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Hello all as I'm writing this Randy Winn just swung threw a Jake Peavy fastball for strike three. I'm displeased to announce I'm not publishing my article "How Ned Colleti" ruined the dodgers yet because I want to give myself enough time to do a job that makes the Dodgers organization look like well.....dare I say the Pirates? Without further ado I'm launching a new feature. For now on whenever Giants beat writer Chris Haft does a mailbag of questions I will answer the same questions. A to show I could do a better job and B I feel like it. I'm going to avoid dumb questions however such as what's Omar Visquel's future as a manager because frankly it's boring. Without further ado we have our first question!: 

To Summarize Duncan's question (who lives in San Francisco) will Barry Zito win 15 games?

Hello Duncan and thank you for submitting this question, the honest answer no. However I am somewhat optimistic about Zito going forward. In thursday bights start against LA he was sitting 87-89 for the vast majority of the game following a second inning walk of Casey Blake I believe he just constantly started throwing harder which also makes a world of difference because it distinguishes an actual gap or difference between his fastball and changeup. He was also able to find the strike zone constantly with his curve. Yes, the man had an era of ten but there are some very promising signs for one he has a ration of 8 k's per nine innings. And hitters on the young season are hitting an artifically high .365 off of him on balls in play.  For reference the major league average is .297. Another thing that is very encouraging is that he has a 46% ground ball rate so he is generally keeping the ball on the ground. Albeit a very small sample size. Going forward I would say Zito will pitch like more of a four starter than a 5th starter/long reliever but if the velocity bump is for real he could realistically put up an era under 4.2 in my opinion. 

Mike From Murphysboro Illinois wants my opinion on the possibility of seeing Madison Bumgarner  in the french vanilla at some point this year. Well Mike unlike our previous guest I would say there is a decent chance at seeing the lanky lefty gracing the mound at our beloved AT&T in my estimation he will be in double by the end of may early June give or take. I could see him coming up whether or not the Giants are in contention either to give him a glimpse of the majors if there in the cellar. Or to use him out of the pen if they are in contention similar to what the Devil Rays did with David Price last September (not saying he will have the same effect)

Well it looks like we have time for one more question......we turn to the locals where Chris from San Fran looks to beat a dead horse once again. Chris wants to know if I think we should trade Matt Cain given our staple of pitching at the major league level and soon to high minors. Well Chris once again given the time and circumstances I'm not sure why you would trade Matt Cain right now sure if offered Hanley Ramirez I would in a second but thats a pipe dream. I think we should keep the strength of our team intact especially since there all under team control the next three plus seasons. I would be more open to this if Bumgarner and Alderson established themselves at the big league level but thats at least two years away. (Not from being in the majors but making a firm impact) So it's premature to trade Cain because of their presence at the same token I'm we have a decent amount of positional talent in the organization that is only a year away in some cases. I think the best thing to do would be to stand pat with our talent. 

What Ned Colleti Has Done To The Dodgers

As I'm writing this I'm watching our very Giants down 3-2 in the top of the fifth and our favorite manager Joe Torre has come out of his dugout dwelling to converse with the one and only Eric Stults on how to attack Rich Aurilla. But something struck me while I was watching the game. The Dodgers, believe it or not have some very good homegrown fixtures in their lineup and rotation (ie Matt Kemp, James Loney, Russel Martin, Andre Either if you count him, Chad Billingsley,Clayton Kershaw and Johnathan Broxton) You can attribute this to a combination of front office fixtures scouting director Logan White, former GM Paul Depodesta, current giants scouting director John Barr or Colleti. The majority of talent was amassed before Colleti got there however with the exceptions of Either whom he directly traded for and Kershaw who was drafted during his regime. While all looks peachy currently in Dodger land it's safe to say "what could have been."

Going over Colleti's trade history there are no glaring holes, though I have the hunch trading switch hitting stud catcher Carlos Santana and dependable future setup man Jon Meloan for a mediocre Casey Blake will be uttered in the same sentence as the Kazmir and Liriano trades. If anything he has done fairly well picking up a dependable run producer, current and future right fielder Andre Eithier for a disgruntled Milton Bradley. And the cherry on top, being the Manny Ramirez trade that put them over the top and is still paying dividends. On this front I'd give the man a B/B+ but once you delve deeper you find disturbing parallels between Colleti and his former boss. (Sabean)

Take for instance the curious case of Jason Schimdt. Two years into his 3 year 47 million dollar contract he has thrown a whopping 25 innings. So up until this point Shmidt (who earns 15.5 million this year in the final year of his contract) has made 31.5 million dollars over 25 ip in two years lets due the math. Thats 1 million 240 thousand per inning. Mind Blowing sure you can say whatever you want about the terrible Zito signing. But at least the guy eats innings albeit at 18 million a year. Then You have the Andruw Jones signing. Oh boy I don't even know where to start on this one. First off Jones is being paid by the Dodgers 18 million dollars a year to play for the Rangers. During his time in Los Angeles Jones, amassed only 3 home runs and 14 rbi's over 238 at bats. Realize, Jones has made twelve million dollars per home run and 2.57 million dollars per home run. In the same period of time the Giants have paid Randy Winn around 17 million give or take the past 4 years. During that time he has amassed 694 hits the past four seasons (counting his half season in Seattle) which means he has been paid around 2,400 per hit. Whereas Jones who collected 33 hits in his only season in LA (which cost the team 36 million dollars) was paid one 1.09 million dollars per base hit. Juan Pierre is in the third year of a 5 year 44 million dollar contract and while it's not his fault he has been releagted to the role of a fourth outfielder. He is making approximatley 14 thousand dollars per base hit, while not terrible compare it to Randy Winn who makes two thousand per base hit and throw in the fact that Winn plays elite defense and you have the superior bargain. 

Ned Colleti is directly affecting the farm system. Yes I said it and I'll say it again. The Dodgers  were ranked 23rd heading into this season and it doesn't look like it's going to get better anytime soon. Sure, the Dodgers have consistently been amongst the top 6 but those rankings were helped by the likes of Matt Kemp, James Loney, Clayton Kershaw, Russel Martin and Chad Billingsley. During those years Colleti had the chance to leave his own thumbprint upon the system but questionable selections such as Preston Mattingly and James Adkins have left the Dodgers system well, lifeless. I'll commend him for his selections of Andrew Lambo, Ethan Martin and Josh Lindbolm looks like a keep but besides that trio there farm system in very unimpressive. I will go as far to say I could have run a better draft. True there's still time to turn thing around but they aren't nearly as aggressive in Latin America as they used to be. The reason why they had to unload Christian Santana along with Jon Meloan is because they couldn't take on a substantial amount of money so the Indians took better prospects in return. The point of the matter is 127 million dollars the Dodgers have spent over the past 3 seasons. For a return of 25.1 terrible innings, 3 home runs and 14 rbi's and for a quality fourth outfielder. The reason why Colleti isn't looked at as a terrible GM is due to the fact that much of the talent the Dodgers are using right now to claim first place in the National League was in place before he ever walked into Dodger Stadium. Their farm system is only getting worse and his terrible decision making has cost them millions, and victories. Either way you slice it......the Dodgers still suck