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...
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Wonderfully stated. This is exactly what I was talking about to my friend about the trade. How ridiculous is it that we traded Alderson for that joke Sanchez. Preposterous. Carlos Lee is supposed to be available too and we could've packaged our 2nd and 3rd best pitching prospects for a slugger but no, we get Freddy "Inflamed knee" Sanchez. What the hell Brian Sabean?! What the hell.
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