So, the Giants felt short to an exciting
and young Florida Marlins team while
the Athletics for the ninth time
failed to close a playoff series.
In my humble opinion Sabean
Ball and Beane Ball needs a lot
of changes.

By Amaury Pi-GonzálezForget about the Bay Series Part
Dos. The Giants went down in
flames when J.T. Snow could
not score even with a football
tackle over Pudge Rodríguez
in Miami. The Athletics went
down in flames for the ninth
time trying to close a playoff
series (an on-going MLB record).

What do they have to do ?

THE ATHLETICS: We know that
Tejada will be gone in a
couple of months via
free agency. So, let
Kid Crosby play at short
next season. But the A’S
need help in the outfield.
Byrnes and Singleton are
your typical fourth outfielders.
If José Guillén can stay that
is fine and dandy but you
will still need more
production from the outfield.
If the A’S do not get another
outfielder then next season
they will have to pray for
Dye to get back to his
form of a couple of years
ago. Anybody that has a little
knowledge of this game knows
that Eric Byrnes and Chris
Singleton are fourth outfielders,
just like Frank Menechino is
a utility player in the infield.

The Athletics need to change
their style and play little
ball, get players than can
hit and run, steal a few
bases. Obviously the current
system is broken, Eric Chávez
who will be on his final year
of his contract next season
is not a leader and the
A’S have a huge decision
after the 2004 season of
what to do with Chávez.
Don’t you get the feeling
that Tejada plays with
so much passion that
he goes overboard and
“over focus”while
Chávez needs more
more passion? Chávez
sometimes looks like he
is “out there”. Like he
really doesn’t want it
bad…

Their pitching is their
strenght, hopefully next
season Hudson-Mulder-
Zito will all be healthy
from April until October
but they will still need
more offense.

But the most obvious
statistic that jumps out
at you is the nine consecutive
games in Playoff situations
on which the A’S could
not close the deal.
From 2000 to 2003.
Because of that, they
need an overhaul. Of
course except the starting
pitching and maybe
a couple of “adjustments”
as far as relievers is
concerned. Ken Macha
did as good as a rookie
manager could do.
Rick Peterson will
probably leave for
another team, maybe
Boston and the A’S are
going to need a new
pitching coach. You cannot
argue with Peterson’s
success with this young
A’S staff.
Billy Beane has done a
lot of good things but
keeping Terrence Long
to a long term contract
was not one of them,
I would not complaint
if T-Long is A-Dios.
Terrence Long is the
Marvin Benard of the
Athletics. A player that
was overpaid to the
tilt for his overall
production.

THE GIANTS:
Even though the A’s are
working on a nasty record
of nine consecutive Playoff
games not able to close
and advance to the second
round, the San Francisco
Giants are the closest thing
we have in the Bay Area to
the Cubs or Red Sox.

Of all our pro teams in the
Bay Area only two, the
Giants and the Sharks have
never won a Championship.
The Sharks have been in
San José for just over a
decade while the Giants
since 1958 and probably
have the most pasionate
fans in the Bay.

I will start will looking for
a real power hitter. It is
a shame that Barry Bonds
(who might have a couple
of years left) is going to
be walking 200 times
a year unless the team
gets a real power hitter
next to Bonds. Kent left
last season and nobody
really replaced the 120
RBI he consistently got
year after year. Before
Kent, Ellis Burks was the
last guy to give Bonds
some real protection.

Giants need at least
one more starting
pitcher. Sidney Ponson
should be let go. The Giants
-for once- are cultivating
young pitchers: Jerome
Williams is a good young
arm who did very well
and Joe Nathan won 12
games as a reliever more
than any other reliever in
the Major Leagues this
year. J.T. Snow is gone
as well as Benito Santiago
and José Cruz. Giants
do have a lot of work in
the winter. Rich Aurilia
might not be able to
stay, he is going to
ask for too much money
and first base might go
to young Pedro Feliz,
unless they can sign
a guy like Milwaukee’s
Jimmy Sexton.

In 2004 for the Giants
the outfield should be
Bonds in left,Grisson
in center and _______?
Vladi in right ? (That
is Vladimir Guerrero) if
Peter Magowan wants
to open his pocketbook.

Yorbit Torrealba is a much
better catcher already than
Benito Santiago.
Felix Rodríguez is an
interesting situation. I
honestly think manager
Felipe Alou really wants
to send Felix packing
out of town. I do not
thing Felix and Felipe
communicate very well
even thought they
are both from the
Dominican Republic.
I do not know If it
is a character problem,
but trust me on this one.

Why did the Giants went
with 12 pitchers during
the Playoffs? That was
a decision that came
from the top, do not
blame Alou for that.
Overall Felipe Alou
managed this team
extremely well, not
to say perfecto.

There will be more to come
I am sure but for now this
is what I see that both
teams need, Giants and
A’S if they want to win
the World Series this
decade with the systems
they have now in place.
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