The title of this thread comes courtesy John Miller, who uttered that phrase after Todd Wellemeyer served up a fat one to Adrian Gonzalez in the bottom of the first today. It could be said that Miller summed up the feeling of most Giants fans -- especially this one -- when this roster was constructed.
It's becoming evident that the Giants' early success was hardly an indicator of things to come. At the end of the day, a duck is still a duck. This team may have appeared to be better at the outset, but as the season starts to find its pace it's pretty clear that the Giants don't have the required parts to compete. You don't ask Mark DeRosa to become Barry Bonds. He's not, he never was, and he never will be.
Here's what really makes me crazy: no matter how badly they perform you realy can't blame the players. The fault lies with an organization that insists on continuing to pound square pegs into round holes. DeRosa and Huff, the prize acquisitions, would be solid additions to a team in need of some experience to augment young talent. They are not, and never were, guys who would hit in the middle of the line-up on a legitimate contender.
It's not their fault. They are being asked to do something they aren't capable of. Not only is neither of these guys a substitue for Bonds, neither ever claimed to be. They are what they are, journeymen ballplayers. They should be the baseball equivalent of Trent Dilfer: You don't expect them to win the game for you. You ask them not to lose it.
At the end of the day, the general manager must take responsibility for the performance of players he selects. If he brings in Wellemeyer and the guy can't find the strike zone with a compass and a flashlight (and the few strikes he does throw become a threat to low-flying aircraft), you have to ask what idiot thought this guy would be a good addition to a team that supposedly has a plethora of young pitching. If the position draftees like Posey, Downs, Noonan, Ford and others are the team's immediate future, why the need to overpay for the likes of Rowand and Renteria, or even entertain the thought of singing a DeRosa or Huff?
The answer is simple. Depsite all the talk about Bochy favoring the vets, it's Sabean who continues to fil the cupboard with day-old bread. He's the class geek who would rather ask a solid "4" (or a pair of "2"s) to dance because it's preferable to the possiblity an "8" will turn him down. Pretty soon his dance card is filled with the lesser girls in the room, he has offered three of them a ride home, and now the head cheerleader has broken up with her boyfriend and needs a lift but he doesn't have a seat to offer and thus misses the opportunity.
By the way, a couple of days ago I likend the Giants to a girl who looks good but never comes across -- the early season was just a big tease. In the case of the 2010 Giants, not only has she left you standing on the doorstep but she's sleeping wth your best friend -- and his brother -- and then she sent you the videotape -- which she also posted online. She's not a tease or even a golddigger anymore. She's just mean. She is determined to break your heart and will stop at nothing to do so.
There are all sorts of variables that people can point to. There are those who talk about how Peter Magowan supposedly dictated some of the signings, or about how the front office was handicapped by salary during the Bonds era. But with Bonds and Pinky both long gone, those excuses ring hollow. There is only one constant, Sabean.
There is no general manager in baseball who has had such a sustained perod of ineffectiveness and kept his job. Sabean is now officially MLB's answer to Elgin Baylor. Before the Giants end up the baseball equivalent of the Clippers, they've gotta change direction.
There are easily half a dozen guys now mired in the minors who certainly couldn't be any worse that what we're seeing this year. They will never get a chance if Sabean continues to covet every Dave Roberts, Jeff Fassero or Shea Hillenbrand that crosses his path.
It didn't take Theo Epstein 15 years (and counting) to turn around the Red Sox. It didn't take Kenny Williams that long to end the ChiSox' losing skid. Ned Coletti altered the Dodgers' fortunes in a hurry. It doesn't take a genuis to see that Sabean has failed, and failed miserably.
The talking heads maintain Giants fans won't support the team if they rebuild. Well, how long to you think they'll continue to fly the flag for a team that performs poorly? I'd gladly endure a rebuild -- a true rebuild led by someone capable of evaluating talent - as opposed to watching this same crap every year. At least with a rebuild you can look to the future.
It's becoming evident that the Giants' early success was hardly an indicator of things to come. At the end of the day, a duck is still a duck. This team may have appeared to be better at the outset, but as the season starts to find its pace it's pretty clear that the Giants don't have the required parts to compete. You don't ask Mark DeRosa to become Barry Bonds. He's not, he never was, and he never will be.
Here's what really makes me crazy: no matter how badly they perform you realy can't blame the players. The fault lies with an organization that insists on continuing to pound square pegs into round holes. DeRosa and Huff, the prize acquisitions, would be solid additions to a team in need of some experience to augment young talent. They are not, and never were, guys who would hit in the middle of the line-up on a legitimate contender.
It's not their fault. They are being asked to do something they aren't capable of. Not only is neither of these guys a substitue for Bonds, neither ever claimed to be. They are what they are, journeymen ballplayers. They should be the baseball equivalent of Trent Dilfer: You don't expect them to win the game for you. You ask them not to lose it.
At the end of the day, the general manager must take responsibility for the performance of players he selects. If he brings in Wellemeyer and the guy can't find the strike zone with a compass and a flashlight (and the few strikes he does throw become a threat to low-flying aircraft), you have to ask what idiot thought this guy would be a good addition to a team that supposedly has a plethora of young pitching. If the position draftees like Posey, Downs, Noonan, Ford and others are the team's immediate future, why the need to overpay for the likes of Rowand and Renteria, or even entertain the thought of singing a DeRosa or Huff?
The answer is simple. Depsite all the talk about Bochy favoring the vets, it's Sabean who continues to fil the cupboard with day-old bread. He's the class geek who would rather ask a solid "4" (or a pair of "2"s) to dance because it's preferable to the possiblity an "8" will turn him down. Pretty soon his dance card is filled with the lesser girls in the room, he has offered three of them a ride home, and now the head cheerleader has broken up with her boyfriend and needs a lift but he doesn't have a seat to offer and thus misses the opportunity.
By the way, a couple of days ago I likend the Giants to a girl who looks good but never comes across -- the early season was just a big tease. In the case of the 2010 Giants, not only has she left you standing on the doorstep but she's sleeping wth your best friend -- and his brother -- and then she sent you the videotape -- which she also posted online. She's not a tease or even a golddigger anymore. She's just mean. She is determined to break your heart and will stop at nothing to do so.
There are all sorts of variables that people can point to. There are those who talk about how Peter Magowan supposedly dictated some of the signings, or about how the front office was handicapped by salary during the Bonds era. But with Bonds and Pinky both long gone, those excuses ring hollow. There is only one constant, Sabean.
There is no general manager in baseball who has had such a sustained perod of ineffectiveness and kept his job. Sabean is now officially MLB's answer to Elgin Baylor. Before the Giants end up the baseball equivalent of the Clippers, they've gotta change direction.
There are easily half a dozen guys now mired in the minors who certainly couldn't be any worse that what we're seeing this year. They will never get a chance if Sabean continues to covet every Dave Roberts, Jeff Fassero or Shea Hillenbrand that crosses his path.
It didn't take Theo Epstein 15 years (and counting) to turn around the Red Sox. It didn't take Kenny Williams that long to end the ChiSox' losing skid. Ned Coletti altered the Dodgers' fortunes in a hurry. It doesn't take a genuis to see that Sabean has failed, and failed miserably.
The talking heads maintain Giants fans won't support the team if they rebuild. Well, how long to you think they'll continue to fly the flag for a team that performs poorly? I'd gladly endure a rebuild -- a true rebuild led by someone capable of evaluating talent - as opposed to watching this same crap every year. At least with a rebuild you can look to the future.
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