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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 2008 | Northern California Baseball Blog and Q&A front page

February 15, 2008

Deals between A's and Giants are rare

Question: When was the last time the Giants and A's made a trade together? It seems like they could/should work a little more closely together. How about Chavez to the Giants to shore up 3B and give a little help with power.

-Sean H., Sacramento

Answer: Great question, Sean, though methinks the Giants and A's prefer to ignore the very existence of one another rather than work together for their common good. In any event, the last time the Bay Area teams were trade partners was way back on Dec. 4, 1990, when the Giants acquired then-rookie outfielder Darren Lewis, who would win a Gold Glove for San Francisco in 1994, and the ubiquitous "player-to-be-named-later" for infielder Ernest Riles. The player-to-be-named turned out to be Pedro Pena.

As far as Chavez to San Francisco, I'm definitely down with that idea. I think Chavez, who his coming off three offseason surgeries and has not truly carried the A's offensively since Miguel Tejada left, is in dire need of new surroundings. He'd give the Giants a Gold Glove presence at the hot corner - he already has six Gold Gloves - and if healthy and right mentally, would give them pop in the lineup as well.

As I've written before, though, a huge holdup is that Chavez is still owed big bank - $34 million over the next three years - and no doubt Billy Beane would want some of the Giants' pitching in return.

Don't hold your breath.

- Paul Gutierrez

Question: Hey Paul!!! I'm a big Giants fan, also fairly new to it all. In today's article () you said that Bengie would be batting "cleanup". What exactly does this mean? Additionally, I don't understand the idea of and workings of salary arbitration in baseball. Can you help, PLEASE? I'm SO very excited that the season's almost here. I was thrilled today to find all the coverage (even if half of it was dedicated to the A's). Question #5 on the A's side is a BEAUTIFUL one: Why root for these guys?" Good stuff! Thanks!

- Peter

Answer: Hey, Peter, welcome to baseball fandom. There's always room for another seamhead, and thanks for the props on the 5 Questions feature that ran Wednesday in The Bee.

Batting "cleanup" in baseball parlance simply means batting fourth in the lineup. According to "The NEW Dickson Baseball Dictionary," a cleanup hitter is "the player who bats in the fourth position in the batting order, usually reserved for a player with a high batting average and the ability to drive in runs with extra-base hits. The assumption is that he is most likely to get a hit that will score any or all of the preceding players who have reached base, thus 'cleaning' or 'clearing' the bases or baserunners."

Bengie Molina, while a clutch hitter, is far from the prototypical slugger.

Salary arbitration works the way it sounds - if an arbitration-eligible player thinks he deserves a raise and his club does not want to pay him as much has he's requesting, the case goes to an arbitrator for a final decision. It can get awkward and bruise some egos.

You can check out www.mlbplayers.com for more detailed information; click on the FAQ link under the MLBPA button on the home page.

- Paul Gutierrez

Question: We're just a few weeks away from the start of the baseball season, and I haven't heard anything yet regarding the A's or Giants TV schedules except that Channel 11 (the Giants' new Bay Area TV home) has a 20-game regular-season schedule planned. Have you heard anything else regarding how many games FSN (for both teams) or Channel 36 (for the A's) might carry? Thanks for your help.

- Marc Atwood, Chico

Answer: Keep an eye on each team's Web Site, Marc, for the most up-to-date info.

For the A's, go to

For the Giants, click on

Unfortunately, the schedules have not been updated yet to reflect which games will be broadcast, and on which channel, but I do know the A's home opener against the Boston Red Sox on April 1 will be on FSN Bay Area, with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. and Game 2 against Boston on TV36 at 7:05.

The Giants' opening series at Dodger Stadium, meanwhile, will see the season opener broadcast on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area at 1:10 p.m. on March 31, the second game the next night on NBC 11 at 7:10 and the series finale on April 2 on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area at 7:10.

-Paul Gutierrez

Posted by Brian Blomster at 09:20 AM | Comments

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 at 03:11 PM | Comments

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