Garner's comments

Whoops, I forgot game 6 was for game 7....(of course, we all assumed Scott would win )

 

bobreak. yeah they were one game away, but last year was more impressive since they actually had to win a series. Technically in the past they could have made the playoffs, and not won a single game. . and still woudl have been closer to the world series than any recent teams..

In other words, every year that they made the playoffs in the old system, they were automatically closer than we had ever been recently.. before last year.

 

One of our problems has been developing good young power hitters.

Other than Berkman, who has come through our system in the last 5 years?

Scott and Lane are probably good platoon players but nothing more.

 

I was born in 83 though so, for me last year was way further than we've ever been

 

Now that I think about it, you could argue that last year was less impressive since in the old system we wouldn't have even made the playoffs

 

To be optimistic, I think if at some point this season we add one more bat.. I'd feel a lot better about this team..

I never expected to keep Beltran anyways, but if we go out and somehow replace Kents bat.. I think we'd be okay this year.

 

nj.. I'd hate to see plan C

Another reason I'm less optimistic about this year is. at least in the past we knew Gerry knew how to make midseason trades..

Purpura might be able to too, but we just don't know yet how good he is at deadline deals. He could end up being great, we just don't know yet.. so it's hard to judge how likely a midseason deal is for us.

 

...and 8 games into the season, it looks like a better plan than an outfield of Dye in left, Finley in center and Drew in right, which I assume you would have been satisfied with if it were the Astros "plan B".

 

To me, the biggest loss was the loss of Hunsicker. The only "mistake" I think he ever really made was leaving Abreu unprotected in the exapnsion draft and using the excuse that it was between he and Hidalgo. It would be a reasonable mistake to make by choosing Hidalgo over Areu, but i never understood why they couldn't have left both of them protected and exposed someone else? Oh well....

 

Absolutely true. Hunsicker was fantastic.

Other than protecting Johan Santana and Richard Hildago's contract, he was pretty much right on almost every move.

 

Everett will not hit 0.200 if he stays in the leadoff spot. That much I can bet on. Garner is now setting him to fail.

I would have prefered AJ Piertzinski to Brad Outmost ...errr Bad Ausmus...errrr...our catcher. Though AJ is not be all, he at least looks like he can play.

 

But you are basing your opinion on assuming that 2005 performance will be relatively close to past performance - correct? That being the case, wouldn't you agree that 8 games into the season is too early to make a determination as to what the proper course of action should have been? Isn't it possible, that whichever outfielder remains predominantly in the starting lineup once Berkman returns (Scott or Taveras) will have a better season than Drew or Finley?

 

There are reasons that Pierzenski gets traded (granted Joe Mauer was one of them). He is not a good teammate. While you may prefer A.J. (easier to spell), to Ausmus, I doubt any of the pitchers would.

 

While I was too excited about this offseason, the young guys have been playing well. I've been pleasently surprised. Heck, Taveras bats between Mr No. O and the pitcher still has a early BA of .370. Lane and Scott are batting over 300 as well. Berkman coming back won't give us the boost we need as he will be replacing one of the .300+ guys though he does have more power.

A couple of things hurting us so far.

1) Middle relievers - not good enough to bridge the gap between our starters and Lidge.
2) Brad Ausmus.
3) The batting order - please Phil, it's time to adjust to get the most out of this line-up. I'd try:
Taveras
Biggio
Scott
Bagwell
Lane
Ensberg
Everett
Chávez
pitcher

 

The Giants spent big for an Aumus-clone in Mike Matheny to replace AJ... that alone should say what teams think of that guy.

 

I know and I have heard above his abrasive side but we badly needed help knowing Berk's situation and the Beltran no show.

Heck we signed Carl Everret knowing his baggages. What about Mitch Mulosky [sp?]? - didn't we put up with his antics? He would not have been traded if he was able to stay healthy despite his numerous personality negatives. All we needed was a stop gap - we could then trade A.J. if he was too much of a negative effect in the locker room by midseason. With Vets like Roger, Bidge, Baggs, etc I would bet that A.J. would have respected them and behaved himself.