Armando

by W8ingForATitle on Jul 26, 2006 7:39 PM PDT Comment 15 comments

Is it time to let him go?

I know he is on the books for next season no matter what and we have no real candidate to replace him (before of after the Accardo trade), but when is the appropriate time to cut your losses. Sabean will probably not be willing to cut him as it would mean admitting he made a mistake, although last year's injury offers him a partial excuse.

I just don't see Benitez improving. The guy is 13/19 in save situations and has a WHIP of 1.538, coming into todays catastrophe. 16 walks in 27 1/3! His teammates don't seem to care for him and us fans have seen enough. At least with one of the kids (Sanchez, Wilson, or whoever) there is hope for improvement.

Thoughts?

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Re: Armando

I'm done with Benitez. Anything that happens that means he's not closing games for the Giants is fine with me.

Hell, even Brian Wilson got out of a bases loaded, one out jam in today's game. And if I'm not mistaken, he's got what could be pretty good closer stuff.

Throws better than Benitez, anyway, and with better control. And I have to believe he's more mature.

Sanchez is a thought. Though I like him better setting up.

Coming to you by proxy

by howtheyscored on Jul 26, 2006 7:47 PM PDT reply actions

Note:

Throws better = Throws faster.

Though the literal translation is arguable, too.

Coming to you by proxy

by howtheyscored on Jul 26, 2006 7:48 PM PDT up reply actions

Re: Armando

I see no reason to simply cut Benitez. If someone offered a pitching prospect in trade, and offered to take on all of Benitez's salary, I might be tempted to take the relief and try a closer-by-committee approach. Barring that, you hang onto him and do your best to help him out. He is pitching much better than he was earlier in the year (I know, that doesn't seem like it's saying much...)

by Skaldheim on Jul 26, 2006 8:48 PM PDT reply actions

Re: Armando

Agreed. Trading him would be ideal. He's got value somewhere. I hear the Brewers' pen is a mess. Send him there for a pitching prospect.

But he can't stay here anymore and you can't let him go without getting something in return.

Is it too late to become a Yankee fan?

by Punch Rockgroin on Jul 26, 2006 8:58 PM PDT up reply actions

Re: Armando

Quite simply put, he can't stay here anymore. His team has no confidence in him whatsoever, and literally all of Giants fandom is A-rodding him out of town on a rail. Get someone to take that salary, I'm sure some brilliant GM will be convinced he just needs a "change of scenary." Baltimore found a taker. So did the Mets. And then the Yankees. Seems like Chicago got someone to take Latroy Hawkins last year. Maybe we should call that GM...

He is not pitching better, he is throwing a little harder. He's never been able to pitch. He doesn't have the brains or the heart to. He just throws the ball, prays for the best, and pounds his chest like an orangatan when the line drive hits leather.

He's been in the major leagues for nearly a decade. This ain't the first day of kindergarden son, no one is gonna hold your hand while you try to get major league hitters out. Maybe that's the problem, he keeps looking for his mommy to walk him through it. Dump him. We need a closer who doesn't need to be breast fed every hour on the hour.

When even Jon Miller and Mike Krukow sound exasperated with your every movement, you know something's rotten in Denmark. Trade him for laundry detergent. The ship is sinking! Throw the dead weight overboard and we may have a shot.

I use my hand, to wipe my tears. And I blame Saybean.

by McPeePee on Jul 26, 2006 9:14 PM PDT up reply actions

Re: Armando

If he was getting breast-fed every hour, that would make it really hard for him concentrate on anything but his next feeding. It'd be so awesome if that was his actual excuse!

by Skaldheim on Jul 26, 2006 9:31 PM PDT up reply actions

Re: Armando

It'd be a far less pathetic excuse than blaming his infielders.

"The first point is whether my brain is still operating...I'll figure that out after the season." - Felipe Alou

by EliminateMe on Jul 26, 2006 10:04 PM PDT up reply actions

Re: Armando

There's no way anyone in the MLB will be stupid enough to trade for him. Right now we're stuck with him but that doesn't mean he can pull his own weight (a chunk of it anyway) pitching middle or long relief.

I'd rather watch Wilson, Hennessey or Sanchez close. Even if they choke, you hope they learned something out of it.

by orangeandblackattack on Jul 26, 2006 10:46 PM PDT reply actions

Re: Armando

this is not an a-rod situation.

it is much more akin to a hawk or cheeseburger situation

no...forget hawk, he never blamed his teammates, he was just a deer caught in the headlights.

this is a cheeseburger situation.

cheese never accepted responsibility for his poor pitching performances...in fact, he never thought any of them were poor.

tonite mando said "i did my job"...I truly wonder where it is written in his contract to walk the first man, and then throw bp to everyone else.

when even the pbp guys are pissed off, you are in trouble.

by bacci40 on Jul 27, 2006 2:48 AM PDT reply actions

Don't Worry,

we've got a replacement, young Jeremy Accardo. 24 years old. Throws high 90's, 4/1 K/BB. What's that? I mean young Shea Hillenbrand. 31 years old. Family man. General manager Steve Finely reccomends him.

by GiantJim on Jul 27, 2006 7:46 AM PDT reply actions

Re: Armando

A couple of thoughts...

Sabean HAS to be choking on his own vomit right about now and I'm sure he's at least considering his options with Benitez. When he made the Hillebrand deal, Benitez actually converted some saves consecutively. I wonder now if he'd make the same trade today.
Fans calling into Damian Bruce and tofay's KNBR morning show are as pissed as everyone here. Brian Murphy, who had preached the "Let's exist with Benitez previously" mantra, says "no more". It'll be interesting to hear the reaction of the crowd the first time he comes into a game at home. It will probably be worse than anything Bonds has heared on the road this year.
How much, if any, of Benitez' salary would you be willing to eat to be rid of him? DFA him and eat it all? Trade him and eat half? The Giants haven't historically been a team to eat big contracts outright, so if they did it here it would be saying a lot.
One caller into Bruce's show last night made a good point about Benitez and his body language. Both times people came to talk to him on the mound he never looked his teammates in the eye. He had a "yeah yeah" aloof look going that made you really wonder whether he was even listening. If he doesn't respect his teammates, how can they be expected to respect him? His stomping around after Durham's "error" was no better.
I was a bar watching the 9th. With no volume (or McC posts to read), you realize just how long Benitez takes between pitches. It's an absolute ETERNITY and it's no wonder at all that the defense behind him is not at its sharpest.
More comments from Benitez ("I did my job") really just have me convinced that he'll never be the man.

Positive comment about Benitez: I'm positive he sucks.

by Goofus on Jul 27, 2006 8:06 AM PDT reply actions

Re: Armando

No body likes to lose, but, really, where is his "I did my job" comment either 1) wrong, or 2) blaming his infielders? OK, he walked the leadoff guy, never a good start, but he did strike out Soriano (are you going to trash Cain because he gave up a HR to Soriano?). And he did get three ground balls. Any one of those are caught and we are out of the inning. Why does Durham escape your wrath? That ground ball that clanks off his glove SHOULD have been out # 2. It wasn't Mariano Rivera-esque, but it was good enough to nail down the win with either a little luck or a little better D.
Please mail the hand grenades to my ex-wife's house: 12345 StillBerry Lane

by allfrank on Jul 27, 2006 12:07 PM PDT reply actions

Re: Armando

By itself, you're right, but when you take it with his other comments like "Omar was out of position" and "I've been on better teams than this" it's infuriating.

I don't expect him to say "Everyone's right; I suck.", but something like. "The bottom line is it's my job to get people out, regardless of what happens behind me. I need to do a better job of that."

His comments in the face of what's been happening smacks of not willing to take any ownership of the team's results when things don't go right.

Positive comment about Benitez: I'm positive he sucks.

by Goofus on Jul 27, 2006 1:16 PM PDT up reply actions

Re: Armando

^ What he said.

Plus, his body language indicates that he takes full credit for every win/save. You gotta love a guy like that: when you win it's because of him, when you lose its because of your 10 time gold glove shortstop not being in position. Take some damn responsibility. You don't throw your teammates under a bus, EVER. You shouldn't be in the big leagues if that's your M.O. But I guess there's an exception for overweight crybabies.

On Durham, we didn't get him to be Harold Reynolds picking it clean out there, we got him for offense. He has single handedly won several games during this three week stretch with his best Mickey Mantle impression. He didn't walk Babe Fick. He didn't try to walk Soriano 7 times. It's nto his fault Zimmerman, Frank Robinson, and the entire population of D.C. knows he only throws outside fastballs. He didn't walk Nick Johnson. He didn't leave a fastball right over the plate to Kearns when Wilson two innings earlier ate him up by pounding him inside. He didn't do any of that sh*t.

We didn't lose this game cause Durham wasn't able to get the one out on that ground ball. We lost because we have Blownitez on the roster.

I use my hand, to wipe my tears. And I blame Saybean.

by McPeePee on Jul 27, 2006 1:49 PM PDT up reply actions

Re: Armando

"I did my job" implies that someone else didn't do theirs. That's why pitchers usually say something about the batter "getting lucky" or "finding a hole" or whatever.

Now, if it had just been seeing-eye singles all inning, that'd be one thing. But he walked two batters! That is ALL YOU, Mando. The guy who scored the tying run? YOU put him on base all by yourself. That's not doing your job.

He even took credit for a double play on the first ball! That didn't look like a double play ball to me - Ray was going to first if he fielded it cleanly.

Ray should've made that play. But if he did, it'd be 2 outs, runner on 2nd, and the tying run would still have scored on Zimmerman's single. So if we're REALLY lucky, we get extra innings and Mando has a chance at another vultured win.

"The first point is whether my brain is still operating...I'll figure that out after the season." - Felipe Alou

by EliminateMe on Jul 27, 2006 4:16 PM PDT up reply actions