Many have been predicting the San Francisco Giants to suck, and suck hard, this season. Some have even predicted a 100-loss campaign. So how are the Giants doing so far? Let’s have a look…

As is to be expected, the Giants are last in the Major Leagues with 27 runs scored in 11 games, or an average of 2.45 runs per game.

Sole good hitter Aaron Rowand is struggling at the plate and in the field, due to the fact that he probably has a broken rib.

Centerfielder Dave Roberts will likely have surgery on his knee and be out for months.

In other injury news, top outfield prospect Nate Schierholtz is out with a wounded right shin, outfielder Randy Winn hurt his ankle by hitting himself with his own bat, and reliever Keiichi Yabu has blurred vision after hitting himself in the eye with a rubber band.

Switch-hitting outfielder Dan Ortmeier has been so sucky hitting from the left side that he and the team have made a mutual decision to make him an exclusively right-handed batter from now on.

Putative team ace Barry Zito (0-2) has already been so terrible that he was booed by the home crowd during his introduction at the Giants’ home opener in San Francisco.

Even The Onion is piling on the Giants now, with their article “San Francisco Giants Band Together To Score Run.”

The Chicago White Sox wanted Torii Hunter. And now that Hunter has signed with the Angels, the White Sox have moved on to what their GM has deemed “plan 1B”.

Chicago Tribune baseball writer Dave van Dyck says the White Sox are going through a “messy period”:

The one free agent they wanted most has spurned them, leaving them with no clear starting center fielder or left fielder. They have two highly paid starting shortstops, two starting third basemen and an untested second baseman. Oh, and a battered and bruised bullpen.

Of course, the White Sox have plenty of time to straighten things out. And probably the first thing they’ll try and do is find a center fielder. But who? Van Dyck says it will be a free agent, for sure:

Presumably that would be ex-Sox fan favorite Aaron Rowand, who won’t cost as much as Hunter but for good reason. He isn’t nearly as dominating as Hunter could be.

Now wait a second, Dave. I’m not about to argue that Aaron Rowand is the next Willie Mays, but I’m not totally convinced that he’s not more or less equal to Torii Hunter.

Here’s what the U.S.S. Mariner had to say about Hunter, a player the site deemed one of its three “land mine” free agents of 2008:

Torii Hunter just had a terrific year at the right time, and he’s going to be paid for what he was in 2007, not for what he’s likely to be in 2008 and beyond. From 2004 to 2006, Hunter’s offense was worth about 15 runs above an average hitter - combined. He had settled in as a pretty consistent +5 offensive player, which as a center fielder with some defensive value, made him a borderline star, but not anything like a franchise player.

Vegas Watch, which calls Hunter “an overrated fielder coming off a career year”, says:

Hunter’s career OBP is .324, and his career OPS+ is 104. He’ll be 33 in July. He looks good out there, but by any metric Hunter was an average fielder this year; THT has him at 0, BP at -1. Only the leaders and trailers have been published from Dewan’s system, but he’s in neither, which means he was between +3 and -9.

Then there’s Rowand. Nobody seems to have written much about him, but his career OBP is .343, and his career OPS+ is 106. He’ll be 31 in August. In 2007 alone, he was worth 47 runs more than the average hitter, his best offensive season ever and the first time he’d cracked 30 Runs Above Replacement Player since 2004. Rowand’s Runs Above Average is 5 (compared to Hunter’s -1).

In other words, Hunter is a better defensive player than Rowand (six runs better last year), but Rowand is younger and a better offensive player pretty much across the board. He’s got better OBP and OPS.

Both of these guys are players you’d want on your team. Both come with some risk of injury. And both will surely be overpaid (Hunter already has been). Frankly, I can see making an intelligent argument in favor of either of these two guys, depending on what you value more, offense or defense. But I can’t see making a statement like, “(Rowand) isn’t nearly as dominating as Hunter could be.” That’s just silly.

Neither of these guys is going to be “dominating”.

Hector Lavoe, the great Puerto Rican salsa crooner once sang “your love is like yesterday’s news,” (Tu amor es como un periódico de ayer) and in this day and age, yesterday’s news (actually, this past monday’s news) should seem like a teenage fling to the middle-aged White Sox GM, Kenny Williams.

You see, right after trading for Orlando Cabrera, Williams was on the verge of landing Torri Hunter. The Sun-Times “broke” a story last Monday that reported:

Sources both in the Sox organization and the camp of free-agent outfielder Torii Hunter have told the Sun-Times that the two sides could be signing a contract within the week.

In other words, while it appeared Williams was playing checkers in the Garland for Cabrera deal, he was actually playing chess, staying moves ahead of the game.

Before I try to offer my opinion on the “reporter” with some dry, witty, sarcastic remark, lets remember that the reporter in question is Joe Cowley, who once famously voted Derek Jeter 6th in his MVP ballot, contributing to Morneau getting the trophy, with Jeter not far back in the polls.

Let’s just say I will think twice next time I read something penned by Cowley.

We now know, of course, that the Angels had their finger on the dial right after hanging up the trade-talk phone with the ChiSox. And were that much quicker. And those chess moves that Williams was so erroneously praised for, might actually have him in check.

Without Hunter, Williams’ center field options in the free agent market are reduced to Andruw Jones and former South-sider Aaron Rowand – and Sox fans are torn.

Personally, I can’t ignore Jones’ horrendous season this year and I cannot possibly imagine Rowand commanding less than $75 million over 4 years. However legendary his status among Sox fans is, I doubt Rowand is really worth that much.

Let’s think about this for a minute. It’s rumored that the Angels beat out Williams by $20 mill. Which means he had offered a 4-year/$70 deal. I doubt he offered a 5th year; Williams favorite flavor in contracts is of the 3-year-kind. And now that the Sox shelled $19 mil per 4 years for Scott Linebrink, I can only assume Williams decided to spend some his CF money on relief pitching.

In reality Williams has a few more options. There’s always Kosuke Fukudome, who, according to UmpBump’s very own Paul Moro, will command around $10 mill over 4 years. (Considering Hunter’s inflated price tag, Fuku’s price tag suddenly jumped to about $30mill/4years.

And then there are the prospects. For the past four years, the White Sox have had promising outfield prospects that fizzled once they made it to the majors.

Consider this: Last time the White Sox signed a Japanese player (Iguchi in ‘05), they won the World Series. Last time they failed to move their underachieving outfielders and/or upgrade via free-agency, well, this season happened.

Williams has already released World Series hero Scott Podsednik. Can I pull a Joe Cowley and say he’ll go after Fukudome instead of Jones/Rowand?

Only time can tell.

The Philadelphia Inquirer and Chicago Tribune are both reporting that Phillies GM Pat Gillick is trying to land yet another starting pitcher. The Phillies just signed Adam Eaton and already have Cole Hamels, Brett Myers, Jamie Moyer and John Lieber under contract.

Ever since he got to Philly, Pat Gillick has let it be known that he is obsessed with starting pitching. He just can’t get enough of it. Even though the Phillies already have what would have to be considered one of the most complete starting staffs in the NL, and even though the team has almost no bullpen, he just can’t leave well enough alone.

Still, Gillick has built winners before, so we’ll just assume he knows what he’s doing.

If the Phillies do land one of the White Sox’ available SPs (Freddy Garcia, Oliver Vasquez or Mark Buehrle), they could turn around and trade one of their excess pitchers for a big bat or a set-up man. The Inquirer says the Phils already have a deal in place with the Brewers:

To get Garcia, the Phils most likely would have to part with centerfielder Aaron Rowand and a prospect, possibly pitcher Gavin Floyd, and maybe more.

If the Phils were successful in landing Garcia, or another pitcher from the White Sox’ stable, they could then peddle Jon Lieber to Milwaukee for outfielder Kevin Mench and late-game reliever Derrick Turnbow, a former Phillies farmhand. That deal appears to be in place, pending the outcome of talks between the Phils and White Sox.

Landing Garcia would be great. A rotation with Garcia, Myers and Hamels at the top would be hard to beat. But trading Rowand…man, that would hurt. There’s a reason the White Sox want him back so bad. He’s exactly the kind of player every team wants in its clubhouse. He’s nothing short of inspiring, on and off the field.

As for Turnbow and Mench, well, I dunno. Turnbow was bad last year. He lost his job as the Brewers’ closer and never returned to form. And Mench didn’t do much after he moved from the Rangers to the Brewers. Of course, it can take a while to adjust to a new league. But just a couple weeks ago, the Phillies were talking about the possibility of fielding an outfield with Aaron Rowand, Alfonso Soriano and Shane Victorino. Now they’re talking about an outfield with Pat Burrell, Victorino and Mench. That’s kind of dissapointing.

Aaron Rowand is off crutches and walking around without a cast. He’s even hitting off a tee. But how long will it be before the heart and soul of the red hot Phillies is back in the outfield? From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Collision-prone centerfielder Aaron Rowand’s broken left foot has healed enough in a month that he not only got off crutches yesterday, but did not need to wear a hinged walking boot, as expected. Instead, he must wear a brace when he walks.

He hit off a tee yesterday, too, though he needed a tight tape job to do it.

Nonetheless, it would be a stretch to imagine that Rowand would be available for the Phillies’ playoff games if they make it. He has been doing exercises for weeks in a therapy pool and he even walked on the foot (in a immobilization boot) without crutches the past 3 days.

“The real test,” Rowand said, “will be running and cutting.”

That probably won’t come for a while. The Phillies will send him to Florida to get at-bats with the team’s Florida Instructional League squad.

Anybody who thinks that there’s any chance that Rowand won’t be in the Phillies lineup if they make the playoffs is crazy. He’s a lock to suit up. He wouldn’t miss the playoffs for anything. Even if every step is painful, he’ll be running full speed in the outfield. Bank on it.

Oh no. This can’t be good.

Then again, everytime the Phillies subtract a player, they seem to get better.

The Philadelphia press is reporting that Adam Rowand, who collided with 2B Chase Utley during last night’s game against the Cubs, will miss five weeks with a broken ankle. From the Philadelphia Daily News:

Phillies centerfielder Aaron Rowand suffered a broken left ankle Monday night when he collided with second baseman Chase Utley chasing a pop fly off the bat of Cubs first baseman John Mabry, sources indicated early this morning.

Rowand had been talken to the hospital after the Phillies’ 6-5 win over the Cubs for what were termed precautionary X-rays.

He’s expected to miss at least 5 weeks, which would likely make him unavailable for the remainder of the regular season.

Rowand is out. Gordon is on the DL. Abreu has been traded. If the Phillies win the wild card, it will be the single most improbable playoff appearance since…I dunno…ever? Can this team keep winning? We’re talking about a staff led by the Brett “Fists of Fury” Myers, Tommy John patient Randy Wolf and phenom and bar fighter Cole Hamels. Oh, wait, I forgot, they just traded for Jaime “I’m not old I’m wise” Moyer. They have a 3B, Abraham Nunez, who is struggling to stay above .200 and a catcher who, at 33, is in his FIRST major league season.

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