Marty Lurie Talks San Francisco Giants Baseball
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Schmidt,Morris,Cain,Lowry, not bad for starters…


If the Giants can acquire ex Cardinals Matt Morris they figure to have a very decent starting rotation in the not very decent National League West.

By Amaury Pi-GonzálezLet’s see, Jason Schmidt is staying with the
Giants, they get Matt Morris for a #2 starter
and they still have two of the youngest and most
promising starters in baseball, for #3 Matt Cain
and for #4 lefty Noah Lowry.

The Giants also got stronger in the bullpen with
the acquisitions of Tim Worell and Steve Kline
and all-of-a-sudden, Felipe Alou is hoping for
a healthy Barry Bonds in his lineup and the
Giants seem to be stronger again in the
weakest division in all of baseball.

If the Giants can report to Spring Training
healthy with these four starters(the fifth started
to be determined) they have a great shot at
the division title.

Maybe the most intriguing pitcher is young Matt
Cain, who was the Giants first round pick(25th
selection overall)in 2002 First-Year Player Draft.
In 7 starts with the Giants in his first Major League
season in 2005 Cain was 2-1 with a 2.23 ERA.
This young (21)phenom finished 2005 at Triple
A Fresno 10-5 in 26 games he started with a
total of 176 strike outs.This total of 176 strikeouts
put him 7th in all of minor league baseball
during 2005. Matt Cain is a rare find a young
pitcher than is not afraid to throw inside with
speed and great control. Only Seattle’s Félix
Hernández at 20 is younger in all of baseball.
As a matter of fact I believe I have seen the
best two young pitchers in baseball last
year, Félix Hernández in Seattle and Matt
Cain in San Francisco.

Noah Lowry has become the new lefty from
the start of a season that will replace
( the once consistent Kirk Rueter).
Lowry had a workout in ’05 pitching a total
of 204 2/3 innings as he started 33 games
for the team and finishing 13-13. Back in
2004 Lowry finished 6-0 with the Giants
with a 3.82 showing that he is definetely a
Major League pitcher.
Rueter was basically a 500 pitcher and Lowry
figures to be an above 500 pitcher in the
rotation.
The Giants finished 12th in pitching (there
are 16 teams in the National League)only
Arizona,Pittsburgh,Colorado and Cincinnati
finished below the Giants. Matt Morris would
be a key ingredient since starting pitching
still – is one of the best formulas to win your
division and league. All you have to see is
the overall stats for pitching in the 2005
season, the St Louis Cardinals had the
second best pitching (Houston was #1)
and the Cardinals starters led the league
in complete games with 15.

As far as the bullpen, the Giants finished in
the middle of the pack in ’05 (seventh to be
exact)with a 4.00 ERA. But you have to
remember that the Giants bullpen was
basically the whole season without the
services of Armando Benítez their closer.
Still Felipe Alou had his relievers save a
total of 46 games, that was 3rd best in the
National League.

There is a reason why Brian Sabean is going
all out trying to sign Matt Morris, he knows
that Morris could make the Giants an instant
contender and solidify a rotation that would be
half veterans and half youngsters with a solid
and experienced bullpen.

The Giants were 7th in total runs scored in the
league with 649 runs, they score enough to
win but their pitching was not up-to-par and
after all, it is pitching that is going to take you
to October. If you want to know who scored the
most in the NL in ’05, here it is: Cincinnati scored
820 runs, the closest team Philadelphia 807,
yet Cincinnati was last in pitching with a combined
5.15 ERA and the Reds finished 27 games out
of first place. I do not like Billy Beane style of
baseball, the not sacrificing and stuff like that but
I do agree with the A’S GM that “you never have
enough pitching”. It would be wise for the
Giants to give Morris the $27 or $30 million
contract and have him as the #2 starter in
their rotation. Morris is a work horse a proven
winner and should fit perfectly behind Jason
Schmidt.

With the departure of J.T. Snow the Giants loose
some defense (they were #3 in defense in
2005) behind Atlanta #1 and Houston #2.
So the defense lost something but not much
with Hall of Fame and 10th time Gold Glove
winner Omar Vizquel and Mike Matheny behind
the plate. Nobody in the history of both Bay
Area teams have won 10 Gold Gloves at
shortstop, Omar Vizquel is the best fielding
shortstop ever to have play by the Bay and
one of the best ever in baseball.

The Winter Meetings in Dallas concluded and
Brian Sabean did a few things but the most
important would be the acquisition of veteran
right handed starter Matt Morris. At the time
I am writing this column Morris agent said that
his client had reduced the list to two teams
and one was the Giants.

I know a lot of Giants fans are not very happy
that Saben has not done “a lot”during this
winter, but in this division you do not have to
turn the world upside down to be a contender
and the Giants should be a contender specially
if they get Matt Morris.

Adios.

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