December 23, 2004
Geriatric Giants
It looks like Moises Alou will be reuntied with his dad as there are reports the younger Alou will sign with the Giants. Younger is a relative term, as it appears the Giants will be chasing fly balls with these:
Bonds' seasonal age will be 40 for 2005, Grissom 38 and Alou 38. I'm sorry, that's an old outfield. Slow grounders in the gap are going for doubles next year. :-) On top of that, the Giants signed Vizquel (38 in 2005) and Mike Matheny (34 in 2005). The youngest projected position player is Alfonzo at 31! The Giants are really testing the theory that veterans play better than youngsters. :-) There's a real possibility that a number of these players hit the wall at the same time and this ends up the worst team in the NL West.
As for Alou, I wouldn't expect him to help Bonds IBB total go down much. Pacific Bell Park has a huge negative impact on right-handed home runs. Over the last three seasons, right-handers have hit 218 HR in Pac Bell, but 291 in Giants road games. According to The Bill James Handbook 2005, it's the worst park for home runs by right-handed hitters in the NL. With a right-hander on the mound, given a choice between Bonds and Alou, most managers are going to pitch to Moises. The only thing that will bring Barry's IBB totals down is a decline in Barry's ability to hit.
LAST in the NL West? Sure, maybe if EVERYONE hits a wall, but that's like saying the Cardinals may be out of it because their big three could all get injured. Let's see - the Giants are basically the same as last year but added a premiere closer, replaced Dustin Mohr with Moises Alou and Cruz with Omar Vizquel. Oh, plus they have an abundance of young pitching despite the staff struggling with injuries last year (Williams was out a good portion and Foppert will be back). I'd say they're in position to win the NL west and maybe return to the World Series - they were pretty old the last time they got there in 2002.
Maybe Felipe is trying to up the average age of the teams he's coached, given that all he had in Montreal was youngsters. With this team he'll be right at the league average over his career!
Gnats getting older, Dodgers getting Drew, now all the Gnats need is Willie Mays as a rover, Jesse Orosco, or make the surprise Fernando Valenzuela signing to complete the San Francisco Geriatrics.
Will there be oxygen in the dugouts? after the game they can cart the fielders back to the home?
also, I would not put armando benitez in the ranks of "premiere" closer, he's more like the upper crust of the 2nd tier of closers. Nen was a premiere closer, and even though he's a Gnat, sad to see what happened to him and his arm
Yep... the 2005 Giants will be the 2004 Mariners.
The sad thing is, the Giants need to rebuild, and keep delaying the inevitable as they take "one more shot at it" again and again. The best thing they could do is deal Bonds for kids and start over...but they have blinders onto the inevitable.
