Hanley to Hollywood: Can We Expect the Giants to React?

The Dodgers made their first splash by acquiring the Marlins’ Hanley Ramirez late Tuesday night for practically nothing. While the name Hanley Ramirez automatically takes your mind back to the seasons where he was competing for the MVP award, he’s not the same player he once was.

The two key words from the first paragraph— practically nothing. To be specific, a young fifth starter in Nathan Eovaldi, and Scott McGough. Los Angeles additionally received reliever Randy Choate. Evoladi does boast a good amount of upside, and has a great fastball. Then again, he’s unproven and still has a ways to go before he can be a stapled as a front of the rotation type pitcher.

So the Dodgers practically stole Ramirez from Miami, right? Not so fast. There’s a reason why the Marlins didn’t ask for more in exchange for their once prized commodity. And the reason is the fact that he has reached his peak as a hitter. Not only has he been on a downward spiral for the past two seasons, but he’s practically a disease to the clubhouse. Not to mention that he’s made his fair share of boneheaded decisions.

Ramirez, who won the batting title in 2009, and finished top ten in MVP voting for three straight seasons (2007-2009), is hitting just .269/.350/.436 since the beginning of the 2010 season. Even worse, he’s hitting .245/.327/.404 since the beginning of 2011.  Maybe it’s the lack of a winning atmosphere down in Miami, maybe it’s been the coaches, or maybe it’s the players, but the stats don’t lie.

In addition to his sudden decline, he’s making a truckload of money. Luckily, the Marlins won’t owe Ramirez another cent. Because part of the deal was that the Dodgers would pick up the rest of Ramirez’s contract which is about $38 million. Yes, you heard me, all of the contract. Most teams wouldn’t dare to take on that type of money. Yet, money is not an object for the Dodgers and their new ownership.

However, the Dodgers’ front office decided to roll the dice. And they believe Ramirez is still a franchise caliber player and they can make a great case for their blockbuster acquisition. Sure, he has been everything but dominant over the past two seasons. Yet, he is still just 28 years-old and retains all the tools that made him one of the best players in the game for a good portion of the last decade.  A change of scenery could rejuvenate him and his dangerous bat.

Should the Giants be worried and counter react with a blockbuster deal of their own?

GM Brain Sabean’s attitude towards the deadline seems modest. Then again, that was before the Dodgers landed Ramirez. Pablo Sandoval, who suffered a strained left hamstring on Tuesday night, thinks he will be back sooner rather than later. If his hamstring was expected to keep him out for an extended amount of time, then Sabean would have a reason to kick the tires on a superstar type talent.

Ideally, the perfect Giant would be the Twins’ Josh Willingham. Willingham is a power bat that is one of the premium right-handed run producers in baseball. Minnesota seems sold on keeping him, making their asking price a bit higher. The market is weak on first baseman, and with Ramirez off the table, Chase Headley seems to be the only suitable option. San Diego would be doubtful to trade within the division, however.

With Sabean, you never know, though. He’s known to say something and do the opposite. But the clock is ticking, and the Dodgers don’t seem to be anywhere near done dealing.

This Article Was Originally Published on Bay Sports Net

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Daily Recap - 7/25

Headlines


- A's Destroy Blue Jays 16-0 for Seventh Straight Win

- Lincecum Struggles as Giants Fail to Complete Sweep Once Again

- Pablo Sandoval Injury Update

- Warriors Unlikely to Sign Landry, Kirilenko

- Hanley to Dodgers, Not Giants or A's

A Good Read


- Sharks Are Setting Themselves Up for Another Disappointing Season

- Warriors Likely Done This Off-Season

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A's Destroy Blue Jays 16-0

It was a great night all-around for the A's as they notched their seventh consecutive win with a 16-0 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays.

It's going to take an extremely long time to highlight all of the scoring plays, so I'll just mention them in bullet points:

• Two-out double by Yoenis Cespedes in the first, scoring Jonny Gomes from first
• An eight-run second inning. Coco Crisp and Gomes with RBI singles, Josh Reddick with an RBI double. Chris Carter RBI walk with bases loaded. Brandon Inge two-run double. 9-0 A's at this point.
• Two solo home runs by Crisp - one in the third and one in the fifth.
• Chris Carter solo shot in the sixth.
• Cespedes RBI double in the eighth, scoring Seth Smith from first. Carter follows that up with an RBI groundout. 14-0 Athletics. And the extra point is.....good!!!!
• Things got even uglier in the ninth. Jeff Mathis, the Blue Jays' catcher came on to pitch, and the A's knock him around for two more runs. 

Not to be outdone, AJ Griffin pitched beautifully for the A's with six solid, shutout innings. 

There was also a spectacular defensive play by Reddick in the bottom of the second, when he robbed Adam Snyder of a hit with a Spiderman-like leap, hanging on to the right field wall and catching it at the last possible second. 

With their seventh straight win, the A's are now 53-44 and sit atop the AL Wild Card. 

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Warriors Likely Done this Offseason

What can the Warriors do? The Timberwolves swoop up and take any player the Dubs have an interest in.

All this offseason, the Warriors were looking to fill up a couple of backup spots. They needed someone at backup PG, they got more than they traded for in Jarrett Jack. They needed a backup SG. Kent Bazmore showed us that he should have been drafted with his great play in the summer league. Now, I feel the missing piece to the Warriors imminent success is a capable PF. Have they given up?

David Lee is great, don't get me wrong. He's not injury prone, but everyone gets injured. The Warriors can't count on him to be playing his best basketball all 82 games next season. This is why the need for one more big man is getting better.

There were some talks of Draymond Green sliding over to the PF spot. That's still a possibility, as Green is a rebounding machine. Ezeli can also slide over to the PF spot if absolutely necessary. He can play alongside Andrew Bogut. The only problem with this is that centers can't guard PF's like LeBron James. He's just going to blow right by them.

The only person the Warriors will likely re-sign is Brandon Rush. Maybe Dominic McGuire. I don't think there's enough space for both of them. 

Reports indicated that it is unlikely that the Warriors will sign Carl Landry. Is their current roster enough to get them to the playoffs? Comment below for your opinion.

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Lincecum Struggles, as Giants Fail to Complete the Sweep Once Again

Tim Lincecum gave up five runs in not even five innings, dooming the Giants a chance to complete the sweep on Wednesday afternoon. 


Lincecum, who hadn't allowed a run at AT&T Park in 15 innings coming into the game, surrendered a solo blast to Chase Headley in the first inning to end the streak. 

Melky's Cabrera tied the game in the bottom half of the inning with a sacrifice fly that scored Gregor Blanco. However, the Giants bats were silenced by the struggling Jason Marquis. Marquis didn't another hit until the seventh inning after allowing a leadoff single to Blanco in the first frame. 


Lincecum was rather the opposite of Marquis, though and it didn't help the matter that his defense wasn't sharp.


 Angel Pagan, who made one of the best catches in AT&T Park history on Tuesday night, got a slow jump on a shallow fly ball from Will Venable. Pagan dove, but was unable to catch the ball, and two runs would come across the plate to give the Padres a 3-0 lead in the fourth. 


Lincecum, who threw far too many pitches to go deep into the game, allowed a two-run shot to Jesus Guzman in the fifth. After carving up the Phillies and the Astros in his two previous starts, Lincecum took two steps back on Wednesday despite striking out eight batters. 


Guzman smashed another home run in the eighth inning to pad the Padres' 5-1 lead. 


The Giants finally broke through against Marquis in the eighth. Brandon Belt reached on a throwing error by Everth Cabrera. He would advance to second on the error and Joaquin Arias followed with an infield shortstop to Cabrera. 


With runners on first and third, Belt scored on a wild pitch, but Arias was thrown out at third base on Eli Whiteside's chopper in the hole that Cabrera stretched out for. 


Melky Cabrera had a chance to tie in with two runners on, but he struck out swinging. 

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Beane: "We're Looking at Infielders"

In an interview with Tim Kawikami, A's GM Billy Beane said that he is focusing on acquiring a few pieces, most likely an upgrade in the infield. 

Finding the right guy is the bigger issue. And I don’t think it’s a secret that infield is one area that can be identified for us. We’re looking at infielders.

He highlighted offense as the A's main issue, and also claimed that there were some "untouchables" on the roster that was not willing to trade.

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San Jose Sharks Are Setting Themselves Up for Another Disappointing Season

This article was first published on The Hockey Writers. 

So much for those "big changes" hinted at by Doug Wilson and promised by the media. So much for dismantling the core and "blowing up" the team after a pathetic first round exit against the St. Louis Blues.

It had me excited (heck, it had all of us excited) at the possibility of acquiring some top-flight free agents or making a huge blockbuster trade that could invigorate this team.

You know, trading for Rick Nash. Signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Or maybe a sign-and-trade deal to acquire Shea Weber. Hey, at this point, even Shane Doan sounds like a good fit.

News flash: virtually all of those players are gone from the market, which hurts even more when you consider that the San Jose Sharks were on the verge of landing at least one of them, if not more.

Let's start with Rick Nash. Traded to the New York Rangers for Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, a prospect, and a pick.

Really, that's all it took? The way that Scott Howson was holding out for Logan Couture, you would think that he'd strike a better deal than that.

The Sharks could have offered a similar, or even a better package without giving up Couture. How does Ryane Clowe, Joe Pavelski, Jason Demers, Alex Stalock, and a first round pick sound? Much better than what the Blue Jackets got from the Rangers.

Clowe and Dubinsky have similar stats, so they cancel out. Even though Anisimov may be a bit younger than Pavelski, he hasn't scored 20+ goals for four consecutive years like Pavelski has. And I'm pretty sure that two prospects are better than one, so throw in Demers and Stalock (the Sharks' best goaltending prospect).

There you go. A better deal than what the Rangers had to offer, without touching Logan Couture.

Acquiring Nash would have single-handedly put the Sharks back in Western Conference contention. Just think about the nightmare that teams would have to face on the top line with the two-headed monster of Nash and Joe Thornton. That's like having the Sedin twins, but without all the whining.

Alright, stop drooling and focus, because we're not even close to finished talking about the Sharks' insipid off-season.

How about Zach Parise and Ryan Suter? Michael Russo reported that 17 teams had offers on the table for Parise, and it's a good guess that the Sharks were one of them. Parise then "weeded out" teams based on a list of 12-15 criteria that ranged from hockey operations to travel taxation.

So what did Parise think was wrong with San Jose? We'll never know, but he ended up taking his talents to his hometown of Minnesota and brought his good buddy Ryan Suter with him. Both signed identical 13-year, $98 million contracts.

Ok, so maybe the Sharks were never in the final mix to land Parise or Suter. But Shea Weber sounded like a pretty nice consolation prize, right? A high-scoring defenseman who can quarterback the power play, meaning that the Sharks could finally dump or trade Dan Boyle and his $6.66 million contract.

It seemed like Doug Wilson agreed with me. He was seen dining with Weber in Los Gatos earlier this month, and seemed serious about acquiring him. In fact, it seemed like the Sharks were on the verge of pulling off a trade for Weber before the Philadelphia Flyers had to ruin the party with a ridiculous 14-year, $110 million offer sheet.

You know the rest of the story: Weber signs the offer sheet, and the Nashville Predators match, crushing the Sharks' hopes once again.

Now all that's left is Shane Doan, who is unlikely to choose the Sharks as his free-agent destination. He has made it clear the he would like to return to Phoenix, and he is also intrigued by the Rangers after they landed Nash (see what could have happened if the Sharks had traded for Nash?).

Of course, there are other options left, but it would be embarrassing to be picking up the scraps of what was a talented and skilled free agent pool. Alex Semin is not a solution, as Wilson has said that he wants to build a tougher team. Jason Arnott, Mike Knuble, Jason Blake, and Andrew Brunette are decent role players, but they would just be one-two year rentals because of their old age.

So that's it. Take a deep breath, and let reality sink in.

The reality that the Sharks are going to be stuck with this core for at least another year. Yes, the same core that failed so miserably last season to even get into the playoffs, let alone win the Stanley Cup.

I give Doug Wilson an A+ for effort, but an F for the results so far. Because of his failure to make any notable changes to the roster, we all are going to be stuck with another year of disappointment.

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Pablo Sandoval Hamstring Update

Pablo Sandoval was removed from the game on Tuesday night after practically doing the splits to pull off a remarkable double play. The Giants say it is a left hamstring injury, not a groin injury which was the original prediction. At the moment, no one knows how long this will keep The Panda out, if at all.

However, there's more to this. If Sandoval's hamstring keeps him out for extend time, do the Giants change their approach with the trade deadline looming? I would have to think so, especially with Brandon Belt struggling.

UPDATE 10:28 PM: Sandoval's hamstring strain was high according to Bochy. He will get an MRI tomorrow, and will be out for a few days says Bochy. "Hopefully we'll get good news," prayed Bochy after the game.

UPDATE WEDNESDAY: Sandoval had an MRI today. It confirmed that he indeed has a strain in his left hamstring. The Panda will get treatment for the next three days and be reevaluated on Friday which will determine whether or not he goes on the DL

- According to Andrew Baggarly on Twitter, Sandoval was unsure today if he would be able to play in this weekend's series against the Dodgers. Baggarly said he thought it was a long shot, but Sandoval isn't ruling the possibility out just yet.

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Warriors Unlikely to Sign Landry, Kirilenko

More bad news for Bay Area sports fans (Hanley Ramirez was traded to the Dodgers last night). 


It appears that the Golden State Warriors are going to miss out on the two free agents that they are currently pursuing - Carl Landry and Andrei Kirilenko, and all of it has to do with money.


Marcus Thompson reports:

It's looking like Warriors may miss out on Andrei Kirilenko and Carl Landry. Kirilenko wants $8M per in a new deal, according to Yahoo! Sports. That rules out GSW. Since Kirilenko played overseas last season, a sign-and-trade is not an option. Even if the Warriors were willing to go over luxury tax threshold and offer Kirilenko the mid-level exception, that still wouldn't be enough, not with T'wolves offering a deal starting at $8M. Landry, it seems, is going to get a larger offer elsewhere. (Charlotte can offer more than GSW.) He would like to play for the Warriors, but it's sounds unlikely he'd take less money to play for GSW. Landry's camp, no doubt, thinks the Warriors should go into the tax zone to give Landry closer to the midlevel. And the Warriors' refusal to do so, at this point, isn't exactly a vote of confidence for Landry.

 It's a bit bewildering as to why Joe Lacob isn't willing to go into the luxury tax. After all, he did pay a record $450 million to own the team, so a couple million of tax for a quality player shouldn't hurt too much.

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Hanley Ramirez Traded to Dodgers

Not the Giants, not even the A's, but the hated Dodgers.

Yes, I am unfortunately telling you that Hanley Ramirez has been traded to the L.A. Dodgers.

The infielder was a popular target among both Bay Area teams, and the A's were reportedly very interested in Ramirez last night.

But even two teams couldn't beat out the Dodgers, at least not on this night.

Ramirez is batting .246 with 14 home runs this season.

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