Cody Ross, Brad Hawpe, Johnny Damon, Luis Gonzalez, Andre Dawson….is there an outfielder the Giants don’t have interest in? Not sure what the plan is here, but if Aaron Rowand’s gamer status means he gets at least a couple starts a week, Nate Schierholtz will be Mike Murphy’s assistant by September.
— According to Ken Rosenthal, the Giants actually claimed Ross off waivers, which means the Marlins might trade him to San Francisco for a middling prospect within the next ten days.
— Tons of outfielders are avaialble, but the Giants, who aren’t real deep on the infield, are left to trade for Mike Fontenot. Good thing that out of the Giants’ top 10 draft picks, only one (Carter Jurica, a SS from Kansas St. the Giants selected in the third round) is an infielder.
— Hopefully this waiver claim was just to keep the Padres, Braves and Phillies from getting to Ross. Otherwise, it just seems like Sabean’s either bored or addicted to league-average outfielders.
— Question: why do the Giants want another low-OBP guy who may hit a few homers? If you project Ross’ 29 walks this season over the full 162, he’d end up with 39 — which is actually better than the 34 times he walked in 151 games last season. Hawpe hasn’t been all that great this year, but at least he can take a pitch (lifetime .374 OBP for Hawpe, compared to .320 for Ross’ career).
— Answer: Ross fields his position better than Jose Guillen or Pat Burrell, and hits more dingerz than Schierholtz.
— Still, forget Schierholtz (since the Giants already have); why are the Giants intent on taking at-bats away from Burrell? It isn’t outfield defense which has led to any problems Giants pitchers have had this year, it’s that they walk too many guys.
— Forget outfielders altogether, how about Jonathan Sanchez’s outing yesterday? Forgive my continued over-the-top love of Sanchy No. 1, but he’s left-handed, is as hard to hit as any pitcher in baseball and, regardless of what you think about his failed guarantee before the Padres series, he obviously cares. Of all the moves Sabean has made this season, refusing to let go of Sanchez may be the one that benefits the Giants the most in the long run.
