Giants Sign The Big Unit

• Giants sign Randy Johnson to 1-year, $8 million contract—-MLB.com Story:

    For a team whose starting pitching is their strength and that also needs power desperately, some might question the wisdom of signing another starting pitcher; but the agreement with Randy Johnson is one of the smartest things the Giants could have done and is in no way reminiscent of their signings during the Barry Bonds years of one geriatric player after another trying to fill in the pieces around their superstar.
    Johnson only signed a one-year deal partially because he wants to get his 300th win; partially because the Giants play in close proximity to where he was born in Walnut Creek; and also because the Giants have a great chance to win in a situation where Johnson’s not going to be expected to front the rotation as a savior. Also, while this very well could be Johnson’s final year, he hasn’t said as much and appears prepared to pitch as long as his back, knees and arm hold up. Why not do it close to one’s hometown?
    With a rotation of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Johnson, Barry Zito and whoever emerges for the fifth slot (Jonathan Sanchez, Noah Lowry or one of the young pitchers they have in the low minors) will be good enough to contend in the weak NL West even as the Giants are currently constructed; if they bring in a power bat like Pat Burrell, Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu or even Manny Ramirez they’ll be well-positioned to take control of the division.
    Having already improved their bullpen with the additions of the veterans Bobby Howry and Jeremy Affeldt, the Giants signing of Johnson is in no way a similar decision to the mistakes of years past in overpaying for veterans on the downslide. Plus, it’s easy to miss how well Johnson pitched last season for the Diamondbacks. He made 30 starts; still strikes out nearly a batter an inning; was very competitive for a majority of those starts and if his numbers for 2009 are anywhere close to what they were in 2008, the Giants will get more than their money’s worth. And who knows? Johnson’s longevity and commitment may assist Barry Zito rediscovering what he’s lost and can’t help but be a good influence on the other young pitchers for the Giants.
    This is a great, short-term move for an increasingly competitive team with a respected manager in Bruce Bochy who knows how to win if he has the personnel. If the Giants get a bat, they’re going to be a force to reckon with.

• Lower that microphone to an appropriate location!

    Our pompous professor Mike Francesa was at it again yesterday talking out of his posterior as he does the service of trying to educate us. In the midst of a rant defending the Yankees spending spree, he actually made some salient points. The Yankees did spend on quality; they have thrown money around similarly in the past eight years without a title to show for it, but then he started in on his own unique brand of self-contradiction and cluelessness when negatively comparing the Yankees acquisitions of C.C. Sabathia and Mark Teixeira to other recent free agent signees of the Yankees and other teams.
    The names he ridiculed were as follows: Gil Meche, Carl Pavano, Carlos Silva and Barry Zito. For those who are unfamiliar with Francesa’s modus operandi, it’s as simple as this: according to him, he has never been overtly wrong about anything in his entire life; and if he has been wrong, it’s either conveniently forgotten or justified with several pages worth of excuses as to why he was actually right, but the result wasn’t what it should’ve been according to his expertise and expectations.
    The Meche signing by the Royals after the 2006 season was puzzling to say the least. It seemed that $55 million for an oft-injured and struggling middle-of-the-rotation guy was a bit much for a team like the Royals. One justification that I put forth was that in order to send a message to other players that the Royals were to be taken seriously, they had to overpay for a guy who was in demand to get him to join a rebuilding situation, but it’s been almost missed entirely by those who aren’t paying close attention of how good Meche has been for the Royals. In his two years with the club, he’s been an anchor in their rotation throwing 426 innings; despite having a 9-13 record in 2006, he pitched well enough to have won 16 games; and last year, he went 14-11 and with a better team, would’ve won close to 20 games. For $11 million a year in an era where pitchers are getting what amounts to at least $1 million per win, Meche has become a great value.
    As for Pavano, no one was quibbling with the signing when it happened. Had the Yankees not gotten him, the Red Sox, Mariners or Tigers would’ve been the team to make that same mistake. Pavano was coming off two straight years of 200+ innings and appeared to have found his health and his groove. In the worst case scenario, the Yankees couldn’t have expected Pavano to become such a laughingstock with his absurd injuries and disinterested behavior. With a team like the Yankees, their lineup and bullpen, had Pavano made it to the mound and been anything close to what he was in 2003 and 2004, he would’ve won 14 games each year of the contract.
    The Mariners signing of Silva turned out to be a disaster and I for one thought it was a good idea when it was completed. Silva threw strikes; gobbled innings and I expected him to benefit from the Mariners big ballpark and solid defense to win his 13 games (while losing 10-12); instead he was atrocious on the mound; distracted by the apathy and infighting in the Mariners clubhouse and got woefully out of shape. No matter how upsetting it was for Silva to go from an organized, team concept-oriented group like the Twins, he deserves a brunt of the blame for his atrocious 2008.
    Then we come to Barry Zito. Francesa sat there and spewed into the microphone (I’m paraphrasing) what a nightmare the Zito contract is; how terrible it is; how stupid it was for the Giants to give to him; but it was Francesa who predicted that the Mets were going to end up with Zito; how Zito was a consistent pitcher who’d rebound from his struggles and diminished velocity with the Athletics before he went free agent; how he was a guy who’d figure it out and be an anchor at the top of the rotation based on his durability and performance. As recently as early-season 2008, Francesa was advocating a team like the Mets take a chance on Zito in a trade to give then pitching coach Rick Peterson a chance to rejuvenate one of his prized pupils from his days with the Athletics. The self-contradiction is bordering on satire if one didn’t know Francesa and that he’s completely serious in his declarations.
    There’s no shame in being wrong; it’s no problem to ridicule in hindsight as long as adding the caveat of having personally supported a particular decision; but to dump on a series of decisions as if they were made in and of themselves with no one having critiqued them, and a guy like Francesa who adjusts his personal history to support a current series of moves and unload on moves in the past without providing context, is just embarrassing and he continues to do it time-after-time hoping that no one notices or remembers. It does not enhance one’s credibility to have never, ever been wrong about anything! The man just doesn’t understand that simple fact and apparently, never will; it just makes him look like a fool.