'07

When doing some all-night cramming for a final, no one thinks about what's going to happen when it's over. What needs to get done, needs to get done. Popping Vivarin and dark chocolate-covered espresso beans like an pharmaceutical oyster shooter every fifteen minutes isn't going to make you feel better the next day. It might, some would guess, make you feel worse. Another way to put it, is it is going to make you feel much, much worse.

All-nighters rack your brain and your body, but there are no other options. It would have been nice to have planned a little better before it came to that decision, but that's a moot point. The situation called for all or nothing. In case you haven't guessed, the jittery fellow at the end of his rope is Brian Sabean. All or nothing. It's a strategy very few of us argue with. We can debate the merits of Moises Alou and Mike Matheny, but most agree that Bonds' time isn't infinite, with the exception of some obscure but growing religions. The Giants need to be built to win now.

After. What about after? Headaches, nausea, waking up in a closet down the hall. Ugly stuff. Some have predicted this future for the Giants in about 2007. Maybe next year, even. All signs point somewhere in that direction.

Nothing is guaranteed, however. Please direct your attention to the worst Waiting for Boof post ever. In it, I did some heavy licking of the optimist toad and tried to predict the future. Specifically, the 2004 season. It was a disaster. My two-, three-, and four-starters were Damian Moss, Jesse Foppert, and Kurt Ainsworth, respectively. Jose Cruz was the centerfielder, and Todd Linden was in right. Alfonzo was still a good player, and Aurilia was forever in the two-hole.

Had I seen the future, known that Moss, Cruz, Linden, Aurilia, and Alfonzo were about to take major steps back, and that Foppert and Ainsworth were both going to be injured, I would have wept. The Giants have no chance in 2004! ¡Dios mio! That, obviously, wasn't the case. Other players were brought in. Players not expected to maintain a high level of production did just that. Players not even in consideration, like Noah Lowry, were key cogs and are counted on for this season.

Too many things can happen this season to screw up expectations, much less two or three years down the road. Matt Cain and Merkin Valdez can both turn into good major league starters, freeing up money for a post-Bonds free agent or two. Maybe Tony Torcato defies logic and his own statistical history, hitting well enough to become a starting first baseman. These are not things to count on, but stranger things have happened. Maybe the team collapses this year, and nothing good happens for the next decade. Oh, what a fun site this would be.

The window to win is open now. It may or may not be closing soon. All we know is that, a team with Barry Bonds on it has one of the greatest inherent advantages in baseball history. Worrying about 2007 wouldn't make sense even if we were much better forecasters than we are. Two years ago, a future rotation with Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright looked like something the Reds would cross their fingers and try on a budget, not something the Yankees would outspend to obtain.

Learn from the fable of the Worst Post Ever. Then take a look at some of the other crap I was throwing out there around that time. Man, I was wrong more often than Pedro Guerrero on Jeopardy. Either I've become much more astute, or you still shouldn't be listening to a word I say. Looking two years down the road is close to impossible. Fun, though. Definitely fun.