One of the themes I have had on my site is whenever I choose to express my utter discontempt for Brian Sabean as the General Manager of the San Francisco Giants. Its not so much that I hate the guy… how could I when I’ve never met him? But one thing definitely in play is that I cannot figure out, for the life of me, how this man still has a job. The single fact that he is in the front offices for the G-Men on game days and not outside the stadium begging for change is something that seriously f***s up my universe.

The latest of the gaffs, at least in my opinion, was the trade of Armando Benitez to the Florida Marlins for reliever Randy Messenger. First off, Benitez was only necessary because Sabean pulled off one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history when he decided to send Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser to Minnesota for AJ Pierzynski. Then they dropped a fat wad of cash on Benitez’s lap even though Armando had been up and down the previous years.

To make matters worse, the Giants just got owned by Florida’s GM Larry Beinfest. Beinfest walked away with Benitez, who no matter how bad he can be, is much more valuable in present day than Randy Messenger. Messenger was at least 4th in line for the closer job, possibly 5th in Florida. Messenger has a 1.52 WHIP, and a 1.33 K/BB ratio. So realistically, the Giants just sent a bad/ struggling closer for a guy who projects to be a mediocre set-up man at best.

Here’s the kicker though: Florida will be paying Benitez $333,333 for the remainder of the season; San Francisco will be sending him checks for a total of $4,733,333. So not only did Florida get a better reliever out of the deal… they will only have to pay him roughly the league minimum and the Giants get stuck with the rest of the bill. So, the Marlins make off with the better player at minimum cost; the Giants get a AAAA ballplayer at $4.7 million.

The Benitez-Messenger deal involves two gigantic pitchers, by the way. Benitez is listed at 6-foot-4 and 260 pounds, and Messenger is 6-foot-6 and 247. This trade feels like that scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indiana Jones takes the golden idol and replaces it with a similarly-sized bag of sand. Maybe Brian Sabean is thinking that if he replaces Benitez with someone of comparable girth, no one will notice that $4.7 million is missing. - Andy Behrens, Yahoo! Sports

With management like that it’s no wonder San Francisco is struggling through its third consecutive season playing sub-.500 ball.