Letting Home Run King go is first step to rebuilding

Talented 23-year-old Tim Lincecum has shown flashes of brilliance as a rookie, though workload may soon become a concern. Brad Mangin/SI

A week after No. 756 cleared the fence in San Francisco and landed in baseball's record book, the Giants are back to slogging through another miserable season. For all the headlines and full houses that Barry Bonds has wrought, the 2007 Giants are one of the two or three worst teams in the game. They have baseball's greatest slugger in the middle of their lineup, yet the last-place Giants average barely four runs a game.

How bad are they? The Giants just lost four of five games to the Pirates, including a sweep last weekend in their own park. It was only the second time that the Pirates have swept an opponent on the road this year, the first since they did it to Houston in the first three games of the season. The Giants are flopping around with Pittsburgh, one of the most moribund franchises in any sport, for the worst record in the National League, and only the Devil Rays -- they've never won more than 70 games -- are worse in the American League.

The Pirates. The Devil Rays. Maybe the Reds or Rangers or Royals, who all currently have better records. It's not good company.

If there's any consolation to Bay Area fans, it's that this early exit from playoff consideration has given general manager Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy a chance to get a jump on next year, when things shouldn't look nearly as bleak. For the past few weeks, and for the final six weeks of this otherwise forgettable season, the Giants are testing a list of up-and-comers to see what they can do. Tops on their list right now:

• Rajai Davis, a speedy 26-year-old outfielder grabbed from the Pirates at the trading deadline for pricey pitcher Matt Morris.

• Fred Lewis, a 26-year-old outfielder who hit for the cycle in May and who has had two grand slams this year. He was demoted recently to Triple-A Fresno so the Giants could get an extra arm for their bullpen, but he's expected back up before the end of the year.

• Kevin Frandsen, a 25-year-old utilityman who, with some regular work, could be the team's second baseman of the future.

• Dan Ortmeier, a 26-year-old switch-hitting outfielder.

They, along with the usual lot of September callups, will join a young and generally well-regarded rotation (Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Noah Lowry and Barry Zito) in the weeks ahead to give the Giants a taste of what could be in 2008.

"Always, to me, you're in full evaluation mode. That never ends," Bochy said on Tuesday before the Giants' latest loss, to the Braves in Atlanta. "Obviously, where we're at, at this point of the season, we are thinking about the future."

The Giants' immediate future is, of course, a tad foggy. Bonds has said that he wants to return for one final season, yet the Giants clearly aren't interested. That's in part because of Bonds' frailty and age (he's 43), in part because of his salary (he's making somewhere around $16 million this year, though he won't get that anywhere next season) and in part because of all the peripheral junk that follows him (a grand jury reportedly is considering charging him with perjury). Maybe the biggest reason, though, is that the team wants to try to build a roster without a large chunk of the payroll going to one player.

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