Son of Quick Notes

* According to the Chronicle, Edgardo Alfonzo told the Giants he was not opposed to being traded. The Giants told him they would never think of trading him, pretended they left the oven on, and then ran into the next room to call other teams.

It seems to break down like this:

1. The Giants would love to be free of Alfonzo's contract.
2. They aren't so crazy to get rid of him that they will eat millions of dollars. He's not useless, or a mopey clubhouse cancer.
3. The teams would want Alfonzo would need to not have a better third baseman, not have a young third baseman who the team is counting on for the future, and not have a third baseman already under a substantial contract. With these qualifiers, the only teams to remain are the Royals, Pirates, and Devil Rays. Those aren't exactly three teams who are just itching to take on the $13.5M remaining on Alfonzo's deal. Especially for a third baseman who isn't close to the player he was at his peak.
4. Get used to it, Edgardo. Minutes from the ocean, moderate climate, home of Nash Bridges; it could be worse.

* The rotation was announced, as Felipe Alou wants to see righty/lefty/righty/lefty/righty for the five-man rotation. In this permutation it is still possible for the Giants to go into a four-game series and feature three right-handed pitchers, so it remains to be seen what the big deal is. Does it make a difference, or is it symmetry for symmetry's sake? The other idea, to space the soft tossers from the hard throwers, makes more sense.

I saw For Symmetry's Sake open up for Sunny Day Real Estate once. Good show.

The only thing that is for certain is that we'll have a shot at Kirk Rueter starting an extra game over Noah Lowry or Jerome Williams toward the end of the year. That isn't automatically a bad thing, but it definitely leans in that general direction.

* I love the Warriors, but am definitely not up to speed on the rest of the NBA. Can anyone give me the scoop on Baron Davis? Speedy Claxton was exciting when he wasn't injured, which was almost never, but it seems like Davis is pretty well respected. If Claxton's baseball analogy is Nick Johnson, which could be way off, what level of player is Baron Davis?