Northern California Baseball Blog and Q&A

Paul Gutierrez
Raised in Barstow, Calif., where he played community college baseball for two years, Paul Gutierrez has worked at Sports Illustrated and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he covered his alma mater's Runnin' Rebels at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During a six-year stint at the Los Angeles Times, he co-authored Tommy Davis' "Tales from the Dodgers Dugout." He came to The Bee in October 2005 and is now a Bay Area sports features writer who concentrates on baseball during the spring and summer.

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January 10, 2008

Is Aaron Rowand the Giants' answer?

Question: Is it the offseason for reporters as well? If so, when do you report for spring training? BEFORE spring, I hope.

-Jason, Sacramento

Answer: Good one, Jason, and a Happy New Year to you and yours as well. It may seem as if I've been derelict in my duties of keeping the baseball blog current and for that, my apologies. Just been slammed with NFL stuff since the end of baseball season.

But let's get to it, shall we?

You wrote me a few weeks back ripping the Giants for being interested in trading Tim Lincecum for Alex Rios while Alex Rodriguez stayed in New York with the Yankees, Torii Hunter went to Anahem to join the Angels, Andruw Jones was signed by the new-look Dodgers of Joe Torre and the Detroit Tigers pulled a fast one on the rest of the American League by landing Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis in a trade for "a bunch of no-name prospects" from the Florida Marlins. The object of your ire was, of course, the Giants' inability to pull off the same swap.

"Why couldn't we make (Lincecum) the centerpiece of a deal for Cabrera and Dontrelle?" you asked.

Maybe because the Giants had their sights set on someone else. Someone like free agent Aaron Rowand, who starred for the past two seasons for the Philadelphia Phillies.

With the Barry Bonds Era now officially over on the banks of McCovey Cove, a relatively young Gold Glove candidate in center field in Rowand is a good place to start the rebuilding, er, reloading project. The Giants NEVER use terms like "rebuilding."

I fear, though, that Giants fans may be setting themselves up for disappointment if they think Rowand is the answer in the middle of the lineup. As reader and long-suffering Giants fan Roberto Crespo observed, "It's a bad signing if the Giants are looking for offense.

"Rowand hit only 10 of his 27 home runs on the road last season. And Philly's Citizens Bank Park is a bandbox. Plus, he had MAJOR pop (to support him) in that lineup with Ryan Howard (47 HRs), Jimmy Rollins (30) Pat Burrell (30) and Chase Utley (22). Who has pop in the Giants' lineup? Ray Ray? Happy Pete? Oh well, at least we didn't give up a young pitcher."

To the unitiated, "Ray Ray" is Ray Durham, who hit 11 homers, and "Happy Pete" is Pedro Feliz, who went deep 20 times but is still unsigned. Hey, there's always plucky Bengie Molina, who hit 19 homers. Bonds led the team with 28 dingers.

-Paul Gutierrez

Posted by Bill Bradley, January 10, 2008 11:13 AM

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