(This jersey soon to be appearing on Straight Cash Homey)
In a down economy, it must be nice to be able to abandon over $14 million as a sunk cost.
That’s exactly what the San Francisco Giants did today when they decided to cut both Miguel Tejada and fan favorite Aaron Rowand. The move seems to be a last-ditch effort to inject some life into an offense that really hasn’t been the same since Buster Posey was knocked out for the season durnig a violent collision at home plate earlier this year.
Hoping to fill the void will be Pat “The Bat” Burrell and Triple-A stud Brett Pill, who posted some seriously eye-popping numbers (.312, 25 HR, 107 RBI, .871 OPS) this season with Fresno and will now get a chance to see what he can do at the big league level.
So why these moves and why now? Take it away, Bruce Bochy (via The San Francisco Chronicle):
“It comes down to production, too,” Bochy told the paper. “We feel like we needed to make changes and get better. It’s time to turn the page.”
Bochy has a point. Both Tejada and Rowand have been offensive liabilities this season.
The 37-year-old Tejada couldn’t fill the offensive void left by Edgar Renteria, hitting just .239 with 4 HR and an on-base percentage of .270. Rowand’s numbers were nearly identical, .233/4 HR/.274 OBP. While he had won fans over with his all-out hustle style of play, it has become clear over the past two seasons that his best offensive days are behind him.
Given the fact that the Giants are still (barely) in contention with a month left to play at only six games behind the surprising Diamondbacks, Sabean and Bochy had to do something, ANYTHING, to kickstart the team’s moribund offense, which currently ranks last in runs scored (456) and next to last in batting average (.238) and on-base percentage (.299) despite giving up a healthy package of prospects to get Mets outfielder Carlos Beltran at the deadline.
The question is are Pill and Burrell really that big of an improvement over the guys they’ll be replacing in the lineup?
Pill has yet to face Major League pitching in a regular season game. He’ll be getting his first taste of the bigs in the midst of a pennant race, getting thrown into the fire while being asked to help save his team’s season. That’s an awful lot to ask from a guy who doesn’t have any real experience beyond facing up-and-comers and roster fillers at Triple-A.
Burrell meanwhile hasn’t had a really good season since 2008, when he hit .250 with 33 HR and 86 RBI during the Phillies’ run to the championship. This season he’s hit .233 with 7 HR and 21 RBI in just 80 games and is returning from a strained right foot he suffered in July. If the Giants are going to make a run – and that’s an if about as big as the Golden Gate Bridge at this point – Burrell is going to have to recapture the magic and fast. That and the Diamondbacks will have to remember that they weren’t supposed to be this good this season.
If it works, Brian Sabean is once again the toast of San Francisco. If not, he’s the man who just ate $15 million in bad contracts. Hope that meal comes with a napkin.
