I truly think Eli Whiteside deserves to be a backup Major League catcher because of how well he works with Jonathan Sanchez. With that, trading Eli means trading Sanchez as well, so Sanchez can dominate in the Majors rather than lose his confidence working with Bengie Molina and Buster Posey. What do you think? I just thought of a trade:
Mariners get: Jonathan Sanchez, Eli Whiteside
Giants get: Dustin Ackley
If I were running the San Francisco Giants, I would offer this trade proposal to the Seattle Mariners right now. With this trade being made, here is the Giants’ projected starting rotation:
Lincecum, Zito, Cain, Bumgarner (who seems to be finding his velocity), Wellemeyer
Long relief: Kevin Pucetas or Joe Martinez (who is finding his velocity as well)
Catchers in 2011:
Buster Posey
Backup catcher: Steve Holm
I know that Jonathan Sanchez is dominant when at the top of his game, but I simply just do not trust Jonathan Sanchez to start in the playoffs. Lincecum, Zito, and Cain are fine as the three-man rotation to carry the Giants in the playoffs, I believe, and Sanchez probably would not start even if he was not traded. Why? Because he would be under pressure, he has never pitched in the playoffs before, and he would lose his confidence. What if he had just one bad game in the second half? It would be a blow to his confidence. That is how I think he still is.
Also, the Giants are getting Dustin Ackley, who can play center field. After the contracts of Mark DeRosa and Freddy Sanchez expire, it would give the Giants trade options on whether or not they want to trade Aaron Rowand, or perhaps play Ackley at second base and give Bowker, Schierholtz, Velez, and perhaps Torres a chance in the outfield. When the 2012 season is done, if the Giants cannot afford anyone, trade Tim Lincecum (they are going to have no choice but to do it because they have just about no chance of re-signing him) for big time prospects who the Giants can build their team around along with Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner, Dustin Ackley, Zack Wheeler, Matt Cain, Pablo Sandoval, and Brian Wilson.
This trade would help the Mariners as well because it would give them a scary-good starting rotation once Cliff Lee and Erik Bedard are healthy again.
Felix Hernandez, Cliff Lee, Erik Bedard, Jonathan Sanchez, Ian Snell (or Ryan Rowland-Smith)