the benitez trade — should we be happy?
1 June 2007The 2007 San Francisco Giants….
- … record when leading after eight innings: 23-0 (tied for best in baseball).
- … BA, OBP, SLG and RPG: .251 (24th), .313 (27th), .388 (22nd), and 4.31 (22nd).
You tell me where the problem is.
Look, I’m not sad to see Benitez go, but this move does not get Sabean off the hook. In fact, it just confirms the terrible mistake he made signing Armando in the first place. And here’s what Brian Sabean had to say about why he made the trade:
“We are at a crossroads in my mind, and apparently the fans, the press and some people in the clubhouse felt he needed to go.”
“Now we’re going to find out what they’re made of. We’ll see who’s strong enough to be the whipping boy now. … We’re going to find out who, when and how we’re going to step up.”
Are you kidding me? Is Brian Sabean saying that he made this deal because the fans forced him to? There’s so many things wrong with that, I don’t know where to start (but I’ll try).
- General Managers should never, never make a move based on what the fans want, because what the fans really want is a championship, and the GM should be smarter than the fans. By making this move, Sabean is telling us he trusts public opinion more than his own baseball knowledge… not good.
- He seems to be blaming this situation on the fans, media etc. If anyone needs to be the “whipping boy”, it’s the Giants management, not the media, fans, or (gasp) bloggers.
- How about… no one be the whipping boy? Play good baseball… how about that?