Wright

What an amazing dive his season took.  Those first few starts he was the signing of the century.  I remember the game Grant, GiantJim and I went to, Grant was taking back everything bad he said about him as he was dealing.  Matheny said he had the best stuff on the team, and that was before the concussions!

What the hell happened?  Was he just lucky and reverted back to his norm.  Was the beaning of Giles and subsequnet shelling a confidence shaker of season-turning proportions?

I want answers, damn it!

• Is there room in our hearts for another SP named/nick-named "Woody"?
  
• Does anyone really ever get tired of jokes based on the name "Woody"?  (heh, heh...he said woody)

Nice stats, if you look at his road numbers for 2006, his ERA, WHIP, and BAA are all about the same:  career, 4.26 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, .267 BAA, very respectable numbers.  Not to jinx, but these were the numbers I was hoping to get from Wright.  

His main nemesis appear to be LHH.  But he is very consistent, his pre and post ASG stats (ERA, WHIP, BAA) are almost identical.  And he'll be 29 years old for next season.  

The main knocks, besides LHH, I can list is his K/BB is under 2 for his road numbers and his BB/9 is above 3, though just barely, which means his K/9 is under 6, which is not good either, but he basically at the fringes between a good and mediocre pitcher, good being K/9 over 6, BB/9 under 3, K/BB over 2.  

He made $4.4M last season, so a 3 years contract, $5M/$6M/$7M plus team option at $9M or $1M BO and $1M bonus for 3 year/$19M seems about the minimum of what he can get from the Giants, given that his career numbers appears to have reached his career norm, but which coincides with the new Phillies ballpark being an offensive-minded park (even in his good years, his road numbers are basically the same, amazing consistent!), and given the pacity of interesting free agents.  A Loaiza sized contract is probably about what he'll get, 3 years/$21M, plus 10% inflation for approximately $23M contract.

Meanwhile, Lilly has a 4.94 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, and .254 BAA on the road for his career.  More K's but bad BB/9 over 4, and K/BB just under 2.  He'll be 31 years old next season.  All around seems like he is worse than or equal to Padilla in most ways, not sure where he's better.  He got $4M last season, so he should get something similar to what I laid out above for Padilla, which is close to the 3 year/$24M that Grant suggested.

Padilla hands down over Lilly, though if we can snag Maddux too, I would go for it at a reasonable salary, which I think is about $6-7M for one season.  He could help with the mentoring process with Cain et al.  And strengthen the rotation.

However, I would think the Dodgers would have the inside track to sign him, I don't see them letting him go with Billingsly probably a starter and no other reliable starter other than Lowe, Penny is a wild card and they don't really have a good 5th starter even with Maddux, so they will probably be trolling about Padilla and Lilly as well.

But if we got the two, then our rotation will look like this:  Maddux, Morris, Cain, Lowry, Padilla.  This would give Sanchez a year in AAA to hone things down and if he is ready by mid-year, Maddux and/or Morris could be traded off or perhaps free the Giants to trade Lowry in a blockbuster deal to get a young stud hitter, assuming Lowry has returned to normal.  This would, of course, mean that we probably will have to go young with some position players to make up for the money invested in the rotation, though at most $15M, that leaves $30M for LF, RF, 3B, 2B, 1B, maybe catcher, and a reliever or three.  Seems doable, even if Bonds at $10M and Durham at $8M, but would preclude an Aramis signing.

I would prefer signing Aramis than signing Maddux but if Aramis gets a Monopoly money contract, then I would like to get Maddux.  But, again, I expect LA to keep him.

2007- $6M, 2007- $7M, 2008- $8M.

Wants to pitch for the Giants.

Left-handed.

200ip per year.

Fourth starter at worst.

Sign him.

Cain
Lowry
Morris
Lilly
???

2nd, Why did Poo-Holes point to the sky after his 9th inning "double" (in quotes, because he went to 2nd base on the throw, as the replay showed he stopped after rounding first). I mean, really, is a double worth a sky-point? No, it's not.

3rd, Sean Green should have thrown that

4th, Billy Wagner has Proven Closer's Syndrome ("PCS"). He just can't pitch in a non-save situation.