bay Area that Giants managing partner Peter Magowan would be retiring potentially as soon as this year, but it appears it may be more imminent than that; the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Giants have called a special meeting on Friday. The likely outcome of this meeting would be the purchase of Magowan's shares, and him subsequently stepping down from his role as managing partner of the ballclub.

Sources tell us the real topic is the 66-year-old Magowan's planned retirement, which could lead to his ownership shares - estimated to be worth well over $70 million - being offered to fellow partners. The team overall is valued in excess of $500 million.

There was no immediate word on who might succeed Magowan, but the job is expected to go to someone already connected to the ownership group. The names mentioned most frequently are the team's general partner, former Microsoft general counsel William Neukom, and principal partner and business investor John Scully.

Now, it's possible that all of this is speculation. But it's more likely that Magowan is seeking to move on. He's 66, the Giants are in mid-life crisis in terms of which direction to take the franchise, and his second biggest signature signing, Barry Zito, is getting rave reviews when he eeks out a quality start and no decision after starting 0-7.

The other point worth noting is that Magowan recently gave General Manager Brian Sabean a contract extension; whether the new managing partner is willing to honor that or not remains to be seen. As the Chron notes, it is unlikely that whoever takes over as the face of the partnership conglomerate will be as vocal about their opinions on how to run the team. That does not mean they won't put someone they trust in charge though.

You and I have something in common with Barry Zito. We all have the exact same number of wins as professional baseball pitchers in the month of April. No, I don't have any either. Relax.

Dollar for dollar, it's hard to fathom that any pitcher in professional baseball could be worse. And Zito knows this. Which is how he ended up in front of his locker apologizing to the freaking media following the latest shellacking that dropped him to 0-6. This was followed by a principal-office-visit-like trip to Bruce Bochy's office.

'Obviously, I'm hurting the team right now,' Zito said. 'I just have to keep grinding and fighting. For me this is an opportunity to stick it out and toe the line.'

Bochy called his pitcher into his office after the game to notify him that he may be sent to the bullpen or have his next start skipped.

Degrading? Absolutely. But better than having to visit the minors. Really, the best thing the team could do though, is just have the guy fake an injury. Send him in for fake surgery if you have to. But the Giants -- who have a pretty nice, young rotation outside of Barry -- need to get him out of the public's eye.

San Francisco is only at 11-15, but that's better or equal to five other National League teams, which, sadly, is an improvement from our preseason projections. But when Zito takes the mound and gets knocked around, which is to say every time he takes the mound, Giants fans aren't reminded of the young talented group that could make up a decent rotation in the future. They're reminded of Brian Sabean's incompetence. And it's not it will cost them any wins.

Fantasy Spin: Please don't own Zito. Much less start him.

From the San Francisco Chronicle comes the news that Brian Sabean and the Giants are looking to acquire a left handed hitting first baseman. Teams that happen to have a left handed hitting first baseman that's expendable may now commence drooling at the prospect of trading with Giants GM, who made a name for himself by giving up way too much for not enough.

Anywho, two of the names mentioned in the Chrons article were Nick Johnson and Scott Thorman. Johnson, at this point, is probably not going anywhere, simply based on the fact that he beat out Dmitri Young for the Nats' starting job. I mean sure, he's tradeable, and not to take the fantasy baseball angle here, but when a guy who can't stay on the field finally looks healthy and someone starts sniffing around, I'd probably move him. But again, real life and whatnot.

Thorman, however, is imminently movable. In fact, Frank Wren had mentioned some early season trades and there were rumors aplenty that Thorman might be one of the guys moved. So maybe something between Wren and Sabean will happen in the near future.

"Huhllo?"

"Brian, heeeey, it's Frank. What's going on, buddy?"

"Nothing."

"Well, look, I've just got too many darn good left handed, power slugging, All Star potential ridden first baseman this year."

"Go on."

"Well, I was taking at look at that Cain kid you guys have out ..."

"Deal."