Someone stole millions from the Giants!!!

According to KPIX in San Francisco, my former employer, someone stole millions of dollars from the Giants between 2010 and 2011. It's someone named Robin M. O'Connor.

She stole $2.2 million from the team.

No word yet if they will also press charges on Barry Zito who has stoled 57 times that from the team.

STAY AWAY FROM C. J. WILSON! (Mark the date)

Seriously. Mark the date. It’s one thing to say a Free Agent signing sucks AFTER the fact. I am going to say it BEFORE the fact.

Whichever team signs C. J. Wilson is going to regret it.
He may have a good year off the bat but everything about him points to a long term contract disaster.

He was a decent but not great reliever who has had 2, count them, TWO good years as a starter.

And he happened to not only pitch in the World Series each of the last two years but, since Sabathia has taken himself out of the picture, he is the biggest pitcher available. (Sorry Yu Darvish… I’ll believe it when I see it.)

Wilson will make tens of millions of dollars before opening day. His great grandkids will be set for life if he invests his money well.

And the team that signs him will be regretting the deal.
Maybe not the Rangers. Maybe having him stay with the Rangers will give the image that they take care of their own players. Maybe that will give them some good will. But the contract itself WILL become an albatross.

While teams salivate over Wilson, remember they salivated over Barry Zito.
Zito was younger than Wilson.
Zito had a Cy Young on his mantle, several other solid seasons under his belt, was 220 innings in the bank and was moving into a top pitchers ballpark.

How did that work out?

Remember that the Red Sox and Yankees were bidding over Carl Pavano?
Remember how John Lackey was considered to be a great pick up for the Red Sox?

Remember how Kevin Brown looked like a Cy Young winner waiting to happen?

Denny Neagle? Mike Hampton? Jared Wright? Jeff Weaver? Chan Ho Park? Jeff Suppan? Jason Schmidt?

Even the magnificent Pedro Martinez could only give Mets fans one year worthy of Pedro.

How many Free Agent pitchers who coincided their best season with their walk year have to bust before we see a pattern developing?

How many big time free agent starting pitchers had long term deals that worked out?
Catfish Hunter? Greg Maddux? Nolan Ryan? Randy Johnson? CC Sabathia? Roger Clemens?

Yeah. In other words THE ALL TIME GREATS!

That does NOT describe C. J. Wilson.
I am not saying this in retrospect.
I am saying it RIGHT NOW on November 4th, 2011.

Whoever signs C. J. Wilson is going to regret it.
As I said before… maybe not 1 year into it. But it won’t be long before people say “Man, how are they going to move THAT contract?”

Ryan O'Neal reads Barry Zito's contract

It's your move, Giants

In a very twisted way, I felt the Padres victory over the Rockies last night was the best thing to happen to the Giants.

Hear me out.

The Rockies were on fire on their 10 game winning streak and closing in on both the Giants and the Padres for the NL West.

Now of course if the Rockies had won, the Giants would be in first place by themselves going into tonight's game with Los Angeles.

I am less concerned with where the Giants are on September 14th than where they will be on October 3rd.

And I would rather have the Giants going toe to toe with a wobbly Padres team than a confident "remembering 2007 and 2009" Rockies team. Call me crazy.

I also want that last weekend between the Giants and Padres to be for all the tuna fish.
I don't want any scoreboard watching or have BOTH teams fall short.

So the Padres won last night.
The Giants are playing the Dodgers for the last 3 times of the season.

Focus on winning... and know there is also a series head to head with Colorado as well.

Worst case scenario if you win? You'll be a game out in the loss column.

Earn your money, Zito.

18 of 21 Giant Starts

Let’s take a look at 18 of the last 21 games the San Francisco Giants have played and get a sense of their rotation.

We’ll take out one bad start by Jonathan Sanchez and two bad starts by Todd Wellemeyer and average the starts from every other game between Tim Lincecum’s win against Atlanta on April 11th to Barry Zito’s solid game against Florida earlier tonight.

The average starters line for 18 of the next 21 games has been…

6.87 Innings pitched, 1.4 earned runs, 2.27 walks and 6.78 strikeouts.

That’s nearly 7 innings a start and less than a run and a half per for an ERA of 1.89.
That’s nearly 3 strikeouts for each walk.

And along the way they gave Adam Wainwright and Roy Halladay their first losses.

Lincecum went 3-0 in that stretch (with two gut wrenching no decisions.)
Zito went 4-0 in that stretch (with the bullpen blowing a game for him in LA)
Both Cain and Sanchez had some hard luck losses tossed in with some dominating wins.

And even Wellemeyer threw a 7 inning gem.

And while it isn’t a huge sample, it IS more than 10% of the season where you are getting quality innings, not giving up walks and getting nearly a strikeout an inning.

What I am saying is… GIANTS! YOU HAVE SOMETHING VERY VERY SPECIAL GOING ON HERE! GET ANOTHER BAT! GET ANOTHER RELIEVER! YOU COULD WIN THE NL PENNANT!!!!!

How many teams out there are as loaded as this team is in the rotation?
When will the National League be this evenly matched again?

Put it together NOW.

Here are the lines of the pitchers


1. 7 ip, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 K (Lincecum) W
2. 6 ip, 3 ER, 3 BB, 1 K (Zito) W
3. 6 ip, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K (Cain) ND
4. 8 ip, 0 ER, 3 BB, 11 K (Sanchez) W
5. 6 ip, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7K (Lincecum) W
6. 7 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K (Zito) ND
7. 6 ip, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (Cain) ND
8. 7 ip, 1 ER, 3 BB, 10 K (Sanchez) L
9. 7 ip, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K (Lincecum) W against Jaime Garcia
10. 8 ip, 0 ER, 3 BB, 10 K – (Zito) W against Wainwright
11 5 ip, 2 ER, 1 bb, 4 K – (Cain) L
12. 5 ip, 1 ER, 5 BB, 6 K – (Sanchez) – W against Halladay
13. 7 ip, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 K – (Wellemeyer) - W
14. 8 1/3 ip, 2 ER, 1 BB, 11 K – (Lincecum) - ND
15. 8 ip, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K (Zito) - W
16. 8 ip, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 Ks (Cain) - W
17. 7 ip, 3 ER, 1 BB, 13 Ks (Lincecum) - ND
18. 7 ip, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4Ks (Zito) - W

THE GIANTS (COULD) WIN THE PENNANT! THE GIANTS (COULD) WIN THE PENNANT!

The Giants won a big game today.

Oh Sully, you say, there ARE no big games yet. It's early. It's May 1.
Nope... they won a big game. They beat the Rockies.
They took the first two from the Rockies and later today can go for the sweep.

Why is it so important? Because it could turn out that the Rockies will probably be the Giants biggest competition for the NL West title... and winning games head to head NOW are games they won't have to catch up and win later.

Yeah, I know the Padres are in first place. That won't last. Remember how the Blue Jays were in first place at this point last year? Exactly.

The Dodgers are a bit of a mess and won't be able to get reinforcements provided the divorce heard round the world plods on.

And Arizona just isn't clicking yet.

The Giants and the Rockies will probably be the class of the NL West.
And guess what? The Giants have one thing that virtually no other team has:
4 kick butt starters.

As of now, Lincecum, Cain, Zito and Sanchez is the best 1-2-3-4 in the game.

And in a short playoff series, Lincecum could neutralize any other ace in the game (including Halladay or Wainwright) and have the better pitchers in the other games.

In other words... and bear with me... the Giants could find themselves in a great position to possibly... dare we say it?... win the National League Pennant.

But in order to do that, they need to bring in two players:

An outfielder and a reliever.

They don't need a superstar outfielder... just one who isn't an automatic out and can get on base for Sandoval to knock in.

And they don't need an All Star closer... just an effective arm to give Bochy another option late in games.

Most teams are searching for solid starters or a big bat.
The Giants have all of that.

They need a little bit of depth and to avoid injuries.

But they should make those moves NOW.

Try out a few guys from Fresno, see if Jermaine Dye is available... and then see who can be traded for.

This is a strange situation where the division is winnable, the league has a lot of parity and the Giants are holding 4 Aces. Fill in the holes now and go for it big time.

You'll never know when things will align in the Giants favor quite like this again.

THE CY YOUNG DOZEN

I know I have written about the NL Cy Young race a bit, but I truly find it to be fascinating. Yeah, it is early, but I don’t recall the last time I have seen this many legit candidates all get out of the gate so quickly. And as someone who loves dominating stud pitchers, this year in the NL seems to be a bumper crop!

Nobody in the AL is dominating like the top NL pitchers, and the usual suspects (Verlander, Sabathia, Lester, Beckett, Hernadnez, Greinke) aren’t putting up numbers the way that the NL’s top 12 are.

2006 wasn’t that long ago that the National League honored Brandon Webb with the Cy Young award for his solid but not exactly eye popping season.

This year? I doubt if Webb had the same season in 2010 that he would crack the top 5 when all is said and done.

I’ve counted 12 pitchers who are either former Cy Young winners off to solid starts, true aces who are dominating and a few guys whose careers looked over by the end of last year who are coming out blazing.

And this list of 12 doesn’t even include former Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter, nor dark horse candidate Ricky NolascoBoth have shown moments of brilliance, as has reliever Matt Capps. But this top 12 is a hard party to crack.


Let’s list them…


Tim Lincecum

I truly believe if he can deliver a World Series title to San Francisco he will be the third biggest star in San Francisco sports history. He seems hellbent to make it 3 Cy Young Awards before his 27th birthday. He would have win #5 this afternoon if Brian Wilson could have held onto the 9th inning lead. Yet he still has a 1.27 ERA and leads the league in strikeouts. I guess that whole pot thing really slowed him down.


Ubaldo Jimenez

He is the first pitcher since Jack Morris in 1984 to start the season 5-0 with a no hitter. He is second in the league in innings pitched and has held opponents to a 0.79 ERA and a .186 average against. Oh yeah, he’s doing all of that in COLORADO!


Roy Halladay

Even with a loss the other day, Halladay is throwing like he wants Cy Young #2. Nobody has pitched more innings in the NL. He has 2 complete games and a shutout and his ERA is 1.80. And 5 of his 8 earned runs came in one start. I think it is safe to say it was a good pick up for Philadelphia.


Adam Wainwright

He has the second lowest WHIP in the league and been an innings eater with a pair of complete games. He also has a tiny 1.69 ERA and a .187 batting average against to go with his 3 wins.



Johan Santana

Santana had one truly lousy game against the Washington Nationals in early April where he let up 5 runs, 4 on a grand slam by Josh Willingham. He has let up a grand total of 3 other earned runs all season. He has a 3-1 record and even with the rocky start against Washington, has a more than respectable 2.08 ERA and has not let up more than 1 run in 4 of his 5 starts.

Mike Pelfrey

With all of these great performances out of the gate, do you know who LEADS the NL in ERA? That would by Pelfry, whose ERA is impressive (and snicker worthy) at 0.69. Throw in his 4-0 record and coming out of the bullpen to save the Mets 20 inning marathon and he deserves at least entry to the dance.



Dan Haren

Who is second in the league for strikeouts behind Lincecum? Surprise! It’s Haren who has 38 in 34 innings of work. His ERA is a mediocre 4.50 but he’s been winning games (3-1 record), been eating up innings (third in IP behind Jimenez and Halladay) and has only 8 walks in 5 starts.


Josh Johnson

The Marlins well paid ace got out of the gate slowly but has been showing his ace stuff lately, especially after a complete game 3 hitter with 12 strikeouts and one walk against the Padres on April 26th. He is now third in the league in strikeouts.



Barry Zito

Remember when Barry Zito was on everyone’s short list for worst free agent contracts? Well now he is off to a 3-0 start and is averaging nearly 7 innings a start while posting a 1.32 ERA. Oh, by the way… his .161 batting average against is the lowest in the National League! Not bad for a crummy contract.


Livan Hernandez

Yes. It’s the same Livan Hernandez. An after thought starting pitcher on a potentially god awful Nationals team, the beneficiary of the Late Eric Gregg’s strike zone has won 3 of his first 4 decisions including a complete game shutout. His 0.87 ERA and .176 Batting Average Against are both third best in the league and his WHIP is 4th best. Will he keep that up? Who am I to say?


Brad Penny

The same Brad Penny who was run out of Boston on a rail is 3-0 in St. Louis this year. His 0.94 ERA is 4th best in the league. He has gone at least 7 innings in all 4 of his starts and has yet to let up more than 2 runs in any of them.

Another headcase solved by Dave Duncan!


Carlos Silva

One team’s garbage is another team’s treasure. Dumped into Chicago from Seattle in exchange for lunatic Milton Bradley, the Cubs may have stolen a winner…or least rejuvenated a talented pitcher with a fresh start. In 4 starts and 26 innings, Silva has the lowest WHIP in the league, plus a tiny 1.73 ERA and the fourth lowest Batting Average Against in the NL. Throw in a 2-0 record and a 5-1 strikeout to walk ratio and the Cubs may have more than coffee grounds from Seattle. Meanwhile Bradley is flopping as a .204 hitter flipping off fans with the Mariners.


So it will be interesting to see how many of these dozen remain Cy Young contenders month to month... I am guessing pitchers like Santana and Johnson will see their numbers improve and the Pennys and the Silvas would come back to Earth.

But who knows? I guess YOU picked Zack Greinke to win the Cy Young last year!

Blink!

The other day I wondered if any of the Cy Young contenders was going to ever lose a game.

Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Ubaldo Jimenez and Adam Wainwright all had perfect records.

Well Wainwright was the first to blink in this epic staring contest that is the 2010 NL Cy Young race.

And his line didn't exactly scream "loser!" He pitched a complete game and was throwing a shutout into the 8th and despite getting the loss still has a 1.69 ERA while averaging 8 innings a start.

But he ran into the buzzsaw known as Barry Zito, whose 3-0 record and a 1.32 ERA makes me think maybe... just maybe... the Giants will have a left handed and a right handed stud in their rotation headed by Lincecum and Zito.

Should Zito be included in the Cy Young talk?

I am not sure. All I do know is if you are a top notch pitcher in the NL with dreams of winning the Cy Young Award... get going and pile up some great numbers. This field is already crowded!

This is a trade the Cubs WISHED they made

Last winter I proposed that three teams work together and swap albatross contracts. It was along the lines of what the Mariners and Cubs did in swapping Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva.

The mega mistake deal I proposed included yet another behemoth contract that the Cubs shelled out. (Doesn’t that tell you something? That maybe front office mistakes have more to do with the Cubs not winning than a Billy Goat or poor Steve Bartman!)

I suggested that the Cubs take their disgruntled and underachieving one time superstar Alfonso Soriano and ship him off in a three team trade. The Giants would unload their disappointing erstwhile ace Barry Zito and the Blue Jays would send one time face of the franchise Vernon Wells out of town.

The thought process was maybe they all need a change of scenery. Maybe a change could jolt their careers. Maybe going to a ballpark where the fans shake their head at the very mention of your name could be a bit much.

In my deal the Cubs would send Soriano to the Giants.
The Giants would send Zito to Toronto.
The Blue Jays would then send Wells to Wrigley.

I bet the Cubs wished they pulled off that deal.

Wells is off to a fast start in Toronto with 6 homers, an average of .340 and an OPS of 1.224.

Zito is mowing down batters left and right with a 2-0 record, an ERA of 1.86 and a .176 batting average against, giving the Giants a chance to think maybe the signing wasn’t a complete mistake.

And Soriano… ooof.
There’s talk of benching him.
His contract is no considered to be the worst in baseball.
He is vilified in Wrigley.

And there’s not a lot of places where they can ship him off.

Not to get all Presidential on you Cubs fans… but when you see Soriano next, just think to yourself “FOUR MORE YEARS! FOUR MORE YEARS!”

If they ever find a place to ship Soriano the Cubs won’t be done dealing yet.

Kosuke Fukudome is still cashing a paycheck

A silver lining for Phillies and Giants fans

OK. I know the Phillies lost a close game to the Marlins and the Giants coughed up an 8th inning lead to the Dodgers...

And I always think that I would rather have my team win ugly than lose with dignity.
And I also know that Phillies games against the Marlins will probably be vital in terms of shaving down the magic number.

And I know the Giants fans NEVER want to lose to the Dodgers.
But Cole Hamels pitched a damn good game against a tough hitting team. And Barry Zito has been terrific so far. Had the Giants kept that lead, he'd be 3-0 with a sub 2 ERA... along with his teammate Tim Lincecum and Roy Halladay, Adam Wainwright and Ubaldo Jimenez.

He's been so bad since crossing the bay after the 2006 ALCS that people forget that the Giants best paid pitcher was actually once quite good.

If Hamels and Zito are good this year, it will be like the Phillies and the Giants each made a great trade. Crappy Hamels for good Hamels... Overwhelmed by the contract Zito for Taking them by surprise Zito.

Or put simpler: A lousy albatross head case dealt for an effective top the rotation guy.

Or put even dumber: Getting a number 2 pitcher in exchange for someone who pitches LIKE number 2.

Always end classy!

Zippo Zito

No pressure Matt Cain... but the Giants starting rotation hasn't let up a run yet.

Granted they are facing the Astros and not the 1961 Yankees... but seriously, Giant fans can't ask for better than this.

I know my dad is happy.

Sully Baseball Presents ANOTHER BLOCK BUSTER TRADE THAT SHOULD HAPPEN BUT PROBABLY WON'T

Bernie Taupin and Elton John said it best in “Honky Cat”… a change is going to do me good.



Sometimes a change can do a ballplayer some good. Sometimes a player is simply stuck in a bad place and changing to another team could awaken the star player within



Three World Series MVPs were players that were considered damaged good before they changed addresses and were revived. (Dave Stewart, Scott Brosius and Mike Lowell.)



Other players just have excessive expectations and can’t meet their potential until they switch uniforms and help a team to the World Series title. (Jose Contreras and Jeff Weaver come to mind.)



Which brings me to insane multiteam trade #2 of the Winter Meetings that should take place.



Earlier today I proposed a 9 team deal that basically shuffles a bunch of bad contracts around.



Well now I am suggesting that three of the whopper, gigantic, unmovable, GMs have been fired for less contracts should be swapped for each other.

The Giants deal Barry Zito
and his $83 million contract over 4 seasons to the Blue Jays

The Blue Jays deal Vernon Wells
and his $98.5 million contract over 4 seasons to the Cubs

The Cubs deal Alfonso Soriano
and his $95 million contract over 5 seasons to the Giants

The Giants bring in Soriano, a player who at one point in his career looked like an MVP candidate… but is coming off of injuries, terrible defense, and not exactly endearing himself to the Chicago faithful.Soriano gets a fresh start and could move to first base and protect Pablo Sandoval. And they wouldn’t have to give up any young pitching talent.



The Blue Jays would get Zito, a starting pitcher to fill the inevitable void left by the Roy Halladay deal. Plus Zito had much more success in the AL than the NL… go figure. And as big as Zito’s contract is, it is would actually SAVE the Blue Jays nearly $5 million a season compared to Wells.



The Cubs get Wells, a player who before his giant contract was a Gold Glover with power and was considered to be one of the good guys in the game. Maybe he would relax in Wrigley and regain his power stroke and defense. And if it doesn’t comeback, his contract is a year shorter than Soriano’s.



So once again, your pal Sully has the right idea… you can’t get out from a crappy contract. But maybe a DIFFERENT crappy contract can make the difference?



How can it be worse than seeing these guys sit miserably in their current dugouts for the next 4 or 5 years?



Sing it, Elton!!!

Barry Zito can become the Giants answer to J. D. Drew

I know a way to heaven for Barry Zito.

Right now his $126 million contract that he inked before the 2007 season is always brought up as one of the worst in baseball history.

Last year not only did he not pitch like an ace, but as a 17 game loser with an ERA of 5.15, he didn't pitch like a #5 starter.

I saw him pitch at a game in AT&T Park earlier this year with my mother and two kids. He got clubbed so badly that my mother in law felt bad for him when he got booed.

But there is an easy way to make people forget all of that, even with 4 more years left on the deal:

Pitch like he did tonight and win some more big games.

He's let up 1 run in his last 20 1/3 innings.

And if Cain can right his ship, suddenly the Giants would have three aces.

Can you imagine the Giants in a short series against Philadelphia with Lincecum throwing 2 games, Cain throwing a game and Zito pitching like this in game 3?

That would make a lot of people forget 2 1/2 unremarkable seasons.

Post season success can be quite a cure all.

If I, Paul Sullivan, the man who did NOT want J. D. Drew in a Red Sox uniform, could become the founder of the J. D. Drew Fan Club based solely on his post season heroics, then Barry Zito can become a fan favorite in San Francisco.

Not So Dirty Sanchez

The second Sanchez struck out Everth Cabrera to seal his no hitter last night, I called my buddy Greg Lee, the second biggest Giants fan I know (after my dad.)

I assumed he was somehow following the game. He wasn't.

I said "How about Jonathan Sanchez?"

He said "Did he win?"

I said "He threw a no hitter."

There was a pause.

Then Greg said "Shut... up."

That pause said it all and illustrates the repercussions of Jonathan Sanchez's no hitter.

As I wrote last night, Sanchez was the least likely Giants starter to do this.

But imagine this scenario Giants fans... what if this gives Sanchez confidence?

Derek Lowe threw a no no in 2002 and wiped away a horrific 2001 to have a Cy Young worthy season. And NOBODY's confidence was lower than Lowe's!

People have never doubted Sanchez's stuff, it was always his head that seemed screwed up.

What if his head is now screwed on tight?

Can you imagine a pitcher with his stuff and thinking right in the #4 spot in a rotation?

Lincecum is probably winning the Cy Young again.
Cain is a legit All Star.
Zito has been up and down but pitching better recently.
Sadowski has pitched well since being recalled.

And then Sanchez (with Randy Johnson lurking on the DL.)

They already have a 2 game lead for the Wild Card and with that starting staff they are not going on any prolonged losing streak.

Now... Giants fans... allow yourself to imagine that rotation in a short playoff series.

If pitching wins series, who could beat San Francisco in a best of 5 series that has Tim Lincecum pitching twice?

And then has Matt Cain lined up with the other team's #2 starter and either Sanchez, Zito, Johnson or Sadowski against another team's #3 or #4 starter.

Will you allow yourself to imagine them not just being happy with the post season but actually having the arms to pitch into October?

I know Giants are tormented and underratedly so.

But let yourself imagine a long October in China Basin... and who knows? Maybe last night was the turning point.

A suggestion to the Giants...

Bring Jonathan Sanchez's dad to every game. 

Seriously... 100% the games he's seen his son start in the bigs, he's thrown a no hitter.

Now of all the pitchers on the Giants rotation, he's the last you'd pick throw a no no.

Lincecum, Johnson and Zito all have Cy Youngs on their mantle and Cain is an All Star... and Sanchez can write "trade bait with potential" on his tax return.

I would have expected a no hitter from Jonathan Winters before Jonathan Sanchez.

His dad shows up... and suddenly he becomes another ace.

Seriously, put him on the payroll and have him show up to the rest of Sanchez's starts.

Right now the percentages look pretty impressive. And the magic number for a Giants playoff spot is 75. (Zito's number.)

Hey Giants... just resign Barry Bonds!

You are getting terrific pitching! You even got 7 shutout innings from Barry Zito yesterday. I didn't think that was possible.

The lineup remains horrific.

Don't believe me? 10 out of 14 games you've scored 3 or fewer runs. Which means 10 out of 14 times you've needed a lights out pitching performance to have a shot.

And Matt Cain is living proof that you can be a great talent, but you can't win without the run support!

Your lineup needs a shot in the arm (or the butt.)

It lacks juice!

Something needs to pump it up.

The performance needs enhancing!

I'll say it.

You need Barry Bonds back!

Come on! He's available! He's technically a free agent! And he wouldn't cost the team any draft picks.

Even if he did, you'd be giving the picks to the Giants... which is YOU!

You won't have to trade any prospects for him. The amazingly named Madison Bumgarner will still be in the system. 

And it's not like you can say "Oh... will he be a distraction?"

OF COURSE HE'LL BE A DISTRACTION! He'll distract fans from the fact that Randy Winn is the most feared name in that line up!

Even if he can't hit them out anymore, he can draw a walk, he can get on base and maybe take the pressure off of the Sandovals and the Ishikawas on the team.

Or are you expecting Edgar Renteria to hit a grand slam every night!

COME ON! You spent every year between 1993-2007 saying "Hey! Barry will put butts in the seats." 

2008 wasn't pretty.

Help is just sitting at home.

Make the call.