(This email just went out to season-ticket holders)

Dear Goofus, Ya Big Stud,


Yesterday was my last day as president and managing general partner of the San Francisco Giants. While it has been an emotional few days for me, I am comforted by the fact that I can still continue doing what I truly love – being a Giants fan. 

It has been an honor to represent the club these past 16 years. We've shared some incredible memories together. Through the good times and the tough times, you have shown your loyalty, passion and support for our team and I can't thank you enough. 

I know the 2008 season had its frustrating moments, but I am excited by our young players who have emerged as potential every day players in 2009. These players – with guidance from our veterans and coaching staff – played their hearts out every day, determined to earn the respect and loyalty of our fans. Brian Sabean told me that in all of his years in professional baseball, he has never seen a team with as strong a work ethic as this year's club. We certainly made some youthful mistakes in the early part of the season, but their hard work and on-the-job training began to pay off as evidenced by our overall performance since August 1 – when we made the decision to play our younger players more regularly. I am convinced we are now on the right track for the following reasons:

1. Several of our young players – who were untested before the season started – emerged as potential starters for 2009. This includes Fred Lewis, Pablo Sandoval, Travis Ishikawa, Nate Schierholtz and Manny Burriss. Here are five good players who have the potential to play every day next year. We could also add to this promising young group our All-Star closer Brian Wilson.
   
   
2. The 2009 team will be considerably younger than the 2008 team. We have been trying to get younger for some time now, and in 2009 we will finally have done it. This team will be younger, faster and have more energy than the teams of the last couple of years.
   
   
3. The player development program is more promising than it has been in 15 years. The Giants had the second best won/loss record overall in the minors in 2008 and in the last three-year period (2006-08). In 2006 we drafted Tim Lincecum and Manny Burriss. In 2007, we drafted six of the first 51 players drafted. Three of these have performed very well (Madison Bumgarner, who was named the minor league pitcher of the year with a record of 15-3, 1.46 ERA; Tim Alderson at San Jose was 13-4 with a 2.79 ERA; and Nick Noonan, only 19, was an All-Star second baseman at his Class A team.) This year we drafted four college players (college players will arrive in the Majors sooner than high school players) – all of whom were picked at one time or another to be first-round draft picks. Our first pick, Buster Posey, won the Golden Spikes Award, recognizing him as the best college player in the nation. The last two Golden Spikes Award winners who were drafted by the Giants were Tim Lincecum and Will Clark. Not a bad history!
   
   

Given all this promising player development, the Giants have a bright future. And I haven't even talked about our young starting pitchers – Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and, hopefully, a healthy Noah Lowry – with Bumgarner and Alderson coming fast.

Yes, we need more power. Yes we need to improve the bullpen. But we have the financial resources to do so – either by trading for a player or by signing a free agent or two. I'm absolutely convinced the Giants will be better in 2009 and better still in 2010. 

I believe that a baseball team owner doesn't own a team the way he owns another asset. He is a caretaker of something that really belongs to the community. Eventually, he's going to hand it over to someone else and it is his responsibility to hand it over in better shape than he found it. I like to think that together, we have done that. I know that my successors, Bill Neukom and Larry Baer, and the entire Giants organization share this philosophy and will ensure that this treasured community asset continues to flourish and succeed under their guardianship.

Thank you again for your dedication to this team and for all of the fond memories that we've shared together. I look forward to seeing you at the ballpark in the years to come.


Sincerely, 


Peter A. Magowan

(This just went out to season-ticket holders via email)

September 30, 2008


Dear Goofus,


As the 2008 season ended Sunday, I thought back to the end of Spring Training when our team was so unsettled and many people forecasted dire results for the Giants. We have to admit that we are all pleasantly surprised at how well our club came together over the final two months of the season. We can proudly tell you that the Giants organization is now in a much stronger position to return to our winning ways than we were six short months ago.

We entered the 2008 season with three main goals and I think that by staying the course throughout the year, we have been able to make great strides towards returning the Giants to winning seasons and a post season berth in the near future. Our goals remain:

• To develop more young players from within our organization.
  
• To change the team's culture in the clubhouse and on the field.
  
• To improve our level of talent on the field. (Especially in the bullpen and adding power to the lineup in 2009).
  

Several young players stepped to the forefront this season and have a real chance at becoming frontline players for the Giants in 2009 and beyond. Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson are two players that we were learning about last season and they took quantum leaps this year, with both earning All-Star honors and one being the frontrunner for the Cy Young Award. Pablo Sandoval, Emmanuel Burriss, Travis Ishikawa, Fred Lewis, and Nate Schierholtz have all positioned themselves to be in our starting lineup in 2009.

On the mound, Jonathan Sanchez, Sergio Romo and Alex Hinshaw each made great strides in their development and figure prominently in our plans. We also look forward to strong performances by Barry Zito and Matt Cain, as well as the return of Noah Lowry and Merkin Valdez to bolster our staff next season.

Following the trade deadline, Bruce Bochy and I made a concerted effort to play the younger players for the majority of the final two months of the season. We were rewarded for that decision as we were able to see how these young men could handle the daily rigors of the Major League schedule and the majority of them responded extremely well. So well, in fact, that the Giants posted a 28-27 record from August 1 on, which was seventh best in the National League and second best in the NL West.

Bruce and his staff are to be commended for their efforts in installing a new work ethic and clubhouse atmosphere with this team. With 16 players making their Major League debuts, and on average those players playing only 88 games at the double- or triple-A level, the coaching staff was doing an extraordinary amount of teaching at the big league level. In all my years of professional baseball, this is the hardest working group of professionals I have seen. For example, they were the only team to take infield on a regular basis. They have willingly put so much time on the field for early and extra work to improve the level of play for themselves and the team.

Whether our players are working on the fundamentals of hitting, base running or fielding, we want the game to become second nature to them so that they can play an aggressive style of baseball. I have noticed that this year's team has much improved team speed over our recent clubs, which has helped us not only to put pressure on opposing defenses, but also enabled us to expand our defensive range.

For the Giants to be competitive in 2009, and to supplement our strong starting rotation, we will need to acquire some veteran arms for the bullpen and to add some sorely missed power to our lineup. We will address these areas of need either through free agency, trade or our minor league system. Perhaps Sandoval (23 home runs in the minors and majors) Ishikawa (27 home runs in the minors and majors) and Schierholtz (19 home runs in the minors and majors) will add some much needed pop to our lineup next year, but we are still looking to improve.

As for free agency, the Giants will be very selective this winter. We are only interested in players who fit into our long-term plans, while owning a strong work ethic. Aaron Rowand and Bengie Molina are two of our most recent free agent acquisitions who embody the type of players we are looking to add to our club. With the young core of this club under the Giants' contractual control through at least 2011 (Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, Wilson, Romo, Hinshaw, Sandoval, Burriss, Ishikawa, Lewis and Schierholtz), we will have a very discerning eye for help from outside the organization.

We will thoroughly explore any and all trade scenarios that would improve our lineup. Ultimately, we will be reluctant to trade away "the future."

After seeing many young players make a rapid ascent through our farm system to the big leagues this season, some of our most recent draft picks could be playing for San Francisco in the very near future. Our top two picks in 2007, Madison Bumgarner (15-3, 1.46 ERA) and Tim Alderson (13-4, 2.79 ERA), had tremendous minor league seasons and are definitely on the fast track. This year, our four top draft picks were college players – including Buster Posey, winner of the Golden Spikes Award, given to the best college player in the nation. (Tim Lincecum won this award in 2006). Given their experience and success at the collegiate level, they all have the potential to move through the ranks very quickly.

While I know that parts of the 2008 season were very trying, I want to personally thank you for staying the course. Hopefully, we can expect winning baseball and October baseball returning to AT&T Park in the very near future.


Respectfully,


Brian R. Sabean
Senior Vice President and General Manager

(I deleted the previous post and re-posted with Santana as an option.  If you voted before, please vote again.)

I know it's been discussed before, but I'd like to see who people think should win the NL Cy Young.  Hard to imagine anyone besides Lincecum, Webb, Santana or Sabathia getting votes, so I'll include just those choices.

Please try to be as objective as possible when voting!  So as not to taint the results, I'll share my own opinion in the comments with everyone else.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/09/25/SPBR134M3J.DTL&hw=burress+suspend&sn=002&sc=348

A yearlong ankle injury could not keep Plaxico Burress out of the Giants' lineup last season. The lack of a telephone call this week apparently is going to cost him a game and more than $235,000.

Less than a month after handing the man who caught the winning pass in the Super Bowl a new $35 million contract, the Giants suspended Burress for a game for missing a practice and not calling to explain his absence.

Burress' agent insisted the nine-year veteran had an undisclosed family emergency Monday and will appeal the ban to the NFL Players Association.

What's that? Oh, did you think I meant the San Francisco Giants suspended Emmanuel Burriss?

I'm so sorry if I  mistakenly  caused any false concern.

After winning 8 of their last 10, The Giants record is currently 68-81.  With 13 games left, they've already assured themselves of avoiding 100 losses. 

If they win just four more games, they'll beat last year's record of 71-91.  If they win five more games, they'll avoid 90 losses.  These seem well within reach.

Here's a more unbelievable goal that's within reach: If they go 9-4 in these final 13 games, they'll finish 77-85.  What's so special about that?  It would give them their best record since the 2004 season.  Some will argure that that's clearing a low bar and nothing to write home about, but after the dire off-season predictions, I'd consider it an accomplishment that would give the team something to build on in 2009.

In addition, going 9-4 or better could conceivebly put them in 2nd place with the way the D-Backs are playing.

So I say, "To hell with improving our draft pick.  Let's enjoy the final four series and root for the kids to finish strong!"  If they go 9-4, I know I'll be dancing!

Our favorite inflatable mascots made it to the semi-finals of America's Got Talent.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed that voters are as dumb as we are and think that these lovable goofs are worthy of advancing closer to the million dollar prize.

Here's video of Alex Frogriguez, Tiger Woodschuck, Harry Canary, Snail Earnhardt Jr and, of course, the irrepressible Pee Wee Geese gettin' down with their bad selves and thrilling the crowd.

You tube video

Hi Peeps,

I've got an extra ticket for Saturday's game vs. The Padres. (I guess Zito's pitching for the Giants.) If you'd like to come, speak up!  You'll be sitting with Natto, Mrs. Goofus and me in our Lower Box seats behind home.  No charge for the ticket, but if you'd like to buy me a dog, I won't object.

Please be an active member of this community and not someone who's just trying to vulture a ticket.

Goofus

Speed and defense for the...uh...tie game...so far

Japan and USA are tied 0-0 in the 11th

USA just got a base hit that scored a run because of the goofy start the inning with two men on rule.

Now Nate just singled to score another run.  US up 2-0 in the top of the 11th.  Japan will get their turn to start the bottom of the 11th with men on 1st and 2nd

It's on MSNBC.  anyone else watching this?