San Francisco Giants Fans: Don't Boo A.J. Pierzynski

White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski is expected to hear plenty of boos this weekend when Chicago plays in San Francisco. Pierzynski played only one season for the Giants and batted .272 with 11 homers and 77 RBIs in 2004.

The only negative thing about Pierzynski that I saw was that he hit into many double plays as a Giant. He was a good catcher and helped Jason Schmidt win 18 games that year with his game calling behind the plate.

For some reason, the media painted him to  be the bad guy in his disagreements with GM Brian Sabean. Is it Pierzynski's fault that he was traded from the Twins for pitchers Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser, and Francisco Liriano? Is it his fault that all those pitchers have made significant contributions to the Twins?

How come an ace pitcher like Schmidt never had a problem with Pierzynski? Brett Tomko and Matt Herges, two former pitcher for the Giants, did not get along with Pierzynski, though. They called him a clubhouse cancer and said he did not do his homework as a catcher.  This doesn't mean the fans in San Francisco should boo him or hate him.

Pierzynski is a great teammate and won the World Series with the White Sox in 2005. He is batting .315 this year with three homers and 16 RBIs.

If the fans want to boo someone, they should boo Sabean instead.

Sabean is the one that made the stupid decision to sign Pierzynski even though there was no need to sign a catcher. Yorvit Torrealba was ready to be the everyday catcher for the Giants in 2004 after Benito Santiago had left the team. Instead of giving Torrealba the job, Sabean decided to sign Pierzynski.

Once Pierzynski joined the Giants, he defeated the Giants in arbitration which really pissed off Sabean. Sabean took the loss personally and made the decision to sign Pierzynski worse when A.J. left after only one season as a  Giant.

Pierzynski is a great teammate and a fiery competitor. In fact, I would say he is a true gamer. I wonder how Pierzynski would fit in with this 2008 Giants roster. I would say he would have filled in very well since the Giants marketing department keeps telling us this team is full of "gamers."

Pierzynski will hear the boos tonight, but he got the last laugh on the Giants organization because he won a World Series ring with the White Sox after leaving the Giants.