You ever heard of Steve Decker?

You ever heard of Steve Decker? He’s a former catcher and the manager of the Giants’ AAA Grizzlies. He’s moved up 3 straight seasons, and I have to believe there’s a good chance the Giants might have ideas of making him the big club manager at some point. Look at his winning track record. I’m all for giving Bochy the firing equivalent of “GRAB SOME PINE MEAT!” Or, grab a spot in the unemployment office. I can’t wait to see Bochy and Sabean go. I’m so sick of the “go with the veteran” mentality. It’s just bizarre. Do you think the Rays got to where they’re at right now – the best team in baseball –by going with the veteran? Heck no. How many times have we heard Bochy’s disgust at Eugenio Velez for not getting a runner over, swinging too often too early, making mistakes on defense? How many times have you heard Rowand’s name in the media from Bochy chastising his inability to take a walk, grounding out to leadoff games, striking out a million times on the same pitch and – perhaps his personal favorite – overthrowing the cutoff man when he has NO chance at throwing someone out?




Sabean and Bochy are the perfect storm for incompetence in a lot of ways. They both seem to think it’s 2001 and 37 year old players are on juice and still performing as if they were 28 and in their primes. Well, news flash, it’s not 2001. Bengie Molina is a dynamic, wonderful, slow, lazy catching, sensitive, OUT MACHINE. Rowand has one of the worst approaches at the plate that I’ve seen in my life. It’s basically to swing at anything near the plate in the hopes he doesn’t get two strikes and face the DOWN AND AWAY SLIDER. Why? Because if the pitcher executes that pitch, he’s out every … single … time.


1. Yr Team Level W L W% Finish
2. 05 Salem-Keizer Low-A 45 31 .592 2nd place- 1 GB
3. 06 Salem-Keizer Low-A 55 21 .724 1st Place- League Champion
4. 07 Salem-Keizer Low-A 57 19 .750 1st Place- League Champion
5. 08 San Jose High-A 85 55 .607 1st Place- Lost in 2nd round
6. 09 Connecticut AA 83 59 .585 1st Place- Lost in finals
7. 10 Fresno AAA 31 16 .660 1st Place – 9.5 Game Lead. Best record in PCL


On another note, have you ever heard of Brock Bond? I hadn’t until last year but I’ve been tracking him ever since. The Giants drafted him out of Mizzou in 2007 in the 24th round. Here’s the catch though, they meant to draft another player with the last name Bond. That’s right. They drafted him by accident. They get their man next pick, and THAT Bond is out of baseball.
Bond is a second baseman that isn’t incredibly athletic. From what I’ve heard, he isn’t the most outstanding infielder of all time. He doesn’t steal a lot of bases. He also has almost no power whatsoever. He has 2 HR in about 1200 minor league AB’s.
Not much of a prospect, right? Maybe so. But he won the batting title in 2009 in the Eastern League AA – a horrible hitters park. What’s more, notice his OBP over the years:


2007 - .429
2008 - .398
2009 - .429
2010 - .403


Why? He hits singles and takes walks constantly. I’d kill to have a guy like that on this team, a guy that would scratch and claw his way on the bags, avoiding an out at all costs. He has 164 walks and 176 strikeouts over those 4 seasons. He’s in a bad slump right now, hitting .194 over the past 10 games. But as I look to the right of his stats, I see that his OBP over the past 10 games is .419. Curious. Wouldn’t he be a story if given a chance? Well, Decker’s been giving him chances since the Low-A Sally league, and he may be Bond’s and the Giants’ best shot.