You're the GM! Giants Edition
Not a great year in San Francisco. You're only five games out, which seems respectable until you remember that the first place team is ONE game over .500. Having your best player on the DL most of the season didn't help of course, but even so you shouldn't be too happy about the way things have gone.
Planning for '06, let's take a look at your position players. Bonds is Bonds, still the best hitter in baseball, assuming he's healthy, but he may retire after next year. Alou can still hit, but is an age and health risk. Durham is solid and should remain so. Vizquel is fading offensively. Corner players Feliz, Snow, Niekro, and Alfonzo all have significant weaknesses. Randy Winn is good. What are your plans to boost the hitting attack?
On the pitching side, you have a very good starter in Noah Lowry. Jason Schmidt can be overpowering but is erratic. Brett Tomko is, well, Brett Tomko, brilliant at times but certainly not someone you can count on for consistent above-average performance. Kirk Rueter? Blech. Do you trust Hennessey and Correia as full-time starters? Is Matt Cain ready to start next year?
The bullpen is as problematic as the rotation. Hawkins and Benitez are hardly stalwarts of consistency. Eyre and Munter did good work in middle relief. Can they handle larger roles?
Basically, this team has some talent, but is extremely dependent on Barry Bonds, and much of the supporting cast is aging and/or inconsistent. How competitive do you think you will be in '06? Who is on the trade block? What are you looking for in terms of free agents? And what are you going to do with the farm system?
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