Memo to the San Francisco Giants: Play the Kids

Earlier this year, I wrote an article for my own website about how San Francisco Giants fans don't need to be patient with this franchise.

After years of hearing they had a plan for when Barry Bonds wouldn't be suiting up in the black, orange, and cream any longer, the time is now and the plan is terrible.

I would hate to hear from General Manager Brian Sabean that signing Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand were the two big parts of this plan. Zito and Rowand don't even come close to equaling Bonds.

The Zito signing may go down as the single worst signing in Major League Baseball history, and Mike Hampton thanks the Giants for this. He's being outpitched by every starter on his team. And he's supposed to be the ace?

I don't really condemn them for the Rowand signing. He's a good fit in the spacious AT&T Park as a defensive center fielder who can go get the baseball. Offensively, he's just good enough to put up decent numbers. 

What bothered me even more was that part of this plan included playing veterans like Rich Aurilia, Ray Durham, and Dave Roberts.

Usually, I'm fine with playing veterans, but more so when you have a winning and contending team, which isn't what the Giants have had for two years. They've had an old team that doesn't hit. The Giants running those three out there again tells me they thought they had a winning team or that the trio had something left. 

I'm fine with losing, as long as it's building up to something. This team is built around young starting pitching. That means you'll have a lot of ups and downs.

So why not play the other young players and let them grow up together?

It seems that the injury to Dave Roberts was a blessing in disguise. Okay, maybe not for Roberts, but for the rest of the outfield.

Roberts seems like he's backing his guys in his absence and if that's the case, he's a class act. They've had to play Fred Lewis, and he's been hitting over .300 and getting on base.

The Giants also brought up John Bowker from Double A. He has three home runs in less than 50 at-bats. He's going to struggle a bit, but when he comes to the plate, he gives you the feeling like he can hit the ball hard at any time. 

In the infield, the Giants had to play Brian Bocock due to an injury to Omar Vizquel. While Bocock may never hit in the big leagues, there hasn't been a big drop off defensively.

Eugenio Velez is one of those players whose full value will never be defined by his statistics. He can play multiple positions and is probably the fastest guy on the team.

Velez will be a late substitution offensively in games that he doesn't start, and will probably be one of the best pinch-runners in all of baseball.

I don't expect the Giants to win the division. I don't even expect them to have a winning record when it's all said and done.

But if they play the kids like they've had to do of late, I'm fine with it. However, if I see Roberts, Aurilia, and Durham getting most of the playing time on a losing team, I'm going to be an unhappy Giants fan.

Play the kids. Let them grow together.