Oldies but Greenies

by SonDog

By now everybody knows about the latest Barry Bonds fiasco. Nobody wants to hear about it, but it's the top story in any publication or website where you would find information on the San Francisco Giants. I've made my feelings clear on this site regarding Bonds. To paraphrase, I loved watching him play in his prime and rarely missed an at bat, but I'm ready to move on so I can discuss baseball with other fans when they learn I'm a Giants loyalist.

With that in mind, let's talk about a few things that are troubling me about the Giants:

-- I'm one Ryan Jenson-signing away from starting a firebriansabean.blogspot.com website. I'm dead serious. I used to think Sabean was a genius, but his crippling lack of imagination with regards to building a roster is destroying my faith in the Soprano-like mob boss. Heading into 2006, there were three players on the roster that were with the team during the 2002 World Series: Bonds, Pedro Feliz, and Tim Worrell (more on him in a moment). Heading into 2007? There are four. And Worrell retired. It's the worst "Hey, let's get the ol' band back together!" idea since Farah Faucet's last spread in Playboy.

Russ Ortiz? I mean, Russ Ortiz? To a guaranteed deal? What, was Trevor Wilson not available? Don't get me wrong, I used to truly enjoy watching Ortiz pitch, especially when he would unleash a 120 pitch, 60 balls-60 strikes masterpiece that only a mother could love. But the Ortiz-Express derailed two years ago and has shown no signs of survivors. Ortiz heads into Spring Training with a legitimate shot at cracking the rotation, which tells you about all you need to know about what the Giants think of Brad Hennessey as a starter.

-- Rich Aurilia and Ryan Klesko will platoon at first base and each of them likely will spend considerable time batting third in the lineup. In 2001, this would have been a potent combo. In 2007? It's a combo reminiscent of the waz and deuce that Rocky takes each morning.

-- Dave Roberts will bat leadoff. If he can stay healthy, I actually like this signing. Roberts and Vizquel, barring injury, should provide the team with some serious speed atop the order. Then again, they are a combined age of 131, so health is a huge question.

-- The bullpen is a big question mark. As of now, it looks like Armondo "Can of Gasoline" Benitez, Kevin Correia, Vinnie Chulk, Steve Kline, Brian Wilson, Hennessey, Jack Tachner, Billy Sadler, Scott Munter and maybe Jonathan Sanchez will compete for six bullpen slots. I have not confirmed this, but I heard that Rod Beck and Felix Rodriguez might be signing three-year deals with Sabean soon.