Francisco Liriano

[Honus Wagner Rules]

If Lirano develops into a star pitcher and/or Cy Young Award winner for the Twins I will forever despise Brian Sabean! :grouchy

[west coast orange and black]

"Brian has nine years of track record now, and he deserves full responsibility for that long period of work," Magowan said. "Eight of those years were very good and one was poor. I feel the poor record he had last year was a combination of some mistakes that were made in the way we evaluated our personnel, but a lot of it was not Brian's fault. It's not Brian's fault Armando Benitez got hurt and not Brian's fault that Bonds got hurt.

"I suppose I could get disenchanted with Brian with poor results," Magowan said. "In this game, people have to stand on their record. He knows that. That's the way it is in baseball. But I expect Brian always to do well. He's smart, he's creative, he works hard and he's got a good team of people around him."
-henry schulman, sf chronicle staff writer, sunday, 19 february 2006

it is said that timing is everything, wags.

here is the article about sabean in today's chronicle.

[KHenry14]

Sabes' next offseason reminds me of what Jerry Krause went through with the Chicago Bulls after MJ left. Krause had to completely rebuild that team, and he failed miserably. Will be very interesting to see if Sabes can do better... and my money's on him.

But Wags does have a point about Liriano...and Nathan too for that matter!


KH14

[JonnyDomestik]

I'd be surprised if Sabean will be with us in a few years. While I think he's a good GM, he may be the wrong kind of GM for us in the post-Bonds years. These last three years of trying to make it back to the Series has made us function increasingly like a Frankenstein monster, shoving veteran free agents into the positions and trading our mid-level prospects (Foppert, Williams, Ainsworth et al) for veteran relievers. While we haven't gotten back yet doesn't mean this is the wrong thing because as long as Bonds is around, this frankenstein thing is the best we've got.
That said, once Bonds is gone we're going to have to run a real baseball team. Without Bonds, we're going to need an upgrade in many positions after the old men (Alou, Finley, Omar, Durham and Matheny, not to mention Benitez, Fassero, Schmidt and Morris). Do we really think that Sabean can fix that? Or can anyone?
We're going to be going into a rebuilding phase for sure but whoever's in the GM's chair is going to have to keep that time as short as possible.
And in the meantime let's win one with Bonds.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

After Bonds retires I expect a 2-4 year span of 85-90 loss seasons. The 2005 season was just a preview of what to expect. Sabean's complete drafting ineptitude will be the cause of this. Sabean has not developed a single quality position player in his helm as Giants' GM. :grouchy

[Honus Wagner Rules]

"Brian has nine years of track record now, and he deserves full responsibility for that long period of work," Magowan said. "Eight of those years were very good and one was poor. I feel the poor record he had last year was a combination of some mistakes that were made in the way we evaluated our personnel, but a lot of it was not Brian's fault. It's not Brian's fault Armando Benitez got hurt and not Brian's fault that Bonds got hurt.

"I suppose I could get disenchanted with Brian with poor results," Magowan said. "In this game, people have to stand on their record. He knows that. That's the way it is in baseball. But I expect Brian always to do well. He's smart, he's creative, he works hard and he's got a good team of people around him."
-henry schulman, sf chronicle staff writer, sunday, 19 february 2006

it is said that timing is everything, wags.

here is the article about sabean in today's chronicle.

west coast,

Why is that when I mention Sabean's lack of drafting success you always respond with "Yeah, but Sabean's been successful!"

The Giants past success doesn't change the fact that the Giants drafting has sucked. I look around the majors and I see some pretty awesome young prospects/players

Prince Fielder
Rickie Weeks
B.J. Upton
Justin Upton
Delmon Young
David Wright
Joe Mauer
Joe Francuer
Stephen Drew
etc.

The Giants NEVER have this kind of young talent and that is Sabean's fault. h

[west coast orange and black]

i did not respond with "sabean has been successful."
it just so happened that an article about sabean was in the paper and so i linked it.

that said, sabean has pierzynski/nathan and the contracts of marvin benard and edgardo alfonzo as (uncharacteristic) low times. in the article, he muses over jeff kent, and what might have been. he also posits that when you have a barry bonds, he feels that you gotta go for it that season, as if it was gonna be the last. he will be forced to take a different tack after 2007, bonds' final season. i'm excited about where he's gonna go.
but first things first. i am excited about the 2006 season.

[west coast orange and black]

the prospects you listed are standputs, wags. but they happen to be be just 10 men on 30 teams.
i think that candy cain (tryin' to get used to that) stacks up right there with 'em.
i also think that a few other youngsters are gonna pay big dividends in the next few years.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

i did not respond with "sabean has been successful."
it just so happened that an article about sabean was in the paper and so i linked it.

that said, sabean has pierzynski/nathan and the contracts of marvin benard and edgardo alfonzo as (uncharacteristic) low times. in the article, he muses over jeff kent, and what might have been. he also posits that when you have a barry bonds, he feels that you gotta go for it that season, as if it was gonna be the last. he will be forced to take a different tack after 2007, bonds' final season. i'm excited about where he's gonna go.
but first things first. i am excited about the 2006 season.

Ok, but other than Matt Cain what other young player excites you? Who will carry the Giants 2008 and beyond? I just don't see much to be ethusiastic about. Where's Jack Clark when you need him?

[west coast orange and black]

we will see if anothe ripper happens along.
(i'll take all those doubles but pass on the base-running.)

jack taschner is exciting but has already played in the bigs.
of those who have not: marcus sanders, travis ishikawa, merkin valdez, kevin frandsen, brian wilson and pablo sandoval.

[E.Banks#14]

Ok, but other than Matt Cain what other young player excites you?

Jerome Williams looks pretty good David Aardsma has some potential

[west coast orange and black]

just goes to show how tough the game is, and that there are no guarantees.

[Honus Wagner Rules]

the prospects you listed are standputs, wags. but they happen to be be just 10 men on 30 teams.
i think that candy cain (tryin' to get used to that) stacks up right there with 'em.
i also think that a few other youngsters are gonna pay big dividends in the next few years.

We shall see.

[Dravecky43]

I'm not exactly sure, but I think someone other than Sabean shares the drafting reigns. I think Dick Tidrow has been Director of Player Personnel or Scouting Director the past few years, and both of those positions have a lot of say as to who to pick.

BTW, Wags, those top prospects/rising stars you listed were not available when the Giants selected each of those years. Well, all except Wright. Every other guy you named was picked before the Giants picked their first time. The exception, Wright, was selected 38th overall in 2001. The Giants' first two picks that year? Brad Hennessey (21st) and Noah Lowry (30th). At the time, those were darn good picks.

I'm just saying that oftentimes the top talent isn't there when the Giants pick. This year will probably be different, though, as SF has the 10th overall pick.

[JonnyDomestik]

Even if Sabean shares responsibility, he is still the man in charge so the onus falls on him.