Roster Moves & Rivals

There's always something historic about the season's first Battle of The Bay matchup. The concept alone would entertain even the nominal Bay Area fan.

It's a good thing that is so, because there wasn't much more to this game without the pre-existent rivalry. If I were the A's, I would be mildly upset at the lack of competition. The Giants started a weaker lineup, probably to test Uribe's ability to command his probable field of mostly secondaries (Kawa was the only certain starter). Uribe didn't do that all too well, causing Velez to throw to him too far from second base, once making an opposition single a double instead.

The SP was a certain Martinez that I had not really seen or heard of, and he lasted a whole 1 2/3 innings, giving up four. Taschner was wild, and Matos had to enter by the fourth inning--but when he did, it resulted in a DP. The A's, on the other hand, started an extremely notable prospect, Trevor Cahill. Cahill did well, except for a WP that allowed a run. Someone who did do well for us was Francis Beltran, who put the A's down in order for one BP inning.

As for offense, a few of the unknowns surprised me: Torres manufactured our first run by stretching a double, advancing well and then taking home on a WP. Jesus Guzman, a young 3B hit his second HR in as many games, which impresses well (he also made a nice tag to stop a triple). An intriguing note, though Jon spoke well by saying it's not much because we're in spring, is that the Giants have the most HRs in spring among NL teams. I will agree that it is obviously still spring; we had two on with two out in the 8th Inning, making it a chance to tie the game, and Bowker whiffed. However, even if it is just spring, things are assuredly looking up from last year, without question!

The most intriguing news from this game happens to be the roster releases: Yabu is now optioned along with another BPer, and Roberts is now officially released. The first piece doesn't surprise me, and makes me glad. The second piece doesn't exactly make me sad, but it does surprise me. Roberts had been doing well recently, even being willing to take the fifth spot for OF on the bench. Brian Sabean visited in the 4th inning voicing some unbelievable news: that the reasoning was primarily based in giving the youth more ABs. "Unbelievable" because my GM may see what I have noticed for so long. Sabean also noticed that he wasn't willing to see a certain pitcher in AAA "at his age". My only other guess to complement the Sabeanic mentality is that Roberts wasn't willing to be optioned, but his release raises a number of questions:

1) What will happen to the rest of his salary? Does it free it up to add to someone like Lewis, whom we obviously want to keep?
2) Who will take the 5th OF spot? Is Velez going to be an OF-only reserve, or do we want to keep an extra IF, maybe keeping both Frandsen and Burriss? Guzman?
3) What else will happen now that kind of precedent has been set? Are we finally willing to go with the numbers from last year, take a risk and do better with a very young team; rather than maintaing a guaranteed mediocre season? Could we in fact be back to form?

To be honest, I could see it coming when Vizquel was released and Aurilia was "invited" to spring training via a minor league contract. But this was a shock; a good one both for purpose and stats, but a shock. Sabean seems to really like Velez, as well. What next? Perhaps you want to start only the best team players instead of paying $126m for a "third starter"? Hallelujah!

One thing now is not a shock: There's nothing like clarity in the front office, even if it's a prima facie reasoning for the time being. That kind of news will do, to occupy the mind during a day off tomorrow.

FINAL
OAK - 4
S.F. - 2

The Boys Who Showed Up: Torres, Guzman, Sabean