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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Kawakami: Does Sabean realize that he needs people talking about the Giants? I guess not

As I’ve said many times, I like Brian. I like that he doesn’t hide his emotions and that he reacts differently to most things than most other sports execs I’ve covered. But I do want to point out:

1. Sabean is a general manager in the MAJOR LEAGUES and this is where the grown-ups learn how to deal with expectations and failed attempts at large deals in public. It’s the JOB.

He’s feeling sorry for himself that people are projecting that the Giants could make a big move? That’s part of the business. It always has been part of the business. You should want people thinking your team could make a big move at any time.

That sells tickets. (In KC, there’s less angst. Brian, do you want to be in KC now?)

It sells the game. Why else do fans obsess about their baseball teams in November and December? Because of the POSSIBILITIES, the hopes, the new line-ups… You know, you do want fans to be talking and reading about baseball. About the Giants.
Does Brian not want them talking about the Giants?

If he didn’t want to be part of a sport in which there is a term for this–THE HOT STOVE LEAGUE–then maybe Sabean shouldn’t be part of this sport.
2. Some of what Sabean said is understandable and semi-legit… that is, if he hadn’t signed BARRY ZITO two years ago. Which nullifies any possible GM-inflicted outrage.
That’s a deal-breaker on any Sabean December Complaint-fest for all-time.
I don’t care if that was Peter Magowan’s deal and not Brian’s. Sabean was the GM. He didn’t protest it, as far as I can tell.

The Giants quietly talked to Zito for weeks… kept the Hot Stove chat going… got lots of attention… maybe sold some tickets… then pulled miraculous and foolish amounts of money out of their vaults to pay Zito.

They did it to GET ATTENTION.

It is fair, then, to wonder if the Giants could and would do that again for a better player than Zito–by the name of CC Sabathia.

It’s too bad that Zito is a disaster and that Sabean would like us to forget that the $126M deal never happened and that he is swearing off of 6- or 7-year deals for pitchers (and maybe anybody else) forever. I guess that’s starting AFTER he gave Zito a 7-year deal, of course.

What happens when Tim Lincecum wants 8 years?

Reality: When you go nuts to sign Zito, you can never complain about Hot Stove expectations, ever again.

Tripon Posted: December 14, 2008 at 09:01 PM | 7 comment(s)
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1. JPWF13

Posted: December 15, 2008 at 09:33 AM (#3029066)

To be fair to Sabean, he was a bit unlucky on Zito, sure he overpaid even if Zito put up his 2005/06 seasons, but should he have expected Zito to crater so quickly?

Any signs of hope? Zito's 2008 home runs allowed rate was his best since 2003. I'm not sure that's a sign of hope- if that was just random luck...
His walks spiked, I think his HRs were down and walks up because he's pitching around just about everyone- IF he throws it in the zone it's going to get jacked. He did "pitch" better in the 2nd half- but that was all BABIP, in the 1st half his BABIP was Glendon Rushesque, in the 2nd half it was .260. His overall season 85 ERA+ and all seems to fairly reflect how well/badly he pitched- in both halves.

Towards the end of the line Al Leiter started putting up some weird seasons, declining K rate, increasing walk rate, but his BABIP dropped like a rock- he just absolutely refused to throw anything good to hit, so he put up a 133 ERA+ in 2004 with terrible peripherals, because he held opponents to a .244 BABIP and just 16 homers. I saw him pitch a lot that year, and he had nothing, he might have had a few more mph on his fastball than Zito, but his other pitches were even worse Well his ERA actually DOUBLED the next year and that was that.

Then there is Tommy Glavine, I can't tell you how many times his piss poor stuff was yielding terrible results over lengthy stretches with the Mets... and he'd make some adjustments, and bingo was effective again.

I think Zito falls somewhere between these two, he might have a few Glavine style 2nd, 3rd & 4th acts, (but when Glavine made adjustments and pitched better- it showed in his peripherals as well as his ERA- 2nd half 2008 Zito's improvement was ALL BABIP)... or he could simply be toast like Leiter at the end...

3rd option- he has some physical problem that gets worked out (cured/healed whatever), regains some MPH of his fastball and maybe a few degrees of break on his curve (I wouldn't rule this out- his loss of stuff seems to speak more of injury than age, assuming nothing catastrophic, he's young enough to heal and regain some ability- maybe the Giants should shut him down a year - look his contract is sunk cost, 0 innings in 2009 is no worse than 150-175 inning of 85 ERA+ ball or worse.

2. obsessivegiantscompulsive Posted: December 15, 2008 at 01:19 PM (#3029322)

FYI on Zito, he's already gained MPH on his fastball at the end of the 2008 season and started striking out batters at a rate he hasn't seen since his early days. So there is hope, but obviously only if he can continue with that extra MPH (or somehow increase it even more). I have been wondering if Rick Peterson has been helping him on the side or anything since he's out of a job anyway.

Kawakama got it all wrong, which is not a new situation, unfortunately (he was one of the media who strongly recommended that the Giants trade Lincecum for Rios last off-season). Sabean had no problem with speculation in the media, at least from what I read about his tirade, it had to do with sloppy reporting by the media saying that the Giants have a huge interest in signing Sabathia when they didn't and that they had a huge potful of money that they were throwing at Sabathia (and which now theoretically could be thrown at Teixiera) when they didn't. All they ever said was that, using a classic Sabean-ism, "they were kicking the tires" because Sabathia claimed to be interested in the Giants. Turns out, not so much other than as a leverage to get millions more out of the Yankees.

Now he has to deal with fans thinking the Giants got all this money that they can use for Teixeira.

While I sympathize with Sabean, this brouhaha should really have been laid at the feet of his new boss (but of course, he can't rip him a new one), who said outright that if the right scenario is presented to him by Sabean, the Giants will spend more to get the premiere player. In addition, this is the 21st Century, and Sabean will need to learn to deal with stuff like this as well.

Still, shoddy reporting by the media added to it, giving the public the impression that the Giants were big players in this when they hadn't done much of anything up to that point. It looks more and more to me like it was Sabathia's agent feeding the media this made up drivel, the media lapping it up, and the agent then reeling in the big fish. He should buy an expensive dinner and watch for every reporter who bit on that line. Heck, at what they made, they probably could get a nice car for each one and still be ahead by tens of millions of dollars.

3. North Side Chicago Expatriate Giants Fan Posted: December 15, 2008 at 01:37 PM (#3029367)

Kawakama got it all wrong, which is not a new situation, unfortunately (he was one of the media who strongly recommended that the Giants trade Lincecum for Rios last off-season).

To be fair, Kawakami did write a nice self-deprecating column about what a stupid idea that was.

4. GregQ Posted: December 15, 2008 at 02:08 PM (#3029434)

Of the Bay Area sports writers- those at the Mercury and SF Chronicle, I probably like Kawakami the best. While I no longer read them that often he seems the one that is most willing to ask hard, but fair questions to an interviewee- and not just pose them in print after an event has occured.

5. HOPE: Madison Obamagarner (Flynn) Posted: December 15, 2008 at 02:33 PM (#3029497)

6. zenbitz Posted: December 15, 2008 at 02:56 PM (#3029529)

Hmmm... Sabean vs. the MSM... can I root for injuries?

7. Petunia: Pursuing a Prurient Pastime, All the Time Posted: December 15, 2008 at 08:04 PM (#3029951)

Isn't Kawakami the one that damn near got in a fistfight with a Raiders staffer at a press conference a month or two ago? I like him. He's good on the radio. Speaking of the radio, if you're apportioning blame for the public perception that Los Gigantes are bucking hard for Sabathia/Teixeira, Ralph Barbieri's gotta be served a pretty big slice. He was ######## about Teixeira again all this afternoon on KNBR.

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Sunday, December 14, 2008

Kawakami: Does Sabean realize that he needs people talking about the Giants? I guess not

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