So, I lay on my bed taking it all in. The season and the off-season have all gone wrong. The season was awful to go through and now one of the greats is going to be on trial for perjury. The Giants finished the Major League Baseball Season in fifth palce in the NL West with a record of 71-91 which was nineteen games back from the division leaders the Arizona Diamondbacks. Now I have to listen to one of my childhood heroes be tried with a thirty year sentence for lying to the grand jury about taking steroids. I grew up watching Barry Bonds, hell, the man helped me and my dad out with our father-son bonding. The 40-40 season of 96' which was soon overshawdowed two years later by the 61* chase by Bic Mac and Slammin Sammy. In 97' he came three measly steals away from another 40-40 season. I witnessed towering homeruns and even back when he was mobile I got to see him make phenomenal defensive plays. He became the most feared batter in baseball, andade a great run in 2001 to break the single season home-run record by three. I remember him rising in baseball excellence into the 500, 600, and 700 homerun clubs. Then, as my dad and I sat on the couch at my aunt's house, Barry launched homerun 756 into centerfield. Now all the media and all the accusations I had kept in the back of my mind had all burst out in front of me and started to scream at me and laughing at me for actually having a belief that Bonds was clean and innocent. I should've known it was the beginning of the end when we spent over $100 million on Barry Zito and he came otu and embarassed himself on opening day. So, now I lay thinking of the future. The key to the future of the Giants organization is in the hands of the pitching rotation and none other than Rajai Davis the young centerfielder who burst into the scene late in the 2007 season. The rotation for the Giants could be great with names like Zito, Tim Lincecum, Noah Lowry, and Matt Cain. Zito needs to get back on track and the youngsters need to keep on working hard and improving, I actually like the rotation, but now the big question: Who is going to drive in runs for us? The Giants lost a lot of power in Bonds and the awful Pedro Feliz. Replacing them? Dave Roberts and Rich Aurilia...I love you Rich, but your future is on the bench. I love that the Giants re-signed Omar Vizquel; that is great (hopefully he can mentor Frandsen and help him become a great defensive player). The Giants have been talking about trading for a third baseman, which is a huge hole in the line-up. They have pretty much ruled out Miguel Cabrera since he the Marlins want A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Johan Santana, Matt Holliday, Shaq, Kobe, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, David Beckham, and Tiger Woods for him. The Giants have reportedly placed Benjie Molina on the trading block in hopes of aqquiring a third baseman. Time to be realistic here, we aren't going to get that much of a quality third baseman for the likes of Molina. I also don't think the Giants are going to aquire a lot of pop in the line-up, so what does that make for? Probably not a lot of ticket sales because they won't be the most exciting team to watch, but I think we can contend for the West Division Title. The Giants will just have to manufacture their runs and play the old fashioned way. Here is a line-up that could happen by the end of the winter (hopefully it will look much better than this) C- Eliezer Alfonzo (seeing as Molina will most likely be traded)
1B- Dan Ortmeier (God, I hope he is the real deal)
2B- Ray Durham (the age factor has officially caught him, he wont be much help this year)
3B- Who knows?
SS- Omar Vizquel (needs to do a lot better offensively this year)
LF- Dave Roberts (Adam Dunn anyone?)
CF- Rajai Davis (He needs huge on base percentage numbers for the Giants to be successful)
RF- Randy Winn (Needs 2006 like numbers to rub off that bust name he is earning)
So basically, if the Giants don't sign some big names like they haven't for the past twenty years, I'm in for another long agonizing season that might lead me to deafening depression and multiple disturbing the public violations.
