Manny Ramirez and the San Francisco Giants

There's been no reason for other fans to pay attention to the San Francisco Giants the last few years, so here's what I've gathered as a member of the Bay Area media who pays really close attention to what the club says is its plan...and, I know, this isn't anything about what this space is usually devoted to, but I feel like knocking bloggers and "rumors" merits me doing something that's, at least, based in fact...since the big sports news story of New Year's Day resulted from one sentence mention of Ramirez and the Giants in the Denver Post...

The Giants love left fielder Fred Lewis. If they are pursuing Ramirez, it's not about Aaron Roward or Randy Winn, it's about Lewis. And, Lewis is a below-average defender who would have to move to a spacious right field at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Lewis will play everyday for the Giants in 2009, based on what GM Brian Sabean said. If they are pursuing Ramirez...they're saying they believe Lewis is an athlete who can learn to play right field. Sabean said on KNBR radio recently that they love Lewis because he can hit at the top or in the middle of the order.

The Giants signed Aaron Rowand to a big free agent contract...he is their centerfielder. He had an off year with the bat in 2008. There's not the slightest hint from anybody in the organization that they'd trade him or even consider using somebody like Dave Roberts in some sort of platoon. It doesn't matter whether they overpaid to get Rowand...he's the centerfielder. They aren't trying to trade him to make room for Ramirez or anything.

And, Dave Roberts is just a part-time guy with a star player's contract. Even if they don't sign Ramirez, if a couple young players produce in spring training, the Giants would just unload Roberts. They put him on waivers late last year and nobody claimed him. Roberts has nothing to do with signing Ramirez.

Randy Winn's a professional ... he hit over .300 and drove in runs in a really really weak lineup in '08. People who mention him and Roberts in the same breath, as though they're the same type player, haven't followed Winn's career. He was often the only true big leaguer in the lineup in '08. They'd trade him, but...why? It's hitters they need and he's a hitter. His contract is too big to make him very marketable to start with...but, if they're pursuing Ramirez, they're saying they believe they can trade Winn. Winn's in the last year of his contract and...as mentioned, Lewis is going to play every day...he's the first guy to emerge as the Giants committ to their farm system.

The idea of spending Ramirez-type monoey on guys like Adam Dunn and third baseman Joe Crede doesn't make sense. They could get those two for the cost of Ramirez, but...why?

Dunn's a lefthand power hitter who would likely view cavernous AT&T Park as the last place he'd want to play 81 games. I believe his batting average in SF shows he just doesn't hit here. The Giants made an attempt to get Crede last winter when he was coming off the back injury. They passed and, really, they figure that they're OK with Pedro Sandoval at third and some platoon at first base.

Sandoval's a hitter who should be a catcher or at first base, but the Giants have to believe until they see if their second 2008 first-round draft pick Conor Gillespie's going to become a big leaguer. Plus...they have what they feel is an adequate first base platoon in Travis Ishikawa and Rich Aurilia. They have no such thing at third base...so, the young catcher who's the first star-potential prospect to come out of the Giants system in years is the third baseman for now.

Everything the Giants do now to the lineup is done with their belief that Buster Posey's going to make it to the big leagues very quickly. He was their first No. 1 in 2008...he's a catcher...he could, I think, play a corner infield spot as long as Benji Molina's finishing his contract in SF. Molina's a valuable trade piece, though, so when Posey's ready...Molina goes.

Sabean sounds like they could conceivably count on Posey making it to the big leagues this year. So...don't just list the anticipated everyday lineup...put Posey at the top of the lineup with a question mark as his position...then write in Sandoval with "3b-1b-c" after his name...then list a lineup...that's what the Giants are looking at as we wonder if they'd really sign Ramirez.

Sabean says he expects the free agent field to develop late and offer "bargains" like, as the San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman pointed out Wednesday at sfgate.com, they got in right fielder Reggie Sanders and third baseman David Bell in the spring of 2002. They signed them around spring training time for very affordable deals. They were productive for that Giants World Series team. You can bet that, especially after signing Barry Zito on ownership's whim, Sabean will be really patient now.

This market's making it a lot harder for Dunn, Pat Burrell, Bobby Abreu and even Ramirez to get anywhere near the cash or the years they expected. So...sure...the Giants would sign Ramirez if he becomes what they consider a bargain given his overall value.

It's silly to say, "The Giants would NEVER sign Ramirez," because...the NL West's weak and a hitter could put them over the top. And, don't forget, these are tough economic times and folks aren't going to flock to AT&T Park just to soak the ambience by the bay to watch a 75-win team...ownership must realize they need to win games to attract fans in between Lincecum's starts...and Randy Johnson's starts as he chases those five wins to get to No. 300. And, really, they're looking at crowds of under 20,000 with the current lineup on nights those two aren't pitching. And, if Johnson's over the hill...it's a Lincecum sellout, then lots of empty seats.

Ownership didn't use public money to build the SF ball park. They're paying off the stadium. So...maybe..they see a short, expensive contract for Ramirez as spending money to make money.

Blogging's Writing, but Rarely Reporting

So, I wake up at like 10:30 in the morning and do what every American does on New Year's Day -- tune my high-def TV to the National Hockey League Winter Classic on NBC.

The game was played on an outdoor rink in the center of Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Red Wings were playing the Blackhawks and ...

OK, so almost no one would tune into the Winter Classic first thing New Year's Day. I did, though, because I'd heard that last year's Winter Classic outdoors in Buffalo, N.Y. was really amazing to watch. I barely find hockey interesting, let alone amazing. So, I tuned in out of curiosity. (I'd tune in to watch Julio Iglesias in concert on an iceberg is people said he was putting on an amazing show.)

There wasn't anything really different about the hockey match, beyond that it was being held outdoors. Quick flip to one of the meaningless college football bowl games...and, yeah, I know this doesn't have anything to do with the North Coast...and I see that ESPN's reporting that the Denver Post is reporting that the San Francisco Giants are "pursuing" free agent star Manny Ramirez.

And, like I just wrote, I know this doesn't have anything to do with Humboldt County or anything. It has something to do with blogging and writing and just writing and reporting.

I've only been a Giants fan since 1963, so I don't believe they'll do the right thing just because I read they are on ESPN. So...I get online and check the Denver Post. The Post baseball writer had, literally, a throw-away sentence at the end of his notes column stating that an anonymous source inside big league baseball said that the Giants are "pursuing" Ramirez.

Realizing a bat boy, equipment manager or the head of the grounds crew could be "an anonymous source inside big league baseball," I moved to MLBrumors.com -- a go-to spot to get a compilation of baseball notes, rumors and, sometimes, actual news. I go to the comments portion of the report...where one sentence became a story someone post on the rumors site...and read hundreds of comments from people who took the Giants/Manny story as the gospel truth.

That's what bugs me! Well, it bugs me that I'm technically a blogger...as opposed to a writer using a new forum to write about all kinds of things. It bugs me more that one sentence in a beat writer's column can become news and that the not-even-real news crosses the country like wildfire.

I checked Google news for Manny Ramirez stories and saw...links to blogs...commenting on the "story" that grew from one sentence in the Denver Post. Nobody reported anything. No one tried to shed light on how the rumor did or didn't tie into what the Giants have been saying they're willing to do to better the club. And, I guess, given that almost no one with a baseball blog seems to know anything about my Giants -- how could they shed any light on the rumor?

Nothing like a New Year's Day rant...but, I don't understand how people can write (or blog) about the same topic all the time. Oh, I know there are folks who check this spot for North Coast baseball stuff and then ignore everything else...and I'm even more aware the stories I write for my own amusement probably get overlooked. But...I just can't write about the same things all the time because I bore really easily. I'm easily distracted because...

What was I writing again?

Oh, I'm thinking about this all-time North Coast baseball team thing...and I'm always thinking about stories about stuff that went on back home...but, damn, I'm distracted by the fact that this Giants-Ramirez deal became a national story without a hint of journalism to be found.

Oh, journalism...how high and mighty are those people who call themselves "journalists" and talk about how they need to discuss things with "my editor." They bother me almost as much as bloggers...and, technically, I'm both a journalist and a blogger.

I laughed at the lead paragraph in the Times-Standard's piece about the top news stories of the North Coast year. It started with, "Journalists like lists." (Maybe "love lists," I forget.)

a) Who cares?
b) How is that sentence going to draw readers into the story?
c) It's editors who love lists, especially at the end of the year when there's no real news and lists of top stories, top personalities and best movies can fill pages that would otherwise be filled with wire stories about events in Iowa or Israel. (And, I'm in favor of us all paying attention to stories about the little fracas in Israel, right now.)
d) Lists have taking the place of writing in most newspapers.
e) See? I just made a list a, b, c, d, e...instead of actually explaining what bothers me about lists that get passed off as stories.

Happy New Year.