Sabean, Bochy, and SF Giants Fans

Lets face it:  As Giants fans, we can be pretty harsh on GM Brian Sabean and Manager Bruce Bochy.  And they do deserve some just criticism.  Sabean for his unwillingness to admit past mistakes ($18M for Renteria, a gazillion for Zito and half that for Rowand, signing an inujured Freddie Sanchez -twice!! - and to rub salt into an old wound, A.J. Pierzynski), Bochy for his steadfast refusal to use younger players instead of slow, aging veterans.

However, we rarely commend them for the many things they've done right.  Bochy certainly managed more wins out of a punchless lineup in 2009 than the Giants really deserved, and Sabean recently avoided the temptation to mortgage the future (in either dollars or prospects) for current or future has beens.  Affeldt and Uribe pickups last year were brilliant, resigning them automatic.  Signing Derosa and Huff maybe worth the money, time will tell.  Molina makes sense while Posey matures, though not enough thought was given to playing Sandoval at catcher for most of 2010 until Posey is brought up.

So the question is, how are Giants fans best suited to encourage these guys to 'be all that they can be'?  After all is said and done, they're going to be in charge for the next two years.  I'm a long time Giants fan (and critic), and I'm glad they finally have grasped that pitching is 80% of the game.  They're starting rotation is one of the best in baseball, and they're relief core is pretty good as well.  Hitters are a dime a dozen, and can always be plucked off the free agent wire, with a few hits and misses. 

What the team lacks is patient hitters who can get on base and cause havoc with their speed, rather than with their base running blunders as we witnessed over and over again last season.  As it stands now, their lineup (Rowand, Uribe, Sandoval, Huff, Derosa, Molina, Schierholz, Renteria) is slow and defensively challenged.  Ishikawa, Velez, Torres, Posey, and Burris are good options for late inning replacements - and one or more of them may develop into next year's starter.

If Renteria starts slow, Uribe should take his place - assuming Sanchez is able to play second.  Torres had an OPS just under 900 last year, he deserves playing time.  Full time he might hit 30 triples - talk about excitement!  ATT Park rewards gap hitters with speed, not home run hitters - so we should gently push Sabean and Bochy towards these kind of players. 

They have created a team with great flexibility.  Now it's up to us to encourage them to use it when some of their aging parts inevitably begin to break down or fail completely.  And remember: at the trade deadline there are always high priced rental sluggers other teams want to unload for the last two months of the season if the Giants need just one more hitter to potentize their lineup.  Adam Dunn or Jose Guillen, anyone?