Kuzul

The San Francisco Giants lost to the Colorado Rockies in 15 innings on Independence Day to fall further back in the NL West and NL wild-card race.

Since frustrated fans have run out of cockeyed ways to fix the lineup or the pitching staff, firing manager Bruce Bochy is now their solution to all of the club’s problems.

Fair enough.

If you invest five hours of your July 4th holiday in watching a ball game on TV, you’re due the right to question Bochy for removing catcher Buster Posey, who was reportedly ill.

It’s understandable that the near mandatory double-switch that prompted Bochy to remove hot-hitting first baseman Travis Ishikawa would leave fans raving mad—even if the switch did help give the Giants a chance to use their entire bullpen in shutting the Rockies out for eight innings.

Look, if your veins are bulging because Edgar Renteria played shortstop instead of Juan Uribe—OK. We’ll ignore, for the moment, that Uribe was two for his last 25 entering the weekend.

Blame the manager. Blame the general manager. Blame the ownership.

How could they let the team we loved, which played so well in the spring, become a team we could barely tolerate in the summer?

Take your best shot.

Maybe a manager whose only claim to fame is that he’s not Bochy would turn things around. It could be that firing Sabean and giving his job to one of his subordinates would change everything.

This is a call for common sense, a holiday reality check.

The 2010 San Francisco Giants have the talent of a team that should be one game over .500.

If the club hadn’t kicked away a few games early, they’d be five or six games over the break-even point today.

We all remember when we’d sit through a loss and smile, mumbling, “It’s early…there’s a long season ahead. Renteria’s crushing the ball. Rowand’s hitting. No reason to bring Posey up from the minors! Molina’s on fire and he’s really helping the best pitching staff in baseball.”

If Uribe had maintained the pace of an All-Star shortstop and Posey had hit .700 for a full month rather than a full week, maybe the club would be 10 games over .500. Those are unrealistic expectations.

The starting pitching and closer Brian Wilson helped hide fatal flaws offensively and defensively. They enabled us to believe that Andres Torres was a guy who simply blossomed into a .300 hitter in the lead-off spot—at age 32. When the starters began to struggle, we realized the Giants can’t put together an everyday lineup that gives any reason to believe that the club should finish much over .500.

Guess what?

There’s nothing the Giants can do to fix things right now.

Sabean opted to sign Pat Burrell, while fans and insiders groaned at the thought of another aging, automatic out in the lineup. Burrell’s hitting over .300 and is among club home run leaders in a platoon role in left field. How much has the considerable upgrade Burrell provides over John Bowker and Eugenio Velez helped the won-loss record?

So, why would trading a prospect or two to acquire David DeJesus or Jose Guillen from the Kansas City Royals ignite a second-half burst? The fact that DeJesus and Guillen seem to be such fine fits for the Giants says more about the Giants than it does about either player. (Note: how many times do you figure the Giants have passed on dealing for Guillen?)

Cleveland’s Austin Kearns could key the Giants’ run to the playoffs? Oh, OK…Kearns and DeJesus…they join the outfield and magic dust starts falling at AT&T Park?

There’s more of a chance that Bowker could start hitting big league pitching like he absolutely crushes Pacific Coast League pitching. 

Adam Dunn will be signing a contract extension, most likely, with the Washington Nationals. Florida’s Jorge Cantu would help add a little punch at a corner infield spot, but he’s a fairly weak defender.

There’s not a big league-ready hitter in the Giants’ farm system, either. This is it for the remainder of the season—griping about how Renteria and Rowand shouldn’t have played ahead of Uribe and Ishikawa.

Not much out there in the way of sure-thing bullpen fixes, either. The Giants are going to trade for relief help, most certainly. They’ll try to fix the pen with a guy most of us won’t recognize.

Prince Fielder? Wouldn’t he look great in orange and brown?

ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote that the Giants won’t acquire Fielder because their refusal to trade Matt Cain is a “deal-breaker.” Shipping Madison Bumgarner or Jonathan Sanchez as centerpiece in a trade package wouldn’t be enough to get Fielder.

Anyone out there want to trade Cain and top prospects for Fielder? (Think, now—the argument could be made that Cain has a brighter future than Tim Lincecum.)

The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo says the Giants covet Milwaukee Brewers right fielder Corey Hart. Small problem, though—the Brewers feel like they can still reach the playoffs and aren’t trading Hart any time soon. (News flash: the Giants covet Albert Pujols, but the Cardinals are not anxious to trade him as long as they’re in the pennant race.)

So, this is it.

Pablo Sandoval’s going to return to form or keep breaking our hearts. It means Posey will have get hot again. Aubrey Huff will have to go from All-Star Game candidate to MVP candidate. And, remarkably, the Giants must hope that Ishikawa is the one Giants prospect in the Bowker-Velez-Schierholtz group who actually emerges as a truly productive big leaguer.

In a small way, it will be more entertaining following those storylines than it would be to suddenly root for Guillen or Kearns or others of their ilk. Not that Giants fans have much choice.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Bruce Bochy hasn’t done anything differently from the San Francisco Giants’ fast start in April to the roller-coaster ride that got them spiraling downward in a seven-game losing streak.

Bochy didn’t make Tim Lincecum, oddly, less dominating. The manager didn’t have anything to do with Pablo Sandoval’s struggle at the plate. The bullpen many like to insist he mismanages really just isn’t very good.

There’s no reason to fire Bochy, unless you believe in momentum and chemistry and “shaking things up in the clubhouse.”

If you think momentum is further away than Sandoval’s next 3-for-4 game, with a home run and five RBIs—you want Bochy gone.

If you don’t realize that team chemistry goes from bad to fantastic when Lincecum, Barry Zito and Matt Cain each turn in consecutive outstanding starts, Bochy should pack his gear.

Should you be under the impression that guys like Guillermo Mota, Santiago Casillia, Andre Torres, Nate Schierholtz, and Aaron Rowand would be more consistenly good if the Giants hired a new manager, then you’re ready to call for the hiring of…

Oh, yeah…if you think Bochy needs to be replaced, you surely have a series of possible candidates who’ll come in and turn Jeremy Affeldt and Jonathan Sanchez into consistently dominating left-hand pitchers.

So, who ya’ got?

Ron Wotus? Don’t think the guy who has been standing behind and agreeing with Giants managers for so long is exactly going to be that spark plug fans think a new manager should become.

Steve Decker? Oh, c’mon! You read somewhere that he’s one of the top minor league managing prospects and that he’s doing a great job with Giants prospects at Fresno. But, his Triple-A Grizzlies require a completely different type of attention than does this particular veteran group of Giants. Decker might be the Giants manager of the future, but he hasn’t done anything to show he can do more with Edgar Renteria than Bochy can.

Fredi Gonzalez? He was the NL Manager of the Year two years ago, then got fired by the Florida Marlins two weeks ago. (Tell you anything about how much we really understand about what a manager does?) Forget it. He’ll take over the Atlanta Braves job when mentor Bobby Cox retires at the end of this year.

Bobby Valentine? Great personality. Probably great with certain types of players. Fans would love his enthusiastic, go-get-’em approach. He has managed the Texas Rangers and New York Mets for 15 seasons combined and has a .510 winning percentage. The fact that he went to manage in Japan and loved it would, at least, bode well for KNBR’s pre-game manager’s show. Bobby V would have stories to tell. (The “Bruce Bochy Show” isn’t the current manager’s strong suit, nor should it be.)

The Giants don’t have a big league managerial candidate on the staff. Wotus? Why? After that? Third base coach Tim Flannery’s only back in the big leagues because he and Bochy are close friends. If Bochy leaves, Flannery would follow.

See the problem?

Fans know what they think Bochy has done wrong, but there’s no evidence that he’s had anything to do with the things that have really put the Giants on the brink of falling out of the playoff race. The hitters aren’t hitting. The pitchers aren’t dominating.

We don’t have any idea who would do a better job with this Giants team either. Decker? Maybe. Wotus? He’s a coach. Gonzalez? His dream gig’s coming. Valentine? His career win percentage is .510—hardly solid gold.

There are other candidates out there, but none could turn the Giants around until the Giants turn themselves around.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a sports writer and Northern California columnist. Contact Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Bengie Molina didn’t win the the San Francisco Giants’ Willie Mac Award twice because him teammates liked how he looked in his uniform. He was, obviously, a very popular and respected teammate.

Let’s put the idea that his departure to the Texas Rangers will spell doom for Giants pitchers to rest immediately, however.

Molina calls a great game. Tim Lincecum admits often that he feels he should share his Cy Young Awards with the veteran catcher. So, since the pitcher won’t do it, someone should mention that the right-hander should share half of the difficulties he has experienced in the last two months with Molina, too.

Matt Cain struggled early, went through a period where he was the best right-hander in the National League, but has had a couple of rough outings. Cain acknowledges how valuable Molina was to his development as a pitcher and to his success. Again, let’s point out that Molina was doing his job exactly as he did during Cain’s hot streak when Cain pitched poorly.

The Giants pitchers, who have been so fabulous for so long, have hit their first group slump in two years. So, if the hard times continue — let’s remember that Molina was on hand and calling pitches when the starting staff began to pitch like mere mortals, OK?

It’s going to be really tempting, with the Giants at the point where being swept in Colorado could turn them from NL West contenders to division longshot, to look back in two weeks and mumble, “What were the Giants thinking trading Molina? Cain and Lincecum haven’t won a game since he left? Buster Posey can’t handle this staff…”

Buster Posey and veteran Eli Whiteside can handle the staff. The catcher suggests the pitch and the location. The pitcher has to deliver the pitch to the spot where the hitter can make solid contact. And, even though they are still young in baseball years, Lincecum, Cain and Jonathan Sanchez have a good idea of what they need to throw and when to throw it. Sanchez, actually, has had Whiteside catching him most of the season. Barry Zito calls his own game.

Madison Bumgarner’s 20 years old. Posey knows him better than any catcher in the Giants organization. The Giants coaching staff should know every National League hitter Bumgarner and Posey will face. There’s not a reason in the world for Bumgarner’s progress as a big leaguer to be hindered if the guys who get paid to help the players do actually help Posey figure out NL hitters.

This is the point in a season where it’d be really easy for a team to make excuses for losing. Worse, it’s a time when the Giants are fading and really could be looking for one reason to say, “OK. That’s it! We give up!”

That holds for Pablo Sandoval, too. He’s failed to perform at the same level he did a year ago. He hasn’t been the lovable, run-producing Panda all season. So, there’s no reason in the world for anyone to point to Sandoval’s performance going forward and say, “He really misses Molina. The club never should’ve traded the guy.”

The Molina trade is not, and should never be, used as an excuse for any failure the Giants pitching staff experiences. If he had that much to do with the staff success, the staff wouldn’t be struggling today, right? And, Sandoval might miss his good friend — but, Molina apparently wasn’t able to get him going with the bat this season either.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The San Francisco Giants’ decision to trade Bengie Molina creates an opening in the everyday lineup, primarily at first base.

The club surely isn’t interested in returning Aubrey Huff to first base, with Buster Posey the everyday catcher.

Huff giving up his spot in the starting outfield creates a spot that could only be filled by returning Aaron Rowand to his role as the starting center fielder, with Pat Burrell, Andres Torres, and Nate Schierholtz sharing the other two starting jobs.

(Burrell’s listed as an outfielder-first baseman, but it’s hard to imagine the club moving him and creating even more chaos in that outfield.)

Torres hasn’t torn it up in the lead-off spot lately. Schierholtz, clearly, isn’t in the Giants’ long-term plan.

Burrell, arguably, merits the everyday left field job, even though the club can’t be certain he will return to the form he showed in his heyday with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Molina deal does bring a credible relief pitcher in Chris Ray. The Texas Rangers reliever was, at one point, the Baltimore Orioles’ closer of the future.

That didn’t pan out, but relief pitchers given a second and third chance are exactly the guys who catch lightning in a bottle and become lights-out set-up men. And, boy, do the Giants need a lights-out set-up guy.

The Molina trade wasn’t made to go back to the outfield merry-go-round, even though it does give Posey the full-time gig he deserves behind the plate.

The Giants have had slick-fielding Travis Ishikawa on the bench all year. The first baseman’s presence is inexplicable, save that he’s done well as a pinch-hitter.

Ishikawa’s chance to follow John Bowker, Nate Schierholtz, Eugenio Velez and others into oblivion, or to prove he can be a big-league contributor, has arrived. He’s hit well enough off of the bench to fill part of the hole left at first base.

He’s still young and he’s flashed power. Barring an accompanying trade for a first baseman, which is unlikely, Ishikawa will be in the lineup now.

The Giants aren’t prepared to send Ishikawa out there against left-hand pitchers, though. That means they’re likely ready to call on slugging, right-hand hitting first baseman Brett Pill.

He has 10 home runs, 50 RBIs and a .298 batting average at Triple-A Fresno. And, remember, the Giants were anxious to give Pill a shot at winning a big league job this spring before other holes in the roster became more pressing.

Pill is 25 years old and he’s hit for more power the last few years in the Giants organization. He’s a good enough defensive first baseman to platoon with Ishikawa.

The front office likes Pill and, at 25, they can’t wait forever to give him a shot.

Look for Ishikawa and Pill to become the everyday first baseman with Burrell, Torres, Huff and Rowand sharing the outfield slot.

No, Pablo Sandoval isn’t the answer in a platoon with Ishikawa. Sandoval’s lost his stroke completely from the right side of the plate.

Finally, an Ishikawa-Pill platoon for now gives the Giants a bit of a youth movement when one considers that Posey will also be taking over behind the plate.

If Ishikawa and Pill don’t do the job in the coming weeks, there would still be time to see where the club stands and deal for another outfielder to free Huff to play first base.

Posey, Ishikawa and Pill. Giants fans are about to find out that they gotta love those kids, because they will be in the lineup.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Contact Ted at tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

There isn’t a Major League Baseball franchise with any interest in dealing talent in return for John Bowker, Travis Ishikawa and Nate Schierholtz. Here are some other thoughts as trade deadline talks begin…

Forget Oswalt

The Giants need a fifth starter, but adding a No. 1 starter such as Roy Oswalt is utterly nonsensical. He’s being paid $10 million this year and is owed $16 million in 2011. Throw in his no-trade clause and a team option for $16 million (or a $2 million buyout) in 2012 and … c’mon! Really? The Giants should have legitimate interest in filling Brad Wellemeyer’s spot in the rotation at the cost of a bit over $20 million?

Lee in a package deal?

The soft spot for left-hander Cliff Lee grows and grows. He’s just 31 years old and will become a free agent at the end of this season. The Yankees claim they won’t try to steal Lee from the Seattle Mariners. The Dodgers are interested. The Dodgers interest makes it imperative that the Giants, at least, consider this rent-an-ace option.

If Los Angeles adds Lee, they become the prohibitive NL West favorite. If the Giants add him, they pay for a half-season of, arguably, the top left-hander in baseball. Then, who knows? AT&T is a pitcher’s park, so perhaps the Giants could make a longer-term deal with Lee.

A Lee deal would have to be multi-player and, hel-lo, would cost the Giants players fans don’t want to trade. The names of those Class AA prospects (outfielders Roger Kieschnik or Darren Ford), young catcher Tommy Joseph and veteran starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez come to mind. (Did somebody say Velez, Bowker, Schierholtz and Molina for Lee? Be serious.)

Would a half season of a starting rotation including: Lee, Cain, Lincecum, Zito and the fifth guy be worth trading Jonathan Sanchez (or Ma..Ma..Madison Bumgarner) and 3 prospect?

Everybody had a chance to think about trading for Lee?

Good.

It’s a terrible idea, but feel free to call and float the idea to Marty Lurie on KNBR.

Royals DeJesus makes sense

David DeJesus is a .300 hitting center-fielder who can play all three outfield positions. He’s just 31 years old and, well, it’s hard to imagine 32-year-old Andres Torres producing over 3 1/2 months as he has in the last eight weeks. So, now that the Giants have 2/3 of the outfield I called for two months — Burrell and Huff on the corners — it’s pretty important to make sure there’s a legitimate defensive outfielder, with some punch, playing between them.

DeJesus will be paid just under $5 million this year. He has a $6 million club option for 2011 and, yeah, I hate thinking about salaries, too. This guy’s a career .285 hitter with 45 career homers and 45 career steals in 3,277 MLB at-bats.

The Royals will want more than he’s worth. But, Giants’ fans are thinking of Aaron Rowand and, likely, very much considering a Bowker, Molina, prospect deal they figure the Royals will fall all over to accept.

Think again.

Think a big-time prospect (pick your favorite). OK. Now, pick another one. Great. Now, throw in a pitcher with big league stuff.

Still like DeJesus playing the outfield in San Francisco?

Set-up men: Aardsma?

Anyone who claims to have an idea which set-up man is on the market and available for the right price is probably preparing to appear on Comcast Chronicle Live right now.

Set-up men are a dime a dozen. The Giants are, actually, just as likely to get Jeremy Affeldt or Guillermo Mota hot down the stretch as they are getting a journeyman set-up guy without dealing from a position of weakness and having to give up a player with promise.

The Giants should be looking for a closer off of a team that’s out of contention.

When the Giants need help this time of year, they usually start with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Octavio Dotel has 14 saves for the Bucs. He’s making $6 million this year and entering free agency. The Pirates never want much. They coughed up Freddy Sanchez for highly-overated pitching prospect Tim Alderson.

David Aardsma has double-digit saves for the lowly Mariners. The former Giants prospect is making about the minimum now. In 24 appearances this season he has posted a 1.23 WHIP, a 22/8 K/B ratio and 15 saves. He’s only 30 years old and, while he’s arbitration eligible, won’t be a free agent until 2013.

The Giants should take a look at Aardsma while the Mariners are holding their fire sale.

Hitters: How about Matt Kemp?

Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal makes a compelling case for the Dodgers to trade Matt Kemp.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/los-angeles-dodgers-should-trade-matt-kemp-062510

The ownership’s floundering in red ink. Brian Sabean and Ned Colletti are close friends. It’s far-fetched, but maybe pick up a phone, ya know?

Kemp’s a middle of the order guy and, well, some of us dream bigger than others.

The Florida Marlins could be convinced to trade shortstop Hanley Ramirez. He’s got a rich contract, but he’s an MVP-level hitter and defender.

That leads to the question most Giants fans couldn’t even bring themselves to ask …

Would you trade Buster Posey for Hanley Ramirez?

The Marlins didn’t inquire, it’s just mentioned so that we can all wrap our minds around the type package it would take to get a legitimate hitter and everyday star player.

Posey, Bumgarner, Renteria (somebody has to play shortstop in Florida)…for Ramirez?

I am not…not…absolutely not suggesting this deal should be presented to the Marlins. And, I certainly don’t think the Dodgers would trade the Giants Matt Kemp.

Did I mention that I’d make that trade for Ramirez? Yeah. I would. Posey and Bumgarner…for an MVP shortstop who turns 27 in December. (And, before someone mentions it, we sort of admit that Barry Bonds-like malcontent who might not give 100 percent every day — except at the plate where he’ll deliver like clockwork.)

The point is that…at some point, the Giants are going to want a young, proven star. (You go ahead and wait for the Double-A prospects. I mean, we’re done waiting on Bowker…right? Right?) They won’t get a middle-of-the-order impact guy without dealing the prospects fans have been brainwashed into thinking are can’t-miss-don’t-trade guys.

There are a number of .270 hitters who can fill a hole, add some pop off the bench. One who look like a steal last year, based on his career and 2009 numbers, was Ryan Garko.

How’d that work out?

Keep a level head

Did anyone else flinch when all the insiders swooned through his fast start and immediately said, “Buster Posey’s a big leaguer. He’ll never spend another day in the minors?”

Says who?

He’s a fine young player. He started hot. He has cooled off. But, there aren’t any can’t-miss prospects and if Posey’s 2-for-27 slump becomes 4-for-54, he darn well might wind up back in the minors.

We enter the summer trade season knowing one thing — we don’t know anything.

Maintain perspective.

Perhaps the Giants should put Posey behind the plate every day, put Huff back at first base and go after DeJesus (or someone like him). Acknowledge that Posey’s value throwing out would-be base stealers will compensate for down times with the bat.

Torres isn’t the everyday, 162-game answer in center. Get used to the idea of Aaron Rowand playing a fair amount. In fact, Rowand’s very likely the type veteran other teams are offering in trade.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Offering opinions in print, particularly on the Internet, curses the writer to be haunted by his opinions forever.

Oh, it must be nice to be in the electronic media where you can offer an opinion and have it just disappear into thin air.

It’s hard to deny having opined that the San Francisco Giants would finish 75-87 once the opinion appears in print. Say it on TV or radio and … “Well, I mentioned that they COULD potentially finish 75-87, but I think I made a bit larger point and, really, I’m not surprised to see them in the thick of the NL West race.”

When a writer offers a suggestion that might help the club or offers an opinion of how the club operates, it mostly comes back to haunt the writer.

Here’s to the suggestions and opinions mentioned here that turned out to be on the money. It’s rare to predict what will happen, then see it actually take place.

It’s time to celebrate.

To the folks who threw metrics and Bruce Bochy’s unwillingness to stick with young players at me—note that John Bowker is back in the minor leagues, and that Nate Schierholtz lost his right field job to Aubrey Huff.

It was written here that the Giants had to sell the importance of playing defense in AT&T Park, when Randy Winn wasn’t hitting and the club needed to justify keeping him in the lineup. Huff hasn’t done anything wrong in right field and, frankly, how many games have turned on misplaying a carom in right field over the last 10 years?

So, yeah, Bowker’s back tearing up Triple-A and Schierholtz is batting barely .100 in his last 40 at-bats or so. He’s a pinch-runner and late-inning defender. The hitter got the gig in right field—Huff.

I’m not the type guy to say, “I told you so,” but …

And, is that Pat Burrell in left field? The guy who was too old (at 33) and a complete defensive liability? The guy who flopped in Tampa Bay in the American League, who was supposed to be the single worst free agent signing the Giants could make with all those promising young outfielders?

Wait, I am that type of guy!

I told you so!

Burrell’s hitting .341 entering Wednesday’s game for the Giants. He’s slugging .614 with three home runs. He’s the big, strong guy who works the count and, apparently, doesn’t play left fielder as though he has two left feet.

Well, after I was run from my suggestion that Eugenio Velez play full-time, people were insisting that there was no reason to claim Burrell off the scrap heap. Velez and Andres Torres—and Bowker—deserved a shot in left with Mark De Rosa out.

Oh, it’s fun being right!

The first piece that I wrote here mentioned that Bowker, Kevin Frandsen, and Fred Lewis were completely without value.

Frandsen’s bounced from the Red Sox to the Angels. He’s doing well for the Halos, but there’s no place for him in the Giants lineup anyway.

Lewis had those who blame Brian Sabean for the sun rising in the east chirping when he was hitting and doing some things for the Blue Jays. Then, he misplayed a gapper and dropped a fly ball that killed Toronto when San Francisco was up there over the weekend.

Did I mention that Bowker took his .200 big league batting average to go rip up Pacific Coast League pitching?

Being me isn’t bad. Not bad at all. (Until I call for Eric Hacker to get the No. 5 rotation spot and he gets shelled).

And, it seems as though I mentioned that the Giants would benefit from recalling Buster Posey and putting him at first base…or anywhere that his bat would be a benefit to a struggling attack. He started with a bang in San Francisco, has fallen off some—but, clearly, people who got the vapors over the notion of the Giants catcher of the future not catching everyday in the minors have realized—they were wrong.

That would make me…right. Right?

Tim Linecum’s dead arm isn’t dead. The symptoms indicating Tommy John Surgery might be in order have disappeared. Lincecum’s winning, pitching well, like he will win and pitch well for as long as he’s in the big leagues. And, for the dead-arm theorists, he hit 94 mph on the radar gun on Tuesday.

Who told you so?

Oh, right…I did!

In lieu of laughing out loud at know-nothings who called second baseman Freddy Sanchez a malingerer, I’ll be kind and admit that I was as right about him returning to star as I was wrong about whether the Giants could win with Juan “Big Poppa” Uribe at shortstop.

I don’t know everything. In fact, I know very little. When I manage to write down things in advance that turn out later to be true, well, a guy likes to crow sometimes.

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Contact Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Giants have recalled Buster Posey and signed Pat Burrell to a minor league deal, leaving some to question where all the pieces will fit if things go as the club would like.

Posey started with a bang on Saturday night, playing first base. Let’s imagine that he is in the big leagues to stay. And, let’s pretend that the veteran outfielder Burrell uses his time in the minor leagues to prove he belongs in the big leagues.

What would happen to Aubrey Huff? He’s a first baseman and wouldn’t take Posey’s job. He’s a left fielder, but couldn’t handle AT&T’s expansive right field if Burrell were to return to his 2008 form.

Nate Schierholtz is the best defensive right fielder on the club, but the Giants would have to decide if they wanted a Burrell, who proves himself productive in a pinch-hitting role given that he hit 33 homers in his last full year in the National League. What about Schierholtz?

Andres Torres is proving he belongs in the big leagues. He gives the Giants their best defense in center field and can play right field well. Plus, he’s got the skills a true leadoff hitter needs, so the club needs him in the order when he’s hitting. Does Torres become a right fielder if Burrell becomes the left fielder?

This is putting the cart way ahead of the horse. Burrell has a lot to prove. There haven’t been this many folks insisting that a guy who switched leagues was a career-ending tailspin, since Giants fans were insisting that Barry Zito should be released after his first two abysmal seasons.

But what if Burrell does pull a Zito and returns to somewhere near the form that made him a 30 homer-90 RBI guy two years ago?

It could be that the Giants have a bigger move in mind if Posey pans out and Burrell returns to slug like he once did.

The club might be considering trading catcher Bengie Molina to a contender looking for a veteran backstop. He can call a game, sure, but he’s called the games lately where Tim Lincecum got rocked. The pitchers still make the pitches.

Molina has driven in just two runs since April 18. Fans love him and consider him the heart of the team. But, he clogs up the bases and if the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox are interested in Molina to hit seventh or eighth and provide stability behind the plate—the Giants would be in position to move him if Posey and Burrell perform.

Another possibility could be that the Giants could ship center fielder Aaron Rowand to a contender where he could return to the supporting role he handled so well for the Phillies and White Sox. That opens center field for Torres and, perhaps, even Schierholtz. (It also clears payroll off the books.)

If the Giants were willing to package Molina in a trade, they could solve the lineup riddle by trying to deal him to Boston for right fielder J.D. Drew.

The Giants open a spot for Posey behind the plate. Drew becomes the everyday rightfielder, a proven performer who has fallen out of favor with the Red Sox. He’s a left-hand power hitter with some speed. Huff returns to first base full-time. Left field opens up for Burrell and Torres.

See? If everything falls together, the Giants could take their talented farm system and hook up with the Red Sox (also with a nice group of prospects) to completely change the lineup.

It’s odd that folks assume the Giants would just keep adding ill-equipped defensive outfielders who can hit some, without an idea in mind to clear some playing time if they all slam their way into the lineup.

If Posey hits, Posey stays in the big leagues. And, it’s generally accepted that Molina isn’t comfortable with sharing his job. So perhaps, trading the popular veteran catcher would be doing him a favor?

Rowand would seem to be without value to the Giants, but he has proven he can help a championship-type team. Send him where his big contract isn’t an issue and where he isn’t pressured to be a big-time run producer and—he could have value indeed.

The Yankees gave former Giants right fielder Randy Winn his outright release on Thursday. That opens a spot for a veteran outfielder in the Yankees lineup and, obviously, Rowand’s contract wouldn’t scare them off if they felt he could help them.

In fact, Molina would fill a hole in New York bigger than the one he could fill in Boston. He can catch until injured Jorge Posada returns, the fill in as a designated hitter for the team that lost DH Nick Johnson to injury earlier.

These are the thoughts fans of a playoff contender should have, rather than those involving who to blame for the most recent 3-1 loss.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

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KNBR’s Ralph Barbieri finally asked the questions and pushed the buttons that Giants fans have been hoping for—and general manager Brian Sabean responded.

Boy, oh, boy! Did Brian Sabean respond!

Giants fans who’ve grown weary of beat writers and columnists asking the same questions and accepting the same answers about everything from why the club hasn’t called Buster Posey up from the minor leagues to Tim Lincecum’s struggles should listen to the entire broadcast.

Fans who spend hours looking back at Sabean’s failure to land a big-time hitter and, thus, blame the club’s playoff drought on the general manager will be in for a surprise when they hear Barbieri push Sabean to the point that he responded angrily and suggested that the two should change jobs.

“I know that I can’t do your job,” Sabean told Barbieri on the air Thursday, “but, you apparently think you can do my job. So, why don’t we both take sabbaticals and I’ll try to do your job and you can come over and (fix things) doing my job!”

Barbieri acknowledged that he didn’t think that he could do Sabean’s job, but he persisted in questioning the thought process involved in the general manager’s failure to land a big-time hitter.

The veteran San Francisco sports talk host asked about the process that led to the signings of Aaron Rowand, Dave Roberts, and others who cost the Giants much but produced little offensively.

Sabean said the A-list free agent hitters didn’t want to come to San Francisco.

“We got blown out of the water on Matt Holliday,” Sabean said. “St. Louis came in with an offer that we thought was inconsistent with the market. There have been hitters who just didn’t want to play for us.”

Barbieri then engaged Sabean in a frank discussion regarding the difficulty of luring a major run-producer to a Giants team that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2003.

“It’s not like there have been that many guys we could’ve signed and brought in here to be ‘The Guy’ with the lineup we had,” Sabean said. “Who could we have brought in here who wouldn’t have presented the same risks the players you mentioned (Rowand, etc.) presented?”

Sabean insisted that Barry Zito’s $126 million contract has no role in the club’s inability to sign a major run-producer. He said that Zito’s contract is all part of the Giants budgeted payroll and that ownership has never denied the GM a chance to spend to get a hitter he feels the club needs.

Sabean also acknowledged that Zito’s contract came in part because he was a Cy Young Award winner in Oakland and a proven winner who’d never had any health problems. He admitted that the deal reflected the club’s desire to make Zito the face of the franchise with Barry Bonds departing.

“Barry had the type profile that we felt would help the entire organization,” Sabean said.

Barbieri persisted and asked if Sabean would do the Zito deal over again on the same terms.

Sabean, showing his frustration at Barbieri’s insisting that the discussion wasn’t an “attack” on the general manager, said, “Of course I wouldn’t do it over again!”

(To hear Thursday’s “Brian Sabean Show,” click the link above or go to knbr.com and then to the “Razor and Mr. T” show icon.)

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Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com)

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The pointless moaning about whether or not general manager Brian Sabean can build a winner in San Francisco has grown tiresome. There has also been whining about whether club ownership is willing to pay for the type of club that can actually succeed.

There’s no reason to rehash every personnel transaction under Sabean’s reign. The 2010 Giants, clearly, could use a power hitter—ideally one who can play the outfield.

The organization has absolutely nothing to lose by signing former Philadelphia Phillies star Pat Burrell to a minor league contract, especially if Burrell agrees to a two-week out clause. This clause would allow the Giants to place him on the big league roster or release him after 14 days in the minor leagues.

This isn’t the time to squawk about how 32-year-old slugger Adam Dunn is the guy the Giants really should’ve signed when he was a free agent in the winter of 2008. Dunn didn’t want to play in San Francisco’s AT&T Park.

Vladimir Guerrero didn’t want to play for Felipe Alou, so he took a pass on signing with the Giants years ago. Matt Holliday didn’t want to play in San Francisco either, so he signed a rich contract to play in a cozy ball park for the St. Louis Cardinals.

It’s time just to admit that the Giants have nothing to lose by signing Burrell to a low-cost, make-good deal. He gets two weeks to see if, at age 33, he can do more to provide runs than the combination of John Bowker, Eugenio Velez, Nate Schierholtz, and Travis Ishikawa have in 2010. Burrell can play a little first base, so Ishikawa’s inexplicable spot on the big league roster must be taken into account when considering Burrell.

Burrell hit the skids when he signed with the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League. There are fans just aching to recite chapter and verse that will prove he’s absolutely finished as a big league hitter.

They are, largely, the same people who have spent the first couple months of the season dissecting the performances of Velez, Bowker, Schierholtz and Ishikawa as though they were studying Ruth, Mays, Aaron, and Ted Williams to determine who is the most productive outfielder of all-time.

Burrell strikes out a lot. A lot, a lot! (No! Please! God…don’t start harping about situational hitting and “small ball,” OK?) The history of the Major Leagues is filled with guys who hit well in one league and struggled in the other, like Matt Holliday. He blew chunks with the A’s and returned to previous glory upon arriving in St. Louis last summer.

Burrell hit 92 home runs and drove in 314 runs in his final three seasons in the National League. Yes, he has whiffed in 23.8 percent of his plate appearances.

Bowker’s struck out 22.3 percent of his plate appearances. (No, now’s not the time to drag out metrics or even do the math on Ishikawa’s whiff-ability.)

Recently, Burrell has hit home runs and driven in runs at a prodigious pace—33 homers, 86 RBIs in 2008. Those would be mind-boggling, monster stats for a guy in a San Francisco Giants uniform, right?

Heck, say he’s lost something and only hits 22 homers and drives in 72 runs. That seem worth giving him a minor league contract?

It would be wonderful to have two weeks where we accept the big league club for what it is and for where it is in the playoff race.

And, it would be really old-school, baseball-card-collecting type fun just to keep track of Burrell’s performance in Fresno. It’s tiresome to find glee only in checking on prospects who are months or years away.

Even if Burrell fails miserably, fans could choose to enjoy a two-week respite from the angst-filled cycle of complaints and finger-pointing.

It’s asking a lot of Giants fans to expect them to admit a Burrell deal can’t hurt anything and then to sit back and see what happens.

After all, Giants fans are are worried about Tim Lincecum’s focus and mechanics because he’s had three bad starts on the heel of back-to-back Cy Young Award seasons. Like a kid his age could win two Cy Youngs and then develop an irreparable flaw in his delivery or just lose the ability to focus?

The Giants have nothing to lose by signing Burrell. Whether fans can acknowledge as much remains to be seen.

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Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The San Francisco Giants are nearing a minor league deal with free agent outfielder Pat Burrell, 33, that would give the veteran two weeks to make good and earn a big league spot.

Burrell, a 10-year veteran from San Jose, starred for the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies World Series team. He is a lifetime .253 hitter with 267 homers. Burrell hit 92 home runs and drove in 314 runs in his final three seasons in the National League.

He signed a two-year, $16 million deal with the Rays in January 2009, thus Tampa Bay still owes Burrell roughly $9 million.

Ted Sillanpaa is a Northern California sports writer and columnist. Reach Ted at: tsillanpaa1956@gmail.com

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com