Being an A's fan and going to school in San Francisco in the late 90's made me a little defensive at times. The Giants were either 1st or 2nd in the NL West every season but two from 1993-1998 while the A's were awful in that time span, never winming more than 78 games. While the A's-Giants rivalry isn't a big deal to most, and not even that big of a deal to me most times, there are days when I am truly grateful to be an A's fan.
I don't know if I could have stayed a Giants fan given the teams' moves the last few seasons. It's not just that they've been bad - I'll stick by a bad team, some of my favorite memories come from those mid 90s A's teams - but their transactions make it seem like they'll be bad forever. Brian Sabean's obsession with veterans is killing the future of the Giants and he's built a franchise destined to the middle or bottom of the NL. This despite the presence of two of the best young pitchers in baseball, Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum.
This obsession with veterans was justified in the waning days of Barry Bonds' career. Bonds was a once in a generation talent and the Giants were in win-now mode. Now, though, they have Cain, Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, Aaron Rowand and little else that would help make them a contender anytime soon. Why then would they sign Jeremy Affeldt, Bobby Howry, and Edgar Renteria each to two year deals? Never mind the fact that Renteria and Howry were awful this past year. Even if they perform better than expected the Giants don't have what it takes to compete. The money could have been better spent on scouting and development.
What makes it exciting to be an A's fan is that there always seems to be reasons for their moves. Obviously I don't agree with every move they make, but I understand most of them and they are all geared towards competing at some point. These two year deals the Giants have made won't help the Giants compete in 2009 or 2010. Will they make the Giants better? Probably, but what's the difference between being a 3rd place team and a 5th place team? It'd be one thing if these types of moves were isolated events, but this is really a pattern that would frustrate me to no end as a Giants fan.
