isn’t he?

In 7 more years, we might have an actual team!

Yeah, right.

The big offseason FA signing will be another center fielder.

The Giants: I can haz logic?

Can you make it 3 of the sucky states?

Actually, I interviewed Will Carroll before the season started and asked him about the achilles. Here’s his response.

Bay City Ball: The news is out that 2B Kevin Frandsen has ruptured his achillies and could miss the entire season. Now, I’m not a doctor but that sounds extremely painful. Anytime I hear the word "rupture" I squirm. What are the implications of such an injury? Both in a recovery time frame and how it effects a player’s ability to play the game — field, run, hit, etc.? Any good historical precedents for a baseball player rupturing his achilles and making a successful comeback?

Will Carroll: He’s done for the year, sadly. "Rupture" just means that it’s a complete tear. It will be surgically reattached and he’ll be fine. Most come back normally, a bit less speed. I can name a lot more football players, but Gabe Kapler comes to mind.

It sounds recoverable, but I worry about his age and how missing an entire year will affect his development. The Giants have had a pretty good medical staff over the past few years, too.

Franny is shooting for a September return. Would be great to see him back on the field for some games this season.

Came back with the Broncos and had a career year, but now he’s trash…

Can anyone tell me why they don’t just take Freddie out right now and get him his foot surgery? They talk about how painful it is for him all the time, and it can’t help playing on it. Apparently, there’s something like an 8-month recovery time, and they’ve got a) nothing to play for this year, and b) any number of folks who could take his place while he heals.

Isn’t a healthy Fred Lewis at the start of ‘09 a higher priority than any potential ‘08 production?

Using only inhouse 3b talent (Castillo, Denker, Frandsen and Rohlinger) who:

a) plays the best defense?
b) would help the line-up the best?

So, Dolorous Ed gets the job, then?

1) they’re the padres.
2) they’re the padres.

Yay! We won a series! The season is all better now!

Sorry, but those two things you bring up don’t make this season less worth being sarcastic about. Even in the short-term.

the post is undeniably right on the mark.

Maybe you’re the one who can’t be pleased?

Eh, druze moj….

The Giants are playing .000 ball over the past one day.

Grant IS awesome.

a Sabean solution to SS that is going to be outside of the farm system currently, and i think it is going to be a FA. Some money is cleared and it looks destined to happen, man i’d prefer to trade for one with some room to grow as opposed to Furcal’s sewn together body for 1-3 games a year.

Which (whose?) wee are you talking about here? Does this have anything to do with Goofus and his silly hat?

lousy hitter, I don’t know why he was picked up. Now playing both IF and OF in Augusta methinks.
Your plan makes sense, and is a plan. Wald and Haines were available to pick it in Fresno, a slight stretch offensively, tho Wald reached the PCL recently. Julio Cordido came up as a SS, then gained weight.

spectacular

Equals Sabean’s lapton/cellphone

You’ve got two options that will give you solid defense – Bocock or Ochoa – and neither proven with the bat. However, Ochoa (even discounting 2007) had put up numbers at AA comparable to what Bocock did in A ball. If you want to talk about a “history of nothing” for Ochoa, then Bocock’s history was less than zero.

“Sounds like he’s no sure thing at fielding SS.”

There may be some doubts about whether Burriss can cut it defensively at SS, but I think there is very little doubt that he will never be able to cut it at 2B offensively—I’ll be shocked if he ever slugs .400.

“If you are going to stress over the usage of a marginal prospect like him, then I suggest a chill pill, as he most likely will disappoint you even if the Giants did everything that you thought they should do in their care and feeding of prospects.”

I think you missed the point by quite a bit here. I don’t think anybody’s stressing because they think he’d be destined for stardom if the Giants only used him right. Quite the opposite, I think people are concerned because he’s not much of a prospect - with only an outside shot of filling the SS black hole - yet they are playing him at one of the few spots where they have a couple of interesting prospects. So, while many of us believe either Denker of Frandsen may be a good long-term solution at 2B, we envision Burriss playing there ahead of them and cranking out one or two extra base hits a month while Sabean praises his play by calling him “the next Neifi Perez” without even the slightest hint of irony.

Yeah, they probably shouldn’t have brought Burriss up only to have him sit.

Understatement of the year.

Except that since Burriss was available in the draft – Jonathon May noted, "There’s some question about his ability to play short…" – most observers of the prospect scene that I’ve read said that Burriss had 2B in his future. One prospect book this year said, "may not have arm strength for SS, but has good range and soft hands." BA noted that he is "likely playing some second base next to Brian Bocock." They also note his good range and instincts at SS, but then noted that with 30 errors in 123 games in 2007, he needs to be more consistent on defense. Sounds like he’s no sure thing at fielding SS.

But we’ve seen him play. He most assuredly has the arm strength for short; I had read the same reports, so I was surprised to find that his arm is above average. He turns a double play well, and he can make throws from deep in the hole. Granted, his numbers at Hardball Times put him at the bottom of NL shortstops, but that’s for the equivalent of 27 games. He hasn’t been a Frandsenian disaster at short at all.

And if you start the season with your expected starting SS injured, who you signed solely because you didn’t really have any good options in the farm system yet, got Ochoa with a history of nothing, half a season of maybe something or maybe lucky due to small samples, you then go to the next choices down below, Burriss or Bocock.

The Giants needed a backup shortstop before Vizquel was injured. It was unacceptable to have the ostensible starter at second, who had started a grand total of 25 games at short in the majors, also be the only backup plan for a 41-year-old shortstop. The Giants blew it. And if they didn’t view Ochoa as an option to fill in for an emergency, there was no reason to sign him as a minor league free agent to be the starter in AAA.

Having Brian Bocock start the season at short is still the most mind-boggling display of organizational ineptitude I’ve ever seen. Not only the decision to start Bocock, but all of the roster decisions that led up to that decision. No hyperbole. At least you can chalk Tony Pena, Jr. down to nepotism. Think about what it should take to promote a kid who is less than 15 months out of Stetson, and who hit .220 in A-ball. There should have been four or five options unavailable, at least, before Bocock was even considered. There should have been minor league lifers - the Scott McClains of no-hit, all-field shortstops - who were backing up in AAA and AA. Like, oh, Ivan Ochoa.

The Giants put a player with zero chance of success in a position to fail like few others have ever failed before him, and they did it all because of the “speed and defense” mantra. Surprise! Bocock, as a young player, was prone to booting balls and mental mistakes! His glove, while good, wasn’t magic! And, surprise!, Matt Cain outhit him handily.

It gets me really angry every time I think about it.

Every Breath You Take is really catchy.