Sanchez...........or Lowry....................that is the question?

Yes Mike, this is your turn. What Mike essentially asked Henry Schulman was what do the Giants do in the event that Lowry not only proves to be healthy but also "out-competes" Sanchez for the fifth starter spot? Well Mike good question because I don't think giantsmanagement has an answer either. At the same time I think we should look at the chances of such a scenario happening. Lowry hasn't proven to be healthy since Auguest of 2007 which in the baseball world is a substantial time. Sanchez on the other hand got the attention o the baseball world by bursting onto the baseball scence with his strong irst half of the season. In which he posted a 3.86 era before the all star break. With 121 strikeouts in 111 inninngs pitched which was good for a 10.1k/9ip ratio. Suprisingly however he finished with 157 k's in 158 innings so yes his rate fell from 10.1k/9ip to a 9.9k/9ips ratio. This shows a slight regression in "stuff" but not one signiicant enough to pin all his troubles on. And his walk rate stayed near the same so it was either his command within the strike zone or B. the league simply adjusted to him as the year went on. I'll take a combination o the two due to the fact that becuase Sanchez only threw 52 innings the previous year compared to 158 this past year it's plenty reasonable to say he could have been worndown. This isn't the only telling story though there are numerous other factors such as defense, park factors ect. One must also look at our current staple of pitching within the organization yes, Alderson and Bumgarner are among the best arms in the minors but at the same time you must realize that between the two of them they have 0 games pitched above high a so though they may have the upside of Scott kazmir and let's say Chris Carpenter(of the top of my head) they are still a very long ways away from reaching it. But, let's assume Lowry returns to his previous form of a 3 starter or so I think it's perfectly reasonable to look to trade Sanchez. With a rotation anchored by Lincecum and Cin for the next couple of the years and perhaps Alderson and Bumgarner as soon as next year it's reasonable to look to adress the other teams needs which is essentially any young position player with upside that is ready to contribute at the major league level. I think we should re-visit this train of thought...........https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=3841533663452622434&postID=8084398248621842699 yes, take out the idea of Burris and replace him with Sanchez and you may be onto something. We have a very crowded outfield due to bad managerial deciscions by.........Sabean to sign Rowand, Roberts ect. but the potential impact bat ofYoung is something we are sorely lacking. The biggest problem i would have with this move is it makes it even murkier how we would get both Shierholtz and Young a substantial amount of at bats but it's defiently something to chew on especially since the twins appear eager to move him as well. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/02/twins-showing-i.html

Mini Mailbag

Hello all, I'm only doing a "mini mailbag" I know I promised to field all the questions from last week's mailbag but it doesn't make sense to answer my own question s. So next mailbag we have I will need other people to field more questions to ask anyway here we go. 

"Dear Henry, Out of the four highest touted Giants prospects whom do you see as the most likely to bust and who would you pick out of Posey, Bumgarner, Alderson and Villalona?) Thanks again I love your blog and love you even more. -Jeremy CA)

Haha Umm, well thank you Jay anyway let me disect your question like a lab rat. Conventional wisdom would point to either choosing Bumgarner or Villalona out of the four due to the fact that there both the youngest and furthest away from the majors. However I think in Bumgarner's case this is less applicable due to the fact that he flat out dominated an age appropriate level for him in low a and giants management is so impressed with him that there supposedly having him open the year in AA with Alderson. ( Bumarner struck out 10.4 batters per nine innings and issued 1 walk for ever strikeout while posting a minor league best 1.46 era so yes the term domination is appropriate. Yes, I agree Bumgarner is far from a sure thing ecspecially due to the fact that he's never thrown above low a and his fastball is much further along than his secondary pitches at this point. At the same token a mid 90's fastball with plus life and control from a 19 year old lefthanders arm is almost as rare as seeing big foot. But let's also forget Bumagrner's secondary offerings aren't chump change either. Bumganrer wasn't abllowed to throw a breaking pitch by his father until he was a senior in high school so the fact that he already has a major league average slider and shows great feel for it and a changeup as well are very promising signs that given the time the slider will be a plus pitch and the changeup at least average. He also has impeccable control having only walked 21 batters in 141 inning this year. For me he's a keeper, Jim Callis and John Manuel of baseballamerica have him as the second  best pitching prospect in the minors behind that Price guy.......) Well I ain't tryna slack or jack but bedtime for this cat I'll finish this question along with Micheal's tm because of our short day good night and good luck

Hey all.....!

Good news the Q and A with Schulman has been posted I couldn't post it directly on this site since I can't copy and paste. (as a way of preventing pirating other's content) so rather than typing it out line by one I posted it on mccoveychronicles.com ..........www.mccoveychronicles.com/2009/2/1/744193/q-and-a-with-henry-schulma

ill answer all the same questions tommorow also think of more questions becuase we have a mailbag comming up with the author of baybridebaseball.com jeff stevens check him out he's pretty accomplished.