A few questions for Giants general manager Brian Sabean:
Thought by now some of your veteran players - Randy Winn, Rich Aurilia - might be dispersed to other teams.
BS: "There's still time. We've had some interest in our players, but nothing has materialized quite yet. But between now and the roster deadline [Aug. 31], there's still plenty of time for teams to assess their needs and come back to us with something."
I'm sure this has been a tough year. It seems as though you're bringing up younger kids and seeing what they can do.
BS: "It's a transitional time, but an exciting time. We'd like to see what these kids can do now and how we project them for our team in the future. There's been some frustration this year. We felt we did some things better than we expected and we didn't do things that we expected to do. We haven't hit at times and that puts a strain on your pitching staff."
Is Barry Zito salvageable?
BS: "In his defense, he's gone out there at times and had good stuff and we haven't supported him offensively. Same with Matt Cain. I think it's awfully tough mentally for a pitcher to know he's got to be perfect out there and not make a mistake because we aren't going to score enough runs to support him. Barry is transitioning, there's no doubt about that. He keeps searching for something to turn it around for him again, and believe me he's trying."
Do you have a plan for the future in terms of whether you want to go young or whether you want to dabble in the free agent market?
BS: "I think we made a great choice in going after Aaron Rowand last year. I think he's been everything as advertised for us and he's someone we would certainly want to build our team around in terms of a guy who leaves everything he has on the field every day. We have some things we need to correct and we'll look for free agents and to make deals. We need to do something about our bullpen. We need maybe to look and see if we can do something with a first baseman. We know we have a keeper in Fred Lewis. We'll certainly have to wait and see who's on our team by the end of the year and make our evaluations and who we have and who we don't have."
Was it tempting at all when you saw Barry Bonds on the field last weekend not to give him a jersey and suit up?
BS: "I don't think I'll touch that one."