Kuzul

As a Giants fan and writer, I just can't get over what Buster Olney said on Bill Simmons' MLB Playoff Podcast, which I listened to yesterday.Basically, I came away with four things: 1.) The Tampa Bay Rays have the best GM in baseball (probably true).2.) The Red Sox are hurting in terms of the money they owe to contracts next year (true, but unnecessary considering the Red Sox aren't in the playoffs).3.) The Mariners made a mistake by taking Justin Smoak from the Rangers instead of Jesus Montero in the Cliff Lee trade (very, very true when you consider Montero's a catcher).4.) The Giants have no chance against the Phillies because of their offense (true) and defense.(You can find the BS Report Podcast between Simmons and Olney here.) The defense part kills me. Olney remarked to Simmons that the Giants had "one of the worst defenses in baseball."For a baseball ...

I just realized this fact after I saw Emmanuel Burriss get transferred to the 60-day Disabled List on May 22 to make room for Santiago Casilla: The Giants haven't had one African-American player take the field for them this year. Burriss has been hurt and on the disabled list all season, and Fred Lewis, the only other African-American player on the 25-man active roster this Spring, was traded away to Toronto shortly after the season began. In my mind, this is incredible, and may be the first year in a long time that the Giants have not had an African-American player take the field in a Giants uniform. I mean, this is a franchise that has housed great African-American players like Willie Mays, Monte Irvin, Hank Thompson, Willie McCovey, Bobby Bonds, Jeffrey Leonard, Kevin Mitchell, Ellis Burks, Reggie Sanders, Kenny Lofton (for a half-season anyways), Ray Durham, and of course, Barry Bonds. Now, ...

It's official. After a 1-0 loss to the Oakland A's, the Giants should be in panic mode when it comes to upgrading the offense. Aaron Rowand isn't cutting it at leadoff (though this isn't exactly "surprising" news) and for whatever reason, Pablo Sandoval has suddenly transformed from budding-Vlad Guerrero to budding-Randall Simon. Add that with Bengie Molina starting to cool off and things don't look good for the Giants and their playoff aspirations. That being said, despite the Giants desperate (and I mean, "Elizabeth Berkley needing an actress role" desperate) need for offense, they should pass on the following five players who are available and could come at low-cost, but are too much of a risk to acquire. (Note: to see the original article, check it out at http://remember51.blogspot.com/)Begin Slideshow

I really, really like Madison Bumgarner . Despite the rough Spring Training, I felt talent-wise, he was the best person to pitch in the fifth spot in the rotation over Todd Wellemeyer and Kevin Pucetas. Furthermore, I was impressed by his numbers last year in his short September call-up. Was he throwing gas? Not really (he only averaged 89.2 MPH on his fastball last year in his callup), but he had 10 strikeouts in 10 IP, only walked three guys and posted an ERA of 1.80 and a WHIP of 1.10. That's impressive in my book. This year, Bumgarner started off the season miserably. He struggled in Spring Training and his first two starts in the minors were disastrous, with his fastball still hovering in the mid-to-high 80s (Bumgarner was known for his 90-plus stuff). However, look at what 22 Gigantes said today in a blog post about ...

Going into today's start against the Marlins, Barry Zito has been incredible. He is 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in 35.1 IP. That is far from the Zito Giants fans were used to seeing from 2007 to the first half of 2009. How did Barry Zito make this transition from "major" disappointment, to "rebounding" stud? Here are five aspects that have contributed to Zito's success from the second half of 2009 to now. (Information courtesy of Fangraphs.)Begin Slideshow