The majority of the Giants' fan-core have been very open about there displeasure for Brian Sabean's trades from this last summer. Sabean sent two of the teams top-5 pitching prospects (#2 Tim Alderson and #5 Scott Barnes) away in separate trades for Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko, and their first 2 months in the orange and black couldn't have gone much worse for them.
For Freddy Sanchez, it was a problem for him to stay on the field. He played in just 25 of the 67 games that took place while he was on the Giants roster, and when he did play, he clearly was affected by his back. His numbers took a big time plummet after
the trade, but I think it's more so the injury issues with Sanchez that have people frustrated. He's a good hitter when he's on and healthy, but he just couldn't stay on the field after coming over from Pittsburgh. He sported just a .295 OBP and a .619 OPS while with the Giants, and wasn't much of a run producer either, hitting just 1 homer, driving in 7 and scoring only 11 runs while hitting at the top of the Giants lineup. When taking a look at his career, if you take away 2006 and 2007's career years for Sanchez, he's really been mediocre. The Giants dealt for him based on his 2009 performance at that point, and I think Sabean felt comfortable dealing Alderson because he knew Sanchez wouldn't just be a rent-a-player. Because of that, I don't think the Giants will seriously consider declining their $8.5 million option on him. Since that's the case, all we can do is hope he gets right next year and hits over .300 with 40+ doubles and 75+ RBI, cause he's being paid to put up those kinds of numbers, and hopefully still has that potential.
Garko's a different story. Sure his failure in the NL can be partly attributed to learning the new league, but his performance in SF was borderline disastrous and only seemed to get worse as the season wore on. So bad in fact, that Bruce Bochy went back to Travis Ishikawa, the guy Garko was supposed to take over for, for much of the final month of the year when the Giants were
making their run at that Wild Card. Garko also made some pretty ugly mistakes in the field too. If you take away one big game in Colorado in which he hit 2 hr's and drove in 4 runs, his numbers would be as follows: .235 avg, 0 hr, 8 RBI, .299 OBP and a .597 OPS in his 40 games with the Giants. Pretty disappointing that the only 2 home runs the so-called power-hitting first basemen hit in 40 games with his new team came in the most offensive friendly yard in baseball. I'm not trying to rip these guys apart, just stating the facts as to how their time in a Giants uniform went last season. These guys were dealt for to help the Giants with their pursuit of a playoff birth and they did nothing to help that cause. All this being said, these guys are Giants now and will be next season, so all we can do is hope they can turn things around, cause they have the potential too. Garko has 25 hr, 90 RBI potential, even as a platooner as he showed in Cleveland. He can be a valuable player, and the Giants are going to need to see that out of him next year.
For Freddy Sanchez, it was a problem for him to stay on the field. He played in just 25 of the 67 games that took place while he was on the Giants roster, and when he did play, he clearly was affected by his back. His numbers took a big time plummet after
the trade, but I think it's more so the injury issues with Sanchez that have people frustrated. He's a good hitter when he's on and healthy, but he just couldn't stay on the field after coming over from Pittsburgh. He sported just a .295 OBP and a .619 OPS while with the Giants, and wasn't much of a run producer either, hitting just 1 homer, driving in 7 and scoring only 11 runs while hitting at the top of the Giants lineup. When taking a look at his career, if you take away 2006 and 2007's career years for Sanchez, he's really been mediocre. The Giants dealt for him based on his 2009 performance at that point, and I think Sabean felt comfortable dealing Alderson because he knew Sanchez wouldn't just be a rent-a-player. Because of that, I don't think the Giants will seriously consider declining their $8.5 million option on him. Since that's the case, all we can do is hope he gets right next year and hits over .300 with 40+ doubles and 75+ RBI, cause he's being paid to put up those kinds of numbers, and hopefully still has that potential.Garko's a different story. Sure his failure in the NL can be partly attributed to learning the new league, but his performance in SF was borderline disastrous and only seemed to get worse as the season wore on. So bad in fact, that Bruce Bochy went back to Travis Ishikawa, the guy Garko was supposed to take over for, for much of the final month of the year when the Giants were
making their run at that Wild Card. Garko also made some pretty ugly mistakes in the field too. If you take away one big game in Colorado in which he hit 2 hr's and drove in 4 runs, his numbers would be as follows: .235 avg, 0 hr, 8 RBI, .299 OBP and a .597 OPS in his 40 games with the Giants. Pretty disappointing that the only 2 home runs the so-called power-hitting first basemen hit in 40 games with his new team came in the most offensive friendly yard in baseball. I'm not trying to rip these guys apart, just stating the facts as to how their time in a Giants uniform went last season. These guys were dealt for to help the Giants with their pursuit of a playoff birth and they did nothing to help that cause. All this being said, these guys are Giants now and will be next season, so all we can do is hope they can turn things around, cause they have the potential too. Garko has 25 hr, 90 RBI potential, even as a platooner as he showed in Cleveland. He can be a valuable player, and the Giants are going to need to see that out of him next year.
Comments
Guys like Garko are low risk (contract-wise) with high upside. If he doesn't work out, you lose 1.5 million, not 60 million like with Rowand, who was and is a terrible match for SF.
As it has been noted on the blogs, Sabean has not demonstrated a high aptitude when it comes to evaluating free agents. It is better to give Garko and F. Sanchez a chance---on one year contracts---than hamstring the team with another lousy signing.
Speaking of lousy signings, we should thank the Angels for signing the utterly untalented Gary Matthews, Jr. away from us. And thank the Astros for signing fat Carlos Lee, etc. It could have been much worse ....