What is the world coming to when a kid can put up a .274/.317/.449 line at first base and be rewarded with an A+???? It’s grade inflation, is what it is. Why, in my day, you’d have to hit 30 bombs before you could even think about pulling down an A.

Of course, you try to tell that to kids today, they won’t believe you.

I’m so happy with Bowker I could…I dunno, do something real nice for him. I love the way he’s made adjustments, he’s gonig the other way now, and I think soon Opposite Field Power™ will rear it’s beautiful head for Johnny. Viva la Bowker!

I agree with all these grades. On top of that, I find myself having more fun watching the Giants this year than I did in 2005, 2006, or 2007. That said, those years were as fun as a simultaneous root canal and colonoscopy from a dyslexic dominatrix, so I’m sort of damning with faint praise.

i would say that i am pleasantly suprised by a few players and accepting of what the other players have given. basically, pretty much what has already been said. although, if you take the DPs out of Castillo’s arsenal and look at what we are paying him, i would say a “C” would have been ok with me. a little lower than Happy Pete to this point, but we all know Pete and he will show up in the second half. besides $650K compared to $3M. it is basically Happy Pete-Lite. still tastes like shit, but is less filling to the payroll.

bowker has been real nice, freddie looks good. a little disappointed in rowand. solid in the field, but can somebody tell him he doesn’t have to swing at every curveball in the dirt. he is going to see all of 5 fastballs the rest of the way. he can be a little selective at the plate.

but grant forgot the intangibles. such as dave roberts not playing A+, velez being sent down A+, only to be brought back up F-.

Grant,

I’m not sure I would give Benji a C+. He’s a terrible hitter. His OBA is lousy, and always has been. On top of that, the man is so slow, not only clogging the bases as a baserunner, but a passed ball or wild pitch is an adventure. He may not be as slow as Ernie Lombardi was, but he’s damn close. I agree that Sabean/Bochy making him a cleanup hitter is a joke.

The rest of the team, well, it’s no suprise the Giants are 10th in the league in runs scored, 14th in OBA, and 13th in slugging percentage. Offensively, they’re awful. Bill James in The Bill James Goldmine, pointed out that not only are the Giants awful right now, but they could conceivably get even worse.

Folks keep discussing their pitching, but beyond Lincecum, Cain, and Sanchez, things look pretty dreadful, and could burst into flames at any second. He’s given up as many hits as his innings pitched, and he’s averaging 4.5 walks per nine innings pitched. Even for a reliever, that’s pretty poor.

Things might get a bit better, but from where I stand, things could get a lot worse a lot quickly.

Matt

I meant to say Brian Wilson could burst into flames at any second. I don’t know why he’s going to the All-Star Game. Go figure.

Is there is more answers than questions compared to where we were in March.

Now what is needed is to move Winn, Durham, Aurilia, possibly Wilson and maybe the unthinkable in Cain. The left side of the infield isn’t going to be repaired without due diligence and an elite prospect at either 3B or SS who is ready or near ready to play for 2009.

Benjie’s grade is right for the wrong reasons. He should be sharply downgraded for his disturbing tendency to drop throws from the outfield on key plays at the plate (and he never seems to block the plate). But he should get credit for the number of hits that seem to have come at important times.
I also think the outfield needs to be knocked down a half grade for so many inaccurate throws on close plays at third and home.
Finally, SS can never be an F as long as Omar’s fielding is thrown into the mix. But I’m ok with D-.

Is the apparent presumption that because players like Bowker, Lewis, Sheirholtz, etc. are not projected to become stars, they are not going to be valuable to this team. While this team eventually needs stars – it also needs “good enough” roster filler – and that is what we are looking for right now.

Very few teams in the history of the ML have had a star at all positions. In fact, I cannot think of a single team in the ML right now that doesn’t have at least one or two young “filler” type players holding down a position for the year (or two).

The Giants are not going to turn into an elite team with a > 100 OPS+ at every position any time soon. That is what we hope might happen with the Poseys, Villalonas, etc as they progress to the big club. That however does not mean that the team cannot become a contender in the meantime. (Or at least, not an embarrassment)

Players like Lewis, Bowker, Sheirholtz may never put up consistent > 100 OPS performances – However players like these are the foundation on of which a few high OPS+ players can stand to lead a team into a World Series.

So while these young players we are seeing this year may not become the stars that lead this team into the future, they still have a lot of value to us as ~average position players that supplement star players that we will trade/FA/develop in the years to come.

This is, in my mind, the #1 goal of this season – to find the Lewis and Bowker types who can hold their own (even if only through platooning, etc) at the ML level and allow us to focus Trade/FA/Development efforts at other, more lacking, positions. If the opportunity to replace one of our young “average” players with a star from one of these avenues surfaces, then certainly – upgrade, But it is critical that we first have “good enough” players at all positions before we can really think about being a team to be taken seriously.

As an example, even the Red Sox have four starting position players with an OPS < 90. They also have quite a few players with OPS+ > 120, but that doesn’t mean that Jacoby Ellsbury (OPS+ 88) isn’t a valuable player to them. Would they like to have a better player at the position? I’m sure – but reality is that within their capabilities he is the best they are able to field, and that is apparently good enough.

I am hopeful that Lewis, Bowker, Shierholtz, and maybe some others (Burriss?) can develop into (at least) this type of player, and I think that would make this season a great success.

We don’t need any of them to become stars – we can find those later.