(Freddy Sanchez is a baseball player, and this post is about baseball. democritus, you may skip down now.)
Lots of people were pretty furious about the Freddy Sanchez-Tim Alderson trade. I was, and still am not.
1- There is no way in hell to know if a double-A pitcher will ever see the Bigs. Yes, Alderson might be our next Joe Nathan. He might also be the next Todd Linden. I don't know, Sabean doesn't know, and none of the people claiming that we should have kept him at all costs know.
2- People thought we should have gotten a bigger bat, instead of a .300 hitter. Yes, because we've done so well this decade with one big bat in the middle of an anemic lineup, and we should strive to repeat those efforts.
2.5- The Giants are a weak team with awesome pitching. And unless Sabean were to magically acquire Albert Pujols, 1997-era Ken Griffey, and 1989-era Rickey Henderson, we were going to remain a weak team with awesome pitching. Considering the dearth of available power before the deadline, it's better to accept & embrace the team we're destined to be this year, instead banking on a player with mediocre-but-good-enough-for-cleanup numbers. We need to play National League ball. Hell, behind Tim Lincecum, we beat the reigning World Champions on two sacrifice flies. And while that's not good for the health of our fingernails, it's going to be the way we win this year.
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