I still think Bowker/Jesus should be our starting 1B. Yeah, the defense is uglier than Ishi’s, but it would mean less AB for Aurilia, and it would allow for a Matt Holliday signing in the offseason if it’s determined that one of those two could handle 1B with at least 15 homeruns combined.

please trade Winn for something, unless we’re somehow still in the wild card chase at that point.

Does the Goofus Plan have a contingency plan if a 30 year old minor leaguer starts earning some more ABs? Or if Bowkermania runs wild again? Does it work six ways?

Winn and Schierholtz/Lewis on the corner OF spots until the All Star break.
Lewis and Schierholtz at the corner OF spots after the All Star break.
Make it known that Winn could be had for cheap. Take the best offer you get by the deadline.

Do yall’s think dumping Winn and most of his contract for basically nothing is out of the question?

There would probably be less love for Lewis’s OBP skillz if the entire rest of the lineup wasn’t full of slop-hackers, yes.

I think we need to trade either Lewis or Schierholtz…. they both seem reduntant on this team. Both left-handed, high obp, low power, speedy corner outfielders. Bowker, even though he is left-handed too, at least has shown some power and should be brought up ASAP because of our lack of power anywhere in our lineup. My vote is to trade Lewis and give Schierholtz his at bats. I think we have gotten to the point where we have seen what Lewis has to offer and I am not sold that he is a long term solution.

I have no idea. No one is really stinking it up enough to warrant dropping to bring up Bowker. A trade would be the best option, but I don’t feel like anyone would want any of our players. * shrug*

To Yankees :

Jonathan Sanchez
Randy Winn

To San Francisco Giants

Chien-Ming Wang
Xavier Nady (he needs to be activated first, of course)

The Yankees are quite desperate for bullpen help, and they dont know wtf they’re going to do with Chien Ming Wang in the middle of a pennant race. Jonathan Sanchez can be the solution to their problem as they move Hughes back to starting role. Meanwhile, Wang is much better suited in a pitcher’s park like Pac Bell than Coor Field East and if he can ever regain his form facing NL hitters, he could be a strong force.

Not to mention a great draw with the community here. I know I’d buy like 20 games worth of tickets immediately for every one of his starts until the rest of the year. He also has one more year of arbitration (i can’t imagine him making a lot next year after the start to this year).

I hope Rowand and his contract can be traded to CHW or whoever while he still has respectable numbers. Frees up an outfield spot and some extra cash.

about the outfield congestion.

All I know is that I want to see Lewis, Schierholtz and Bowker.
And if I had to choose 2 out of those 3 that I’d rather see, it would be Schierholtz and Bowker.

Offensively, by wOBA, zips projections (update to include 2009 stats)
Torres: .339
Rowand: .349
Winn: .329
Schierholtz: .321
Lewis: .330

Bowker was initiall projected to by zips to wOBA .317. Obviously, the .446 (even at Fresno) is going to bump that up somewhat… but how much? This translates to .289/.375/.464… which is a wOBA in the .365 range.
If someone wants to try to regress that to the mean, be my guest… but I am going to guestimate his production at .340 or so going forward.

Obviously, aurillia gotta go… I think these projections are as good as it gets, but I wouldn’t trust them to tell the difference between a .320 wob and .340, especialy with mid-season corrections….

The summary is:
Schierholtz should sit! (That is a shocking conclusion for me… or possibly swap with Bowker in AAA for a month)
Among the other 5, I would do my best to make sure the best DEFENSIVE OF is out there as much as possible, which is probalby something like

Torres/Rowand/Winn … not sure I like bringing up Bowker just to bench him, but I gotta belive that he would at 1B RIGHT NOW if his defense was even Guzman-esque good.

I would absolutely trade any 2 of these guys for anyone that could help the team RIGHT NOW in the IF or even a 5th starter (move Sanchez to the pen).

I am not sure I would trade any of them for “future considerations” (i.e, minor leaguers)… with the possible exception of Winn (although we would lose possible compensation picks. Oh, and Rowand (because of his contract, but … yeah, THATTLE HAPPEN)

Bowker will take the inner outfield.
Torres will take the outer outfield.

Oh, right, Lewis has a splash hit too. He can come in as a defensive sub I guess.

And whichever ones don’t get picked up by other teams, we’ll keep.

Smart, eh?

I disagree with Grant on Lewis’ defense. He’s the worst outfielder this team has seen since Dave Roberts as an every day center fielder. He’s constantly making routine balls look iffy, and difficult plays look like he’s never played outfield before. I like Fred Lewis, but I just don’t understand how someone could be so bad in the outfield at this level.

I would be pissed if Neal was traded. For some reason I am more attached to him than I am to Alderson. Maybe that is because Alderson’s always discussed in fake trades so I’ve considered him gone. I hope the only place Neal is going is to Connecticut .

I have unwavering faith in Brian Sabean and his ability to figure out the best situation for this team.

How do you think he will fair at Mays Field. I know he had that one week where he hit well. As the years go by, it just seems more clear that Bonds was a complete anomaly (in so many ways) in consistently hitting balls out of right field. I am pretty sure that Juggernate will never hit more than 7 in that park in one season, what about Bowker, or any other lefthander for that matter.

He’s likely to be a Type A free agent and with his $8M salary this season, it would be a risk to offer him arbitration. It’d surely be advantageous for the Giants to deal him in this seller’s market.

Wow, Winn does look like he’s going down, thanks for pointing that out. He’s right at the right age when most players decline. With his strikeout rate so high, I think that suggests that he’s losing it too. Even in his horrible 2006 season, his strikeout rates was still under 12% when he was doing poorly, after May 17th. Unfortunately, he’s still hitting well enough that he’ll be sticking around. However, I think the Giants will start sitting him down more, particularly if Schierholtz continues to hit.

About Lewis, people focus too much on his OBP, which, while important, what is more important is that that figure is skewed by the stupendously great first two weeks or so that he had. After April 17, he has hit only .213/.289/.340/.629. So, basically for 8 out of the 10 weeks so far in MLB, his OBP has been .289; that’s what got him in the doghouse. And he should stay there with that low of an OBP over an extended time.

And I find the reactions to Rowand to be funny because it is deja vu all over again because it is the same exact reaction fans had to Randy Winn here. He’s beloved now, but every word said about Rowand and his salary now was said in 2006 about Winn and his (then) huge salary.

About what to do, first, I would keep Bowker in AAA. After his flop last season, he needs to do this in AAA all season to get me to believe that maybe he’s turned a new leaf. And maybe he has. But studies have shown that it is better to let a player prove that he can do well in AAA for a full season before bringing him up, than to base the decision on, say, half a season of goodness.

Plus, does anybody realize that Ishikawa hit better than that in AAA in about the same number of ABs, he had 16 HR in 171 AB, OPS of 1.108, whereas Bowker has 10 in 213 AB, OPS 1.024; thus if you are voting for Bowker now, you are also saying that Ishikawa should be starting over him. Besides, Ishikawa is now hitting OK, why sit him now while he is on a hot streak?

For the outfield, basically it is: you hit, you play. You cool off for two weeks, you rotate in. Rowand has been hitting but if he’s cold for two weeks, then he’s in the rotation. Schierholtz has been hot, so he’s in, but two weeks, he’s part of the rotation. Winn has been cold for almost two weeks. If he’s cold this series, he’s part of the rotation. Same for Lewis. Torres, people forget that he’s been a journeyman forever, there is a reason he’s 31 and signed a minor league contract with us.

So, the rotation then works this way. First fill in with the people producing. Whatever is left, you rotate in the other hitters, throwing in Torres occassionally. Then maybe you keep a rolling 2 month batting line, and whoever is higher gets to play more.

I have a feeling, though, that Winn is basically gone, that he’s not going to be doing as well as he has historically. Since he still seems to be going up and down, if he can get himself back into the mid-700 OPS range, then the Giants should seek to trade him, ostensibly to start Schierholtz, but really, more to be rid of Winn. I would just give the other team his whole salary in order to get the best prospect in return.

Overall, I see Rowand in CF, Schierholtz in RF, and Winn, Lewis, and Torres fighting for AB in LF, with Torres in CF occassionally to rest Rowand. 15% K-rate is where hitters have to be at or under to maintain a high batting average. Winn is suddenly over that so that cannot be a good thing. His drop in BA accounts totally for his drop in OBP and SLG vs. last season. But most hitters striking out so many times cannot hit for that high a batting average, particularly over .300, which WInn has been the past two years.

And if Bowker is still hitting so well after the trade deadline, I would bring him up in August if they are all struggling, and in September if the offense is doing OK.

Only one answer. RING OF DEATH.

Five outfielders enter, three exit alive!