Aaron Rowand

Throughout the year Aaron Rowand has been thrown under the bus by fans of the San Francisco Giants. There have been many comments made around the internet about how the Giants should have never signed Rownad. These comments are completely ridiculous. Considering the situation the Giants were in at the time, and what Rowand can still bring to the team, I'm sure the signing would be done over again.

All Giant fans know that in order to get a good offensive player to come and play for San Francisco that the team is going to have to overpay for his services. With that being said, the Giants did not really overpay for Aaron Rowand. Entering the 2008 season, San Francisco desperately needed a center fielder. If you remember correctly, before the Giants offered a contract to Rowand, they had already been rejected by two other "prime" center fielders at the time -- Gary Matthews Jr., and Juan Pierre. Both of these players were offered by the team 5 yr, $50 million dollar contracts. Instead of signing with San Francisco, Matthews signed with the Angels and Pierre signed with the Dodgers. I'm still thankful that both players decided not to accept a contract from the Giants.

At the time(and still today) Aaron Rowand is a better player than either Gary Matthews Jr. or Juan Pierre. So his 5 yr, $60 million dollar contract was not him being vastly overpaid. Statistically Rowand had a monster all-around year in 2007, much better than either of the other options the Giants tried to get.

In 2007, Rowand batted .309, with 27 home runs, and 89 RBIs. He also won a gold glove that year, and was only 29 years old. He was selected to the All-Star game and was a huge force in the Phillies' lineup. He was also unique in the ability to bat at the top, middle, or bottom of the lineup.

In comparison, Matthews Jr. was 32 and coming off his only really good season as a pro. He hit .313 with 19 homers, and 79 RBIs. It should be noted that this was in the powerful Ranger offense. In 2007 was also the year he made the catch of the year(pictured to the left), which alone caused a huge pay increase for him during free agency.
What has happened in the 2+ seasons since he did not sign with the Giants? Matthews quickly became the 5th outfielder for the Angels, and was traded to the New York Mets with the Angels being forced to eat most of his salary.
**picture is from the USA Today


Juan Pierre, the Giants other choice that off-season also managed to lose his starting job. The Dodgers have since traded him. He is a renown one-dimensional player. Pierre is gifted when it comes to running the base paths, but defensively he is horrendous. Also, if you consider how much power the Giants offense has lacked the past few seasons, by taking out Rowand (averaging 14 home runs) and putting in Pierre(averaging 1 home run) the Giants' offense struggles would only be bigger.
Aaron Rowand is a gold glove caliber center fielder. There is no denying that his defense is great, and another bonus is that you never have to worry about the amount of effort Rowand gives. He gives 100% effort, 100% of the time. In his first year as a Giant he was snubbed of an All-Star selection. Obviously moving from a hitter friendly park in Philadelphia to a pitcher friendly park in San Francisco, you would expect Rowand's power numbers to go down. They have gone down, but he has finished 2nd or 3rd -- and is currently 3rd -- for the team lead in home runs.

On the negative, Rowand's batting average for this season is a dismal .238, but with the half the year laying ahead of him, he is sure to turn it around. In fact, over the past 10 games his average has risen 15 points. Still, he has lost control of his starting role in the outfield. With this new competition aspect in effect, I expect to see Rowand to be pushed into finding his groove at the plate and being a huge contributor for the rest of the Giants season.