Giants Outfielders 2010.....GAMER or HEADCASE Part 1

Looks like it's time to shake the offseason cobwebs out and start figuring out what I am going to type up this year. So let's start this thing like the other billion goddamn Giants websites out there and give you a Season Outlook for the Giants…. This should give me a chance to round out into my regular season form at least as well as Freddy Sanchez……

OK, so lets play a little game I call… GAMER orrrrrrr HEADCASE……

OK lets start in the outfield

OF/ IF Mark DeRosa
Well one think I learned this offseason, is that this guy is a slick mother fucker. If he hits like he interviews, the fanbase will love this guy. I was never convinced about this guy as a hitter, I mean who breaks through as a fulltime player at 31 years old? Well DeRosa broke through with 3 solid seasons with the Rangers and Cubs, and even a very solid 1/2 season with the Indians before crashing and burning with the Cardinals. Wrist injury? Sure, I will buy that. Was the breakout real? I think so, hard to fluke 3 1/2 years worth of stats, especially when you see gains in pitches per at bat and associated BB% per PA. So what do we expect this year? I would lock him down for 400-500+ AB's with 10-15 HR and .270-.280 BA and .340-.360 OBP, but the part that is really cool about this signing is he can play decent defense at 3 positions giving the Giants flexibility for inevitable failures of others…… You can slide him into 3rd and Panda over to 1st, so really the battle at 1st is Huff v Ishi v the 4th OF. Or lets says Renteria sucking air again, and Sanchez still brittle? Go with Uribe and DeRosa up the middle…. He's not going to dazzle anyone at any of these positions, but he can't be that bad??? and Please Please Please keep this guy out of Right Field…….VERDICT: GAMER

OF Aaron Rowand
Lost 10 pound, best shape of his life, back to the basics, blah blah fucking blah… I don't buy any of that shit. This guy has always run hot and cold, and these days its more like Teppid and Artic….the only story I want to read about Rowand in the offseason is how his ridiculous contract has expired and he has to pick up part time work as a speedbump. Throw our that career year that proceeded his contract with the Giants (sound familiar?) He has established a .260-270 BA with .320-340 OBP and 10-15 HR. hey, at least he wasn't an embarrassment in Center Field…..
So expect another mediocre season at all star prices, with clichés about Gamerness and Gamerocity ……..VERDICT: HEADCASE

OF Nate Schierholtz
Hard not to cheer for Nate, local boy who has all the tools to be a prototypical AT&T Right Fielder….going into the season looked like Nate was finally going to get his shot…sure Nate has about 500 AB's in the bigs with some modicum of success to show for it….. but as he entered Spring Training the Right Field job was his too lose….and looks like he may have just gone ahead and lost it with 14 K's with 4 BB in 59 PA, that's 24% Strikeouts…He even got the Sabean "Player's wont' read this" Treatment as he described Schierholtz battling demons to Baggs…In Nate defense, the Giants were looking for more power, and although he only has 1 HR, he does have 9 Extra Base hits to go with those 14 K's…...Nate is one of the wildcards for the 2010 Giants. I think 0.280 BA .320 OBP and 15 HR is about the most we could hope for, but I don't think he gets anywhere close to that….Seems that he is having doubts about himself and the path that he and Bam Bam have taken this offseason… Sure, I am just some random asshole on the internets, but to me that looks like someone too worried about the mechanics of his swing than the pitcher trying to get him out…..It's a tough game Nate, keep your nose down and your eye on the ball. Until then, I have to call em like I see em, and right now….VERDICT: HEADCASE

OF John Bowker
What a difference a year makes. Bowker relegated to the Minors after spending most of 2008 on the big club, sucked it up and went ahead and beat the snot out of the PCL posting a league leading .342 BA and 1.047 OPS… he rolled that momentum right into Spring Training with a 1.009 OPS in the desert…..when he was languishing you didn't read about him getting a bad break, or being mistreated by the organization (cough Frandsen, cough cough), you just saw the stats come rolling in quietly week after week. Sure stats don't tell the whole story, but we are talking about a guy with a short compact stroke that would play well in the Majors…… I do have hoep for 2010, after about 400AB's in the show, Major League pitchers have exposed his weakness with slow stuff down and in….. If he can just adjust to that pitch he should be able to put up something in the range.270 BA .340 OBP and 15+ HR…. and although he won't win any gold gloves anytime soon, he has enough speed and smarts to play RF in AT&T……and maybe he won't cover as much ground as Winn did, but he certainly has a better arm…..VERDICT: GAMER

OF Andres Torres
What's not to like about this guy, former prospect turned savvy veteran. Switch hits, runs down balls in the gap wearing bling almost as big as him. Hey, sit me start me, I am just happy to be pulling down the major league minimum. riding charter jets, and staying in 1st rate hotels… Rowand better not get hurt, because if we got to see this guy play center for an extended period we would get spoiled…. and god know he would probably not only out glove but out hit Rowand as well……VERDICT: GAMER

OF Freddie Lewis
Oh god, I feel bad piling on this guy…. I think it he was typing this up himself it would label himself a headcase….. Heck, I heard he was in the same support group as Brett Tomko, Ricky Ledee, and Wayne Gomes…… After some success at the major league level he was anointed the Giants best chance for a homegrown impact position player by not only Management, but the Lord hisselfs (#25, for the unlearned)……Lewis has a major case of the Yips at the plate and in the field... nothing short of a trade or maybe electroshock therapy is going to snap him out of it…….lets hope for Lewis case the Giants choose trade…. VERDICT: HEADCASE

Eugenio Velez
The Pharaoh is about as gifted a athlete as there is, electric bat and lightning in his legs……too bad he has hands of stone on the infield and the instincts of a platypus in the outfield…..he will make an outstanding play, only to back it up with a booted grounder or a bad first move in the outfield……a converted infielder, he probably turns more routine flyballs into great plays with his bad routes in the field….he has been playing outfield long enough that you figure he would start to get it…..but he hasn't……when everything is clicking he is one of the best position players on the team….but when it starts to go south, get him out of there before he crushes his own psyche….nope, despite the glimpses of ballplayer he shows the VERDICT: HEADCASE…..

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(The fine print: There will be cussing and bad taste. This is written with the heat of the moment feel you may have during the game, with rational though sprinkled in now and then. This is entertainment folks, sure there is a lot of truth and I am a genius, but this is all about having a laugh and enjoying the ride…….now lets go heckle Jeff Kent in when he gets inducted to Cooperstown..)