And I agree Wheeler has more upside. J. Uribe actually has a better UZR at 2B than Sanchez this year, but that’s such a small sample size, it’s probably a fluke. But I just really, really hope Sanchez can return to health, which is a big reason why I’m so worried. And it’s extra frustrating seeing the F. Lopez and C. Lee deals. And SF still deploys the worst cleanup hitter in the past 50 years of major league baseball.

My secondary reaction was confusion.

After sleeping on it, I feel better about the deal and here’s why…Alderson is destined for the bullpen at the ML level. After 2+ seasons in the Giants organization he still cannot figure out how to throw out of the wind-up. His delivery is awkward and stiff resulting in a loss of velocity (avg. velocity in 2009 is 88mph). Alderson only threw out of the stretch throughout high school and is continuously tinkering with his wind-up motion. The kid relies on control and a big breaking ball, while still working on developing a change-up, which is possibly the toughest pitch to master for a pitcher. At 20 years old he is at an advanced level (AA), but this trade cannot be properly evaluated for several years.

In addition, Sabean has a pretty solid track record for trading pitchers. Remember Kurt Ainsworth? Ryan Vogelsong? Or how about Jesse Foppert? Foppert, the #1 prospect in baseball and the greatest prospect the Giants ever had in there system until Sir Madison Bumgarner? Where is Foppert now? There is no such thing as a can’t miss prospect, especially at 20 yrs old. Bottomline, Alderson is not a “once in a decade” pitching prospect, Bumgarner is, and fancy this, Zach Wheeler has more upside and potential than Alderson ever did. Once the Giants sign Wheeler, their 2009 1st round pick, he would have passed Alderson on the organizational prospect list anyway.

Alderson was nice, but Freddy Sanchez is nicer. Especially considering Rentaria is DL bound, shifting Uribe to SS. Say the trade wasn’t made, would the Giants even have a playoff chance with Frandsen or Velez manning 2B? I doubt it. Sanchez is a 3 time All-Star, albeit on the Pirates (the beneficiary of one All-Star representitve from each team), but he won a batting title and plays gold glove defense. Losing Ishikawa’s glove due to the Garko trade hurts, but putting Sanchez at 2B negates the lack of glove at 1B. With a team built around pitching, defense is stressed at a greater rate.

Check out Keith Law’s analysis of Alderson here…http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4365281&name=law_keith

It’s an ESPN insider article, if you need my user/password let me know…it’s a good read.

Just my 2 cents.

Uribe – .284/.314/.431

Sanchez – .296/.334/.442