GIANTS ROOKIE - ALEX HINSHAW

1 month ago: San Francisco Giants pitcher Alex Hinshaw makes his major league debut and throws against Houston Astros' Michael Bourn during the eighth inning of their baseball game in San Francisco, Thursday, May 15, 2008. Houston won the game 8-7.


Maybe it's just me but does this guy look like a left-handed version of Tim Lincecum?

Hinshaw has that sort of wiry build that Lincecum brings, so maybe I'm just looking for lightning to strike twice. He's a 6-4, 190 left-hander from San Diego State and was the Giants 15th round pick in 2005. Generally, his K/IP number is over 1.0 and his WHIP is ~1.0. He had 50 K's and allowed 22 H and 19 BB in 41.1 IP in Class AA ball this year with a .155 AVG against so he appeared to dominate hitters there.
We'll have to see if that translates to the bigs.

In the real world, the Giants rotation would be Cain, Lincecum, Sanchez, Correia and Hinshaw. But since the Giants management does not have the stones that the Tigers and Jim Leyland have demonstrated, we get the Big Zit in the rotation every fifth day.

The Tigers, by contrast, were willing to send an effective, out of shape Dontrelle Willis down to Class-A ball instead continuing to let him stink up the joint at the major league level.

I'd rather see the kids play at this point, just so we have an idea of what the future holds. A decision needs to be made on Noah Lowry once he comes off the DL as well. Lowry was frequently mentioned in trade discussions, that may change once he comes back unless he can show anything near his old form.

There are a plethora of prospects for the Giants who either are around or past 25 years old, some of whom are still toiling in AA ball. The team really needs to find out what these guys can do, it's time to fish or cut bait. We'll take a look at some of these guys and the overall state of the Giants farm system in the weeks to come.

A major deal or free-agent signing is doubtful in the next couple of years given the Giants current roster, the farm system is the only way this team will advance.

Durham, Winn, Aurilia maybe Molina in a year or so should be out, the fruits of the last couple of drafts, needs to be mixed in.
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RAYS UPDATE:

I found the statistical breakdown I was looking for the other day when I asked if the Rays were for real. The Rays record vs. the presumptive AL contenders are as follows:

BOS 3-6
NYY 5-5
LAA 4-2
OAK 2-1
CWS 4-3
MIN 1-1

That's 19-18 overall, they have not played CLE or DET to date. Add in 8-3 vs. BAL, 5-1 vs. TOR and 4-2 vs. TEX and you have a pretty good record vs. their peers.