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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February 02, 2008

How does Joe C. rate with Happy Pete?

Question: Curious if you could compare a healthy Joe Crede to Pedro Feliz. There are a lot of rumors that if Crede is healthy in spring training the giants will make a move for him by either dealing Hennessey or Lowry. What do you think of either of those for Crede?

-Larry T., Lincoln.

Answer: No doubt a healthy Joe Crede would fill a huge void for the Giants at third base, what with Pedro Feliz having signed a free-agent contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. At 6-feet-2, 230 pounds, Crede, who turns 30 on April 26, is bigger than the 6-1, 208-pound Feliz, and three years younger, to boot. The Crede of 2006, when he threatened to wrest the American League Gold Glove at the hot corner from the A's Eric Chavez and had career highs in homers (30) and RBI (94) while batting .283, would be a sick acquisition for the Giants. Feliz's career best numbers are .276 (in 2004), 22 homers (in 2004 and 2006) and 98 RBI (in 2006). Feliz has also averaged 92.3 strikeouts since 2004, compared to the 68.3 K's Crede has averaged in his last three full seasons.

Now if the Giants were merely a player or two away from contending in the N.L. West, instead of at the start of a massive rebuilding project, it would probably be a great idea for the Giants to trade the likes of Brad Hennessey or Noah Lowry to the White Sox to secure the services of Crede.

But the way the youth-movement Giants are built, on the back of a young and filthy pitching staff, I don't see how trading away a pitcher or two helps in the long run. Especially not with Crede a free agent after this season (he signed a one-year, $5.1-million contract to avoid arbitration on Jan. 17).

But what about this? What if the Giants took a look at another stellar third baseman coming off an injury-plagued year, one that resides just across the Bay? Chavez and his six Gold Gloves just might benefit mightily from a simple change of scenery. He is still owed big money, though, $34 million over the next three years, and you know Tradin' Billy Beane would ransack the Giants' minor league system in such a swap.

On second thought, never mind.

-Paul Gutierrez

Question: What will it take for the Cubs to get over the hump and win a championship?

-Bob Murray, Las Vegas

Answer: To tell you the truth, I thought the Cubbies were finally going to break through last year and face the Red Sox in the World Series. Then I would have cashed out my 401(k) because a Fall Classic between those two would have surely meant the apocalypse was near. The Cubbies' role as Loveable Losers has been even more painful of late with their star-crossed rivals - the Red Sox - crosstown rivals - the White Sox - and geographic rivals - the St. Louis Cardinals - winning each of the past four World Series.

Pitching, injuries and karma are the keys for the Cubs ending their 100-year championship drought as their starting rotation of Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Rich Hill and Jon Lieber is solid if not spectacular. The unrealized potential of Mark Prior and Kerry Wood will never be realized at Wrigley Field now that Prior is with the San Diego Padres and Wood is making the transformation to closer.

Hey, if all else fails, maybe the Cubs need to pay homage to the supernatural and have a Bring Your Billygoat to the Park Day. You know, to end the curse.

-Paul Gutierrez

Posted by Bill Bradley, February 2, 2008 03:11 PM

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