Friday Baseball Post

Via Steven Rubio, Rob Neyer takes aim at Brian Sabean's latest move, dumping Kevin Frandsen.  I'm not a huge Frandsen fan...I'm not convinced he can really play SS, even as a fill-in, and if not he's not really worth a roster spot.  Neyer's overall point, however, I think is exactly correct, I suppose.

However, that's not the Brian Sabean story this episode reminded me of.  This is a recent story: 2008.  The Giants, frankly, were not going to be very good that season...it was the first season after Barry Bonds, and since they had just finished in last place with Barry Bonds, there weren't exactly a lot of reasons to be optimistic.  Nevertheless, they had Tim Lincecum coming off his rookie season, and Matt Cain, and a fairly weak looking division, and youneverknow, right? 

But you do know, because not only did Brian Sabean not bother to get himself a replacement-level first baseman, but when an injury left him without a SS for the six weeks of the season, he did...nothing.  He let a A-ball guy start in the majors for 93 PAs worth, in which said A-ball guy hit all of 258 OBP, 156 SLG. 

The thing is, with a few weeks to do something about it, any GM should be able to find a guy who can play replacement-level SS for six weeks without costing the team much of anything.  It just can't be that hard.  Failing to bother getting one is really the kind of thing that should get a GM fired.  I mean, mistakes of judgment are going to happen.  Mistakes in negotiations?  Well, sometimes the other GM is just going to beat you.  But not even trying -- that should cost a GM his job. 

(Yeah, I know; anyone who cares enough about the Giants to read this already knows the story and shares the opinion.  But it's getting close to the season, and I need to get ready, which mostly involves practicing my Sabean-bashing.  If we can't get rid of him, we can at least improve the level of grief we give him, and I still need plenty of work with March winding down).