The Wildcard Leaders

Despite having the worst offense in terms of on base percentage, the 2009 San Francisco Giants are leading the Wildcard heading into August.

The pitching staff leads baseball with a 3.51 era, but that may not be enough for the players if the Giants don't start getting on base and scoring more runs.

The Giants added Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko in two trades to do improve the offense. Both players are upgrades in on base percentage from the previous starters (Juan Uribe and Travis Ishikawa).

But, the question remains: Did the Giants do enough before the trade deadline to bolster their offense?

San Francisco is 27th in runs scored, and 29th in OPS and homers (out of 30 major league teams).

With that type of offensive anemia, I would say the Giants needed to do a lot more before the trade deadline passed. But still, the Giants lead the wildcard and Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain are probably the top two Cy Young candidates in the NL.

Jonathan Sanchez and Barry Zito have both found a rhythm after the all star break. The Giants need a fifth starter with Ryan Sadowski falling apart, and if the Giants are really serious about contending this year, that starter has got to be Madison Bumgarner.

After selling off two top prospects, it is time to go for it all. I'm not just talking about the the wilcard, I'm talking about the World Series. That's what the Giants need to win to make these trades worth anything.

Golden State Warriors Summer Update

In case you missed it, the Warriors drafted Stephen Curry with their first round draft pick and then played some Summer League Basketball.

Curry is not a big guard who can offset Monta Ellis' poor defensive abilities. Instead, he is a Monta Ellis clone, at least on defense. On offense, Curry could be an explosive three-point shooter. In time, he may also become a great distributor.

But, the Warriors took the best player available and I can't complain. The best big man available was Jordan Hill, who has all the tools to become the next Hakim Warrick, which is pretty underwhelming. The Warriors front line will once again be a little thin, but the Warriors need to find out if Anthony Randolph and/or Brandan Wright can be effective NBA players.

Stephen Curry has the tools to be a Richard Hamilton/Reggie Miller scorer. He is more likely to morph into his dad Del Curry, a prolific shooter with not much else to boast. But the potential is there, and that is worth drafting.

Anthony Randolph participated in this year's Summer League, and all signs say that he was one of the best players in Las Vegas. I can't wait to see Randolph play a full season next year. Many NBA scouts have compared Randolph to Lamar Odom.

Anthony Morrow also tore up Summer League, scoring an NBA Summer League record 47 points in a game. He may be the best catch and shoot player in the NBA. Not bad for the 2008 undrafted free agent.

Giants trades "disgraceful"

Here were the Giants three options before the trade deadline in a nutshell.

Option 1: To stand pat with the team or to trade for small upgrades without giving up any top prospects.

Option 2: To go after Matt Holiday, Victor Martinez or Adrian Gonzalez with a package of prospects including Tim Alderson and Scott Barnes.

Option 3: To trade Scott Barnes and Tim Alderson for two miniscule upgrades.

We chose option 3, which is undoubtedly the worst possible scenario.

Ryan Garko is 22nd in first baseman OPS and he has no speed or defense whatsoever. With the Indians in super sell mode and not one contending team desperate for a first baseman, Garko could have been had for Kevin Frandsen. We certainly did not have to give up Scott Barnes, a flame throwing lefty who is arguably the third best pitching prospect in the Giants farm system.

In short, we got ripped off. But Garko is a clear upgrade to this offense, and I would not have even wrote a Brian Sabean hate blog if the Giants ended here. Instead he did the unthinkable. He traded highly coveted Tim Alderson, the second best Giants' pitching prospect and a certain big league arm for a three-time all-star and career .300 hitter named Freddy Sanchez.

On the surface it sounds pretty fair. But apparently the Giants only look on the surface.

Sanchez' On base percentage is .334 and a career .336. His OPS last year was .669, 2nd worst in major league baseball for second basemen.

Sanchez is a small upgrade over Juan Uribe at second, but overall he gives the Giants another hitter who struggles with plate discipline and hitting for power.

And we traded Tim Alderson for him. We could have traded for Marco Scutaro, whose on base percentage is 50 points higher, for a prospect worse than Scott Barnes, let alone Tim Alderson.

We may have been able to trade Tim Alderson and Scott Barnes to land Victor Martinez or Matt Holliday. Instead, we got two below average major league starters.

Did the 2009 Giants starting lineup improve... Yes...
Did the organization improve... Not even close...