San Francisco Giants: Wearing the Fans' Patience Thin

These seven indisputable facts mean that ownership's time is up. Giants' fans deserve the return of our perennial contender. We have earned that much with our patience. Name another fan-base of a team with a winning history that is more sympathetic during dry spells than that of the orange and black!

Some hold it against us, say that it means we aren't real fans. We can't be the geniune article because we don't care enough to boo at the drop of a ball or walk of a batter.

I say it's that we care just as much, but maintain a healthy perspective of sports vis-a-vis life. That point can be debated.

What cannot be debated is that five long years of utter futility, for a franchise that fielded a championship contender almost every year from 1993 through 2003, is long enough. Especially when there is over $10 million sitting in reserve that must be spent on talent to keep a promise to customers.

Especially when the team already has a one-two punch of Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain.

Especially when they can follow that up with Jonathan Sanchez, Barry Zito, and Brian Wilson.

Especially when they already have a nice little offensive nucleus of Aaron Rowand, Bengie Molina, Randy Winn, Emanuel Burriss, Freddie Lewis, and Pablo Sandoval.

The Giants' 2009 roster will not overwhelm anyone offensively, but it features a pitching staff that should do quite well with just an average offense. If everything breaks right, the 2009 Giants' offense might be just average, but it could easily be above average if management adds the right piece to the mix.

That piece is NOT Manny Ramirez.

We just washed off the stink of Bonds'. I loved Barry as much as any die-hard fan would love a player who carried his/her favorite team to the postseason almost every year. But I was well aware that it was an adoration with a price: you couldn't feel totally clean about yourself (and I'm not talking steroids, I'm talking the guy is human garbage by all accounts).

But at least Barry was the best chemically-enhanced player this game has ever seen. Ramirez isn't even the best hitter it's seen and his act is already tired. That was before he caught the Dodger Blue bug.

Ugh. Keep that train wreck away.

Nor is that piece C.C. Sabathia.

I'm as big a fan of Sabathia as the next guy. But I already listed the virtues of the as-assembled 2009 San Francisco Giants. Points one and two were pitching. Really, points three and four are pitching as well, but I'm being optimistic. The Gents simply do not need more pitching.

It sounds odd to say that in the modern era, but it's true. The organization even has a couple more young arms down on the farm. Our cup runneth over (if form holds true, admittedly a large if).

Of course, signing Sabathia would make sense if you moved some of that young pitching, but why take that expensive risk on the heels of signing Zito? SF would have to move Noah Lowry, Cain, Sanchez, or one of the guys on the farm; it would probably be Cain. Those young arms are much cheaper than C.C.

Granted, they are not the same quality. But who knows what quality Sabathia's next team will get? I can promise you I'm not the only person concerned by all those innings under so much stress with so little rest in between. He's young and he's an absolute monster, but he's still human.

Regardless, signing him would require huge money and the trade of a promising young arm (or two). That's a big risk for anyone to take and the Giants have failed pretty spectacularly on another large risk with Zito's contract.

Thankfully, neither Ramirez nor Sabathia (nor the trade of Cain for that matter) looks likely. Yet, all have been mentioned by people inside baseball, so neither seems ridiculous.

What would be ridiculous would be a repeat, in 2009, of the impotence that has befouled our recent seasons.

Management owes us more than that.

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