San Francisco Giants

After being released by both the Tigers and Diamondbacks already this season, the San Francisco Giants have given Dontrelle Willis another chance, signing him to a minor league deal today .

Alameda native Dontrelle Willis has signed a minor league contract to try to resurrect his career with the San Francisco Giants organization.

The 28-year-old attended Encinal High School, then exploded onto the big league scene as a star left-handed starter for the Florida Marlins. After signing a lucrative, long-term contract, Willis lost his his stuff and his ability to throw strikes.

It was just announced the Giants signed lefty Dontrelle Willis to play for their AAA team, the Fresno Grizzlies.  While the adult in me thinks Dontrelle’s arm is shot, the kid in me loves this move.

I’ve always been a big fan of Dontrelle.  He’s from Oakland, just across the Bay from San Fran, and I just liked everything about him as a player.

The San Francisco Giants need a big bat to make a big run at a National League playoff berth.

Guess what?

They don't need to trade starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez (whose still got a 75 percent chance of being a productive big league winner) to get outfielder Corey Hart (who'd come with 50-50 odds that his offensive numbers would diminish in the move from Milwaukee's cavernous Miller Park to San Francisco's cavernous AT&T Park).

The MLB All-Star Lineup has garnered a variety of reactions, ranging from cheers and sighs of relief to whimpers and shrieks of disbelief.

When the 2010 MLB All-Star lineups were released, there were undoubtedly as many elated fans as there were bitter fans.

No matter where the stadium is located, fans maintain an unceasing allegiance to their favorite teams and players.

Being chosen to play in the All-Star game represents the ultimate recognition that fans, coaches, and players alike have observed, reveled in, and appreciated every moment of a player's season thus far.

It was a game that was meaningless in the standings, but it was a game that established a record that will never, ever be broken.

Russ Springer was on the mound for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Barry Bonds was the batter.

Bruce Bochy isn't the worst manager in San Francisco Giants history.

That designation is reserved for a man most modern day fans have never heard of, who was scouting for the club when a mid-season manager's change suddenly put him in control.

Where Bochy ranks among the best to manage the Giants in San Francisco is open for debate.

Giants beat writer Henry Schulman wrote a piece suggesting that an Aaron Rowand for Carlos Zambrano trade with the Cubs would make sense for both clubs if the future contract obligations could be worked out.  It sounds like a textbook case of wishful thinking to me, because the Cubs would be damned fools to trade Zambrano for Rowand.

The San Francisco Giants lost to the Colorado Rockies in 15 innings on Independence Day to fall further back in the NL West and NL wild-card race.

Since frustrated fans have run out of cockeyed ways to fix the lineup or the pitching staff, firing manager Bruce Bochy is now their solution to all of the club’s problems.

Fair enough.

Bruce Bochy hasn't done anything differently from the San Francisco Giants' fast start in April to the roller-coaster ride that got them spiraling downward in a seven-game losing streak.

Bochy didn't make Tim Lincecum, oddly, less dominating. The manager didn't have anything to do with Pablo Sandoval's struggle at the plate. The bullpen many like to insist he mismanages really just isn't very good.

There's no reason to fire Bochy, unless you believe in momentum and chemistry and "shaking things up in the clubhouse."