I can hear the faint bells of Spring Training… can you?

Updates coming soon…. I promise!

Rumors have been circulating around the possibility of San Francisco negotiating a deal before the waiver deadline this afternoon, but instead of finding a bat they’ve decided to clear out the garbage in their line-up.

The Giants have designated for assignment two of their most unproductive veterans, Miguel Tejada and Aaron Rowand. This comes after another disappointing loss to another below .500 team. While Tejada and Rowand are just a few players in a long list of guys not making the cut, they are two who have seen their playing time greatly diminished.

Tejada, who signed a $6.25M deal last off-season, lost his everyday playing job after missing 25 games with a lower abdominal strain. Even though his replacements, Mike Fontenot and Orlando Cabrera, are not any better at the plate, their range is slightly better. Tejada leaves the Giants having only batted .239 with 4 home runs and 26 runs batted in.

The release of Aaron Rowand is something that’s 

been a long time coming, for both sides. Rowand is in the 4th year of a 5year, $60M contract, but has been riding pine since the Giants acquired outfielder Carlos Beltran and allowed prized Rookie Brandon Belt to play regularly. While saying that he hasn’t helped the Giants win a few games is rubbish - he did have that fantastic catch at the wall to save Jonathan Sanchez’s no-hitter- he has failed to meet the expectations the Giants had for him.

While I am sure that the Giants clubhouse will miss these player’s greatly, their releases have made way for others to get a chance to shine. The Giants purchased the contract of outfielder/1rst baseman Brett Pill and reinstated fan favorite Pat Burrell off the Disabled List.

Pill, who has spent the season at Triple-A Fresno, will hopefully produce big numbers for San Francisco. Playing for the Grizzlies this season, Pill has compiled a .312 average, with 36 doubles, 25 homers and 107 runs batted in. He currently leads the Pacific Coast League in 5 different categories.

The Giants have been playing pretty bad as of late, and well I’m not sure that eating almost $14M on these releases is economically sound, it may be what they need to kick start their offense. After all, they did release players with hefty salaries so it’s clear they do not factor in money when it comes to whether you stay or if you go….

Unless you’re Barry Zito, cause who can afford that contract.

After lasts nights horrific loss to the Cubs, my grandfather came into my room and declared ” Those Giants aren’t worth a poop! Their season is over, I’m moving on..”

Now if there is one thing you should know about my  grandfather is that he’s a lunatic. He says the exact same thing every time the Giants lose. He seems to lose faith in the team he’s cheered for all his life, simply because he can’t understand why it is they are incapable of self improvement…

Now it’s no secret the Giants are playing horrible baseball. They don’t have a consistent power bat, their speed is limited, veterans who should be leading the squad are sulking in corners and it seems like a new person gets hurt everyday. Not to mention they cannot execute routine plays and almost everyone looks lost at the plate.

For most teams, players and coaches recognize these flaws in their game and work on fixing them. But the Giants don’t seem to do that.

The batters swing at the same bad balls, which the hitting coach should help correct. The middle infield is breaking down on every play, but it’s nothing that couldn’t be solved with extra field work.

I know these players are working hard, but sometimes you have to work a bit harder to reep the benefits. And sometimes you gotta fire or demote someone who’s not getting the job done.

Until the Giants fix all their problems -which includes the mental side of the game- they are gonna sink further and further out of contention.

But while it seems like any hope of a repeat is slowly fading away, I hope Giants fans continue to stand by their team. Things can change in a moments notice: you never know if a team your chasing suddenly hits a 10 game losing streak.

So don’t throw in the towel just yet Grandpa, there’s still plenty of baseball left for the Giants to make a comeback.