If a player is on a team for more than 5 years or in the MLB for 10 years than he has to agree to the trade. Durham agreed to it for a $200,000 assignment fee. I personally am sad to see Durham go, he is a really likeable guy and besides Aurillia is the longest playing Giant on the team. But he agreed to the deal, so at least he was ok with it. It’s a major sign the Giants are in a rebuilding phase and that this season is officially over. Im surprised anyone showed up this year after what they did to Barry anyways.

Rowand and Molina are low right now on the current all-star voting tally. They have done outstanding in the batting average and getting clutch hits and it can be aruged that they also deserve a spot on the all-star game.

Here is the news article:

MIAMI — At the start of the bottom of the sixth inning, when players normally take the field, Omar Vizquel found himself all alone at his position for the first time.

It was fitting, considering that Vizquel was playing in his 2,584th game at shortstop, which gave him sole possession of first place, passing Luis Aparicio on the all-time list.

In the second game of a doubleheader against the Marlins on Sunday, when Vizquel went out to short, the teleprompter at Dolphin Stadium flashed a note of congratulations, a crowd of 14,674 rose to its feet in applause and the 41-year-old shortstop mildly tipped his cap.

Then the rest of the Giants took the field and individually congratulated Vizquel, who for 20 years in the Major Leagues made playing his position an art form.

“I felt very emotional out there,” said Vizquel, who struggled at the plate, going for 0-for-7, and committed his first error of the season in the doubleheader before leaving the contest in the seventh inning of Game 2.

“My teammates didn’t want to come out, and I didn’t know what was going on,” Vizquel said. “I was very happy when they finally did.

“I just thank God he was able to keep me healthy enough to [set the record].”

Fellow Venezuelan and left-side-of-the-infield partner Jose Castillo wanted to be the first to congratulate Vizquel when he finally set the all-time record. So in the sixth, Castillo ran out and gave his fellow countryman a big hug before taking his position at third base.

“He deserves it,” Castillo said. “He’s a companion who is always there if you need him. I know he will be in the Hall of Fame one day.”

Vizquel’s 2,584 games is a lot for a 5-foot-8, 175-pound guy who is playing one of the most demanding positions in baseball.

“It’s a historic moment,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s excited, and we are, too. I’m proud of Omar, and I’m proud to say I’m here for [the record].”

But Vizquel’s career has been about a lot more than quantity. He owns 11 Gold Gloves — second only to Ozzie Smith’s 13 — and he sports a career .274 batting average. He’s also first among all shortstops who have played in more than 1,000 games with a .984 fielding percentage, and he has been a part of an all-time-leading 1,658 double plays.

On top of that, Vizquel is one of only four shortstops in history — and the only Venezuelan — to have played 20 seasons in the Major Leagues.
Super shortstops
Most career games played at short
Rank Player Games at SS
1. Omar Vizquel 2,584
2. Luis Aparicio 2,583
3. Ozzie Smith 2,511
4. Cal Ripken 2,302
5. Larry Bowa 2,222
6. Luke Appling 2,218

“I wish I could be healthier [this season] to be able to enjoy it more,” Vizquel said recently. “But at this moment, my knee and being able to play all season is most important.”

Vizquel’s record-setting year started off a bit unsettled. He missed all of Spring Training after arthroscopic left knee surgery on Feb. 27, and then sustained a bone bruise that delayed his recovery.

Since then, however, Vizquel has played in 12 of the past 13 games — starting 11 of them — and he’s hitting .275.

“I feel fortunate more than anything to have been able to stay healthy and have the talent to play for so long,” Vizquel said.

Source:MLB.com

In other news, tommorrow Vizquel will tie Luis Aparicio for most games (2,583) played at shortstop.

SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Zito calmly accepted his demotion to the bullpen Monday and vowed that he soon would rejoin the Giants’ starting rotation, although manager Bruce Bochy didn’t offer a timetable for that event.

Bochy announced the move one day after Zito’s worst performance of the season, a three-inning, eight-run outing in a 10-1 loss to Cincinnati. That dropped Zito’s record to a Major League-worst 0-6. He also owns a 7.53 ERA and a .336 opponents’ batting average, well above the respective National League averages of 4.06 and .255.

“It’s a good time to take a good, hard look at how I approach things and evaluate it,” said Zito, the American League Cy Young Award winner in 2002. “Sometimes in your life you have to make a change and adjustments.”

Pitching out of the bullpen will be an adjustment for Zito, who has started in all but one of his 262 lifetime Major League appearances. He worked a perfect inning at San Diego last Aug. 5.

“It’s part of the game,” Zito said. “I’m certainly not happy with it by any means. This is the bed that I’ve made; I can lay in it for the time being.”

The length of time Zito will spend in the bullpen remains indefinite, although a strong performance or two obviously would hasten his return to the rotation. Bochy was mostly non-committal — “We’ll watch and see how things go,” he said — although when he was asked whether Zito would miss only one turn through the rotation, he said, “Sure, that’s my hope.”

For now, Pat Misch will occupy one of the rotation’s two vacancies. The other was created by Kevin Correia’s strained muscle in his left side that has put him on the 15-day disabled list. Because of scheduled off-days, the Giants won’t need a fifth starter until May 10.

Zito, who has struggled with command and location of his deliveries, contended that neither velocity nor his pitching mechanics — which he has tinkered with frequently — is an issue.

“It’s not about stuff, it’s not about velocity, it’s about attacking the strike zone and being aggressive,” said Zito, admitting that he has strayed from that approach.

In that respect, Zito acknowledged that he needs to tweak his mental outlook.

“It’s a mind-set,” he said.

Despite his 113-82 career record, Zito experienced periods of adversity in Oakland. He was 6-7 with a 5.01 ERA through late July in 2001, began 2005 with an 0-4 record and a 6.60 ERA in April and was 1-2, 7.54 through his first three starts of 2006.
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Zito finished 11-13 with a 4.53 ERA last year for the Giants but was 3-2 with a 3.10 ERA in his final nine starts, suggesting that he had regained consistency. But his 10.31 ERA in five Spring Training starts, along with his diminished velocity, renewed doubts.

And, of course, the seven-year, $126 million contract the Giants gave Zito before last season has intensified the scrutiny upon him. But Zito scoffed at his skeptics.

“I know it’s fun to run with stories — ‘Oh, is Zito done?’ — or whatever you guys are going to say. Go say it,” he said. “But from my standpoint, it’s a bump in the road — a big bump. It’s a battle. It’s stuff that I’ve gone through, but there hasn’t been the kind of scrutiny around it because of the market or the contract.”

Bochy said that Zito, who threw 66 pitches Sunday, probably won’t be available to pitch relief until the Philadelphia series beginning Friday. Bochy indicated that Zito will be used in multiple-inning situations, as a long reliever would.

Although Zito is accustomed to taking 15 or 20 minutes to warm up before a start, he believed that he can get ready in less than half that time, as a reliever must do, as long as he throws before the game.

“It’s a new challenge and that’s good,” Zito said. “There’s a lot of growth and strength that comes out of these things.”

Source: Zito to work things out in Giants’ bullpen

I hate to publicly bash Zito’s performance as much as many other people because I like Zito as a person, he seems like a genuine good guy making an honest effort. The problem is he seems to be past his prime and Sabeane was dumb enough to sign him for that huge contract. Here is an idea, trade Zito and cut your losses and use that money to get some young offensive players and re-sign Barry Bonds!

I’m very happy to see Noah lowry has some good news, as I am a big Noah lowry fan. I hope that Noah lowry won’t have any more ongoing problems with his elbow in the future. It will be great to see Lowry rejoin Lincecum and Cain as a crucial part of the young starting rotation. Good luck Noah, we’re rooting for you!

The Giants as expected had slower opening day ticket sales. You can read more about it
here and about the new amnenities to the ballpark. I don’t think mutilating the Giants stadium with extra seats is actually going to help bring in more income. I been so upset over Barry leaving, that I decided I wasn’t going to buy tickets this year and probably not for a few years. Although they “expect” to sell 3 million tickets, I doubt they will even come close. I guess those were crocidile tears last year when Peter McGowan was talking about Bonds leaving. You can read more about what I mean here here Frankly I think the way the management threw Bonds under the bus acting like he never even played there, makes me disgusted.

I find it hard to even talk about the Giants in a positive light at all, when the management is so pathetic. But I have to remember to balance things out and remember it’s not all about management. The Giants have been making lousy managerial calls for years which has been frustrating to me, but I continued to be a Giants fan because there were other things I enjoyed. There is many young kids coming up in the Giants with talent and the Giants have the best sportscasters around ,Kruk and Kuip, which really energize a game. So despite a crappy management issue, there is games going to be played and I will continue to watch the games and be a Giants fan, but not with the same enthusiasm as in the past.

Giants Offseason news review:

Omar Vizquel - The Giants have re-signed Omar vizquel for 08 contract and a possible 09 option extension. In late february Omar Vizquel tore his medial meniscus in his knee, which he is still recovering.

Pedro feliz - The longest member of the team besides Bonds, who had been on the team since 2001 has finally moved on. He signed a contract with the Phillies. I can’t say I’ll miss him, no one could kill momentum in the offense better than him.

Aaron Rowand - This was the giants big major offensive acquisition in the offseason. Aaron Rowand who is an all star from the White sox signed a contract for $50 million over 5 years. He will be filling in as a center fielder starter, a much needed role. Bochy plans on making him the #5 batter, behind Molina.

Hennessey - With the closer role switching towards the end of last season to Wilson, it was hard to know what would happen to Hennesey. That became clearer when Hennessey was re signed for a 1 year 1.6 million contract. It appears Hennessey and possibly Wilson, will be playing the closers role once again for 08.

Lincecum / Cain - I had been hearing so many rumours during the offseason and at the end of 07 season about these two possibly getting traded. They are still with us and I’m very glad for that. These two have huge potential and are among the best pitchers in the game.

08 Season Prediction

Well I’ll be blunt, it looks pretty grim. If the Giants wanted to make the 08 season at least interesting, they would have kept Bonds. The pitching will continue to be strong, as we still have Cain and Lincecum and many of the good relievers we had last year. Offensively we got rid of Pedro Feliz, which is great, but Omar Vizquel and Ray Durham have been pretty weak offensively lately. We now have Rowand, but we Lost Bonds which means we have a net loss even in the core of the lineup from last year.

A surprise could happen with some of the younger crowd. If anything is going to happen we will have to watch closely at the younger players like Fred Lewis and Rajai Davis. After all the enthusiasm with the All-Star Game and Bonds breaking the record, the Giants could get away with a sucky season and still have enthusiasm and large crowds. But now that those are both gone, I and imagine many others won’t be too enthusiastic about the Giants a whole lot this year, once you get away from the glamour the Giants had been experiencing and see what the team is all about. Maybe we were spoiled compared to most other teams, but hey we had an opportunity to keep it going for another year, but Peter McGowan and his gang squashed that.

Bonds personal trainer was rotting in jail because the government said they needed him to get a indictment. That was a bald faced lie, since they got the indictment while he was in jail. The evidence they give in the indictment is 2 years old! What jury in San Francisco is going to put Bonds behind jail anyways.

I could care less whether Bonds used performance enhancing drugs. Major League baseball didn’t have it even outlawed until 2003 and baseball didn’t care, including Selig, until the profits arose to record highs nearing NFL levels.  They got what they wanted, baseball was booming again after the 94′ strike.  Only then could they afford to start testing for steroids. Let’s not forget the steroids were being used by pitchers too, to enhance recovery and pitching speed.

I have to say I’ve been taken off guard. It hasn’t hit me yet fully to realize Bonds won’t be in the same uniform next year. I know Peter McGowan had been hinting at things earlier in the season, but the timing and actual decision catches me by surprise. I thought management would at least wait till after the season to make a final decision. Bonds could have taken a huge paycut for all they knew. A lot of people thought that a paycut would have been a good idea, to help his image and to help the team win the championship.

This is really dissapointing. I think I’m going to become an A’s fan. At least the A’s knew which Barry to get rid of (Barry Zito).
If the Giants think they are going to change their team around to make it worthwhile, then they are fooling themselves. Who on the free agent market are they going to get? They don’t have the money to afford enough younger developing superstars to cover the Giants incredibly weak offensive lineup. It’s going to take years to build it up through the farm system. I think people hit the nail on the head, getting rid of Barry is to cover up Sabean’s past poor decisions(such as with Barry Zito) and not developing more hitters from the farm system.

So where is Bond’s future? Tough to say. There is the legality and demand issues to consider. I think Bonds has the highest chance of getting signed with the Angles or A’s as a DH. It’s hard to say though, because the A’s don’t have a big budget. Is Bonds willing to take a big cut in order to stay in the bay area?
Bonds is getting older and a lot of teams would not risk him for anything other than a DH. If the Giants don’t event want him for a non-DH role, I think its safe to say that Bonds will play in a American league team, if he plays anywhere next year.

Bonds has a lot of life left in him, his on base percentage and slugging is still among the top in the N.L. He is on pace to get 3000 hits, 2000 rbis, break the all time run record and extra base hits record, if he plays a full season next year.

If the demand in the market isn’t high enough, he might have trouble playing somewhere for decent money. I really hope Bonds goes to Oakland. Bonds did have talks in the offseason last year with the A’s, before the Giants re-signed him. The general manager of the A’s, also was once quoted as saying he’d sign anyone for the right price.

Well with this sad news, it’s time for me to say goodbye for the Giants this year. I will resume blogging next spring.  Please continue to leave comments to my blog posts, as I will still be around to “approve” them.