Buster Posey is the Giants

By Kalen Patrick

Today the San Francisco Giants gave Buster Posey a HUGE extension, 9 years for $167 Million with a team option for a 10th season. While many will question the amount and the length of the contract I think it is a great move by the Giants. Locking up one of the best young players in Baseball is never a bad move for any team. Despite the big numbers I think the Giants actually got a very good "deal" here, the most comparable player and contract would be Joe Mauer from the Minnesota Twins who got an 8 year $186 million deal. Not only do I think Buster Posey is a better player than Joe Mauer but I think he will remain much more healthy and reliable.

BUSTER POSEY WILL BE WEARING BLACK AND ORANGE FOR A LONG TIME

Lets take a look at Buster Posey's career so far, Rookie of the Year in 2010 and won the World Series, having a great 2011 season until the injury from the home plate collision. 2012 Buster Posey won the National League MVP, won the NL batting title, won the World Series. In terms of individual achievements Posey has won just about everything besides for Gold glove and St. Louis Cardinals Yadier Molina just about has that reward locked up every year for his superb ability behind the plate.

Buster Posey clearly is the future of the Giants along with Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner. These will be the 3 keys guys the Giants will have going forward. I really wish I could put Pablo Sandoval on that list but he has yet to prove he can play a full season consistently and of course his weight issues are always a concern. Posey is a franchise player that any team would be lucky to build around and the Giants did right by him and the team by making sure he won't go any where.

SF Giants - Offseason

By Kalen Patrick

The San Francisco Giants won their 2nd championship in 3 years, this may have been the most unlikely championship in recent years in any sport. Think about everything that happened, Tim Lincecum (the Giants ace) had a terrible year, Brian Wilson (All-Star closer) done for the season, Melky Cabrera was hitting out of his mind and got busted for PED's and suspended for most of the 2nd half of the season. All of that and I haven't even mentioned that the Giants were down 0-2 in the NLDS Series to the Reds, down 1-3 against the Cardinals in the NLCS. That is hardly the recipe for a Championship, but then again a lot of things went very right for the Giants too.

The Giants approach this offseason has been to hang on to the guys who got the team this years championship, re-signing Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro were key for the Giants as both are expected to bat 1 and 2 in the Giants order and key reliever Jeremy Affeldt. The Giants proved all year long that they can use (and win) with a Closer by committee and make it work. Hence, the Giants not reaching to sign Brian Wilson to big money.

GIANTS WANT AND EXPECT BETTER ON-FIELD PRODUCTION FROM HUNTER PENCE

Quite honestly I really can't fault the Giants or critique their approach too much. The Giants are not the Dodgers or Yankees where they can have endless money, so we have to keep that in mind. I think the Giants are banking on improvement's from many of their own players, as opposed to going out and signing a bunch of over priced players. Guys like Hunter Pence really stand out to me as one of those guys, while Hunter was definitely a key locker room presence, I feel he is due to play a much bigger role in terms of his production on the field this season. The Giants got a Hunter Pence who in 59 games hit .219 Average, .287 OBP and didn't hit for much power either. Expect a big turn around season for Pence and the Giants are certainly hoping for it.

Another key guy the Giants are banking on is World Series MVP Pablo Sandoval. The biggest question mark surrounding Pablo is his weight, Giants skipper Bruce Bochy has publicly announced the importance of this even after the World Series Victory. A healthy and fit Pablo Sandoval can be one of the most lethal hitters in baseball and a key cog for the Giants in continued success going forward. Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford are two other guys the Giants definitely want to see improve at the plate. I don't expect either to become world class hitters but I know the Giants are thinking they can take the next step and contribute to more success.

I really think the Giants are making the best decision in "keeping quiet" in free agency, keep the team together and develop and progress to be even more formidable. When was the last time the Yankees won the World Series? What happened to the Dodgers when they took on $250+ million in contracts when they traded with the Boston Red Sox? Money and big contracts don't mean wins and championships. With the recent success of the Giants, I think we all know we are in good hands and can expect to be competitive.

Over and Out.

San Francisco Giants Race to the Playoffs

By Kalen Patrick

We are entering the final stretch run leading up to the 2012 Playoffs and just as expected there is a close race between the rival San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. As of today, the Giants hold a major advantage, as they own a 5 game lead over the Dodgers with each team having 20 games left to play. I'm a big Giants fan and the last thing I would ever want to do is jinx my team but I find it very hard to imagine a scenario where the Giants don't win the division. Lets take a look at some of the reasons why.

If the Giants play .500 ball and go 10-10,the Dodgers would have to go 16-4 over their final 21 games in order to just draw even. Now don't get me wrong, crazier things have happened (just ask the New York Mets), but the Dodgers (even with all of their additions) have showed me almost nothing to prove they can play at the level they will need to. Adrian Gonzalez really hasn't been the force in the lineup that the Dodgers had expected, Matt Kemp is battling injuries, Eithier, Victorino and Ellis have not been difference makers. The Dodgers Ace Clayton Kershaw is an absolute beast, but after him, they have to send out pitchers who have been overachieving all season (Capuano and Harang) along with Josh Beckett and Joe Blanton. Just looking at the roster, I don't see a team that can go 16-4 when you factor in the teams the Dodgers will be facing.

THE GIANTS - DODGERS RIVALRY IS ALIVE AND WELL IN 2012

The Dodgers remaining schedule is significantly more difficult than the Giants. The Dodgers have a 4 game series vs the St. Louis Cardinals, then go on the road to take on the Washington Nationals and Cincinnati Reds, who own the NL's best and 2nd best records respectively. The rest of the Dodgers games are within the NL West. In comparison, the rest of the Giants schedule is against NL West opponents.

The Giants are going to need some major improvements from certain players if they want to not only wrap up the NL West but make some noise in the playoffs too. The Starting Pitching must improve significantly, Vogelsong has been getting shelled lately, Zito is someone you can't count on for a strong performance, Lincecum has rebounded to have a very steady 2nd half of the season. Most importantly both Bumgarner and Cain have to be better, even in tonight's game for example, Bumgarner's line was 4.1 Innings with 5 ER allowed. Not good enough. Secretly the Giants offense has been carrying the load due to the struggling pitching staff.

BUSTER POSEY IS MAKING A STRONG CASE FOR NL MVP

On offense, surprisingly its been Pablo Sandoval and Hunter Pence who have been struggling. Sandoval's season average has plummeted to .276, while Pence is hitting a measly .260. Pence, as of late, has at least shown some power but Sandoval has been a disaster since coming back from injury in Mid-August. He has only 2 extra base hits, no HR's (last HR on July 8th) Batting around .230, Slugging .275, On Base % around .295 in that time. These are garbage numbers for your supposed number 3 hitter. Can't consistently win when your 3 and 5 hitters are not performing up to expectations.

On a positive note, Posey has been playing at an MVP caliber, Pagan and Scutaro are making Brian Sabean look really good, Joaquin Arias and Brandon Crawford get timely hits and last but not least Belt has been very good, in his last 10 games he has 2 HR and 12 RBI, all season has been seeing the ball well with his ability to draw walks leading to a .361 OBP.

If I had to bet, I would put my money on the Giants making the Post Season, I could see them winning the 1st round of the playoffs, but I just can't see the Giants winning the NLCS on top of that. Giants would most likely have to beat the Reds and then the Nationals to get to the World Series and unfortunately I don't see that happening, but then again, once you get in to the playoffs, ANYTHING can happen. That's it.

Over and Out.

Analysis of the Giants Post-Melky

By Kalen Patrick

ANGEL PAGAN - GIANTS CF

I want to piggy back on my last Post which was titled 'We CAN Win Without Melky'. Since the Melky Cabrera suspension the Giants have gone 5-2, including tonight's sweep of the Rival Dodgers. Obviously the biggest concern was going to be if the Giants could keep scoring without Melky's bat, but in the 7 games without him, the Giants have scored 37 runs, an average of 5.3 runs/game.

And where is this offense coming from? Well as I mentioned in my last post you gotta look to the guys who were brought here via trade that didn't come with much notoriety, Marco Scutaro and Angel Pagan. Both have been hitting extremely well of late, Scutaro in 25 games with the Giants has 2 HR 18 RBI and a .337 BA. (If you extrapolated those numbers to equal an entire season, you're talking about 17 HR and 110 RBI, not too shabby.) Pagan has been great lately, especially in the first inning getting hits and helping to give the Giants early leads. He has hit .393 since the loss of Melky, if your leadoff guy is hitting like this then you are in great shape.

The rocks of the lineup have been great as usual, Posey and Sandoval have been knocking in runs like nobodies business. They are doing what they are expected to do which is great. The biggest surprise in my opinion has been Joaquin Arias who has done a great job of stepping up in the absence of Melky. I really can't expect him to keep hitting at this pace but it is great that he has helped carry the load and that's what the Giants needed bad.

JOAQUIN ARIAS - GIANTS 2B/SS/3B

Still the biggest disappointment has been Hunter Pence, his RBI numbers have been solid but besides that he isn't hitting and more importantly isn't hitting for power like the Giants wanted. His Slugging is a pathetic .313 which is lower than Ryan Theriot's who never hits for any kind of power.

The Giants did just Sweep the Dodgers IN LA facing the top end of their rotation and it certainly did seem like the Giants were in total control in this series. The Giants will need much more from Hunter Pence, because there is no way you can count on guys like Marco Scutaro, Angel Pagan and Joaquin Arias to keep hitting like they have. I really do like the Giants chances especially with an improved Tim  Lincecum hitting the mound (4-3 3.11 ERA since the AS Break.)

Over and Out.

The Giants CAN Win Without Melky

By Kalen Patrick

Over the last few days there has been a lot of pessimism and "the season is over!" talk among Giants fans. Heck I was probably one of them when I first heard the news about the Melky Suspension. Now that it has sunk in and we are moving on from it, I still look at this Giants team and I still see a team that can Win and make the playoffs. Before I get in to the lineup, lets talk about the pitching.

The pitching is absolutely playoff caliber, even with the struggles of Tim Lincecum and the usual struggles for Barry Zito.Cain, Bumgarner and Vogelsong have been so good that it limits the damage the other 2 starters are doing. I know I have been saying this all season but if Timmy can pitch the rest of the season at a 3.5-4 ERA for the rest of his starts I will take that. Zito is Zito and if we get a Win when he takes the mound that is a huge positive. Lets not forget the bullpen cause those guys have been doing their jobs for the most part. Led by Romo, Affeldt, Casilla, Mijares and Lopez, it is very solid. Again definitely playoff caliber. Now lets get done to brass tax and talk about the lineup without the MelkMan.

The main guys replacing Melky are gonna be Gregor Blanco and Justin Christian. I have more faith in Blanco considering his amazing defense, and he isn't terrible at the plate either. Christian is still a big question mark in the majors. One of the most underrated trades of the season so far has been the trade the Giants pulled off to get Marco Scutaro. In the 20 games he has played with the Giants his line reads .330 BA .360 OBP 2 HR's and 18 RBI. Now that is production right there. Another great trade that gets forgotten is the one for Angel Pagan too, he has been very solid leading off for the Giants with a .283 BA .333 OBP and considering he usually leads off he solid production with 46 RBI and comes with some power hitting 7 HR's. The way I see the Giants lineup going forward you will have Pagan leading off with Scutaro batting 2nd.

POSEY, BELT AND SANDOVAL - ALL 3 WILL BE KEY FOR THE GIANTS

Then you have the big boys of the lineup. I imagine Bochy will go regularly with Sandoval hitting 3rd, then Posey and then Pence. Both Panda and Posey just gotta keep doing what they are doing and that will be fine with me, I absolutely expect Hunter Pence to get hot soon. He had the big HR to essentially win the game against the Rockies a week ago, but realistically he needs to be better, he needs to be much better with regards to his Power and Average. Hitting only 1 HR in 16 games, batting .211 and his OBP at .250 is unacceptable. I think he can and will improve upon this by leaps and bounds, and the Giants need it in the worst way.

Brandon Belt is a guy who has come on lately, he has an impressive OBP of .361 which isn't bad considering his mid-season struggles. Belt should get better as the season rolls on, Arias, Crawford are OK options at the end of the order. Ultimately the point I'm trying to make is that knowing the Giants pitching being as good as it is and with the lineup having some nice options the Giants CAN win without Melky.

Over and Out.

The NL MVP No One is Talking About

By Kalen Patrick

Outside of San Francisco, Buster Posey has got to be one of the most underrated players not only in the National League but in the Majors. It seems like ESPN thinks it's a three-horse race between the Brewers Ryan Braun, Pirates Andrew McCutchen and the Reds Joey Votto. What the point of my post is to make a definite case for Mr. Posey to belong in that discussion. Remember what MVP stands for: Most Valuable Player. This is not necessarily an award for best player but for the most VALUABLE.

I think immediately where Posey has an advantage of the other candidates is the fact that he plays Catcher. It is incredibly difficult to find a Catcher who can put up the overall great numbers of Buster Posey. In the entire league you only have about 5 catchers who could be considered very good hitters, but when it comes to Outfielders and 1B, those positions are absolutely and always stocked with hitting talent. So now I will delve into the individual arguments between MVP candidates.

Posey vs Votto

1. Posey plays a much more valuable position
2. Posey has more RBI
3. Posey has more HR
4. Posey WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is 4.3 to Votto's 3.8
5. Reds are still winning consistently without Votto, the Giants would be dead without Posey

Posey vs Braun

1. Posey plays a more valuable position
2. Posey WAR is 1.3 above Brauns
3. Braun plays on a team 10 games below .500, without Braun they are maybe 13-14 games below .500? The Brewers are not in contention with or without Braun. The Giants are leading the division with Posey and would not be in contention without Posey, therefore, in my eyes, Posey is a more valuable player.
4. Posey has a higher Batting Average

SF GIANTS CATCHER BUSTER POSEY

When it comes to Posey vs McCutchen, the argument is a lot harder to make, to me Andrew McCutchen is the NL MVP so far in the 2012 season. There are still about 55 games left for most teams, so there is still a lot of time for things to change and the point of my argument is that nationwide Buster Posey's name should be coming up a lot more in the NL MVP discussions. There are arguments to be made for Votto over Posey, or Braun over Posey, but hey, call me biased but I think Posey is number 2 right after McCutchen.

Over and Out.

San Francisco Giants Update

By Kalen Patrick

The Giants are back at it, and for the most part it is all good news, however, there were some early scares surrounding the team. Early on both Tim Lincecum and Ryan Vogelsong reported back pain, that seems to have been more about knocking the rust off as opposed to anything serious. Brian Wilson right now is still a concern and the status on his elbow still seems up in the air. It does appear that he will be more than ready to go when the season starts.

Looking at the hitting side of things, the big concerns were how Buster Posey was gonna look and what kind of shape Pablo Sandoval was would come in at. Again, both appear to be in tip top shape and ready to go. I do agree with Bruce Bochy's approach about Buster Posey avoiding plate collisions if at all possible, probably not worth the risk especially when you consider the serious lack of depth behind Posey at Catcher.

GIANTS WILL BE RELYING HEAVILY ON PABLO AND POSEY FOR OFFENSE

In other notes it appears that Bochy has a good idea of his outfield. Bochy wants Melky Cabrera to play LF, Angel Pagan in Center and for now Nate Schierholtz in RF. This now leaves Question Marks about Brandon Belt and Aubrey Huff, and who will play 1st base. If I know Bochy he will go with the guy who is hot at the time. As the season rolls on and if Huff isn't doing well, I would expect Belt to get a lot of the AB's and Huff to be more of a pinch hitter.

WHATS NEXT: A more in depth preview of the season will be coming shortly and a full report on what to expect from the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. Also keep an eye out for posts on all the other goings on in the world of Sports.

San Francisco Giants - Pathetic

By Kalen Patrick

The San Francisco Giants won their first title in San Francisco not even 1 year ago after 52 years of suffering. You know who suffered too for those 50+ years? The fans. This team ended the suffering when Brian Wilson struck out Nelson Cruz and I have never seen a fan base so happy. Now fast forward to last night (August 30th 2011), the team has been struggling for a month and the fans were booing the team off the field.

A part of me is wondering if the fans are justified in booing the team that still are the defending world champs. However, when a team is struggling mightily against the likes of the Houston Astros and Cubs, that just spells bad news. The Giants often struggle to score more than 2 runs, and while the Giants lineup is far from lethal, they do have some capable hitters.

When you look at Jeff Keppinger, Carlos Beltran, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Belt and Aubrey Huff, all of these guys can hit. And what is funny is they actually are hitting pretty well, Keppinger and Sandoval are hovering at or over .300, Beltran has been hitting over .300 with the Giants, and Belt and Huff both have pop and Belt has been hitting extremely well of late. The problem with the Giants is hitting with RISP (Runners In Scoring Position).

JEFF KEPPINGER HAS BEEN AN EXCELLENT ADDITION, EXPECT HIM TO STICK AROUND

As easy as it is to put all the blame on the hitting, the pitching has been pretty inconsistent too, even with the additions of Beltran and Keppinger, they don't even replace the loss of Posey and Freddy Sanchez. The strength of this team is the pitching and always will be. The losses of Brian Wilson and Sergio Romo certainly don't help, and Vogelsong has come right back down to Earth. To be honest, sometimes it just isn't a teams year, similarly to last year everything going right for the Giants, everything has gone wrong this year.

The future is still very bright for the Giants, young pitching staff, capable hitters, next year the 1st 4 hitters in the lineup should be Keppinger, Sanchez, Sandoval, Posey and possibly they bring back Beltran or sign another bat and with having an improved Brandon Belt. 2010 was the year of the Giants, it may be as simple to say that 2011 is not.

GOOD MEMORIES, SF GIANTS 2010 WORLD CHAMPS

MLB Weekly Power Rankings

Here again is another issue in my weekly MLB Power Rankings. This weeks version will be shorter than previous weeks but will certainly get the job done. In my rankings I take overall record and how well the team has played recently in compiling my Power Rankings. Here goes, starting with the top 5:

Top 5
1 (1) - St. Louis Cardinals (37-26) - What can I say about the Cards, Pujols is back to being Pujols, Matt Holliday coming back from injury soon, pitching has been great. Not much else to say except I'm glad my Giants don't play them again and they are right now, the best team in Baseball.

Gonzalez and Crawford have been red hot for Boston

2 (NR*) - Boston Red Sox (35-26) - Red Sox have won 5 in a row, have beaten the Yanks in New York in back to back games, Carl Crawford has come to his usual form and Adrian Gonzalez has been better than advertised. Also they have the best pitcher in the AL with Josh Beckett.


3 (NR) - Detroit Tigers (33-28)- The hottest team in the Majors. 8-2 over their previous 10 games and have their sights firmly set on taking over the Indians who have come way back down to Earth. This team can hit, and the pitching has improved significantly.

4 (NR) - Texas Rangers (35-28) - They have been getting great pitching recently out of Alexi Ogando, CJ Wilson and Colby Lewis. They have a legit closer in Feliz, and we all know how well this team hits. 7-3 in their last 10. The Rangers are gonna open up a gap at the top of the AL West.

5 (NR) - San Francisco Giants (35-27) - The Giants have been without star catcher Buster Posey for 2 weeks. Giants lost 3 of their first 4 games after the injury, since then they (we) have won 7 of 10 and are eagerly awaiting Pablo Sandovals return to send Tejada to the bench.

Bottom 5
26 (30) Minnesota Twins (23-38) - The Twins have gone 6-2 since last weeks rankings, they are playing better for sure. Hopefully they can get Morneau going and Mauer back soon. Their overall record is what keeps them in the bottom 5. They may not be here next week.


27 (28) Houston Astros (24-38) - They are showing some signs of life, a red hot Cardinals team with Pujols hitting like crazy is tough for any team to stop. Will they trade Hunter Pence in July?


28 (27) Kansas City Royals (26-36) - 3-7 in their last 10 games, a pathetic 6-16 road record. Imagine where they would be without all those walk off wins.


29 (29) Chicago Cubs (24-36) - They have gone 1-5 since last weeks rankings, pitchers can't pitch, problems all over the clubhouse and have such an overrated and overpaid lineup.


30 (NR) Oakland Athletics (27-36) - They have lost 9 in a row, they can't hit and have injuries all over their good pitching staff. Yikes.

         Oakland A's have found Wins hard to come by the last 2 weeks

That concludes this weeks rankings. Be sure to check out the blog daily, give feedback, and tell me what you think of my rankings and where you might make changes. Power Rankings will be back next week. Until then, enjoy the other posts I will be making.

SPREAD THE WORD

* NR = Not Ranked Top 5 or Bottom 5 last week

San Francisco Giants - Show Me the Money

The San Francisco Giants are quite a mystery, they have in recent years given out god awful contracts. Yet in 2010 they were able to win the World Series, and this with their 2 highest paid players essentially being on the bench or non-factors in the playoffs (Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand). However, it doesn't stop there, in 2011 not much has changed, they are still paying outrageous money to Zito and Rowand, and lets not forget Mark DeRosa who has been one big injury with the Giants. Furthermore, so far in 2011, Miguel Tejada and Aubrey Huff have been underwhelming to say the least, and this year they are earning a combined $16.5 million, with a stat line of .210 AVG 1 HR and 16 RBI for Tejada and .219 AVG 5 HR and 24 RBI for Huff. Just awful production for what these guys are being paid*

Now lets take a look at the team as a whole. The Giants are 8th in the Majors in payroll, thus we know that the owners are willing to spend quite a large amount of money and they are. Unfortunately as I have pointed out, the majority of the money is going to the wrong people. It is almost mind blowing how the Giants could win a World Series, with so much money basically being flushed down the toilet. Lets take a look at the 5 worst contracts currently with the Giants. Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand, Mark DeRosa, Miguel Tejada and Huff. We have already taken a look at the numbers in the Tejada and Huff contracts. Let's now combine all 5 of these players contracts. The money those 5 players are making is, get ready for this, a whopping $54.6 MILLION. For this incredible number the Giants are getting: "6th" starter on the team (Zito), 5th Outfielder (Rowand), walking injury (DeRosa), backup caliber SS (Tejada) and a way under performing 1B (Huff).

      Barry Zito has been one of, if not the biggest Free Agent Bust in recent history

I am no expert when it comes to Major League contracts, I don't fully understand exactly how the arbitration works, or all the increments of how a contract is formed but I will do my best with where I think that money should go once it's off the books. Let's take a look at the guys who absolutely have to be re-signed long term by the Giants: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Brian Wilson. Now I don't wanna get in to too much detail as I could probably write an entire book as to where the money should go. So lets focus on the previously mentioned players the Giants must re-sign (in my opinion). For the sake of simplicity, lets assume that the contracts will be given out when they are needed and they can be structured to be front loaded or back loaded. I will just give the average salary the player will earn each year. Basically what I will be doing is, using the $54.6 million in bad soon to be finished contracts to re-signing the stars on the team. Here goes.

Tim Lincecum - This year earning $14 million, I think Timmy gets a contract approximately the same as Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee. Maybe a 6 year $123.6 Million contract, average salary = $20.6 million. So an increase of 14 to 20. So we take $6.6 million off the total. Now we have $48 million of the total left.

Matt Cain - This year Cain earns $7.33 million, next year he gets $15.33 million. I think Cain will get a contract along the lines of 6 years $92 million, therefore an average of $15.33 million and an $8 million increase over this years contract. So now the total is $40 million left.

Brian Wilson - Fan favorite Brian Wilson makes $6.5 million this year, the top closer in the game Mariano Rivera makes $15 million/year, I don't think Wilson will quite get that. I think Wilson will get something like a 6 year $69 million contract. Making an average of $11.5 million/year and therefore an increase of $5 million leaving $35 million left on the total.

            The Giants future will be in good hands by keeping this trio intact 

Buster Posey & Pablo Sandoval - Both of these guys are making around $500,000 this year and are currently hurt, Posey for the year and Sandoval is scheduled back in the next 2 weeks. Both are major faces of the franchise, and are destined to be part of the heart of the order for a long time. Posey and Sandoval are to the Giants, what Mauer and Morneau are to the Twins, except the Giants players are younger and have just as much if not more potential. I think you basically throw the rest of the $35 million at these guys. Again to compare to the Twins, Mauer is making $23 million/year and Morneau $15 million/year, I think the Giants can get Posey locked up at an average of $20 million/year and Sandoval if he can prove to stay in shape and hit well, could get up to an average of $15 million/year. Both of these guys will hit .300+ AVG, 20+ HR and 90+ RBI for the next decade. 

We can argue about the numbers, we can argue about the years, I was just giving examples of what the Giants could give these guys. The main point I wanted to show here was that the Giants can and should use the huge sum of money they currently have invested in minimal impact players, to lock up all their stars. Not only are these players extremely talented, but they are all so charismatic, AT&T gets sold out regularly to see these guys play, they are in essence, Giants in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

*Wrote that prior to the game today, where Aubrey shut my mouth by hitting 3 HR's with 6 RBI

Is the 2011 Giants Season Over?

Short answer? No, but for fun, lets give a longer more in-depth answer.

First of all I want to touch on Home Plate collisions in Baseball. Watching Sports Science on ESPN, the hit a catcher takes on a Home Plate collision comes at a force a QB takes on a blind side hit. In football, QB's wear pads that can absorb up to 40% of the hit, in Baseball? Nothing even close to that. This is something MLB should have corrected a LONG time ago.

Mychael Urban of CSN Bay Area tweeted "@MUrbanCSN: Oh my god. Enuf sniveling about the hit! It was clean! Change the rules? What, make them wear a tutu? Stop it. It's big-league ball. W/ risks" Really? There isn't a better way to do it then to say, "OK baserunner, collide with him as hard as you can to hopefully jar the ball loose". Come on now, this thought process is dumb and dangerous. Sometimes it takes a superstar player getting hurt to get a rule changed (Tom Brady come to mind?) Well now is Baseballs chance to do something about Home Plate collisions. I'm open to suggestions, I hope Bud Selig is too.

                Are Home Plate collisions really a necessary part of the game?

Now to the Giants, my team. Based on my tweets and facebook comments immediately after Posey's injury, you'd have thoughts the world crashed down on the Giants and that they may as well forfeit the season. I've had time to think it over and calm down. This season is far from over. Lets take a look at the reasons why the Giants should still be in the race for the NL West.

1. The Giants own a 2 game lead in the NL West after 49 games, and they got this lead with a team with the following hitting rankings; Runs 29th, Average 21st, OBP 24th and Slugging 23rd. Point is, the hitting can't get much worse then it has already been this year. While Posey's presence in the lineup will definitely be missed, guys like Aubrey Huff, Miguel Tejada and Cody Ross are due to get hot.
2. The Giants are getting their best hitter back very soon. Pablo Sandoval has missed the last week of April, will miss all of this month, and should be back around the 2nd week of June. The switch hitter, who was batting over .310 who even after all this time missed is tied on the team for most Home Runs. The Giants also called up prized young hitter Brandon Belt from the Minors again. Belt struggled his first time up, but having gotten more seasoning at San Jose, he is expected to have more of an impact this time around. Hitting under .200 his last time up, I'd expect him to hit between .260-.270 this time up with decent power numbers.
3. The Trade Deadline. There are 2 ways the Giants can trade for more offense, the first would be to send some prospects off to acquire a bat. Now the Giants shouldn't have a kneejerk reaction and make a panic trade. If Sabean plans to ship off top prospects, he simply cannot get a one year rental, make a smart trade and proceed from there. The second would be to trade one of the Starting Pitchers. Maybe the biggest surprise this season has been how well Ryen Vogelsong has done. Today against the Florida Marlins was another perfect example of how good a job he has done, pitching 8 innings with only 1 earned run allowed. Should he continue to be this impressive, the Giants now have some nice flexibility in their pitchers. I would then look to feel out what teams are willing to offer for the services of either Vogelsong or Jonathan Sanchez. Starting Pitchers always have huge value in the trading market and should be able to net a solid young hitter for a guy like Jonathan Sanchez.
4. Players Waived/Released CAN make a difference. The Giants may not even need to make a trade in order to add some help to the hitting. Last year they traded for Jose Guillen, but got Pat Burrell and Cody Ross for nothing. How did this work out? Burrell and Ross were much more productive and are still with the team. Is Guillen even in the Majors this year?  
5. Finally, the Giants play in the NL West, and there is just simply no team that will run away with this division. The Padres are bad, the Dodgers are a .500 team, the Diamondbacks have been playing well lately, but I don't think they can sustain this level, and are maybe an 80-85 win team. The Rockies are the biggest competition for the Giants, but they just lost their most consistent starting pitcher in Jorge De La Rosa for the season and it seems like Troy Tulowitzki is proving that he is human after all. With the pitching staff that the Giants have, even a below average type offense can be enough to win this division. 

  Cody Ross has been a solid hitter and fan favorite since being acquired off waivers

I think the one major thing the Giants have to remember is to not panic, you don't have to rush Pablo Sandoval back, you don't have to make a panic trade or do anything crazy. Sit back, remain calm and analyse the situation the team is in. This season is far from over.