Giants Bullpen A Big Key In Division Series Victory

The Giants just had a great comeback series where they trailed the Cincinnati Reds two games to none and came back to win the series in five.  It was a definitely a team effort for the Giants to win this playoff series. It is hard to pick an MVP for this series because so many players contributed at so many different moments in the series. However, I am going to tip my cap to the Giants bullpen, which I think played one of the biggest roles in this series victory if not the biggest.

            The old saying goes that pitching wins baseball games but the Giants starting pitchers did not pitch that great this series. Matt Cain gave up three runs in five innings in game one including two homers. Madison Bumgarner gave up four runs and seven hits in 4.1 innings in game two. Barry Zito didn’t even get past the third inning in game four as he gave up two runs, four hits, and four walks in 2.2 innings. Matt Cain did pitch better in game five but he still gave up three runs after his team gave him a six run lead and was unable to get past the sixth inning. Ryan Vogelsong probably had the best performance of the starters giving up only one run but he only lasted five innings as he had to battle throughout the game and raised his pitch count quickly. Overall, the rotation did not perform as you would expect on a team that has a reputation of having a great starting staff.

            Since the starting pitchers didn’t pitch deep into their games, the bullpen was used a lot and they did a great job at shutting down the Reds and giving the Giants a chance to win games. In many instances, they stopped the bleeding that was caused by the starter pitchers. There were times when the Giants starting pitchers were giving up runs and put men on base that could have easily led to high scoring innings. Instead manager Bruce Bochy was had great timing on when to take out his starters and bring in his relief pitchers. The relief pitchers responded with a bang.

            In game three when Vogelsong was taken out, the bullpen did not give up a run in five innings. This kept the Giants in the game while the score was tied for most of the day. In fact, reliever Sergio Romo was the winning pitcher for that game. In game four after Zito was being knocked around by the Reds batters, the game could have easily turned ugly. Instead Tim Lincecum came in the third inning with the score 3-2 Giants.  Lincecum would pitch 4.1 innings of baseball and gave up only one run which allowed the Giants to keep their lead over the Reds. Lincecum would be the winning pitcher of that game four victory.

            Then came game five and the Giants had a six run lead in the fifth inning. Cain, who had been pitching well prior to that six run output by the giants, started to struggle and gave up three runs in the next two innings which put the Reds back into the game.  Then relievers Kontos, Affeldt, Lopez, and Casilla put up zeroes on the scoreboard setting up the game for Giants closer Sergio Romo.

            Romo was quick getting the first out in the ninth inning but then he got into some trouble. He gave up a run and then put two men on base with just one out, cutting the Red’s deficit to two runs. I started having bad flashbacks of Romo from the 2010 postseason. I remember he struggled in finishing an inning because he gave up many hits and runs that postseason. While he had great pitching abilities, it seemed in 2010 when the game was on the line Romo didn’t respond well to pressure. Then I started to worry about the current situation Romo got himself into and wondering if he could close out a game.  That situation made me start to miss Brian Wilson. Wilson I felt comfortable with as a closer because he proved in 2010 he can close out games when the pressure was on.  Romo didn’t show that ability in 2010. So I said out loud, “Romo, this is your time to show whether or not you’re a closer.  This is your time to prove you can get the job done.” Romo would go on to prove that my worries were for nothing.  He would get a pop-up for the second out of the ninth and then he would strike out the next batter for the last out of the game.  Romo proved that he is a closer today. He will get more chances to save games in the next round and hopefully in the World Series too.

            It is hard to pick an MVP for the first round of the playoffs and luckily for the media, there is no official MVP award given out for the first round of the playoffs. If there was, it would have been tough to choose just one Giant player. If it was up to me, I would give out the MVP to the Giants relievers. They kept the Giants in the game during those three tough wins. Pitching wins games and for the Giants case it was the relievers that won games.  They are the reason the Giants are moving on.

           

Preview of Cal vs. Nevada Football Game

Cal Football is back and the team is preparing to play its first game in the newly renovated Memorial Stadium against Nevada. While playing in the new stadium should bring excitement to the Bears there should also be some sense of wanting revenge against Nevada. It was only two years ago that the Nevada Wolf Pack destroyed Cal in Reno. It was a game that Cal was expected to win and the the time of that game, Cal was ranked in the nation. After that loss however, Cal went on to have one of its worse seasons under coach Jeff Tedford while Nevada went on to have its best season in school history in which they ranked in the top 20 in the nation.

            The good news for Cal is that Colin Kaepernick is no longer Nevada’s quarterback.  Kaepernick was the main reason that Cal was defeated in Reno. Kaepernick ran circles around the Cal defense and scored touchdowns with his arm and legs.  He was unstoppable.  The other good news is that Cal is playing at home this time and recent history shows that non conference opponents that Cal loses to on the road, Cal gets their revenge by beating them at home later on.

            However, Cal should not get too comfortable with its first opponent this season. While Kaepernick may no longer be Nevada’s quarterback, they have a young good quarterback in sophomore Cody Fajardo who was named the WAC conference freshmen of the year. He can run the ball too in Nevada’s high powered pistol offense and has a good arm too. Fajardo may not be that known around the nation but that could be a problem for Cal. Kaepernick was not well known to the nation prior to Cal’s game against Nevada in 2010. It wasn’t until after he beat Cal and Boise State that he became a known player to the nation and NFL scouts.  Cal was not prepared against Kaepernick. They should not make the same mistake against Fajardo.

            So what will it take for Cal to beat Nevada this Saturday? There are two keys: one is that coach Tedford has got to outcoach Nevada head coach Chris Ault.  The second key is that Cal quarterback Zack Maynard needs to outperform Fajardo. Those were the two keys that cost Cal its game against Nevada in Reno. I remember watching the game in Reno and seeing how many bad decisions Tedford made. It may have been the biggest reason why Cal lost. Tedford had the team run the ball when they should have passed it and they passed the ball when they should have ran it. Every move Tedford made seem to cost the team and while Tedford seem to make all the wrong moves, Ault seem to make all the right moves. That cannot happen again. If Tedford wants to keep his job safe with Cal, he will need to coach better against Nevada then he did the last time.

            As far as Maynard, he will need to perform better than he did last year.  He will need to outperform Fajardo. Cal is not going to be able to shut down Nevada’s pistol offense. Nevada will score a lot of points as their system is effective in college and they have been one of the highest scoring teams in football in the past few years.  That is why it is important that Maynard scores a lot of points as they will be needed to outdo Nevada’s offense. While Maynard showed signs of being a good quarterback in some games last season, in other games he lost to teams he should have beaten. That is why Cal did not have as a good of a season as the team would have liked.  A team cannot get far if its quarterback struggles. Plus, the last Cal quarterback to play against Nevada did not have a good game and that was why Nevada was able to have a big spread on the scoreboard.

            Overall, everyone is picking Cal to beat Nevada this Saturday. On paper, Cal should beat Nevada. However, Cal’s biggest problem over the years has been losing games against teams they should have beaten.  Cal tends to overlook opponents and it comes back to bite them.  Two years ago everyone had Cal beating Nevada also. That didn’t turn out so great.  However, Cal is opening up there renovated stadium when they face Nevada. The team will be pumped, the fans will be pumped and the team will feed off the fans excitement.  The last thing Cal wants to do is lose their home opener and let Nevada rain on Cal’s parade. If Cal can’t be motivated to win this game, I don’t know what will motivate them. If Tedford can’t have his team play well in this atmosphere, then his job should be on the line.  I don’t know who is going to win this game because with Cal every game is unpredictable.

Sharks Doing More of the Same This Offseason

There is an old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. This offseason has shown the Sharks are clearly insane. After losing to the Saint Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs last April, their quickest exit from postseason play, you would think the Sharks would make some major changes in response to an embarrassing season. The Sharks ownership group even made a public statement saying last season’s postseason was unacceptable. With that statement you would think the Sharks were committed to fixing this team. Instead, they have stood pat this offseason, making only minor changes to the team. 

                The first big mistake was keeping head coach Todd McLellan. That was the first sign that the Sharks ownership group doesn’t care about improving this team. McLellan clearly lost the respect of his players towards the end of last season. The penalty kill was also terrible. Worst of all was that McLellan had the Sharks play a very conservative style of hockey despite all the skill that was on the team. He had them play that overrated dump and chase style of hockey where the player shoots the puck into the zone and then skates over to retrieve it near the goal. Problem was the Sharks never seem to succeed in retrieving the puck before the other team did. Yet McLellan still had them playing that style of hockey. It was the reason they could not score many goals in the playoffs. Instead of McLellan being held responsible for the team’s failures, his assistant coaches took the fall and a few of the assistants were fired. While that is a good start, the buck stops with McLellan. He runs the coaching staff. He should get the ax but he didn’t.

                The next big mistake was not trading a lot of the current players on the roster. Patrick Marleau should have been gone in a heartbeat but instead is still on the team. I know he has a no trade clause but I am sure the Sharks could have found a way to get Marleau to waive it, especially if the Sharks made his life miserable. They also didn’t trade Marc-Eduoard Vlasic, despite the fact that during the postseason, he was pushed around by opposing forwards with ease.  He is so small in size and weak in terms of physical play, you wonder why he gets so much praise. The Sharks then were dumb enough to give Vlasic a five year contract extension that will keep him with the team for six more years. That’s just what this team needs for six more years, a defender who gets pushed around like a rag doll. The only good thing the Sharks did in terms of getting rid of players was letting Torrey Mitchell sign with another team. However, most of the other players who were on the Sharks last season are coming back and that makes me want to puke.

                The final big mistake was not adding many new players to the Sharks. Sure, they brought back Brad Stuart and he will be a decent addition to the defense. However, he is not a difference maker and he is getting older. The only other big signing the Sharks made was signing Adam Burish but he is nothing more than a fourth line player. He isn’t going to score many goals and he isn’t going to be a big difference maker to the team. However, the team felt the need to give a player like this a four year contract.  Talk about a waste of money for a marginal player.

                I said earlier in the offseason that the Sharks needed to make big changes if they were going to be a contender for the Stanley Cup again. It appears that the Sharks won’t be a contender this year. They have stood quietly as other teams went and improved their rosters through free agency and trades. The Sharks are satisfied just keeping last year’s team together for one more year. If this same team couldn’t win a single playoff series last season, what makes the Sharks think they could do better next season let alone win the Stanley Cup. Expect the Sharks to be more of the same next year. The Sharks have truly gone insane.

               

Hector Sanchez Has Been A Valuable Backup Catcher

During Spring Training last March, I lobbied for the Giants to have Hector Sanchez be the team’s backup catcher. The Giants did as I hoped and allowed Sanchez to be the team’s backup catcher over Eli Whiteside and Chris Stewart. So far the decision has paid off for the Giants and it was most obvious against the Los Angeles Dodgers, whom the Giants just shutout in three straight games. In two of those games, Hector Sanchez was behind the plate for a pitcher who was pitching shutout baseball.

                When I talked about having Sanchez become the team’s backup catcher, I talked about how important it was to have a player who can hit the ball, especially on days they needed to give Buster Posey a rest. I didn’t think the Giants would actually go with the catcher who can hit because traditionally, the Giants have been reluctant to try young players from the minor leagues on the Major League roster.  Plus the Giants seemed more concerned about having a backup catcher who can handle the Giants pitching staff rather than one that can hit offensively which is why throughout most of this last offseason they leaned toward bringing back Whiteside and Stewart.

                Sanchez so far has not only proven that he can hit the ball well for a backup catcher, but that he can play defense pretty well too. That was the concern of the Giants going into the season but Sanchez has eased those worries. He has caught for every game Barry Zito pitches. Last season while rehabbing in the minor leagues, Zito first experienced what it was like pitching to Sanchez and during his minor league stint, Zito succeeded with Sanchez as his battery mate.  Zito last year praised Sanchez’s catching abilities and said how comfortable he felt pitching to him. Zito may have been the one to convince the Giants front office to keep him on the roster this season and they did so, thinking it would benefit Zito. Zito showed his comfort with Sanchez against the Dodgers. After struggling for three straight starts, Zito pitched seven innings of shutout baseball and got the win against the Dodgers on Monday. After how bad Zito has pitched throughout his career with the Giants, anyone who can make Zito look like a decent pitcher is a winner in my book. Sanchez then did something he has not done often this season: he caught for pitcher Tim Lincecum. Lincecum had been struggling all season with the Giants. Sanchez, however, helped Lincecum regain his confidence and Lincecum responded by pitching seven innings of shutout baseball and getting a win against the Dodgers.

                It is no coincidence that Hector Sanchez has a way of helping struggling pitchers regain their form. Zito had struggled recently only to get a big win against the Dodgers with Sanchez behind the plate. Lincecum had been struggling all year but once he pitched to Sanchez he was his old self again. I don’t know exactly how Sanchez keeps these pitchers calm under pressure but whatever he is doing is working. This is not a knock on Buster Posey. Posey is clearly the leader of the team’s pitching staff and he has a World Series ring to prove it. However, having a backup catcher like Sanchez who can catch the pitching staff well is a great asset to have. The Giants wanted to give Buster Posey more rest this season after his severe injuries last year but circumstance could have easily forced the Giants to play Posey too much if the backup catcher was not playing good. That could have been the case if Whiteside or Stewart were still the backup catchers. Instead, Posey gets to rest every five days thanks to the good play of Sanchez. This keeps Posey fresh and could be a reason Posey is hitting the ball so great right now. That rest could pay huge dividends down the stretch as the Giants try to reach the postseason. Having a great catcher like Buster Posey is valuable. Having a good backup catcher like Sanchez is a luxury. Not many teams can say they have both.

Cain’s Perfect Game a Moment to Remember

For sport fans, there will always be moments that we never forget as they are rare and do not happen often. Fans always remember those moments that seemed unlikely such as witnessing a team winning the championship or someone setting a record that hadn’t been broken for years. It is those moments that fans know exactly where they were and what they were doing. For me and Giant fans around the world last night’s game against the Houston Astros was one of those moments. Matt Cain pitched a perfect game, the first in Giants franchise history.

            I will be the first to admit I did not watch most of the Giants game where Matt Cain pitched a perfect game.  I regret it, but who can predict the future and say, “Hey, I better watch tonight’s game because someone is going to throw a perfect game”?  Matt Cain’s perfect game was just the 22^nd perfect game thrown in Major League Baseball history and the first in the Giants 129 year history. So let’s just say a perfect game is rare. Anyone who says they knew Matt Cain was going to throw a perfect game is full of it.

            Still it was hard for me to miss most of that game knowing that I missed out on history. In fact I was going to go to the game with my dad but I told him I couldn’t go because I had plans. My dad then ended up planning on taking my mom but just a few hours before the game, he changed his mind and didn’t use the tickets. While I did not see most of the game, I did look a few times on my I-Phone to see how the Giants were doing on the scoreboard. I checked the score in the fifth inning and saw that it was 10-0 Giants. I then checked how the offense was doing on the stat sheet and saw that they were crushing the ball. It slipped my mind to see how Cain was pitching on the stat sheet so I had no clue that Cain was in the middle of history. I eventually went home to my place and was very close to not bothering watching the Giants game. It was around 10 PM and I figured the game was over and the Giants won due to having a ten run lead. Plus it was against the Astros so it wasn’t like I needed to see the game.  

            Luckily I did turn on the TV and the first thing I noticed was that Cain was in the middle of a count with a Houston batter. I then saw that it was the bottom of the ninth inning and there were already two outs. I heard the fans screaming like I never heard them scream before. It was as if Cain was pitching in game 7 of the World Series. I was thinking to myself, why were the fans acting so excited?  Sure, the fans have always been passionate but not to the level they were cheering. I was thinking, come on guys. They are playing a lousy Houston team and the game was already in the bag as the team was leading 10-0. It’s not like this would be the Giants first win of the season and it wouldn’t be the last, but I never head the fans act like this for other Giant wins. What made this game so special for this kind of reaction? Then I realized Cain was still pitching and had a chance for a complete game shutout. So then it hit me and I said to myself, “Is Cain pitching a perfect game?” I then saw the box score on the TV screen show the stats: no runs, no hits, and no errors.

            That’s when I knew what I was so close to missing completely: a chance to see a perfect game. Then Cain makes a pitch and the ball gets hit hard. I saw Joaquin Arias stumble with the ball and I thought, “Oh no! Don’t mess this up!” It brought me back memories of Juan Uribe, whose one error was the only blemish to Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter in 2009. That cost Sanchez a perfect game.  However, Arias recovered and made a great play and just like that I saw Cain pitch a perfect game, even if it was for a brief time. I called my parents right away, and when I told them that they missed out on going to a perfect game, they were shocked. Unlike me, they didn’t see the ending to the Giants game and were shocked that Cain threw a perfect game.

            Even though the moment was brief, I will always remember where I was and what I was doing, when Matt Cain pitched that perfect game on June 13, 2012. It will be just like Game 5 of the 2010 World Series. People always ask, “Where were you when the Giants won the World Series?” Well now people will ask the same thing of Matt Cain’s perfect game, the first in Giants history. It’s rare moments like these that fans like me cherish. It’s moments like these that go into history books. It’s moments like these that the media will always bring up. It’s moments like these that we will tell our grandkids about. It will especially be great moment for the lucky fans who were fortunate enough to witness the history live in the ballpark where it took place. My memory of this great game may not sound as sexy as some other stories that I am sure people can tell you, but it is one I will continue to tell people till the day I die. It is a moment that I will always cherish.

Giants Should Give Up on Freddy Sanchez

Freddy Sanchez suffered another setback on his rehab from an injury he suffered last year.  After getting setbacks from his injury to his shoulder, Sanchez now has hurt his back. I tell you, Freddy Sanchez is like fragile glass. You can touch him softly in the chest with your finger and he would manage to suffer a chest injury.  Every season that Sanchez has been with the Giants he has been on the disabled list with some freak injury. Sanchez reminds me a lot of Sharks forward Martin Havlat. Like Havlat, there is always a freak injury that Sanchez gets.

            I do not think Freddy Sanchez is going to return to the Giants this season. He is in his mid 30s and has not played since last June. That is why the Giants need to pull the plug on Sanchez now and put him on the 60 day disabled list and then show him the door of free agency at the season’s end. By doing this the Giants can add a more useful player to their 40 man roster since a spot will not be taken up by an injured Sanchez. The Giants can hope and pray all they want that Sanchez will return and help the Giants, but it is becoming more and more wishful thinking. Even if Sanchez does return, he will not be the same player.

            The Giants need help now. They are playing average baseball where they lose just as many games as they win. That is not going to cut it if the Giants are going to make the playoffs this season.  They need to get more offense. This offseason they didn’t get enough offensive help through free agency because the team was banking on Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez being healthy again. Posey is back but Sanchez isn’t and that leaves a big hole in the team’s struggling offense.  Sanchez was expected to fill the number two slot in the batting order. He was expected to get on base a lot and give batters like Posey and Sandoval a chance to hit him home.  Since he is not in the lineup, the team has been struggling to find a player to fill that slot in the lineup.

            The team cannot continue to struggle on offense by waiting for Sanchez to come back. They need to go out now and find another second baseman through a trade. Who they get and what they give up is not a concern to me. The Giants need to do something to spark this offense and a trade is the best way to do it. If they can’t do that, call up another minor leaguer and see if he can give the Giants some offense. A trade acquisition or minor leaguer couldn’t do any worse than Emmanuel Burriss or Ryan Theriot right now.

            I criticized Giants General Manager Brian Sabean last offseason for letting go of Jeff Keppinger. I thought he would have been a good replacement for Freddy Sanchez in case Sanchez got hurt. Keppinger is now batting .298 this season, a much better batting average than the second basemen the Giants currently have. I still don’t understand Sabean’s reasoning behind letting Keppinger go.

            However, that’s in the past. The Giants have to admit they made a mistake and cut their losses with Sanchez. The gamble didn’t pay off for the Giants. Yes, Sanchez was a good Giant and he contributed a lot for the team when he was healthy. He was a big part of the Giants World Series team in 2010. However, like many other Giants from that great 2010 season, Sanchez has faded away. His contract expires at the end of the season and the Giants would be stupid to resign him. The Giants need to give up on Sanchez and let him retire.

Sharks Should Consider Getting Roberto Luongo and Rick Nash

A few weeks ago I said how the Sharks needed to start rebuilding their team if they were ever going to be a Stanley Cup contender again. Looks like the Sharks ownership group still thinks the team could contend next year and it sounds like they do not want to rebuild. While they are telling Doug Wilson to make changes, it sounds like they want to make changes so that the Sharks can win it all next year. That is a mistake on the Sharks part and I made that clear in my last article.  Having said that, if they Sharks want to play to win it all next year here are a few moves I would make if I was Doug Wilson.

            The first move is to get goaltender Roberto Luongo from Vancouver. Reports have surfaced that Luongo has asked for a trade and Vancouver seems willing to do so. The Sharks should jump at this huge opportunity. Luongo is a much better goalie than Antti Niemi. While Niemi has won a Stanley Cup, Luongo came close with Vancouver last year, losing in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Still Niemi only won his Cup because he had a great supporting cast around him. Luongo has been to more all star games than Niemi, has better stats, and has been known to steal more wins for his team than Niemi. Luongo also can win under pressure as he lead team Canada to an Olympic Gold medal in the last Winter Olympics.

            So how do you get a player like Luongo? Well, the Sharks would obviously have to give up a star player and that player is Patrick Marleau. It’s a trade I think Vancouver would accept. Marleau will be turning 33 next season, so he would be a few months younger than Luongo who already is 33. Marleau gives the Canucks more offensive power and speed. Plus Marleau is only under contract for two more years while Luongo is under contract for 10 more years so the Canucks would be more than happy to have less money to pay to a player. The contract for Luongo is a concern to me given the length of time and that he won’t be a free agent until he is 43. However, if the Sharks are going to ruin their future by having a win now mentality, a few good years from Luongo is worth the risk of a huge contract especially if he wins the team a Stanley Cup. Giving up Marleau for Luongo straight up is a no brainer for me. Marleau is not a winner. Never has been and never will be. It would be great for Marleau and the Sharks if they parted ways so that each side can start fresh. Getting Luongo improves the Sharks defense big time.

            So how do you replace the offense that you lose for trading Marleau?  Well, if the team gets Luongo, they will no longer need Niemi and he would make great trade bait for an offensive player. Niemi only has a salary cap hit of 3.8 million dollars and in today’s NHL that is easy to move to another team. If I am Doug Wilson, I would trade Niemi to Columbus for none other than Rick Nash. Nash is a goal scorer who averages out over 30 goals a season. Sometimes he scores 40 goals a season. With Joe Thornton at his side making passes, Nash can be an offensive machine for the Sharks. Plus Nash is only 27 so he is in the prime of his career. Nash wants out of Columbus and wants to play for a team that will get to the playoffs. The Sharks are that kind of team.  Columbus would be more than happy to rid itself of a player who still has six years left on his contract. Plus in return, Columbus would get a Stanley Cup winning goaltender that could get Columbus in the playoffs. The trade would work out for both teams.

            Whether or not Doug Wilson makes these kinds of trades is yet to be seen, but if he is serious about competing for the Stanley Cup next year he should definitely get Luongo and Nash on board. Together, those two can help the Sharks go a long way.

The Sharks Need to Start From Scratch

The San Jose Sharks playoff loss to the St. Louis Blues was probably the most embarrassing series I ever watched and it proves that big changes need to be made to this roster. Year in and year out, the Sharks tweak their roster with hopes of winning the Stanley Cup and each year they come up short. Tweaking the roster will no longer do the trick. This team needs to be blown up.  The Sharks need to get rid of most of their current players and start all over again with a brand new team. The reason I say this is because the Sharks are not getting any younger. As the players age on this team, the Sharks are only going to get worse and pretty soon they will not even make it to the playoffs. Most of the players on the Sharks have been with the team for quite a few years and have failed to win the Stanley Cup for San Jose. So what makes the Sharks think they will win it all when the players are getting older? If this current Sharks team couldn’t win it all in the prime of their careers, they certainly won’t when they reach the end of their careers. Better to trade many of the current Sharks now while they still have value to other teams, rather than wait for the players to get older and then not have any trade value.

                The Sharks currently do not have many prospects in the minor leagues and their farm system was ranked by some as one of the worst in the NHL.  This happened because the Sharks traded so many prospects and draft picks in the years past for players who could help the Sharks win it all. The risk hasn’t paid off for the Sharks and now they need to rebuild their farm system by trading away current players for draft picks and prospects.  Rebuilding the Sharks will not be easy for some Shark fans to take as it will mean that they will miss the playoffs for a few years and will be a team that no longer is contending for the Stanley Cup. I admit that it will be hard for me to see this team in a rebuilding mode, but in the long run it will be good for the future of this franchise. A few years of being a bad team will mean the Sharks can get some high draft picks and those picks can be used to rebuild their farm system.

After a few years of rebuilding their farm system, the Sharks will have many prospects ready to play for the team and give them a better identity then they had before. Maybe after years of rebuilding the Sharks, the team will have players who have heart and will play big in the postseason when it matters most. A new identity for the Sharks may mean the team no longer has a reputation of being playoff chokers but rather a team that can win the Stanley Cup. The Sharks current roster has an identity of playoff underachievers.

Guys like Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau have been the face of this team and they are the reasons this team hasn’t gone all the way. It is because they don’t have the heart to win the Stanley Cup. You can’t have a new identity and a new team until those players are gone. Yes, both of those players have no-trade clauses, but I am pretty sure if Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson made it clear to them that they are not wanted anymore, they would waive their no-trade clauses. Who wants to play for a team that doesn’t want you?  Thornton was a good Shark and brought a lot of excitement to this team especially during the regular season. He is without a doubt the best player to have played in a Sharks uniform. However, his postseason numbers are not as great as his regular season numbers. Add to the fact that Thornton will be 33 next season and he is already shown signs of aging.  His passing isn’t as great as it use to be and he has gotten slower. Thornton should be traded while he still has value to other teams, and the Sharks can easily get prospects and draft picks for him.  Marleau should be traded for the same reasons as Thornton. Marleau has been a great Shark with great moments in the regular season and postseason. However, he also will turn 33 next season, and he also shows no heart in games that matter the most. Wilson should trade Marleau while the team can get good players in return.

Wilson shouldn’t stop with Marleau and Thornton. He should also trade an aging Dan Boyle, a slower Douglas Murray, an average goalie at best in Antti Niemi, an inconsistent Ryan Clowe, a physically weak defenseman in Marc-Edouard Vlasic, an injury prone Martin Havlat, and an overrated Torrey Mitchell.  All of the players I just mentioned have flaws to their game and can also bring the Sharks some players from other teams in trades.  It would also free up salary cap space to give the Sharks a chance to sign new players. The only players I would not trade are Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski. Both of those players are still young and have a lot promise in the future with the Sharks. Everyone else is trade bait to me.

Last but not least, Wilson needs to fire head coach Todd McLellan. McLellan clearly had a horrible system in place for a talented team like the Sharks. Instead of having the team use its speed to bring the puck into the offensive zone, he had them play a game of dump and chase the puck in the offensive zone. The Sharks had a horrible year at scoring because of this system. Plus the Sharks penalty kill was horrible and that blame should be on the coach for implementing a flawed defensive game. McLellan for four years had one of the best teams in hockey and yet he couldn’t win them the Stanley Cup. It’s obvious he didn’t do a good job at motivating this team.

All of the changes I mentioned above have to happen for the sake of the franchise. They had a great run with the current group of Sharks but all great runs have to come to an end. The Sharks need to start from scratch. If they wait till later, it could hurt the franchise in the long run. Better to cut your losses now while it’s not too late.

The Sharks Proved They Are Weak

There was a lot to not like about the Sharks loss to the St. Louis Blues in Game 2.  They couldn’t score one single goal. The only goal they could score was in the wrong net (thanks Vlasic).  The Sharks constantly were playing defense instead of offense. They couldn’t get many shots on the St. Louis net. They also allowed St. Louis to take many shots on the Sharks net.

                While all of those above problems irritated me, it didn’t bother too much. I figure the Sharks can bounce back from those problems. What really bothered me was at the end of the Sharks game, when the team had a chance to send a message to St. Louis, they got beaten up really bad, literally. I was hoping to see the Sharks physically fight the St. Louis Blues at the end of the game. I wanted to see them beat the heck out of those players. I wanted the Sharks to send a message that this series isn’t over. I wanted the Sharks to show they were a tough team that was a force to reckon with. Instead, the Sharks tried to fight the Blues, and then they lost the fights.  They looked like a bunch of wimps who couldn’t fight if their life depended on it. The Blues showed that they were the tougher team and that they were not going to be pushed around by a bunch of wimpy players like the Sharks.

                It was embarrassing to watch my team get manhandled by the Blues. In the middle of the game Joe Pavelski, got into a fight with a Blues player and the Blues player beat the heck out of Pavelski.  Pavelski proved that he can’t fight for squat. Later in the game Marleau got punched in the face by a Blues player and Marleau didn’t punch back. That upset me as it shows that Marleau is a coward who isn’t willing to stand up for himself. Then when the game was over Dominic Moore was thrown to the ice by a Blues player and punches were thrown at Moore. Then Justin Braun was at the receiving end of punches thrown by another Blues player.

What made me upset the most was how Douglas Murray handled his fight with a Blues player at the end of the game. Murray is a big strong man who I always enjoyed watching because he knocked people over with hard checks. He also has had a good number of fights where he beat up other players. Against the Blues, however, Murray was a big coward. All he did was hug the Blues player and hang on to dear life. While he didn’t lose the fight, he certainly didn’t win it. He didn’t throw any punches when he could have easily done so. I was disappointed in him. As big as he is, he obviously was small in his heart.  He should have beaten the tar out of the Blues player. I can see players like Marleau, Pavelski, Moore, and Braun all losing fights. They are not the fighting type of players and they are not paid to be enforcers. Murray, on the other hand, is one of the tough guys for the Sharks and he acted like a wimp. He should have been there for his team and stood up for them and he failed to do so.

So I say to the Sharks, congratulations! You have shown the Blues that they can push you around and that you will not respond well. You have shown that you can’t fight when you need to. You have shown that you will have a hard time beating the Blues in this postseason because you cannot play the physical postseason type of hockey that is needed to win a series. Hopefully, you Sharks can prove me wrong and will fight the next game. However, if you are going to fight, win!

A Preview of the Sharks vs. Blues Playoff Series

One of the biggest reasons why I wanted the Sharks to win the Pacific Division was because I wanted the team to avoid playing a team like the St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs. Well, I didn’t get my wish and the Sharks are going to play the team that dominated the Sharks the most this season. Not only do I not like the Blues as a Sharks fan, I do not like the Blues as a hockey fan. The Blues are the most boring team I have ever watched in hockey. They play a very conservative style of hockey that makes soccer look like a game of basketball. I don’t think the Blues are good for the growth of hockey as they are a team that doesn’t score a lot of goals. All they do is get that first goal of the game and once they get that lead, they play prevent defense the rest of the game. They clog up the middle of the ice so that it is hard to get the puck past the blue line into the opposing team’s offensive zone. If a team is lucky to get past the blue line the Blues usually prevent the other team from getting a shot on goal. That is why the Blues have two goalies that have a lot of shutouts. It’s not because the goalies are as good as Patrick Roy. It’s because the goalies don’t face a lot of shots.

                Watching the Sharks face the Blues during the regular season made me want to fall asleep. The Sharks scored just three goals against the Blues in four games. They got shut out by the Blues twice in St. Louis. What was even more amazing is that the Sharks were one of the best teams at shooting pucks to the net as they were one of the top teams in the league in shots on goal. However, against the Blues the Sharks had a hard time even attempting shots on net.

                There are a few keys the Sharks have to do if they want to beat the Blues in the playoffs. The first and biggest key is to score the first goal in the game. When the Blues score the first goal of the game, it is very hard to catch up in the score as they thrive on playing prevent defense. By scoring the first goal, the Blues have to change their entire game strategy and that is playing from behind. They are not a good offensive team so if the Sharks can score first, it makes the Blues play in unfamiliar territory that they are not good at.

The second key is to stay out of the penalty box. Out of the 11 goals the Blues scored against the Sharks this year, five of them came on the power play. The Sharks were a very discipline team during the regular season and they will need to be disciplined against the Blues. However, penalties are going to occur no matter how much a team tries to avoid them. That is why the Sharks need to be a much better team on the penalty kill than they were in the regular season. They need to block more shots and they need to put more pressure on the player that has the puck. They need to use their speed to force the Blues to make a play faster than they are prepared for.

The third key for the Sharks is to put shots on the net. Wayne Gretzky once said, “You miss all the shots you don’t take.” That is the biggest reason why the sharks lost every game against the Blues this season. It is because they were afraid to take shots. They were always trying to play cute with the Blues and tried passing the puck too much looking for that perfect shot. The problem is the Blues don’t give you time to make a shot so you have to take one as quick as you can. That means the Sharks have to take ugly shots. They may be easy shots for the goalie to save but it’s better than not shooting the puck at all. The more the team shoots the puck the better. That’s how the Sharks won their games this year and that was by outshooting their opponents. There will always be a few ugly shots that a goalie doesn’t stop cleanly and it sometimes causes the puck to deflect for a rebound that a player can shoot right in the net.  The Sharks probability to score is higher the more shots they take.

The fourth key to the Sharks winning is to make more clean passes. During those games against the Blues the Sharks were just dumping the puck into their zone hoping to chase the puck down by the net before the Blues get the puck. The problem is the Sharks are not that fast and whenever they dump the puck in the other team gets there first. I hate the dump in type of hockey play and it’s a type of hockey play that I think is overrated. It never seems to work. The Sharks do their best when they pass the puck smoothly and quickly. This spreads out the defense and it opens up the ice for the Sharks.

The final key to the Sharks winning this series against the Blues is to play Sharks hockey. That means playing the high offensive style hockey that suits to the talents on the Sharks. They have skilled offensive players such as Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture, and Joe Pavelski. I hate when I hear the Sharks coaches talking about “grinding out” for wins. They think that by playing conservative hockey, the Sharks can get those ugly goals and win by a small margin. The problem is “grinding out” is not the Sharks style of hockey. That’s the Blues style of play and they would love nothing more than the Sharks to play to the Blues boring style of hockey. Unfortunately, the Blues are better at “grinding out” victories. That is why the Sharks got to stop with the conservative hockey approach and make the Blues play a high scoring offensive game. When it comes to a more high power offense, the Sharks win in that game.

The Giants Pitchers Have to Wake Up

            I never thought I would see the day where the Giants’ offense performed better than the Giants’ pitching, but that is what is happening to the team right now. While I am happy that the Giants offense has been able to score some runs in the first three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks, I am just as irritated with the Giants pitchers in that same series. The Giants gave up five runs in games one and two of that Arizona series. They were even worse in game three of that series as they blew a six run Giants lead and gave up seven runs.

Seven runs is not going to cut it for the Giants. The Giants pitchers are better than that. They should only be giving up around two runs per game. If they did that, they would have won all three of those games against Arizona. Unfortunately, the pitchers are not themselves right now. Lincecum looked terrible on Opening Day. He gave up five earned runs, including two homers. Bumgarner didn’t do much better as he gave up four earned runs in his start against Arizona, including two homers. Cain pitched decent at the beginning of his start against Arizona but he cost the Giants a six run lead by giving up five earned runs himself, putting Arizona right back into the game.  

It makes me cringe to think that things can get worse for the Giants but they can. Barry Zito is pitching next and I usually count that as an automatic loss for the team. That means the team could easily start the season 0-4. I hope Barry Zito can prove me wrong. Either way, the Giants cannot afford to have their pitchers playing as lousy as they are. For once the Giants offense is actually producing and this is how the pitchers repay the offense? This is the same pitching staff that used to lose games 1-0, yet now they can’t take advantage of an offense giving them five or more runs of support. This series against Arizona should have been a walk in the park for the Giants. Cain and Lincecum would have been happy to get five runs in a game with last year’s offense and they would have won easily. This year has been different so far. They are giving up too many homeruns and are giving up to many extra base hits.

Pitching wins games in baseball and the Giants won a World Series in 2010 because of great pitching. So far this season, I have not seen even average pitching. I don’t know what’s wrong with the Giants pitchers, but I hope it’s just the pitchers getting the rust off of them from a long offseason. Well they better get that rust off fast. After Zito pitches against the Rockies, it will be Lincecum’s turn in the rotation again on Wednesday. Hopefully every pitcher in the rotation got the first start of being nervous off their chest and go back to their winning ways. That is because the Giants are built on its pitching staff and it is going to win and lose games on its pitching staff. If the pitchers continue to pitch like they did this past weekend, it is going to be a long season for the Giants.

Mixed Emotions About the New Contract for Matt Cain

            Let me be the first to say that I am glad the Giants gave Matt Cain a new contract. He has been a great pitcher for the Giants organization and was instrumental in the Giants winning its first World Series in San Francisco.  I still have not forgotten the fact that he didn’t give up a postseason run during the Giants run to a World Series victory in 2010. Losing him would have been hard for us Giant fans.

            Having said that, I talked previously about the consequences Cain’s contract would have on negotiations for a new contract for Tim Lincecum. As you probably already know Lincecum is under contract through the 2013 season. After that he can leave the team as a free agent. Cain’s contract is certain to determine how much Lincecum is going to demand from the Giants. With the contract that was just signed by Cain, I am concerned about the value of it. Cain will be getting paid 20 million dollars annually during the length of the contract. At 112.5 million dollars, the contract is a record setting contract for a right handed pitcher. That is a lot of money to be giving to a pitcher who is not even the ace of your team and has never won a Cy Young award. The Giants have now set the bar so high for the value of a pitcher that Lincecum is probably going to demand between 25 to 30 million dollars a year and rightfully so. That is a lot of money that the Giants would end up paying for just two pitchers if the team gives Lincecum what he wants. So unless the Giants plan on raising their payroll, they will have a hard time signing new free agents and resigning their own players. Luckily, the Giants will have Aaron Rowand’s 12 million dollar contract off the books after this season and Barry Zito’s contract will be finished after the 2013 season. Even though the Giants are now going to pay Cain 20 million dollars a year, I still believe the team should put the same effort at keeping Lincecum even if it means paying him 25 plus million dollars a year. Luckily, Lincecum is still under contract for two more years and the Giants could worry about his contract at a future date.

            On the other hand, I am pleased with the length of Cain’s contract. I previously said that the Giants should only give Cain around five years on his deal. Five years is what Matt Cain was signed for, although there is a team option for a sixth year. That is reasonable for a pitcher like Cain and it means that Lincecum will probably ask for a seven to eight year deal. That is better though than giving Cain a seven year deal and then being forced to give Lincecum a ten year deal. Cain is only 27 years old so he will be 33 years old when the contract ends after the 2017 season. That means he will not be too old for a pitcher when the deal ends and he should still be young enough where injuries will not break him down. However, Cain is built like a pitcher who can have a long career so injuries shouldn’t be a concern. Cain has been a very durable pitcher during his career and I don’t see that changing. A strong pitching body is the one thing that Cain has over Lincecum and maybe that is the leverage the Giants hope to use against Lincecum in contract negotiations.

            Overall, I am just happy that Cain and Lincecum will be together for at least another two years. I am concerned about the money being given to Cain, but the Giants are a wealthy team. They should have no problem raising their payroll considering the team always has sold out crowds at AT&T Park. It could have been worse. We could have lost Cain to free agency after this season and that would have put more pressure on the Giants to bring back Lincecum. Now the team can breathe easily until the next offseason when the Giants will seek to give Lincecum a new contract. When that time comes, the Giants must be smart and give Lincecum what he wants just like they gave Cain what he wants.

Giants Should Have Hector Sanchez Backup Buster Posey

Spring training is coming to an end soon and the San Francisco Giants will start making some tough decisions on which players make the team and which ones do not. One position where a decision needs to be made is at catcher. Who will be Buster Posey’s backup at the position? While the Giants are leaning toward giving the job to Chris Stewart or Eli Whiteside, it’s pretty obvious the Giants should go with Hector Sanchez.

            The Giants made it clear they were going to play Posey at first base for a lot of games this season, so that means the backup catcher is going to play a lot of games this season. Given the Giants terrible offensive production last year, the team needs all of the offense it could get and Hector Sanchez gives the team that offense.  Chris Stewart may be a good fielding catcher but he can’t hit a baseball if his life depended on it. He only had a batting average of .200 last season. Whiteside was not much better as he only batted .218. Those numbers are not going to cut it for the Giants this season and neither Stewart nor Whiteside are showing signs of doing any better this season. Whiteside is only batting .250 in spring training right now and while that average is okay for the regular season, it’s not for spring training. Players usually post much better numbers in the preseason because they are facing a lot of pitchers who will not even make a major league roster. So Whiteside should be hitting a lot better than .250.  Stewart is only hitting .242 in the preseason so he also is showing that he struggles to hit against preseason pitching.

            Sanchez, on the other hand, is one of the hottest hitters for the Giants right now in the preseason. He is batting .405, four homeruns, 10 RBI’s, and three doubles in 17 games this spring.  I don’t expect those numbers in the regular season but he certainly is playing better than Stewart or Whiteside and that is what should matter right now. Even last regular season he batted .258 in limited action which was better than Stewart or Whiteside.

            Everyone says that Sanchez needs more minor league seasoning before he makes the big leagues but I think he’s ready. He’s 23 years old and that is when many players start their MLB careers.  He already showed that he can hit in the minors when he put up good offensive numbers last season in Single A and Triple A baseball.  So I don’t think he has much more to prove in the minors. Sanchez has to experience the majors sooner or later so why not now when the Giants need offense? The Giants can’t wait to get more offense. The offense has to be on the team now. The more players that can hit the ball, the better the team is.  When you can put on the field a player like Posey and Sanchez at the same time, your offense is better than when you have just Posey and Stewart or Whiteside.

            Another concern that the Giants have on Sanchez is that he will be catching for a great pitching staff and the pitchers might not be comfortable pitching to him yet. I think that is overrated. I don’t think the catcher has as big of an impact on a pitching staff as people make it out to be. Do you really think Lincecum and Cain are going to suddenly pitch like crap because the catcher is someone they are not use to? The Giants had this same stupid fear, when Buster Posey came up to the Majors in 2010. They felt that he would not do well with such a great pitching staff so the team kept Molina around at the start of that season. But when Molina struggled, Posey came in and took over and look where that lead the Giants: to a World Series title. Who is to say that Sanchez can’t come in at a young age and lead this strong pitching staff? 

            The Giants veterans did not do their jobs on offense last year so now it’s time to play the young guys. People like Brandon Belt and Hector Sanchez need to play because they are playing the best right now in spring training.  People like Huff, Stewart, and Whiteside need to sit on the bench. They had their chances and they are proving they are not going to hit the ball. The Giants cannot afford to have their best offensive weapons in the minor leagues.

Giants Should Not Resign Cain at the Expense of Lincecum

As most people already know, Matt Cain is in the final year of his contract with the San Francisco Giants and could leave the team as a free agent at season’s end. Everyone wants to see the Giants sign him to a new contract and the Giants certainly want to give him a new contract before the season starts.  I too, want to see the Giants give Cain a new contract as Cain has been a valuable member of the Giants rotation since he came into the league in 2005.

However, I do not want to see the Giants sign Cain to such a big contract that it forces Tim Lincecum to leave the team after the 2013 season.  Most people seem to think that the Giants should focus on signing Cain this year and worry about Lincecum next year, since Lincecum is still under contract for two more years. The problem is that Cain’s signing has a direct impact on Lincecum’s signing. Whatever contract Cain is given, Lincecum is going to want a bigger contract. Cain’s contract is going to determine how much money Lincecum wants.

As good as Cain has been for the Giants, he is not the ace of the team. Lincecum has and always will be the best pitcher on the Giants rotation as long as he is with the team. Lincecum has won two Cy Young awards, Cain has none. Lincecum has the same amount of career wins as Cain in fewer seasons. He also has more strikeouts and a better ERA in his career than Cain.  Lincecum knows he is a better pitcher than Cain and he will demand more money than Cain as a result.

This is why the Giants need to be careful what kind of contract they offer Cain.  If Cain demands being one of the highest paid pitchers in baseball, forget it. That would mean signing Cain to a seven year contract with around 20 million dollars annually. If a pitcher like Cain can get that kind of contract from the Giants, what do you think Lincecum is going to expect to get? He will want an eight year deal or even a ten year deal worth 25 million dollars annually. If the team ended up giving Cain a contract as big as Barry Zito’s seven year deal, they certainly wouldn’t be able to afford giving out another contract like that to Lincecum also. If they did, they would have a small budget for the rest of their team and couldn’t keep any of their hitters nor bring in new free agents. The Giants are not the Yankees and they can’t spend like them.            

So basically the Giants have to choose between the two pitchers which one they want to give the ridiculous contract too. While I would prefer neither pitcher to get a Barry Zito type of contract, if I had to choose I would give Lincecum the ridiculous contract. If there is any pitcher in the Major Leagues that deserves a ridiculous contract it is Lincecum. Considering how much success Lincecum had when he was still being paid the league minimum, he has more than earned it.  Cain has been great, but not Lincecum great.  So I would rather risk losing Cain to free agency and keep Lincecum than keeping Cain and risk losing Lincecum.

That is why the Giants have to be careful what they offer Cain. I would offer Cain a five year contract around 15 million a year and a team option for a sixth year. Then Lincecum can demand for a contract around seven years with a team option for an eighth year for 20 million a year. While that is still a lot of money to give to two pitchers it wouldn’t be as bad as giving Lincecum a 10 year contract. If Cain wants more than five years on his contract, let him walk. Who knows, he might test the free agent market and find out he is only worth five years and takes the Giants offer. If he leaves, then the Giants have more money to give their ace pitcher and get compensation draft picks for losing Cain. This would help the Giants in the long run. What the Giants cannot do is set the bar so high for Cain that they give Lincecum leverage to demand a contract never seen in Major League baseball. That would be not only bad for the Giants but bad for baseball in general.

Alex Smith Needs 49ers More than 49ers Need Alex Smith

           When Alex Smith was offered a contract by the 49ers last week, he should have accepted the offer. The contract was reportedly a three year deal worth 24 million dollars. Alex Smith, however, has refused to sign the deal. According to sources, he wants a five year deal with more guaranteed money.

            The 49ers however, are showing that they have the leverage on Alex Smith as the 49ers do not need Smith as much as Smith needs the 49ers.  By the 49ers trying to sign Peyton Manning, they are telling Smith that the team can move on without him.  Whether or not Peyton Manning signs with the 49ers does not matter. In my opinion the 49ers only went after Manning because they wanted to show Smith that the team will not cave in to his demands. The 49ers figure that by going after Manning, Smith will realize the 49ers don’t need him so bad and will test the free agent market.

The 49ers know Smith will not get a better offer from other teams. After all, this is a quarterback who has been in the league for seven years and he only had one decent season. Sure, that decent season came last year, but Alex Smith was not as great as everyone is making him out to be. The only thing he was great at was not turning the ball over. Otherwise he was just a game managing quarterback. He never threw for many yards in a game and he never scored many touchdowns in a game.  The passing offense for the 49ers was at the bottom of the league in statistics and was one of the worst teams in the red zone. That is why kicker David Akers had so many field goals. It was because Smith failed to score touchdowns when they got close to the end zone. Alex Smith benefited from having one of the best defenses in the league and that is the reason why they won so many games last year.  

That is why Smith will not get great offers from other teams.  The 49ers know this and that is why they are letting Smith explore his options. The 49ers are betting that once Smith finds out his true value in the NFL that Smith will realize that his best offer is from the 49ers and will come back to the 49ers and accept their offer. Maybe that was the 49ers plan all along. Maybe going after Peyton Manning was just a decoy to get Smith to surrender to the 49ers demands.  Sure there is a chance the 49ers do not get Manning and also lose Smith to another team but the 49ers don’t mind taking that risk. They must have confidence in backup quarterback Colin Kaepernick and believe he can lead the team to success. That is probably why they don’t mind playing hardball with Smith.

Smith, on the other hand, needs the 49ers. If he goes to another team, he will have to again learn a new offensive system and will probably not have a coach like Harbaugh that will make him look good. He also won’t benefit from a great defense on his team. This will make him prone to looking like the old Alex Smith that struggled the first six years of his career. So here’s my suggestion to Alex Smith: accept the 49ers offer. Don’t think that by threatening to leave, that the 49ers will beg for you to come back. They have other options, you don’t.

Trading Monta Ellis Will Help Warriors Long Term

           Not long ago, I stated that the Warriors needed to take a risk if they were ever going to be a contending team. Well, they took a risk all right. The Warriors parted ways with their best offensive weapon in Monta Ellis along with promising big man Ekpe Udoh to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for center Andrew Bogut and forward Stephen Jackson. The team also traded Kwame Brown to the Bucks as a part of the package.

            The move appears to have angered a lot of Warrior fans as Monta Ellis was the team’s best player and they did not like seeing him leave for an injury prone center in Bogut and a clubhouse cancer in Jackson.  Not to mention, Bogut is currently recovering from an ankle injury and may miss the rest of this season. Stephen Jackson is also currently hurt. So basically, the Warriors subtracted from their roster. However, I see this as the kind of move the Warriors had to make. Sure, giving away Ellis will hurt the team’s slim postseason hopes but this trade will help the Warriors in the long run.

            Monta Ellis has been the team’s best player for many years now and it has gotten the Warriors nowhere. While the team has been stacked with many guards, they lacked a true center that can play offense and defense. Getting a center via free agency was going to be tough for the Warriors, given the team’s reputation as a poorly run organization. So the only way they would get a great center was through a trade. Ellis was one of the few players on the Warriors who had any trade value.  The team can easily replace guards as there are more to choose from in the NBA.  The Warriors also have players like Klay Thompson who can fill in for Ellis currently.  Finding centers are tougher to get, however. So when a team offers a center like Bogut for Ellis, you take it.

            Bogut is a big center who can score a decent amount of points but more importantly he can rebound and play defense. On defense, Bogut gets a great number of blocked shots and that is something the Warriors can use to help improve what has lately been a poor defensive team. Bogut is also only 27 years old so he is just entering the prime of his career and is still under contract for a few more years. This means Bogut can help out the Warriors for years to come. The biggest problem with Bogut is that he gets injured a lot but when he’s healthy, he is an effective player.  That is a risk the Warriors were willing to take and it is the kind of risk I felt the Warriors needed to make to help the future of the team.

This was not a trade to help the team this year as Bogut may not play this season. The Warriors are not going to the playoffs this year, no matter how much the Warriors may have thought they would. Their chances were so low at making the playoffs that it was not worth missing out on the opportunity to build for the future. By trading for the future, the team may now struggle to win many games but at least they will have a shot at a high draft pick.

Giving away Kwame Brown does not hurt the Warriors in this trade as he was hurt for most of this year and wasn’t going to return next year anyways. The only player I wish the Warriors didn’t give up was Ekpe Udoh as I thought he had a lot of promise as a defensive player and as a center for the Warriors in the future. However, Bogut is a player who has already developed while Udoh still is years away from reaching his potential.

As far as Stephen Jackson goes, I was shocked that the Warriors even thought about bringing him back after the problems he caused the franchise the last time he was on the team. However, to get a player like Bogut, you have to take the players that the other team is desperately trying to get rid of and it was clear Milwaukee wanted to get rid of Jackson. Best case scenario is that the Warriors trade Jackson in the offseason and get other players that can help the team for next year. If not, who knows, maybe Jackson can still help the team. Jackson did help lead the Warriors to the playoffs in 2007 for the first time in many years and he also plays good defense. All we can hope for is that Jackson is not a clubhouse problem.

In general, I like this trade because it meets the Warriors needs for a center and it was risky trade that I encouraged the Warriors to make. Now the Warriors have some hope for the future.

The Moves the 49ers Should Make This Offseason

         NFL free agency begins Tuesday and the 49ers are sure to make noise as they acquire players that will help make their roster better.  The 49ers defense was outstanding so I would just try to bring everyone on the defense back and not make new changes there. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.  Offense is a different story so the team needs to make changes there. Here are the needs I think the 49ers need to address during free agency and the draft.

Get some wide receivers

            It is obvious the 49ers need to get some wide receivers, considering the team was depleted in that department towards the end of last season. Alex Smith was forced to throw mostly to his tight ends because the only big threat at wide receiver was Michael Crabtree.  The team should get some help from Joshua Morgan (if he resigns with the 49ers) returning from injury but that won’t be enough. The 49ers don’t need just one wide receiver; they need a few wide receivers. One wide receiver is not going to make up for the shortage of wide receivers that Alex Smith had to choose from. That is why the team needs to sign a big name free agent at wide receiver and maybe another free agent wide receiver who can be the number three receiver for the team. They also should draft a wide receiver in April but not necessarily in the first round. First round wide receivers tend to be expensive so the 49ers should draft a wide receiver in the later rounds as there are just as talented receivers in those rounds as in the first round.

Get a running back

            Last year Frank Gore signed a contract that will keep him with the 49ers for three more years but the team needs depth at the position. Gore is getting older and there are signs of him breaking down.  I wouldn’t sign a running back via free agency because running back careers are short and the ones on the free agent market tend to be aging running backs that were no longer wanted by their previous teams. Free agent running backs tend to be more injury prone as well. This is why the 49ers need to draft a running back and if they can, trade Anthony Dixon.  Dixon has not been that impressive as a running back and he won’t get much playing time with Gore and Kendall Hunter getting the bulk of reps.

 Get a punt/kickoff returner

            I am not sure if the 49ers will be able to resign Ted Ginn Jr. If Ginn returns to the team, they are set at the position. If he doesn’t return, the team definitely needs to find a return man via free agency. Kyle Williams is not a good replacement for the 49ers and he proved that in the NFC Championship game against the New York Giants.  His two fumbles in a critical game cost the team a victory.  Add that to the fumble he had in college that cost his team a big victory and you got a guy with a history of choking at critical moments.  I don’t mind Williams being a wide receiver; I just don’t want to see him return a punt again. 

Get an offensive lineman

            The offensive line improved a lot last season but the team needs a quality backup offensive lineman who can play any of the positions on the line and possibly start at right tackle.  Anthony Davis misses critical blocks a lot so his job shouldn’t be secured. He needs competition from a free agent acquisition. This free agent acquisition also should be able to play at guard because Chilo Rachal should not be brought back to the 49ers even as a backup. Every game he started at guard, the team did worse offensively.  The team also should get a lineman who can backup at center. Jonathan Goodwin is a good center for now but he’s getting older and the team should look to the future by signing or drafting an offensive lineman.

Get a backup fullback

            Bruce Miller is the man at fullback so there is no replacing him. However, what if he gets hurt? We saw how Moran Norris did when he filled in for an injured Miller last year and it wasn’t pretty. Alex Smith got sacked a lot more when Miller wasn’t playing. So the team should find a quality backup fullback.