Focus must switch to the 'pen

With Neil Mcann

Expectations are running high in the Bay Area, at least on one side of the Bridge. Despite repeatedly stating that they would not splash out on a marquee free agent, San Francisco have ended up spending more than only the richest (Boston, New York, New York, Anaheim) and the most desperate (Arizona, Los Angeles, Seattle). While preaching restraint and the long term, they have instead committed a tidy $67m to players whose ages are 37, 32, 34, 38 and 35. And now, with their decision to release Dustan Mohr, the team has righteously shed itself of half the young blood in its otherwise aging lineup. These guys are winding down, yet the front office have paid up for their services.

However, as every Giants fan knows, there are two sides to the veteran coin. Dated the lineup may be, but obsolete it most certainly is not. Instead, with their veteran additions, it is likely that any decline in individual performance (see Vizquel, Grissom, Snow) will be offset by the collective benefits of leadership and experience that the new arrivals will bring. It's just a shame that there aren't any young position players around to learn from it. Indeed, as few Giants fans know, no Giants non-pitching farmhand has made it to The Show since Bill Mueller in 1996.

Despite the sad fact that they're all hired guns, the infield by all accounts looks very good. The problem is that it's not built to last: the youngest of the quintent is Edgardo Alfonzo, who is 31. Both Ray Durham (34) and J.T.Snow's (37) contracts will be up next year. In lieu of this looming vacuum, the club would do well to ink utility first/third baseman Pedro Feliz (29) to a long term deal.

Compared to the bullpen though of course, the lineup is a relative sea of tranquility. The state of Marquis Grissoms' hamstring pales into insignificance when compared to the state of Matt Herges' fastball. Yet, for all its ineffectual elements, the relief corps curiously contains the best signs of a future after Barry Bonds. Jesse Foppert, David Aardsma, Brad Hennessey, even Matthew Cain and Merkin Valdez should all feature at some stage in 2005. So excited are the Giants with their entourage of young hurlers, it might not be long before the bullpen consists solely of new anchorman Armando Benitez and this band of promising youth.

But that's pretty optimistic. Most of the younger pitchers need at least another season of seasoning in the minors. And, given the organization's preference for experience, it will take a considerable performance to change the overall shape of the Giant's 'pen. The 2005 relief corps, as it presently stands, is unspectacular:

• Closer: Armando Benitez
• Set Up: Matt Herges, Scott Eyre
• Short Relief: Walker, Hennessey
• Middle Relief: Brower, Correia
• Long: Foppert, Franklin
• Lefty specialist: Jason Christiansen
  

It is patchy at best. Assuming Jerome Williams and Noah Lowry nail down their starting roles -- a dangerous assumption at any rate -- there could be quite a scuffle for action in Dave Righetti's bullpen. Even now, no one's role is cetain. Take Herges. After a dismal 2004, where he suffered the 2nd highest OPS among ML closers, he is a prime candidate for relegation. Lacking as he is both stuff and confidence, should he fail to deliver in the first couple of months in 2005, he could be shown the door. There are no sure candidates to replace him, but any one of the Giants plethora of young arms could step up. Of these, Foppert (24) is perhaps the most intriguing. After spelling brilliantly -- although intermitantly -- two years ago, he has the biggest upside, and will be fresh and eager after missing 16 months through injury. It is Cain, though, that has attracted the most interest from opposing GMs this winter, after a stellar 2004 where he breezed through double-A, aged just 19.

In the meantime though, the bullpen is short on tried and tested arms. Dustan Hermanson could have provided some of that much needed depth that instead leaves Jim Brower, commendably durable in the last campaign (4th among ML relievers in appearances) as the club's most reliable later-inning option. And then, as I have recently protested, possibilities from the left side are, with the possible exception of Scott Eyre, derisory. The bullpen has no man who in 2004 struck out more than 1 hitter per inning; sabermatric balley-hoo to some, but those who dismiss the power of intimidation do so at their own peril. For now at least, these Giants aren't scaring -- let alone fooling -- anyone.

The Yankee Dollar

It is the season of change. Winter, casting its icy shroud over the land, has confined a thousand gloves to distant cupboards. Yet beneath the glowing embers of the hot stove, baseball burns. Indeed, while it may be snowing in the Big Apple, the grass beneath appears greener than ever. Depending, of course, on which side of the fence you belong.

With the start of spring training less than a month away, the time for prediction has come. After the familiar seasonal flurry of bribes, bullying and negotiation, the free agent crop has thinned to a trickle comprising the unknown, the old and the brittle. $1 billion has changed hands. Led, as ever, by the Yankees and the Mets, the offseason has thrown up innumberable story lines and surprises.

And now, with only the T's to cross and the I's to dot on the National's gleaming new shirts shirts -- give or take a stadium that needs building -- the bulk of the work behind the scenes is done. The rich have flexed their financial might, the poor have lamented, and some of those in the middle have taken the plunge. On the face of it, it has been an offseason like any other. Almost. As we have seen, strange things have been afoot -- not least in New York. In the end, Randy Johnson was all the Yankees could afford.

Family Value

An old man and his father: a triumph of familial relations

Apparently Moises Alou is taking less money to play for his father. Yet, assuming he doesn't mean compared to the Yankees, it's not really clear what less is supposed to be.

How many dads, after all, give their offspring the best part of $7m per year? Alou’s two-year, $13.5m contract, far from resembling a family discount, bears the mark instead of a team that has run itself dangerously out of escape routes. Felipe himself, not one for missing an opportunity for irony, joked about the unlikelihood of his son playing in San Francisco, chirping “if he were five years younger, I would have brought up his name myself.” Now, less than a week later, Moises has suddenly become the answer to the Giant’s misconstrued offensive woes -- if not their fragility in the outfield. The additional (and inexplicable) loss of the durable Dustan Mohr only adds to the strain that will see Alou switching to right field, where he be forced to contend with all the nooks and crannies that proved the death of lesser predecessors like Jeffrey Hammonds. Yet even in his natural position, left field, Alou has only a .982 career fielding percentage. In the last four seasons he has averaged .974. In 2004, he placed 20th among starting left-fielders with .967 – behind, of all people, Manny Ramirez.

Thus the Giants outfield in 2005 – totaling some 117 years (almost twice the age of the D’Rays, at 65) – will be, quite literally, overstretched. Alas these veterans, for all their wisdom, cannot catch the balls they cannot reach. The off-season intention, made clear by the club, was to add a center fielder to relieve Marquis Grissom of his gruelling patrol of the gaping chasms of SBC Park. The management passed on Scott Posednik, albeit wisely, and vigorously pursued Dave Roberts, but in the end the club's unwillingness to part with any of their younger pitching nixed any potential trades. They spoke to Jeremy Burnitz for the third time in two years before swooping, in a fashion both prodigal and mystifying, for Alou.

As it stands -- no pun intended -- not only does the San Francisco outfield lack mobility, it lacks depth as well. Michael Tucker who is not bad as supporting member of the cast, will spell at all three positions; but he offers little other than a left-handed bat that the starting trio does not possess. Mohr at least represented a defensive upgrade, if not a sizeable injection of hustle -- something every team, especially an aging one, could do with. In 2005, with three members of the Giant’s projected rotation (Jason Schmidt, Brett Tomko and Noah Lowry) being fly-ball pitchers (not to mention most of the bullpen), the leaky outfield is poised to flood with bloop singles and line-gappers.

We all hope that the combination of an infield over laden with gold-gloves and Alou's bat – through its timely potency – will offset the extra runs that opposing teams will score as a result of the Giant’s leaky outfield. For his part, in 2004 Alou’s .919 OPS ranked him fourth among major league left fielders. He was 2nd in RBIs, 3rd in runs and 4th in slugging. With his addition, the Giants will in all likelihood score the 2nd most runs in the league, as they did in 2004. Alou will slide either into the No.5 hole, (in an attempt to offer Bond’s some protection) or, being a fastball hitter, will bat third, where he will live on a steady diet of fastballs. Assuming he stays healthy, he will certainly drive in and score 100 runs, much to the merriment of the fans, who will toast to Sabean's genius -- until the post-season, when a ball at the right-field wall comes crashing down.