And that happened.
The Giants have scored three runs in August. Look it up. It's not fair to blame one or two people -- every non-Panda on the team has been awful, and even the bright light from the farm has been in a horrible slide. The Giants said they need to make changes. It felt like it was the sort of thing they had to say. Blah blah blah changes blah blah blah shake-up. Ooogity boogity, players! Hit better or we'll do something drastic!
Then the Giants designated Miguel Tejada and Aaron Rowand for assignment. Boom. Dang.
Now the Giants have a little bit to work out a trade with anothahahahahaha haha ha ahhhahahaha hahahahahaaaaaaaaaa hahaha ahahahahaha. No, seriously, they were effectively released. They've cleaned out their lockers. They're gone.
Neither player has been playing a lot. This isn't going to fix the offense. It hardly helps at all. It's more of a mad-as-hell-and-I'm-not-etc... kind of message. Tejada, sure, I could almost see that coming after his pouty nonsense this weekend. You can stink on the Giants, but you can't stink and lope down the first-base line.
Rowand, though? They owe that guy $12 million next year. They'll have to pay him regardless. It's amazing that they'd just cut him. He was a sunk cost, for sure. He wasn't worth a roster spot. But it's hard for an organization to admit that. Maybe, just maybe, he could find what he'd lost next season and be a contributor. I don't believe that. You don't believe that. But the people writing the checks might hold out some hope because, oh man, that's a lot of money.
So instead of $12 million going to the fifth outfielder, the Giants will pay at least $12.5 million for their fifth outfielder. That extra $.5 will go to someone making the minimum, like Darren Ford. Or it could go to someone even more expensive. The Giants will pay more money than they had to for a fifth outfielder because Rowand was so bad. That's something I never expected them to do. It's the right move, but it's a bold one that's easy for me to call for behind a computer screen.
The Rowand deal will deserve more of a retrospective. Who remembers that in the first half of Rowand's first season on the Giants, he was a candidate for the MLB All-Star Game Final Vote? He gave the Giants two okay years. It's too bad that he was supposed to be a middle-of-the-order face of the franchise. That just made everyone look stupid. His devolution was painful to watch. He refused to alter his approach even as the strikeouts climbed, and the walks disappeared.
Both contracts were horrible deals in retrospect. Both were horrible deals at the time, though I didn't mind Tejada's quite so much. But the Giants needed carcasses to throw to the fans who have been booing over the past week. It's not like these guys were going to help the Giants next year, so it makes sense to do it now.
It's probably too late for a shakeup. This season is likely over. But the team got better today. Next season's team got better. That's ... something. Not enough, but it's something.