Schmidt Back On Track?

One of the brightest spots of this young season came Wednesday when Jason Schmidt looked like an ace for the first time in over a year. Schmidt shut out the Brewers and he did it without walking anybody. Part of the reason why the Giants have been inconsistant over the past season, is that Schmidt has been counted on being an ace and has pitched like a number 4. If Jason Schmidt can return to that 2002-2004 phase, the Giants should start seperating themselves from the rest of the pack in the West. His last two starts are really making me think that he has finally made the adjustment. He doesn't have the 97 mph fastball anymore, but he can still hit 94 pretty consistantly and that changeup is still as nasty as it was 2 years ago. Schmidt's strikeouts are also reflecting in his improved control. He has 16 k's over his last 2 starts, while he had just 17 in his previous 4 starts combined. Noah Lowry is reportedly on his way back and may start a game as early as May 11th and should give the Giants staff as a whole a shot in the arm. Hennessey hasn't been too bad in Lowry's absence but started getting hit a little on thursday in Millwaukee.

Kevin Frandsen has gotten his feet wet in the bigs due to Ray

Durham's injury and he has looked right at home. Frandsen will likely be sent back down to Fresno when Durham returns, but the dude looks like he could be the Giants' best fielding prospect since Matt Williams. The Giants' people have compared Frandsen to a young Robbie Thompson. Thompson was one of the most hard-nosed, gritty baseball player I've ever seen and if Frandsen has that quality to go along with that swing of his, he should be something. Don't know if Frandsen will ever be a superstar, but so far he has shown that in time, he could easily be a .300 hitter with some gap power and a solid glove. I hope he makes it a very tough decision for the Giants when Durham comes back.

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Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010. I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in th e lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indi...

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t...

Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get ...

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