(July 26, 2011 – Source: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images North America)

In the last few days, there have been several sources reporting how much of a “dream come true” it would be for Houston Astros starting pitcher Bud Norris to play for the San Francisco Giants.

Fitting into the Giant’s need for a starting pitcher, Norris would be a decent addition to the rotation.

The 28-year-old has two more years left of arbitration on his contract and will be eligible for free agency following the 2015 season. This year, he is making a mere $3 million and would not demand a salary much higher than that. To prove it, let’s take a look at his numbers:

	Record	ERA	HR	WHIP	K/BB	WAR
2009	6-3	4.53	9	1.509	2.16	0.5
2010	9-10	4.92	18	1.484	2.05	-0.5
2011	6-11	3.77	24	1.328	2.51	0.8
2012	7-13	4.65	23	1.372	2.50	1.4
2013*	5-7	3.64	6	1.416	2.18	1.4

The 2013 season thus far has been his best in almost every category – ultimately raising his stock for the deadline. His 1.4 WAR has tied his career high from 2012 and it’s only been 15 starts.

The idea of adding Norris isn’t glamorous. His ERA has been a tad below Zito-esque, he doesn’t strike out a ton or walk little. He is a #3/4 starter at best.

However, the Giants aren’t looking for an ace like Cliff Lee. They aren’t looking forward to another massive contract to a player who plays once every five games, they are looking for a decent starting pitcher to pick up the slack so Chad Gaudin doesn’t have to.

Norris does have ties to the Bay Area, making this potential trade a match made in heaven. He grew up a Giants fan, born in Navato, Calif. and attended Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo until he was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 6th round of the 2006 amateur draft.

Another bonus is having a connection with former Astros teammate Hunter Pence.

According to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports, Norris said this when asked about a possible trade to San Francisco:

“It gives you goose bumps when you think about it. Obviously growing up there, being a big Giants fan — and I rooted for the A’s, too, in the area, but I was more of a Giants fan. That’s a possibility. It’s all trade rumors, as they say.”

 

“But if it were to happen, it would be a dream come true for me to play for my childhood team. I’ve (seen) some guys play here for their childhood teams: [former Astros catcher] Chris Snyder, a couple other guys. Whatever happens, I’ll be excited wherever I go to help that team or — if I stay here — to keep helping the Astros. But San Francisco is a lovely place, and I still call it home.”

As a longtime Giants fan, it’s always nice to watch players who had always dreamt of wearing a San Francisco uniform finally join the team. On the other hand, I don’t really like the home grown players who avoid the Giants like the plague.

Guys like Brandon Crawford are heroes, while the villains are the Troy Tulowitzki‘s of the world. Norris would be welcomed with open arms if a trade were to take place.

The more I think about the swap, the more I can see it happening. The Giants wont need to give up a whole lot to acquire Norris – maybe a Brett Pill and another prospect. I’d be okay with that.

What do you think?

(April 30, 2013 – Source: Jason Miller/Getty Images North America)

With June wrapping up soon and July on the way, I’ll be looking into some trade targets and rumors surrounding the Giants and A’s until they actually do (or do not) happen.

Cliff Lee is having quite the season.The Giants are short a starting pitcher. Hey, perfect!

This is what I’m assuming most fans are thinking, but there have been some rumors from Danny Knobler of CBS Sports, the Giants are definitely interested in a quality pitcher to join the rotation.

“Anybody that’s trading pitching, they’re on,” one of the officials said. “They want somebody quality.”

Lee was on the list of possible interests, so lets take a closer look.

Lee is set to make $25 million this year. And next year. And the year after that. Wipe that sweat off your brow, there is a reason why he is going to make that much. Here are the numbers:

Record	ERA	K/BB	HR	WHIP
8-2	2.55	5.24	5	0.977

So a low ERA, a few homers allowed and not a lot of hits: just what the Giants are looking for. He would easily become the best starter on the Giants staff.

Lee also said this when asked whether he wanted to stay in Philly:

“I definitely want to win. There’s no doubt about that. I want to win. I don’t know how to say it besides that. I want to win.”

Okay, so he wants to win and the Giants have a pretty good track record of that in the last few years. However, despite the great numbers and the openness to a trade, the large contract is still in the way of a trade happening.

According to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said this when asked about trading his pitchers this summer:

“My job is to try and put a contending team on the field every year, and we have a much better chance to be a contending team with both of those guys on the club. If we have [Cliff Lee] at the top of our rotation, we’re a better club. … It starts and ends with pitching, as far as I’m concerned. So the more quality pitching you have, the better chance you have to build around that to win.”

It doesn’t look like he is willing to let go of his ace pitcher quite yet despite their 33-37 record.

The Giants would also have an insane amount of money committed to the starting rotation in 2013: $22.5 million for Tim Lincecum, $20 million for Matt Cain, $18.3 for Barry Zito and not to mention a steal of a contract of $3.75 million for 23-year-old Madison Bumgarner.

The elephant in the room is the other half of the trade: who do the Giants have to give up to get him? My guess: a whole farm.

Gary Brown, Joe Panik and maybe another B prospect and the conversation might get started, but that wont be the final price for Lee.

This trade is very very highly unlikely, but who knows, Brian Sabean may do something stupid and give up the organizations top prospects for him.

Injuries are a part of any season when it comes to baseball. A long, arduous season is full of muscle pulls, oblique strains and the all too common groin strain – it’s just what happens during the five plus month season of baseball.

Unfortunately for the San Francisco Giants, many key players are coming down with injuries all at the same time.

Sports Illustrated (AP)

The first key player to bite the dust was the Giants lead-off man Angel Pagan. Pagan has been nursing a nagging hamstring injury that’s been bothering him for most of the season. He missed a few games earlier in the season but re-aggravated it against the Rockies. Pagan hasn’t played since May 25.

Angel wasn’t having a great season but he is an important cog in the Giants machine. Pagan was batting .262 with 24 RBIs and 30 runs. Before getting put on the disabled list Pagan was finally starting to get his swing back and be the lead-off man he was last season.

Batting isn’t the only thing the Giants are losing with Pagan injured. They lose a strong leader and someone who kept the team motivated. Since getting hurt, the Giants are 7 – 9 and in seven of those losses, they were beaten by four or more runs. The Giants have also only scored more than two runs in three of those games, one of the three a loss.

Ryan Vogelsong also has the misfortune to make his way to the disabled list and for him, and the Giants, it couldn’t have come at a worse time.

There’s no getting around the fact Vogelsong has been having a rough season. Going into his game May 20 against the Washington Nationals, he was 1 – 4 with an ERA over eight. But everything was going his way that night. Through five innings he gave up only three hits and one walk and the Giants were leading big.

However, the sixth inning came and while at bat, he swung at an inside pitch and the ball tagged him on the pitching hand, fracturing it. Right when things were looking up and the old Vogelsong from the past two seasons was coming back, it all came crashing down.

For a starting pitching staff that’s been struggling all year, losing an on-the-right-track Vogelsong was a stinging blow. It was like a gut punch in the 10th round of a prize fight and your fighter was winning.

Pablo Sandoval is also a part of the unlucky as he is out with a hair-line fracture in his left foot. The Kung Fu Panda was hitting .289 and slugging .427 with eight homers and 37 RBIs.

There’s no denying Sandoval is one of the Giants biggest offensive producers, and for a team that doesn’t have many, losing Sandoval has seriously hampered the offense. In the three games Sandoval has missed on the DL before last night’s game, the Giants had been outscored by 14 runs.

For the Giants, the news keeps getting worse. There leading hitter Marco Scutaro now looks like he’ll be out for a while with a “mallet” pinky after getting hit by a pitch. Losing Scutaro could end up being the biggest blow.

Scutaro is batting .332 and slugging .444 with 20 extra-base hits. If the Giants lose him for too many games, there really is no one who can replace him. Joaquin Arias already has to fill in for Sandoval and the Giants will now have to rely on Nick Noonan to play second. While both these players have done a decent job filling in, they both can not match the numbers put up by Sandoval and Scutaro.

For the Giants sake, the best case scenario is Arias and Noonan do enough to fill in and keep the Giants afloat so everyone can return from injury. Arias has shown he can do enough to be in the lineup, but Noonan is the true rookie and after getting some good hits earlier in the season, it’s been a struggle since.

In Noonan’s first 15 games, he batted .333, however, since then, he’s batting is down to .197 and has only recorded one RBI.

It’ll be a tough month of June for the Giants, but they have shown themselves to be a resilient team, and now more than ever do they need to prove that again.

Since May 14, the Giants have won eight games – five of those wins were by two runs or fewer. Opposing those wins, the Giants have amassed 14 losses in that stretch. Ouch.

Starting pitching has given up too many runs, the Giants have not been hitting the ball well and the team looks out of sync.

Here are some “quick hits”  on news surrounding the Giants recently:

Starting pitching

• Tim Lincecum has been up and down all season, but has overall been another disappointment with his 4.75 ERA. While he did have a 5.18 ERA last season (worst of the rotation), his ERA this year is the third best on the team behind Barry Zito (4.06) and Madison Bumgarner (3.46). 
• Lincecum did however pitch a great game against a scary Toronto Blue Jays lineup. In a 2-1 victory on Tuesday, Lincecum lasted seven innings, giving up three hits, one run (a massive HR by Edwin Encarnacion) and striking out six. It’s only been one game, but he looks pretty confident lately.
• Speaking of starting pitching, boy did Chad Gaudin pitch a good game against the St. Louis Cardinals last week. It is always a breath of fresh air when the starter doesn’t walk a batter all game. He starts again tomorrow in Arizona.

DRAFT time

• The Giants drafted a high school shortstop with the 25th pick of the draft on Thursday – experts called it a “reach” for the 18-year-old Christian Arroyo out of Florida. 
• I was happy with the Giants selection simply because they didn’t draft a pitcher – something they had done with their first pick since 2011 (Joe Panik). The Giants are shallow in the infield with their farm system and this kid looks like he can be a big impact in a few years.
• His senior year (albeit in only 30 games), Arroyo hit .524 with an OBP of .580. Pretty impressive for a young guy. The biggest stat? His 1.019 slugging percentage. I didn’t even know that was possible. Out of his 55 hits, 24 of them were a double or a home run (13 doubles, 11 homers). I like that power.
• He is committed to Florida University this fall, but I have to think the Giants have plenty of cash to convince him otherwise.
• Other notable draft picks I look forward to watching are Stanford first baseman Bryan Regira (pick No. 132), RHP Dan Slania out of Notre Dame (pick No. 162) and third baseman Ryder Jones from Watauga High School in North Carolina (pick No. 64).

The Kings losing power

• The Giants have hit 43 homers in 60 games this year (before Buster Posey‘s two-run shot and Pence’s solo homer in Arizona tonight). That’s 0.72 homers a game. 
• The only other teams to hit fewer homers than the Giants are the Kansas City Royals (31) and the Miami Marlins (29) – both of those teams are competing for some of the worst records in the league, so yeah, that’s not a good sign.
• While the Giants do have the fewest strikeouts in the league, they lack power in their lineup. Hunter Pence lead the team with nine homers (he hit his tenth tonight).
• The last home run the Giants hit was on Tuesday when Torres hit a center field two-run home run against the Blue Jays. Those would be the only runs they would score that game.
• Since May 14, the Giants have hit nine home runs as a team. That’s nine homers in 22 games – a 0.41 HR/game average. After starting out the first 38 games of the season with 34 home runs, the current trend is a big downer.
• This has me thinking of the trade deadline and what the Giants are going to do. Will they buy a big bat? I find myself thinking that same question every year, but I always have the same answer: nope.
• They already acquired Pence (a very good trade for them in my opinion) and tried the whole “Beltran experiment” that ended miserably. The Giants will settle with what they have in terms of power hitters to play their brand of baseball: solid pitching and strategic hitting.

Buster Posey – Hot

It’s been a rough two weeks for the Giants lately, but thankfully one hitter has been able to shake off the losing ways and be productive.  Buster Posey had a good stretch in St. Louis getting five hits in two games, with four hits coming in one game. The last two series’ Posey is hitting .400 while slugging .600 with three doubles. Unfortunately for the Giants, not many people were on base nor did they get hits with Posey on base. In a difficult stretch, this has been the one and only bright spot.

Giants’ starters – Not

The main reason for the Giants struggles is the poor performances by the starting pitchers. Matt Cain gave up seven runs on Saturday in just one inning leading to an 8 – 0 loss. Madison Bumgarner had five earned runs in six innings of work in the second game of a doubleheader Saturday where the Giants scored only one run while they gave up 13. Then Zito let in four runs on Tuesday against the Blue Jays leading to another shut-out loss. The only saving grace, Chad Gaudin stepped up with Ryan Vogelsong out and gave the Giants six solid innings leading to a rare Giants win.

Yoenis Cespedes – Hot

The A’s prized player is beginning to get his edge back and it couldn’t happen at a better time. Yoenis Cespedes is hitting .333 and slugging .767 with four homers and seven RBIs in the last week. Cespedes had an up-and-down May but has found his swing and has been having a very productive June so far. The A’s have won six games out of seven and Cespedes is a big reason why.

Brandon Moss – Not

With the way the A’s are playing, it was hard to find someone struggling on the team. So the only player having a rough start to the month of June is A’s first baseman Brandon Moss. Moss in his last seven games is hitting .125 with only two hits in his last 16 at-bats and an on-base percentage of .222. Thankfully for Moss and the A’s, when he does make contact, he’s making the most of it. His two hits are homers.

courtesy of NBC Bay Area

The current All-Star voting snub of Josh Donaldson goes to show stats nerds and WAR geeks do not select the mid-summer classic’s roster.

Donaldson, who ranks in the top 10 of every major offensive statistical category for third baseman in MLB, has not even cracked the top five in the All-Star voting.

We all know there is an element of popularity that plays into the voting, but to overlook a guy who has gone out and played the game the way it is supposed to be played and has helped bring respect back to a once feared franchise, is a travesty.

No matter how you slice it, Donaldson is being robbed.

Ahead of Donaldson in the count in order of votes are Miguel Cabrera, Manny Machado, Adrian Beltre, Evan Longoria and Kevin Youkilis.

Now there is no debating against Cabrera who is on what looks to be a historical pace for RBI and quite possibly a second straight Triple Crown, which has only been done twice and not since Ted Williams did it 56 years ago.

The rest of the field leaves room to argue.

Outside of Cabrera, no other player in the top five has a higher WAR than Donaldson’s 2.7.

While Machado has more hits, Donaldson ranks second among AL third baseman only to Cabrera in batting average at .332 and on-base percentage.

If there is one area Donaldson may fall short, it is on the defensive side.

Both Longoria and Machado have slightly higher fielding percentages, but Donaldson has had 17 more total chances than Longoria, 22 more than Beltre and Youkilis is not even on the radar in any category.

Individual stats are great, but the fact Donaldson has his team 11 games over .500 says a lot about what his leadership has meant to a team on the rise.

Last season, Donaldson split time between triple-A Sacramento and the big league club, but the converted catcher secured a place at third base toward the end of last season when Brandon Inge went down with an injury. Since that time, the A’s have gone from cellar dwellers of the AL West to division champions. Now the team has one of the best records in baseball.

Donaldson is quite simply of victim of playing in the west outside of Los Angeles. There is no other explanation at this point. Maybe it is because not all the “well informed” fans that vote stay up for the 7:05 p.m. Pacific Time first pitch, which is when the A’s usually play.

With less than a month left before voting closes, it will be no surprise if Donaldson ends up having to buy his own ticket to attend the All-Star game.

To vote for Donaldson and other Athletics into the All-Star game, click here and vote up to 25 times per email address. Do it.

by Nathan Mendelowitz

With another Bay Bridge series behind us, it’s time to look back on who was hot and who was not during this four game home and away series.

Marco Scutaro – Hot

In a series where the Giants only won once, Marco Scutaro was a bright spot for the Giants. Scutaro hit .417 for the series with two doubles and three runs scored. The Giants did not score much in the first two games in Oakland and Scutaro was really the only offense. Scutaro was doing his best getting on base, unfortunately for him and the Giants; they just could not score.

Pablo Sandoval – Not

It was a rough series for Giants slugger Pablo Sandoval. The Panda hit .188 and slugged  .188 with no extra-base hits and only three RBIs. Sandoval looked confused at times and swung at bad pitch after bad pitch. The Panda has been known for hitting pitches other hitters would never swing at. However, he looked like the average hitter this series, only breaking out in the final game of the series.

Jed Lowrie and Josh Donaldson – Hot

It’s a two-for for the A’s this week as both Jed Lowrie and Josh Donaldson were hot. Lowrie hit .357 while Donaldson hit .333 with a homer and two RBIs and four runs. Both men were top of the hitting and kept the A’s hitting machine going leading the A’s to 21 runs overall for the series. These two guys nearly out-hit the Giants themselves.

Chris Young – Not

Chris Young had about as bad as a series as anyone can ever have. Young hit, wait for it, .000 for the series. While other A’s hitters were getting at least one hit, Young got nothing but air going hitless in 14 plate appearances. However, there is a bright spot, Young did have two walks which led to two runs. Hopefully for Youngs sake, he doesn’t replace Casey in the “Swing Casey Swing” story anytime soon.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

by Joe Davis

For the Oakland Athletics and their fans, it must feel good to be kings of the bay for a day, but it must be kept in perspective – the A’s simply won a series against a good team.

Before the interleague series against the Giants, the A’s were only 8-18 versus teams with a .500 record or better. Fourteen of Oakland’s 31 wins came at the hands of Houston and Anaheim, which sit at or near the bottom of the American League standing.

It is hard to tell if the Battle of the Bay series is an indicator of the A’s potential going forward because one could blame injuries and bad fielding for the 3-1 series loss.

The Giants helped the A’s out game-after-game by walking in runs, dropping fly balls and sending a pitcher to the mound for his MLB debut.

Now, I cannot give all the credit to the Giants. The A’s had players stepped up throughout the series to give the Athletics the edge.

Yoenis Cespedes extended his hit steak to 12 games including two doubles, a triple and four RBI over the series. He had been struggling during the early part of the season, but he seems to be getting locked in.

Third baseman Josh Donaldson continued his career-best season against the Giants.

In Game 1 Donaldson blasted a two-run shot off Madison Bumgarner to give the A’s the lead they would not give up on route to a 4-1 win. Donaldson is hitting a career-high .327 on the season. His average jumped seven points over the four-game series.

The biggest surprise for the green collars was the emergence of Nate Freiman.

The 6-feet-8-inch Freiman hit .364 in the series including three RBI in Game 3, which he did not enter until the fifth inning.

Freiman has shown some potential since being picked up off waivers from Houston, but his RBI output reignited an A’s offensive attack as the Giants tried make a trademark comeback.

Dan Straily was the highlight of the A’s pitching rotation.

In the series opener, Giants hitters could only muster up one run and hit a dismal .182 against the right-hander who has split time in Oakland and triple-A Sacramento.

The A’s, without a doubt, gave fans a reason to be excited going forward, but it is still early in the season.

Oakland will have to get more consistency for its pitching staff as the season rolls along. The A’s have a 3.99 team ERA, which places them in the bottom half of the majors.

Cespedes continues to improve after batting near the Mendoza line to start the season and the A’s will need Josh Reddick to return to his 2012 form when he returns from his rehab assignment in Sacramento. Reddick was hitting .152 before landing on the DL for a nagging wrist injury.

Getty Images

Ryan Vogelsong finally looked great last night against the Washington Nationals. He lasted five innings and was shutting out one of the National League’s youngest and most exciting lineups. Then he was hit in the right hand – his pitching hand – while swinging at a pitch.

Boom, broken hand. He will miss the next six weeks.

Obviously it’s a big blow to Vogelsong and his attempt to get back on track this season, but it’s an even bigger loss for the already struggling Giants starting rotation.

Vogelsong was sporting a 8.06 ERA before yesterday’s win. Matt Cain, Mr. Perfect and ace of the staff, has a 5.43 ERA in his first nine starts. Tim Lincecum has improved from last season, but is still putting up a 4.70 ERA this year.

The only bright spots on this rotation are Barry Zito and Madison Bumgarner. Zito has a 3.91 ERA, which is low for him so I’ll take it. Bumgarner, on the other hand, has been the savior for the Giants.

A 3.09 ERA and a 3.87 K/BB ratio is the best out of the rotation as the young left-hander has emerged as this team’s ace. However, the team is short on starting pitching (thanks Beltran).

So, what are the Giants going to do with Vogelsong?

The Giants will play 38 games in his absence – seven starts. Let’s take a look at some options:

Option #1 – Chad Gaudin

This is the expected decision for Bruce Bochy and his staff to make. He has experience in the big leagues as a starter (75 games) with a 4.72 ERA, which is significantly better than Vogelsong’s 8+ ERA. However, he hasn’t started a big league game since 2009.

So far this season, he has been a pretty decent long-reliever for the Giants. In 25.2 innings pitched, he has only surrendered six runs for a 2.10 ERA.

If the Giants don’t chose him, they might consider…

Option #2 – Boof Bonser

Ah, Boof. It has been quite sometime since we have seen him and if I were to pick a guy to fill in for Vogelsong, I would pick him – they have basically the same story.

Vogelsong was drafted by the Giants in the fifth round in 1998, Bonser was drafted in the first round in 2000. After years of mediocre pitching for other teams, they both have found the Giants late in their careers.

I remember Bonser was going to be the next ace for the Giants and now he might get his chance. He is the second-most qualified after starting 60 games with a 4.92 ERA in ’06-’08.

This year, he has been pitching for the Fresno Grizzlies. He has a 2-3 record with a 4.89 ERA in nine starts. So maybe the Giants wont pick him…

Option #3 – Shane Loux

We have seen this guy before. Last year he stepped in the bullpen and pitched about 25 innings. He wasn’t great, giving up an ERA of almost five.

Even though Loux was pretty unspectacular last season, he does have 10 career starts in the big leagues with a 6.78 ER- okay never mind he sounds like a terrible replacement.

Option #4 – Yusmeiro Petit

This one is just as likely than option #3 because Petit had an awful three starts in spring training and he really isn’t improving.

A 7.11 ERA in the spring this year and a career 5.22 ERA as a starter before 2010 with Arizona are terrible facts to out down on a resume when applying for Vogelsong’s job.

The man has a 6.69 ERA with Fresno this season for gods sake.

Option #5 – Justin Fitzgerald

The 27-year-old is only one game deep in his Triple-A career, but he has great numbers in the lower levels as a starter.

In 87 starts in San Jose and Richmond, Fitzgerald has a 29-23 record with a 3.25 ERA. The Giants will most likely wait to see how he does in the hitting-heavy Pacific Coast League before they bring him up.

The Giants also brought up Sandy Rosario, but I don’t expect him to be a starting option for the team with his lack of starting experience.

The Giants have a few days to make their decision, but I can see them picking any of these five options.

A combined 0-4 record over the last two days has been a downer for Bay Area baseball fans, as they have been outscored 33-16. However, there are a couple new prospects in their farm systems who are performing quite well.

Kensuke Tanaka – 2B, Fresno Grizzlies

This guy has been a real surprise for the Grizzlies this year. After playing in Japan for the first 13 years of his pro career, his first MLB organization he chose to sign with were the Giants.

In Japan, Tanaka, 31,  played in 921 games, hitting 34 home runs and 283 RBIs. His power numbers aren’t impressive, but he did have a .296 average with 156 stolen bases (only being caught 62 times).

Before the season began, nobody could predict how Tanaka would settle in to the higher level of talent in the US. I think he can handle it.

With Fresno, he has piled up 13 RBIs already with a .338 batting average and 12 steals. Keep an eye on this guy.

Stephen Vogt – C/DH, Sacramento River Cats

Vogt is showing why the A’s traded for him from the Tampa Bay Rays on April 6 for cash. In  30 games for the River Cats this year, Vogt leads the team in batting average (.338) and also has hit six home runs and 22 RBIs.

The A’s are blocked at catcher right now with the duo of John Jaso and Derek Norris, but Vogt could be brought up at some point this summer for some help from the bench.

In 155 games in AAA (mostly with the Durham Bulls), Vogt has hit 19 homers, 85 RBIs and has held an average of .289. He has also thrown out 34 percent of base stealers from behind the plate.