A tale of two teams

Guess which is which?

The A's have always been treated like a step-child in the Bay Area while the Giants are the darlings, despite the fact the A's have won four World Series since moving to Oakland in 1968 compared to just two World Series appearances by the Giants since moving West in 1958.

But there is probably a thing or two the Giants can learn from watching the A's, and more specifically, A's general manager Billy Beane. When Giants GM Brian Sabean came on the scene in 1996, his wheelin' and dealin' made him the top GM in the league. Since then, Beane has blown past him in terms of deal making and player development.

When the A's lost Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada in back-to-back years - after Most Valuable Player years - Beane plugged in Scott Hatteberg and now Nick Swisher and Dan Johnson at first base and put Bobby Crosby in Tejada's shortstop position. Crosby went on to win the 2004 Rookie of the Year award.

Trade Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson? Just plug in two youngsters - Dan Haren and Joe Blanton - who are pitching lights out.

The Giants, meanwhile, continue to sign nearly 40-somethings to plug holes in their lineup. The A's can look forward to years of production from their young players while the Giants can start doing pension research for its aging lineup.

The thing with the A's is, everything begins and ends with Beane. He has implemented a system that continues to churn players out of one of the most fertile farm systems in baseball. With budget constraints constantly looming over the organization, Beane has gotten maximum return on his decisions.

Just look at his latest move - Beane traded one of the most popular players on the team, Eric Byrnes, essentially for a disgruntled 32-year-old outfielder in Jay Payton from the Red Sox. Since arriving in Oakland, Payton has hit five home runs and driven 14 runs while batting .290. Byrnes? After initially going to Colorado, he subsequently was traded to Baltimore. He batted .189 in his time with the Rockies.

At the time, I was wondering what Beane was doing. Now, the move looks brilliant.

The Giants, on the other, have one of the most barren systems in baseball. They could have some quality players - pitching specifically - but the management team runs out of patience quickly with the young players, doesn't trust them or unloads them for other players that are getting long in the tooth.

Pedro Feliz has been touted as a star-in-waiting for years. He has yet to get a full-time position anywhere. Outfielder Jason Ellison? First baseman Lance Niekro? The Giants picked up outfielder Randy Winn, indicating they don't think Ellison can't do the job and Niekro shares time with J.T. Snow at first.

They gave up backup catcher Yorvit Torrealba and pitcher Jesse Foppert, two up-and-coming players the Giants didn't have faith in, to get Winn - who is serviceable at best. The same could be said of Jerome Williams and David Aardsma for LaTroy Hawkins.

True, you have to give up quality to get quality, but what happens when 36-year-old catcher Mike Matheny begins to break down? We saw a glimpse of the future Tuesday night when Yamid Haad dropped a catchable foul pop up. Torrealba had been patiently waiting for his shot. Now we can watch him develop as a Mariner.

As for the pitching staff, it's painfully obvious Kirk Reuter is done in San Francisco. As is Brett Tomko. But the yo-yo job manager Felipe Alou does with all the young arms on the staff, it's hard for anyone to know what their role will be from one week to the next. That's no way to build confidence.

Yet they keep trotting Tomko and Reuter out there because, presumably, they know how to win. First, both those guys don't have the stuff to win - either physically or mentally - and two, how do the young guys learn to win unless they get out there and pitch?

The Giants lack of player development can be traced to their scouting and player personnel departments. It's glaringly obvious they haven't done a good job. But if those departments are overseen by Sabean, then the blame falls at his feet for not rectifying the situation.

Add to that the whole Barry Bonds soap opera and the Giants organization could probably make a good reality television program along the lines of "The Surreal Life" or "The Real World" - the drama, the in-fighting, the nit-picking.

The Giants need to take a long-view approach to the game, much like the A's, who have proven that you don't have to give up on the present to think about the future.