San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean isn't usually one to mince words, and during a pre-game talk with some media folk in the Giants dugout Saturday he got right to the point; the team needs more offense. Obviously this isn't breaking news, but he does say some interesting things about how he feels the rest of the season will pan out. Make the jump for some highlights of Sabean's take.
Here is a validation early in the interview where Sabean reveals his truest feelings. The Giants need an upgrade. Shocker.
-Q: Have you made the conclusion that you want to or need to upgrade the hitting in order to match up in the playoffs?
-SABEAN: I think we need to upgrade. Whether that can happen in a significant way, I'm not sure. The talent pool isn't in our favor. Having said that, I don't think there's one silver bullet, because quite frankly the line-up needs a lot of help. Might not just be one player.
Ouch. The truth can be painful sometimes, but the pain dissipates quickly when you're in first place. Now, the Giants won it last year without a huge 'upgrade' but if they can possibly do it, there's no better time then now. San Francisco doesn't get many chances to repeat as World Champions. Might as well make a push to gain an advantage.
Sabean knows a four game lead in this year's NL West is fleeting at best, and with a little more help from the offensive end the Giants could easily pad their lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks:
-Q: How much does the divisional race factor into this? If you push that lead even further, do you possibly back off of looking for a major deal this week?
-SABEAN: The one good thing in our favor, we are winning like hell at home. We are playing very well against the division.But we take Arizona very seriously. We've got a tough schedule coming up. And you know, you'd like to expand the lead. So we do pay respect to the division.You have to take care of your own business. We know they'll work hard-in their case, they're going to look for pitching. In our case, we're looking for bats.
Kirk Gibson is running those D'Backs like a well oiled machine these days, they could go on a hot streak and in a hurry. The Giants can't get ahead of themselves and think they have anything wrapped up yet. San Francisco could really do some damage with a big bat in the middle of their lineup a la Beltran, but could also get some talent elsewhere (like B.J. Upton).
Sabean goes on to mention that there are "three or four" prospects he is unwilling to trade, and that he has already done "exercises" to create a system:
It's simple. We have a definite "no-trade" list because of what we feel the quality of the prospect is or what we need to do, present or future. And then we have a number of other players that we think are good quality that we'll put in play. And most teams know that by now.
Hopefully his due diligence will pay off in the long run (or short run depending on Beltran).