Skip to main content

NL West Again NL's Worst

Back in 2005-2006, the NL West was widely regarded as one of the weaker divisions in the game. Then 2007 came around and 2 teams from the West made the playoffs and all of the sudden the NL West was starting to look like the class of the National League. However, As we sit in mid-July in the 2008 season, not a single team in the division is sporting a record higher than .500. In fact both the Dodgers and Diamondbacks are tied for first place, both at 45-46 and even though the Giants are over 10 games below .500, they sit only 6 games back of first. In a way it makes it exciting to watch games knowing your team is only a handful of games out of contention, but I think it could be hurting the Giants a little in this case. It would still take a small miracle for this team to work itself into a position to make the playoffs but right now, Bochy and Co. are taking that approach. I'd hate to see the Giants hold onto their veterans come the July 31st trade deadline just for the simple fact that they are still within striking distance of first place. This year is supposed to be a rebuilding season and I would much rather see Travis Denker, Jon Bowker and Emmanuel Burris getting the bulk of the playing time over the likes of Rich Aurilia, Ray Durham and Omar Vizquel. Not that Aurilia and Durham have been struggling, but they aren't going to be here next season, and the Giants need to be focusing on the future. So whether the Giants are 5 games back or 15 out come July 31, they should approach as sellers, and fully plan on playing the youth full time over the last 2 months of the season.

Another guy who figures into the Giants future (whether they like it or not) is Barry Zito. It looked like Zito had turned the corner with his first start in July with a 7 inning, 2 hit, 10 strikeout performance. In Thursday's start, Zito took another step back. Once again, the overpriced lefty was bitten hard with wildness and barely made it through 5 innings while walking 6 and throwing over 100 pitches. It seems like every time Zito makes a good start, one that you think he can build on, he always follows it up with a couple rough ones. He wasn't the only one to take a loss in New York though. All-Star Tim Lincecum also got lit up in his start on Tuesday as he suffered his second loss of the season. Lincecum still has as good a shot as Volquez and Webb at starting the all-star game for the NL, but this latest outing certainly won't help the matter.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Webb was announced last week as the All-Star starter.
Anonymous said…
Lincecum deserves it, but Webb gets it.
Anonymous said…
Lincecum does deserve it, but because he's in the NL West, he's not going to be the starter.
Anonymous said…
Weird how the NL announced their starter so soon. Lincecum has the era and the strikeouts, but Webb has the wins and he also pitches for a better team. Lincecum deserved it.

Popular posts from this blog

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

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