good post. I got the same impressions (as did pretty much everyone else, looking at some of the other threads) reading Sabean’s comments. My only hope here is that he’s protecting the vets but fully realizes that they’re at fault at least as much as the kids are. Maybe Sabean, like Kruk and Kuiper know in his heart that the veterans suck but doesn’t want to criticize them openly. Kids will take the criticism and try to play harder, while the vets with the guaranteed contracts will tell him to shut the fuck up.

I’m shocked that Sabes is so shocked that this offense is so bad.

SHOCKED I TELL YOU

Actually, I think one of the Situational Whipping Boys™ has to be Bengie batting 4th. Move him to a proper lineup slot, and he wouldn’t be my whipping boy anymore.

And a Behavioral Whipping Boy™ is all that first-pitch swinging that prevents us from straining opposing pitchers, seeing what they have, letting them make a mistake, learning to see the ball better, and all the other mind-numbingly obvious benefits of plate discipline.

Color me surprised that Sabes would call out players by name for the assignment of blame in the middle of a very positive season. I would think that our batting coach, Mr. Lansford, would have to shoulder a large part of this blame. When the young players go up to the plate a-hackin’ time after time, looking clueless and like they have no idea what they’re doing, one has to wonder who prepared them and why they aren’t getting better over time.

Also, I can’t believe that he’s lumped Frandsen in with guys like Ishi, Flew, and Nate. Sure, Kevin has been disappointing, but it’s not as if they’ve given him more than 8 consecutive ABs, or let him play in more than 2 games in a row at any time this season. While the other 3 guys have had plenty of chances (Nate only in the past 8 weeks) to sink or swim – especially Ishi. Is there now any more doubt who is responsible for the shafting of Frandsen? Only in Sabean’s twisted mind could he think that Frandsen is somebody to single out for blame when he’s only had 39 ABs over 3 different call-ups. Not to mention the fact that Frandsen wasn’t even on the team for the entire roadtrip.

The last thing that I want to emphasize is that I think everybody’s overreacting to this bad roadtrip. Remember the 2 horrible roadtrips we had back in April (LA and SD) where we only won 1 game, and the one in May (SD and Seattle) where we almost got skunked? Well we survived those and ended up leading the wild-card race before the all-star game. This current trip was just a case of our players all going into a slump at the same time – this happens to all teams at least once or twice a year over a long season. I’m sure we’ll wake up now that we’re back home. Cheer up. We’re still 6 games over .500 and only 2 back in the wild-card race even after the roadtrip debacle – and we have Timmeh and the Cain man pitching 2 of our next 3 games!

Seems to me like his comments are aimed to try & light a fire under the younger players & encourage them to perform better rather than having a go for the sake of it.

And i’m not sure even if that’s not his motivation that it’s a pro-veteran anti-youngster stance as much as saying he expected better from some of them. I’m sure he’s dissapointed with some of the veterans as well but he’s not one to overly criticise veterans publicly (although i’ve never understood why, whether it’s a respect thing, or that he doesn’t feel it motivates them)

For Sabean, it’s still Frandsen, despite the fact he’s in Fresno.

Why, the person who assembled this team.

I love how twice in the article he asserts that Renteria (he of the .255/.309/.318 line – .281 wOBA) will help turn the offense around. Just laughable.

that makes me despise Sabean. Does he in any way understand that it takes more than a half-season of sporadic at-bats to decide on young players. I had been pleasantly surprised to this point that the young guys have gotten the playing time they have.

But now, a bad road trip close to the deadline, allows Sabean to let his true feelings be known. I am so TIRED of his act. He’s a bully. Just like many of you have mentioned, the vets on this team are the main problem, but they can tell him to fuck himself and take their guaranteed $$. Young guys dare not respond for fear of ending up like Frandsen, who had the stones to actually say he was tired of being jerked around by this asshole.

Franchise, Cain, and Panda are prodigies…They required no patience or development. They are the exception. Sabean has no use for developing young players. This guy has produced exactly what in his 15 years that makes him so job secure.

the way they handle these guys is atrocious. This season they should be getting all sorts of playing time. Despite have a much longer and more successful track record than Burriss, Frandsen got sent down and tore up AAA while Burriss was barely hitting the ball out of the infield for 200 MLB at bats. Then Frandsen comes up and b/c he didn’t go 4 for 4 in his first couple of games, he’s the new whipping boy and is getting sent down. then the fuckers call up Matt Downs to replace him for no apparent reason. Give me a fucking break.

The problem is that these young guys know that they’re one bad game away from being benched or sent down to AAA. that’s no way to treat a young player. They need to know that if they have a bad game or 2 they won’t lose their playing time. That’s called giving a guy a chance and Bochy and Sabean have absolutely failed to do that with Frandsen, Bowker and to some extent Nate. They will become better players with extended playing time. If not, then at least we know what they’re worth as players (not much) and can move on.

A rebuilding season like this one is the perfect time to try this approach and despite our winning season so far, the team still needs to let young guys play and see what they can do. If they’re still in the WC race late, it’ll be even more beneficial for these guys to be playing in meaningful games down the stretch, which will pay dividends in subsequent seasons.

he doesn’t go through a 2 for 25 early on under the Sabean regime. They have no $$ invested in him like they do Posey, and therefore he will be subject to the same “expectations” as every other young player under Sabean. In other words…produce immediately or be subject to benching, demotion, and having to listen to Sabean run his fat yap in the papers. All the while, Ryan Freel or whatever gritty vet Sabean is blowing at the time, OPS at .450 without a word said.

because Rowand and Renteria aren’t on the DL like they should be. This year, the player injury handling has been horrid. Joe martinez and Randy Johnson had to be on the DL for obvious reasons, but there have been several veterans who have been hurt and out for 3-4 games at a time and the organization just lets the team have 0 bench for days at a time. Rowand and Rent have been hurt most of the road trip, but rather than let them get healthy so they can hopefully perform better, Sabean would rather have them gamer it out and go 0-4. At least if Rowand were on the DL, Bowker would see regular ABs for 2 weeks and we would have a better idea of what we have, plus the offense might improve if the players were allowed to get healthy before resuming full PT.

I know everyone understands “PCL IS BATTERZ LEAGUE DUH”.

But seriously, I hereby call for the McC powers, long may they reign, to ban the phrase “he batted .300 in Fresno” from this site.

I’d like to think it’s just cartoony stats generated from playing in Salt Lake, Vegas, Reno, Fresno, Colo. Springs… but I don’t know enough about the performance of “[insert.300AAAbattername]mania” in other systems to know for sure. In any event, I’m glad Burriss broke his foot and hope he ends up in CT on the off chance he can actually develop as a hitter, unlike pretty much everyone that plays for the Mayors*.

• resemblance to mayors of seating sections in Mays Field unintentional