I would rather clone Timmy 5 times

That is pretty much the worst idea I’ve heard all year. Unless your goal is to have AT&T Park torn down by an angry pitchfork-carrying mob. In that case, it’s a great idea.

You’re a funny guy.

I’ve heard this “You can have Lincecum… IF YOU TAKE ZITO BWAHAHAHA” trade proposal before… and I just… is there even a remote chance that Major League General Manager could make that call and not get laughed at?

But furthermore, has there EVER been a trade that works this way? Does anybody have a single example of any trade that has ever happened where a team actually agreed to a +5/-5 package deal? The problem is that in this kind of a scenario, the value of the trade return is not coming from the other team involved. This trade IS “Trading Lincecum for not having Zito.” This is how anybody who is the second party to this proposal would view it.

If Sabean brought this up to anybody, they would look at it this way: “He’s giving us Lincecum so that we’ll take Zito. He is NOT giving us Lincecum so that he can receive one of our players. The value of this trade for the Giants is not within our system. With that in mind, I am not obligated to give up anything of value for the respective returns for both teams to be equal. The value of the Giants return lies in getting rid of Zito. The value of my return lies in adding Lincecum. To maintain this balance, all we will give up is Joe Von SingleAForLife. End transaction.”

And that’s a SHIT transaction, from every angle.

that makes me wish we could ignore certain users.

Adding bats with the Zito money at least gives you a chance to win games that the pretty decent core of starters keep close most of the time (in theory).

1) Hmm like Jaun Piere? Sarge Jr? In case you have not noticed not many bats hitting the Free Agent market to go "buy" in the last 4 years. And not many appear heading to it in not couple years later. Rowand is probably the best type to be available that will sign with SF currently. At least tell the team has 4-5 better then good arms established in the league. Then others might consider using their few years of highly develop talent while being able to control their destiny in SF because we would offer a real chance at a ring.

2) As for the ” 5 Almost Non Scrubs as starters will work” delusion I am going to keeping asking you guys this one simple question tell you have a rational logical counter point. - If 5 Almost Non Scrubs as starters and a powerful line up get you a ring then Explain to me why the Giants have never won a W.S. and the Reds only 1 since the Big Red machine? And even the Big Red Machine had to have 3 damn good starters to win it.

Especially if we got nothing back in return except the HOPE of being able to sign some offensive free agents in the offseason that will make an impact.

Roger put it all well. I was going to write “It’s too early to decide what to do with ‘all our pitching’. The prospects need to be actually banging on the door to the bigs, and the contracts for Cain, Sanchez and Lincecum need to be considered on 2010-2012. That is not to say that a deal sending away Pucetas (for example) for a hitting prospect at the same level, shouldn’t be done, or other great deals considered. But building off what Howie said above – trade those vets before you trade the heart of the current and future Giants.”

Nice run down overall. Here are some of my follow-up points.

About MadBum and Alderson, the key point is that they are dominating hitters who are 4-5 years older than they are, who are physically more mature and that much more experienced. I think they can make the majors in late 2010, much like Cain did, assuming there is an open rotation spot. Of course, injury could take one or both, but if they stay healthy, I don’t think that is too outrageous a statement given how well they are doing in the minors, particularly compared with how Cain started out as an 18 year old.

The reason the Giants were in no mood to rush Sosa this season is because they rushed him last season and he had been out with an injury for the first 6-8 weeks of the season. And he didn’t show last season that he had Advanced A figured out, so it makes sense that they are going to leave him in San Jose first thing. Had he pitched most of the season and did as well as he is currently doing, instead of starting on the DL, I would bet that he got promoted.

All together, while they are low are the rungs of the minor league system, so was Sanchez when he made his breakout and make the majors pretty soon after that. I think they are ready to compete by ST 2011 at minimum, because they have all shown above average abilities to get hitters out, even if it is at lower levels.

And who is being rushed? The flip side of TINSTAAPP is that once you stop being a thrower, you leapfrog prospect-ville and become a pitcher. It is not rushing if their stuff is ready to pitch in the majors. Otherwise, as the creator of TINSTAAPP said, you are wasting another pitch in the minors, wasting his body that gets that much closer to injury.

People like to point at Sanchez as a rush job, but when you are striking out MLB batters at such a high rate, he obviously has the stuff to pitch in the majors. Do you waste his pitches down in the minors facing mostly hitters who would never see an MLB dugout or let him face actual major leaguers and learn his craft up in the majors?

As I wrote below, it is way too early to trade off pitching, but not for the reasons Roger states. Basically, we don’t really have any surplus yet. As Roger astutedly noted, the minor leaguers are too low to state categorically that they will make it. Many think they look good but until then, you can only count the bird in your hand, not the birds in the tree. So we have no surplus right now, no square to spare.

The key word here is patience. We are in re-building mode. Trading any of our young pitchers now, unless it is an unbelievable offer, could just end up shooting ourselves in the foot, by any sort of different ways, like filling a position that would have gotten filled by one of our prospects by the time we are legitimately ready to compete again, or trading away what we thought was surplus when injuries take away what you thought you had when again we are ready to compete again.

Until then, as I said at the beginning of this season, enjoy the positives, brush off the negatives as learning experiences, hope for the future, and mostly: Go Giants!

and if he walks Beltre would be worth at least an extra Draft pick. Maybe 2.
But who knows what the Mariners are going to do. They probably not even know at this point.

I mean, why else would he be swinging an orange and black bat? (And the answer is not, ‘because he loves Baltimore crab cakes.’)

I’ve heard that post-surgery Tracy has limited mobility and should, by all rights, be transitioned into a full-time 1B. I don’t think he’s our solution for the hot corner.

Love the 3 Stooges (Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez).

Great stuff. So does that makes Zito Shep?

he was sent to the bullpen and was pitching on a different schedule than during his starting days. Let Valdez come to camp in 2009 and vie for a starting role.