John Bowker and The Case for The AAAA Outfielder

June 29th, 2010

What do we do with John Bowker? The young left fielder/first baseman absolutely destroys pitchers at the AAA level, but somehow struggles when he is brought up to the majors. Quite the predicament that still has yet to be settled. Let's break it down statistically to get a better view.

In the past 3 years he has played 152 games at the AAA level, posting a .311 batting average, hitting 32 home runs and 116 RBIs. "Wow," you're thinking, "He is really good, we should call him up." Okay, good idea, let's see how he's done since being called up. His totals from playing in 164 major league games consist of a .238 average with 15 home runs and only 58 RBIs.

Okay so maybe that's not so good, Bowker is only performing well in triple-A, but just not getting any luck in the majors. Why is that? Well he is what we call a "AAAA player" or someone who is too good to be kept in AAA, but not good enough to be a consistent starter in the majors.

That poses the question, "Where do we put him?" Well currently, he is hitting the ball successfully down in AAA. He plays every game, winning Pacific Coast League "Player of the week" awards every now and then and gets no big call up until September.

Another option would be to bring him up and start him every day, much like we did earlier this season. Unfortunately we found out he just cannot hit major league ball like he can in triple-A, so we bench him. He would get spot starts every now and then, and occasionally pinch-hit, but he would get very little playing time compared to AAA.

Its really a lose-lose situation for Bowker this season,  but the only way to become a big league starter is to keep performing. If he is consistent, and is eventually called up this September, he could sway Bruce Bochy to put him in the lineup. Once he gets some starts he could slowly prove that he can hit big league pitchers.

As for now, we can wait and see him develop or watch him slump and stay a minor leaguer for his remaining career. Good luck John, and keep it up.

Go Giants.

History of "The Rivalry"

This will be the second series that these two teams square of in during this early 2010 season. Now, if you are a Giants fan you know that this is no ordinary game. Calling a match-up between these two teams a cut-throat rivalry is an understatement.

 This rivalry is easily the longest and one of the most known to this date. This rivalry dates all the way back to the beginning of baseball on the east coast, when the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants were competing to be the best in the Major Leagues, until 1957, when baseballs transition era occurred.

The Brooklyn Dodgers had packed up and moved to Los Angeles, CA, while the New York Giants owner, Horace Stoneham was contemplating moving the team to Minnesota. 

This move would have killed this on-going rivalry, but just before the move, Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley convinced Stoneham to move his team to San Francisco, CA based solely on the survival of the biggest rivalry in MLB history. In the end this was a very simple decision for Horace Stoneham, so the Giants packed up and moved to San Francisco.

Continued to this day, when the Dodgers and Giants series comes about, ESPN has a reserved spot for these two clubs front and center. This series is sure to be exciting, just like the last series between the two in LA, in April 2010.

 Going into the third game of the April series the teams were split at one win a piece, so this game was sure to be big. It was a duel from the beginning between Zito (SF) and Kershaw (LAD), both of which left after pitching 7 innings.

Going into the bottom of the 8th Giants lead 1-0 and were trying to close out the series with a win. Then stepped in Manny Ramirez who hit a 2-run Homerun to take the lead. The Giants got shut out in the top of the 9th to lose the game.

This was a hard road loss the Giants suffered causing the team to go into a slump. But, things are sure to change this time around now that we are playing at AT&T Park, and the Giants have a revitalized pitching staff and offense.

Now flexing their muscles in the league, the Giants have rallied back to being 2.5 games back in our division after dropping to 6.5 games back at the beginning of June. They are in second only to the San Diego Padres, and behind the Giants are the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers tied at 4 games back. This series could result in another abrupt jump in the standings for the NL West.

A little word of advice: I wouldn’t miss this series, so make sure you tune in on June 29th – July 1st to see a little bit of baseball history in action

Madison Bumgarner Gets The Call-Up

Today the Giants announced that they are calling up starting pitcher Madison Bumgarner from Triple-A Fresno to start Friday night's game against the Boston Red Sox.

Much like the call-up for Buster Posey, Bumgarner's new spot in the bigs will go with a lot of hype and big expectation. In AAA so far this season, he has posted a 7-1 record with a 3.16 ERA, as well as throwing 59 strikeouts and only 22 walks in 82 innings. He has been the most popular choice to fill in the void in the starting 5 as he has shown that he can pitch effectively against minor leaguers and is ready for the majors.

Last year he was called up in September when the rosters expanded to the 40-man roster, and did exceptionally well. Holding his opposing batters to a .229 batting average, Bumgarner appeared in 4 games with one game as a starter for the Giants. His lone start lasted 5.1 innings with 5 strikeouts, 5 hits against and only 2 runs in a 4-3 loss to San Diego.

Keep an eye on this young pitcher (only 21-years-old), as he will attempt to pitch against a tough offense such as the Red Sox. The 5th starter spot is his to lose, so an enormous amount of pressure will be placed on this young man's shoulders.

Good luck Madison, and go Giants.

Wild Brian Wilson: The Next Robb Nen?

We Giants fans have seen a number of wild, yet successful closers in the past 20 years. With Rod Beck's curly locks flowing from behind his head in a mullet-type of hair style, he gathered 199 saves in his 7 years as a Giant, becoming the greatest closer in the franchise's history and an instant fan-favorite. Shortly after, a man took that honor from Beck when he played for the Giants from 1998 to 2002, raising the bar and putting up 206 saves in a giants uniform. That man goes by the name of Robb Nen, a 3-time all-star and N.L. Cy-Young nominee, he shut down his opponent with his wacky delivery and intimidating walk-up music. Now after a few failed closers since 2002 (I'm pointing at you Armando Benitez), we have finally witnessed a closer with the right mentality and potential to match, or possibly exceed Robb Nen's legacy he left behind. 

Brian Wilson is the crazy, charasmatic, wild and somehow perfect closer the Giants have been looking for. With his tattoos breaking out below his sleeves, mohawk/mullet poking out from the back of his head, and the ball leaving his hand at 100mph, it's hard not to become a fan. His first full year as the Giants young closer, he posted a respectable 41 save season with a 4.62 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 62.1 innings. The next season, he performed even better, lowering his ERA down to 2.74, raising his strikeouts to 82 in 72 innings of work, and still saving 38 games earning himself his first All-star appearance. 

So far this season, he has improved even more from previous years, putting up once again all-star numbers not even halfway through the season. He already has 20 saves and only 2 blown saves so far this season, with a 2.05 ERA and 42 strikeouts in only 30.2 innings on the mound. That's impressive. In fact, it's so impressive, he currently sits in 2nd place in saves in the entire league, as well as 4th in strikeouts and 7th in ERA of all closers. Match those numbers with his appearance and personality on and off the field and this guy was a lock to become a fan-favorite. 

Now that he has put in almost two and a half strong seasons as the Giants closer with 99 saves in that span, can he continue to keep that wild mentality it takes to be an effective closer? I sure think so, and if he sticks around for a few more seasons, he can almost certainly surpass Rob Nen's franchise save record. Keep up the good work Brian, and most importantly, stay crazy. 

A Case For Huff's Spot in the All-Star Game

For 66 games, we Giants fans have kept a close, skeptical eye on Aubrey ever since our front office signed him this past off-season. We questioned Sabean and his tendencies to pick up an aged veteran on the decline for an outrageously overpriced sum. We believed the end of that would come after we signed Zito. Saying, "wow, never doing that again..."

Then we signed Rowand. "Wow, we did it again... its OK, that's the last time..."

Whammy, Sabes just bought us a broken Renteria. "God dammit, we really need to stop this..."

Then we acquired Huff. "Wow agai--wait! Why is this slow declining veteran hitting .307 with 12 home runs and 41 RBIs? Maybe Sabean was right..." No, he wasn't right, he was lucky. Most of us could agree that looking into this season, nobody could predict that Huff would be our most valuable hitter. He's hitting the ball hard and doing it in a consistent way we had no idea he was capable of doing. Now that hes doing wonders for this offense, he deserves some attention from the rest of the nation.

As of now he ranks 2nd among 1st basemen in the N.L. in batting average, 4th in on-base percentage, 4th in runs, and 4th in OPS, which is a combination of Slugging percentage (stat for power) and on-base percentage (stat for getting on base, batting approach, and pure hitting). He is in top 8 for home runs and RBIs, but those are not the only stat to be taken under consideration when deciding who gets the spot on that all-star roster.

His versatility would also come in handy in the All-star game, due to the enormous amount of double switches, pinch hitters and substitutions in this popular exhibition game. So far this year he has started 18 games in left field, and 9 games in right while still maintaining his high offensive performance. Because this year's All-star game in in an American League park in Anaheim, there will also be the option to stick him in the DH spot.

It has been a good 66 games for both Aubrey Huff and this Giants team, and even though he is currently trailing in the votes with only 19 games remaining until the All-Star break, I, and many other Giants fans, believe he deserves a spot on that National League roster.

For more information about All-star voting, please visit http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/events/all_star/y2010/index.jsp to read up on vote totals, campaigns, or to pick your own selection you believe should head to Anaheim.

Giants 5th Starter Conundrum

Todd Wellemeyer isn't cutting it. Posting two opposite sides of pitching at each start. Throwing the ball well at home, yet atrocious on the road. At home he has an ERA of 2.97, 3-1 record, and 24 strikeouts in 36 innings. He does a good job at AT&T Park. But thats it. When on the road, he has thrown an awful 10.62 ERA, an 0-4 record and gave up 9 home runs away compared to 3 at home. We don't want automatic losses every 5th start, which is why I propose a few alternatives for out 5th starter conundrum.