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May 21, 2008

On the Beat

Not So Giant

by John Perrotto

Bruce Bochy spent a few seconds searching for the right word to explain the state of his ballclub. "I would say we’re a team in transition," the Giants manager said. "We’re definitely in transition."

They still have plenty of veteran players at the end of line, holdovers from their unsuccessful attempts to make a run at a world title before the end of last season, when Barry Bonds’ contract expired. There are five regulars or semi-regulars who are 33 or older: catcher Bengie Molina, first baseman Rich Aurilia, second baseman Ray Durham, shortstop Omar Vizquel, and right fielder Randy Winn. Another, outfielder Dave Roberts, is currently on the disabled list.

On the other hand, the Giants also have a number of relatively inexperienced players on their roster, with three rookies seeing significant playing time: first baseman John Bowker, second baseman Eugenio Velez, and shortstop Emmanuel Burriss. Neither half of the left-field platoon of Fred Lewis and Dan Ortmeier has spent a full season in the major leagues. Their three best starting pitchers--left-hander Jonathan Sanchez and right-handers Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum--are all 25 or younger.

It all adds up to a mishmash of talent that has resulted in an 18-29 record in Bochy’s second season with the Giants. Though the Giants would already seem out of the playoff picture--they trail the Diamondbacks by 11 games in the NL West--general manager Brian Sabean told the San Francisco Chronicle last year that he isn’t inclined to trade his veterans to add more youngsters.

Not that Bochy is unfamiliar skippering squads stocked with young players; there were times during his tenure in San Diego that the Padres retrenched and went young. "There are obviously challenge when you have a young team," Bochy said. "We have guys who are still learning to be professional players on the major league level; that’s tough to do. At the same time, it’s rewarding to see the young guys improve. We’ve seen it already this season, and I anticipate that we will continue to see improvement."