49ers: Harbaugh Defends Rookie A.J. Jenkins As Criticism Builds

Of the several offseason topics surrounding the San Francisco 49ers prior to the start of training camp, one seemed to stand out because of the criticism it took at the time the decision was made.

            The overall consensus from people in the know and in the media was that 49ers’ 2012 first-round draft pick A.J. Jenkins was struggling.

            He was struggling to adjust to the NFL atmosphere and simply could not keep up with what the 49ers were doing thus far, with most of the reports stating that he was well out of shape.

            Head coach Jim Harbaugh was quick to address that topic at Sunday’s press conference.

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San Francisco Giants: Sandoval to the DL, Scutaro’s Arrival and Burriss DFA’d

The San Francisco Giants had a bevy of moves on the agenda before Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

            As presumed, Pablo Sandoval was sent to the 15-day DL with a strained left hamstring, and Aubrey Huff was called up.

            Sandoval strained his hamstring stretching for a ball in the dirt at first base while turning a double play on Tuesday.

            “We just don’t want to go short here for a really unknown number of days,” manager Bruce Bochy said on Sandoval’s injury.  “It could be 10 days -- just aren’t sure on this one, so the best thing to do is give him his 15 days and make sure he fully recovers from the strained hamstring.”

            Bochy said Huff will get a few starts here and there but will be used primarily off the bench and in double-switch situations.

            The other news had to do with the arrival of Marco Scutaro, who the Giants picked up from the Colorado Rockies on Friday in exchange for prospect Charlie Culberson.

            The coinciding move designated Emmanuel Burris for assignment.  He is left without any options and will be looking for a new team in the coming days.

            Burris did say San Francisco was “one of my favorite cities” on his way out of the clubhouse, saying his goodbyes to his Giants teammates before San Francisco played the Dodgers on Saturday.

            “A lot of times you see players like this that once they’re out there it moves pretty quick,” Bochy said in regards to Burris possibly landing with a new team fairly soon.  “My guess is something will happen here fairly soon here with Manny.”

            He said he expects Burris to have a job by Tuesday.

            As for the move that sent Burris out of San Francisco, Scutaro will be wearing No. 19 after a quick talk with pitching coach Dave Righetti before Saturday’s game and a few minutes into his arrival into the Giants’ clubhouse.

            Bochy expects him to play primarily third base, but says he has the capabilities to play the entire infield.

            “I’m comfortable with him adjusting (at third base),” Bochy said.  “He’s a good athlete, and we’ve seen a lot of shortstops go to third base and make that transition very easily.”

            Scutaro will be batting seventh and playing third base in Saturday’s game against the Dodgers.

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Bob Melvin Sees Similarities in 2012 Oakland A’s and 2007 NL West Champion D-Backs

It is no secret the Oakland A’s have gone far above all expectations this season.  They have been arguably the biggest surprise in the MLB this season, and their walk-off win against the New York Yankees on Friday night only proved that on more of a national level.

It was the team’s 10^th walk-off win of the season, which leads the MLB.

“A lot of times you rely on you’re middle of the order guys.  Those are the guys you expect to come up big for you late in games.  But it’s been everybody,” Melvin said.  “Everybody and anybody, and sometimes guys that aren’t even in the game to start.”

The A’s are now just .5 games out of an AL wildcard spot, as well as 6.5 games behind the AL West-leading Texas Rangers.

With the team well in the hunt for an appearance in the 2012 playoffs and expectations rather low to start the season, it brought up the topic of comparisons.

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Melky Cabrera Willing To Re-Sign With San Francisco Giants

Lost in the news of the San Francisco Giants claiming ownage over the 2012 MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday night was the comments Melky Cabrera made before the game about his long-term plans for the future of his MLB career.

MLB.com's Chris Haft is reporting that Cabrera is willing to re-sign with the Giants on a long-term deal in the near future.

"I'm a free agent next year, but the Giants organization is treating me very well," Cabrera said. "So I would welcome staying with the Giants."

Cabrera currently leads the MLB in hits through the first half of the season, and the topic of re-signing with San Francisco has been on the table since he began to breakout with the Giants throughout the first half of the season.

"The [agent] knows what I want, so he'll talk to the Giants," Cabrera said.

However, the price on Cabrera may have just gone up.

After winning MVP honors in the 2012 MLB All-Star Game, the entire nation can finally take notice of what type of a season Cabrera is having.

Along with his major league-leading 119 hits, Cabrera is second in the NL in batting average (.353) and sixth in the NL in OBS.

Add those stats to the fact he was the star of the 2012 MLB All-Star Game and GM Brian Sabean will have his hands full with this one.

The presumed asking price for a player of Cabrera's caliber with a baseball career like his is around the $12 million per year range.

Baltimore Orioles' outfielder Adam Jones, a similar player to Cabrera, recently signed a six-year, $85.5 million contract extension -- $14.5 million per year.

Cabrera will most likely garner a contract of close to that amount, and $12 million per year sounds like a reasonable number at this point in the season.

As for the long-term contract that Cabrera said he wants, that is up to Sabean and the Giants.

Cabrera had a rough start to his career with the Yankees and Braves, and that may be a cause for concern when entertaining the possibility of signing him to a contract of over five years.

With the type of reputation the Giants have with long-term deals coming back to bite them, it may be smart to commit to Cabrera, but only for two to three years.

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San Francisco Giants: Bochy Will Not Skip Tim Lincecum's Next Start

Just minutes after the San Francisco Giants were blown out by the MLB's first-half surprise team the Pittsburgh Pirates, 13-2, Giants manager Bruce Bochy made it clear there would be no changes to the team's regularly scheduled starting rotation.


Tim Lincecum, who gave up seven hits and six earned runs in just 3.1 innings pitched on Sunday, has had back-to-back rough starts to go with an already tumultuous first half of the season.  The expected result from it was that the team would initiate changes for Lincecum in the second half of the season.

Bochy quickly ixnayed any thought of that occurring.

“No,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “No chance. We’ll throw him back out there.”

So Lincecum will appear in his next start for the Giants in the second half of the season.

“He has to regroup and we need him,” Bochy said. “He’ll be determined to turn this around.”

The presumed hope for Bochy and the Giants here is that Lincecum can get a few days off for the All-Star break, gather himself and figure out what is wrong in time to help the Giants make a playoff run.

Other options for the Giants in the second half of the season include giving current reliever Brad Penny a few starts, or lowering Lincecum in the starting rotation from the No. 1 spot he currently has.

The trick there is avoiding Lincecum and Barry Zito pitching in back-to-back days.

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Tim Lincecum: Where Do the San Francisco Giants Go From Here?

Tim Lincecum gave up seven hits and six earned runs in 3.1 innings pitched on Sunday in Pittsburgh.  Bruce Bochy and the San Francisco Giants now have some decisions to make heading into the second half the season.


After finishing the first half of the season with a rough roadtrip through the east coast heat, the Giants will take their 2-7 record through their final nine games into the All-Star break thinking what could have been?

For Lincecum -- just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.

Lincecum will start the second half of the season with 10 losses --  the most by a Giants starting pitcher since Barry Zito went 4-12 in the first half of the 2008 season.

However, the obvious question was already answered just minutes after the Giants were blown out by the surprising Pirates.

Bochy said he will continue to make Lincecum a part of the starting rotation and will not skip his next start.

“No,” Bochy said. “No chance. We’ll throw him back out there. He has to regroup and we need him. He’ll be determined to turn this around.”

At this point, the Giants are hoping that a few days off for the All-Star break will give Lincecum a chance to gather himself, figure out what is wrong and start the second half of the season on a new note.

It is the only option the team has right now if they are going to keep him in this starting rotation.

However, the team does have other options.

Brad Penny is a viable option for the Giants if they plan on leaning in the direction of giving Lincecum some time off.

He has pitched a total of 5.1 innings for San Francisco since he was picked up by the team.  He has allowed just two hits in that time and it would not hurt to give him a chance at proving he can still start in this league.

The San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman even admitted to change being a good thing for Lincecum and the ball club via Twitter.

"You guys know I'm not a big lover of WAR, but even without numbers I know Gs can do better w/ any starter from Fresno replacing Lincecum."

It would have been nice for Lincecum to head into the All-Star break with a good start and have something to build on, but he is simply not at that level yet.  His fastball is barely eclipsing the 90 MPH mark, and the location has not been there the entire season.


He is currently the weak link of a starting rotation that was one of the best just a few weeks ago when they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers without allowing a run in the series.


Now, the Giants are seemingly a few starts away from benching a two-time Cy Young winner.


Bochy has given Lincecum a second chance by allowing him to appear in his next scheduled start, but realistically seeing him regain whatever form he once had is very far off in the distance at this point.

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2012 MLB All-Star Game: Bud Selig Calls San Francisco Giants Vote Totals "Part of the Process"

Pablo Sandoval does not deserve to be the starting third baseman for the National League in the 2012 MLB All-Star Game, and Freddy Sanchez certainly does not belong in the top-5 in NL voting for second basemen.

The epicenter of baseball fandom has been taken over by San Francisco Giants fans, and this past week  only proves that even more.


The Giants will be sending Matt Cain, Buster Posey, Melky Cabrera and Sandoval to the All-Star Game next week.  Posey, Cabrera and Sandoval will all be starting, and Cain still has the possibility to do the same.

Even Ryan Vogelsong and Madison Bumgarner still have chances of making the NL team if injuries happen to overwhelm the National League pitchers.

However, Giants fans have been bashed since the revealing of the final voting tallies for the starting players in this year's All-Star Game.  That bashing is based on the "ballot-stuffing" that was performed by San Francisco's fans over the past week in the form of Sandoval starting at third base over David Wright and Freddy Sanchez getting any votes at all.

To note:  Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford also finished second in the voting for first base and shortstop in the National League.

Stan McNeal of The Sporting News is reporting MLB commissioner Bud Selig said Sandoval starting and other surprising vote totals are simply "part of the process."

Giants fans knew the system and used it to their advantage.

We should not be surprised, though.  AT&T Park is sold out every single night and continues to be one of the best experiences sport has to offer.  


The fact is that the Giants have a large fanbase that has seemed to grow ever since their 2010 World Series victory.


We should be least surprised by the voting totals of Sandoval.  His nickname of the "Panda" has become a phenomenon in the Bay Area and beyond.  It is an obvious reason as to why he received so many votes despite a stint on the disabled list and much less of a year than Wright of the Mets.


However, not everything is good about fandom taking over so heavily.

Freddy Sanchez has not played in an MLB game in over a year, yet receives the fourth most votes of any second baseman in the National League.

For that, Giants fans should be embarrassed, but it just goes to show the strength of this fanbase and the team at the moment.  Other ballclubs' fans had the opportunity to do the same, yet San Francisco's fans stand out for caring too much about their team.

That's a ballclub other players want to play for.

It does not sound like the system of voting in the All-Star Game is going to change, with Selig's response to the Giants fans undying support of their team in the ballot box.  However, it could use some tweaking.

Until then, San Francisco will keep stuffing that ballot box.

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