The Giants Baseball Blog

We have officially hit the dog days of the major league baseball season, which means that the September call-ups are right around the corner. Unfortunately, the Giants haven't been able to deal off any of their veterans before the August 31st waiver-deadline. And although Randy Winn, Rich Aurilia and Dave Roberts are still going to steal some at-bats away from the likes of Nate Schierholtz , Jon Bowker and Ryan Rohlinger , this is going to be an important September as far as analyzing some of the Giants' young talent. As the team stands now, the whole infield could have a different look come opening day 2009. The outfield seems pretty set as Aaron Rowand , Winn and Roberts are all under contract through next season and none of them are likely to go anywhere. The Giants also have Fred Lewis, who has entrenched himself as the teams' everyday left fielder and should be a cog in the Giants outfield for years to come. Outside of the outfield and the starting rotation though, t...

The general consensus was that when the Giants called up Travis Ishikawa and Pablo Sandoval a couple weeks ago, it was the beginning of the Giants youth movement and that this team was definitely on it's way to a 100 loss season. However, that has not been the case. The Giants have actually been a winning ball club since the arrival of the rookie catcher and first basemen and both of them have been a big part of it. Sandoval, who has been raking the ball everywhere he's been since spring training this year, hasn't missed a beat since he's arrived in the major leagues. Sandoval was hitting nearly .340 in the minors this season, and although it's only been a small sample, he's looked even better since his promotion. The 21 year-old catcher/1st basemen/3rd baseman has gone 14-32 so far and has helped the Giants to a 8-4 record since he joined the team on August 13 th . Ishikawa hasn't been quite as impressive as Sandoval, but has still looked good at times....

Tim Lincecum alleviated any concerns there were for his left knee after taking a line drive directly off of it in his last start. There was some question as to whether or not he would even make the start, but it's a good thing he did. Lincecum reassured everyone that he's alright by going 7 2/3 giving up only 3 hits and 1 run while striking out 10 batters. He did walk 4 batters and his control looked off at times, but dominated when he had too and improved his record to 13-3. Over the second half of the year him and Matt Cain, especially, have begun to gel into the two top end starters that they are. Since the all-star break, Cain is 3-2 with a 2.11 era and 32 k's in 42 innings pitched (6 starts). Cain has been very good since the calendar hit July and a lot of it has to do with the fact that he's finally starting to get some run support. He may actually finish the year with winning record after pitching through horrible luck and run support in last years 7-16 campai...

The Giants called up a few of their best minor league players earlier this week, in a move that shows they are indeed ready to look towards the future. Pablo Sandoval, Travis Ishikawa and Ryan Rohlinger were all brought up prior to the Houston series, and although the Giants looked bad in the series, it was good to see the Giants finally shift gears. I just talked pretty in-depth about Pablo Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa a few posts back in the minor league report and mentioned how both were on the verge of being called up. With Bowker out of the picture, Ishikawa should get the bulk of the at-bats at first with Sandoval getting time both behind the plate and at first base. Rohlinger spent time in both Connecticut and Fresno this year and though he wasn't really tearing the cover off the ball in the minors, he has swung a steady bat all season, and really had a decent spring training before the season which put some eyes on him early. He looks to get the majority of the time...

It was no secret coming into the year that the 2008 San Francisco Giants were going to have to beat you with small ball, pitching and defense. However, as we approach mid-August, I don't think anyone expected the Giants to be quite as much of a soft hitting club they've been. Through Tuesday, the Giants sit dead last in all of baseball in home runs, and it's not even close. The Giants have hit only 64 home runs through the seasons first 118 games which is 16 below the next lowest team (Blue Jays). I'm not trying to say that if you don't hit home runs, you won't win games, but I am trying to point out that it's tough to generate runs when your team has substantially less power than every other team in the league. Two guys who have been in a huge power drought this season are Randy Winn and Bengie Molina. Neither are your prototypical number 3 or 4 hitter, but Winn, who's averaged about 14 homers a year over the last 5 seasons, has only 5 this year. Molin...

The Giants signed their second overall pick from June's amateur draft Friday. The signing comes exactly a week before the August 15 th deadline, and will allow Conor Gillaspie to partake in some minor league ball this season. He will start off in the Arizona rookie league and then should be moved to either Salem Keizer or Augusta shortly thereafter. The un -official number being put next to Gillaspie's deal is $975,000 which would be right in line with what other supplemental picks receive. I am definitely excited to see Gillaspie get going. The 21 year-old has had a lot of experience in the amateur ranks and his polished bat could allow him to breeze through the Giants' system. The only question about him is where exactly to play him. He's played 3rd base throughout his collegiate career, but his contact bat and average arm strength may have him better suited for second base in the major leagues. Now all we can do is hope that Buster Posey miraculously signs in t...

I didn't get a chance to touch much on the minors last month and with the Giants starting to commit to a full on youth movement, now is a good time to take a look at what some of the future Giants have been doing. Travis Ishikawa, a guy who's had expectations after a pretty big 2005 season in San Jose, hasn't really been heard of since then, until now. Ishikawa is quietly putting together his best season as a professional and has been on fire since being called up to Fresno. In 377 at-bats split between AA and AAA, the 24 year-old first basemen has 21 home runs and 86 RBI's while carrying a .292 average. However, since his arrival in Fresno, he has hit 13 bombs and driven in 38 runs in only 140 at-bats. Talk about a huge rebound from a horrible '07 season in which he hit .243 with only 16 home runs and 59 RBI's between High A, and AA ball. The only problem for Ishikawa, as with Nate Schieholtz, is that they have guys blocking them at the major league level. The ...