Sports Radio Service


		Michael Duca's A's and Giants Q&A By Michael Duca April 6, 2009

	Sportstalk: Michael the Giants are coming into opening day with a home stand, their offense is suspect, their infield on defense can be questionable, and their relief staff other than Brian Wilson is suspect. Would you assess this team along those lines? It's hard to assess, because the Giants don't play their home games in Scottsdale...but while they were down there, they had the best hitting team in baseball. Of course, that's not going to last, but I can see big years coming from Pablo Sandoval, Fred Lewis, and possibly Emmanuel Burriss (any contribution there is a plus). Renteria's defense is more than suspect, it's poor, but Sandoval has looked more than adequate at third, Ishikawa is inspiring comparisons to a young JT Snow, and Burriss is a solid defender. The relief staff...again, you have to see guys pitch under game conditions at home, not in Arizona. Jeremy Affeldt pitched very well, even in Colorado. Bob Howry is the sort of veteran who knows how to pitch, and get out of situations. Hinshaw pitched very well all spring, as did Brandon Medders -- probably better than he can sustain over a season. Sportstalk: In a recent interview Giants team president Larry Baer said that the team will not consider any re-negotiating regarding territorial rights to allow the A's to move to San Jose. While the Giants position is no surprise, don't you see MLB and Bud Selig forcing the Giants to forfeit their rights to allow an A's South Bay move? It's not up to MLB or Bud Selig. It requires a vote of 3/4 of the owners, which means 23 owners. Only seven have to vote to block to keep the rights as they are, and you know the Giants will vote that way, so only six other teams have to support them. The Mets and Yankees probably would, since baseball has spoken repeatedly about putting a third team in New York, which they would not want. It might be tough for Billy Neukom, because he's not that well known there, but remember, he was the President of the American Bar Association just last year, so I'm betting he knows every team lawyer well...and they often have a lot of influence. All that being said, the Orioles were well-compensated for surrendering the Washington territory...and the Giants just bought into the San Jose franchise, which established a market price for the franchise and helps establish a compensation for the displacement of that team, also, which adds to the price of poker for Uncle Lew. I don't think that any bond issue, or any mortgage, will cover the compensation for territorial rights, so the big blind just to look at the cards is pretty high in San Jose. Sportstalk: Orlando Cabrera the A's new shortstop acquisition has been noted for questioning official scorers when he played in Chicago. Cabbie was noted for asking about errors on calls the he thought should have been ruled hits while playing at short and the like made by the scorers. Most of our viewers and radio listeners are aware you're an official scorer at A's home games. How would you handle an Orlando Cabrera skirmish? I wouldn't characterize it as a "skirmish", just as a question to be answered. I will handle it the same way I handle all such questions -- with respect for the game. It's not important that I am right, or that the player is right -- it's important to GET IT right, in the long run. Sometimes, that involves a scorer changing his ruling, and sometimes, it does not. The best that can be expected of a scorer is that he is consistent and scores similar plays similarly, game in and game out. We'll see how things develop, but I don't anticipate any problems with Cabrera this season.