I agree that Joe should adjust to what other teams are doing. When they press, the best way to do that is to move the puck—and of course other teams are TRYING to get the puck off his stick.

During the regular season when teams do give him space, I always yell into the TV for him to go to the net. Just take the puck to the net until they stop you. If they don’t stop you, you are in great position to score yourself. And if they do, you are in fine position to pass.

When they press him, I would suggest he get rid of the puck quickly and go to the net without the puck.

But keep in mind that the did lead the Sharks in playoff scoring with 10 points in 13 games. So while he was frustrating, he wasn’t completely ineffective, either.

First off, Joe Carter? Charlie Hayes? Brian Johnson? Padding your case a bit?

Carter helped provide a spark for the team down the stretch. A team that would have made the playoffs if not for a Neifi Perez walk off on the last day of the year at Coors. Hayes was good the his first year he was acquired. Johnson also provided a spark and some offense at C the year he was acquired. Not so great in his 2nd year. Not to mention provided one of the best moments in SF Giants history with his walkoff HR against the Dodgers in September.

Second off, Sabean has many good trades. But when was the last one? I’m thinking he’s either lost his touch or the other GM’s have gotten better at this game, while Brian hasn’t.

Morris. Winn. Those obviously aren’t THAT recent. As most recent acquisitions have been via FA. Plus the trade market in recent years has been mostly dead. That’s counting both the Deadline and Winter markets.

Third off, the Pierzynski trade was horrible at the time, was horrible a year later and is still horrible despite Liriano’s injury problems. Think about the repercussions of that trade. Think about who was in the closers role in 2004. Think about who Sabean signed to fill the closers role for 7 mil. a year. Think about a bullpen with Nathan, Accardo, Wilson, Hinshaw, Taschner and whoever’s healthy/pitching well out of Valdez, Walker, Sadler. Think about how the Giants had a decent catcher that could have filled the role just fine in Yorvit Torrealba. Think about Sabean releasing Pierzynski just one year later.

Horrible to pick up a young C (a premium position) who had proven success in the playoffs, was a young leader for a Twins team, and who could hit and provide decent defense? A position the Giants had failed to really fill with a young talent in a long time. Bonser is still a porky fat ass who doesn’t work hard on his craft. Hence he still sucks. Liriano still has injury problems. Yes, the trade is still a failure because Nathan turned into an All-Star closer. But it’s not looking nearly as bad as it did 2 years ago. But me thinks it wouldn’t have looked as bad had Pierzynski meshed with the team and still been here as the everyday C. I agree it was a mistake to let him walk. But given the shit he got from fans that year, I doubt it would have been received well had he been brought back too.

As for Torrealba, as much as I liked him, I don’t think he’s exactly starting C material. In fact the only reason he started last year for Colorado was because Chris Ianetta failed so miserably as a rookie at the plate. And Torrealba still only put up an OPS of .699. Ianetta’s was .680. This year its .913. Torrealba is .678. AJ > Torrealba.

As for the closer’s role, I blame that more on Alou than Sabean. Scott Eyre should have closed, but Alou obviously couldn’t evaluate guys with closer stuff much anymore. As he pretty much said he never saw Nathan as a closer either.

I don’t see what repercussions that trade caused. Yes we lost Nathan. That sucks. But do you really think having him in 04 would have made a difference. We don’t even know if he would have been given an opportunity to close. Or what else might have happened etc. It’s all purely speculative and trying to live in hindsight.

Sweeney for Denker will turn out to be a terrific trade, even if Travis leves off as a utility player.

Through the end of the 2002 season Brian Sabean did a MARVELOUS job with his trades. They, along with the previous signing of Barry Bonds, were the primary factor in the Giants’ being competitive during Brian’s first seven seasons as Giants GM.

But his luck ran out after coming oh, so close to winning the World Series.

You mean like how the Giants luck ran out with developing All-Stars via homegrown talent after the likes of Mays, McCovey, Alou, Cepeda, Davenport, Haller, Bonds..? Or after Will Clark, Robby Thompson, Matt Williams?

After 2002, he got little for Russ Ortiz and Livan Hernandez, even eating all but the minimum of Livan’s salary for 2003. Russ won 20 games in 2003 before declining quickly, and Livan was one of the top ten starters in the NL over the next three years before declining to about fifth starter status.

Ortiz was not only a salary dump, but his stuff was starting to diminish when he was traded away. Within 2 years he signed one of the worst contracts of recent memory and since then has found his way out of baseball. For him the Giants got a young pitcher with a live arm in Valdez (who unfortunately has had injury problems) and Damian Moss who at the time was talented yet erratic, much like Ortiz. But for a much lower price.

Livan didn’t seem to like SF much by then and had a pretty mediocre year in 2002. He performed much better after being traded, albeit under much less pressure to perform and stay in shape. In fact he even got fatter.

The Giants also had some pretty highly touted pitching prospects on the rise, who were more talented and a lot cheaper than both of these more proven options. Unfortunately they didn’t work out either and all got hurt and then traded away. But at least the Giants didn’t end up overpaying Ortiz and having him breakdown on them. Or Livan, who I doubt would have gotten better in SF, as by then he seemingly needed a change of scenery.

I dunno, Jose Vizcanio as a minium salry utility guy didn’t bother me. I was acutally excited (I know, I’m a dumbass) that Morris signed here. I thought the ballpark was big enough to absorb some of his gopher balls. Oops. I will give him credit for helping Matt Cain, however. I’ve heard nothing but praise for Morris taking Cain under his wing.