Giants 2011 Offseason

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I thought this would be a perfect start for an offseason thread. Per John Shea:

The sweet funk of formaldehyde is in the air, which means it must be time for the annual postmortem with Giants GM Brian Sabean and Manager Bruce Bochy.

I’ll get to transcribing in a moment, but here is the short and quick breakdown:

–The pitching will be first on Sabean’s offseason agenda, and it’s going to be expensive. After that’s done, they’ll figure out how much is left for free agents to buoy what was the NL’s worst offensive team in 19 years. Translation: Do not expect Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Jose Reyes or Barry Bonds.

–Carlos Beltran’s market will take time to develop, but Sabean and Bochy already have reached out to Scott Boras to let him know the Giants are very much interested in re-signing him. It’s clear that market forces will dictate what happens. Beltran is open to the idea of returning, but don’t count on any kind of discount. If someone in the AL offers him a four-year, $60 million deal (or even three and $30 million), it’ll blow the Giants out of the water.

–Sabean all but said Jonathan Sanchez will be tendered a contract. Eric Surkamp clearly isn’t ready and Barry Zito has had his “trials and tribulations.” Zito will be in camp this spring to compete for the No.5 starter job. It’s looking like Sanchez will be the guy, though.

–Jeremy Affeldt will be back on next year’s team, whether the club picks up his $5 million option or renegotiates his contract.

–No surgeries or surprise injuries. Unless you count hitting coach Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens, who will have a torn knee meniscus repaired tomorrow. Dan Runzler’s MRI showed a lat strain in his upper back-shoulder area and he’ll be OK with a few weeks of rest. Oh, and Orlando Cabrera has a torn meniscus as well. Hope he’s got Kaiser, at least.

–The Giants will begin with one-year negotiations for Tim Lincecum. He’s got two years of arbitration left. It sounds like a two-year deal is the maximum that will happen. Matt Cain will be a free agent after next season, and Sabean called his contract situation more pressing. So there might be talks about an extension before spring training.

–Leadoff hitter is a major issue, and Justin Christian is an “extra man,” Sabean said. He’s not a candidate for the everyday job. Andres Torres’ name didn’t even come up. Said Sabean: “There’s no center field alternative from within that we’re comfortable with.”

–As for Cody Ross, Sabean said he would receive “due consideration” to return because of his flexibility. If Ross is back next year, though, it’ll mean he didn’t get the contract he wanted on the open market.

–Nate Schierholtz is viewed as the starting right fielder. It’s his job to lose, Bochy said.

–Sabean said the Giants obviously won’t tender contracts to all 13 of their arbitration-eligible players. He called Jeff Keppinger “maybe a luxury item,” but the team needed to have a backup plan in case Freddy Sanchez encounters a setback in his return from major right shoulder surgery.

–The Giants are likely to get another catcher capable of handling an expanded role, since Buster Posey might not be ready to start 120-plus games behind the plate. Hector Sanchez is not ready, Bochy and Sabean agreed. My speculation: Chris Stewart will return in a backup role and maybe the Giants get someone else who can catch and play other positions.

–What else? Oh yeah. It was “Use Aubrey Huff as a pinata” day. Admissions were made. Huff was out of shape. He told Bochy he was embarrassed. And he won’t get the same rope next season. He’ll have to be ready to play the outfield, too. “Aubrey knows it’s going to be different. That can’t happen again or you’ve got to make changes,” Bochy said.

Now I’m going to get cozy with my noise-cancelling headphones. My apologies for the lack of a postgame blog after yesterday’s regular-season finale. I’ve been under the weather. Did you realize you can get two colds in two weeks?

Here's a link to the highlights of the press conference:
A Recap Of The San Francisco Giants End Of Season Press Conference - Frisco Fastball - A San Francisco Giants Blog

Sabean down on Huff – said if they had better alternative they’d have used it, but feel its difficult to turn your back on a guy that produced.

The direct quote above is why Bochy is a terrible manager.

A lot to digest but a few thoughts:

-Did not like them coming down on Belt and trying to compare his situation to Pill's. They were in no way similar.

-Glad they are not counting on Torres bouncing back as his name wasn't even mentioned.

-They seem set on bring Affeldt back on a lesser deal than his option

-Am glad they came down on Huff. He needs it!

-Sandoval better not be playing any fucking winter ball and better be getting that shoulder and the rest of his body in shape.

-Glad to see Nate is guaranteed a job in RF next year...as of now. He needs to do a lot of work in the offseason

-Glad to see Cain is the more pressing matter as he will be the least expensive between him and Lincecum and is a FA after next season

-Looks like another year of no significant offensive upgrades

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Players the Giants should consider this offseason: (early edition)
Carlos Beltran
Jose Reyes
Jimmy Rollins
Rafael Furcal
Coco Crisp
BJ Upton
Maicer Izturis
Jason Kubel
Logan Morrison
Lorenzo Cain

Willingham should have been had last offseason but now he is a Type A free agent and not worth losing the draft picks over. I brought up Morrison because I think the Marlins would love to get rid of him given their rocky relationship. Reyes is the least likely since payroll will be around $125 million once again but Giants could help drive up the price.

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Good read on a Cain extension
Pondering a Matt Cain extension » Giants Nirvana | SF Giants Blog

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Jeremy Accardo elected free agency and is a perfect candidate for a minor league deal.

[Kingdom]

How did Lorenzo Cain randomly make your list?

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Because I liked what I saw from him a season ago and he put up fantastic AAA this season. The Royals sound like they want to extend Melky rather than give Cain a shot so I thought he would be expendable. I think he would do well in AT&T. I just don't see Torres' nagging injuries stopping at his age and want this team to go younger.

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Offseason Outlook: San Francisco Giants: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

Sabean has a lot of decisions to make this offseason and I really don't trust him to make the right ones.

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Carlos Beltran has left super agent Scott Boras and is now begin represented by Dan Lozano.
Lozano represents the top free agent on this year's market, Albert Pujols, but will also now focus on landing Beltran one last hefty contract. The 34-year-old outfielder batted .300 with a .910 OPS and 22 home runs in 142 games this season while managing to stay mostly healthy. The Red Sox and Giants, among others, will be making bids.

Kind of some good news

[Kingdom]

Why did he leave Boras? That's interesting, especially with free agency coming up.

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No reason given as of yet but it is definitely interesting. I know Sabean doesn't deal with him.

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So far this offseason the Giants have brought back Affedt and Lopez and have now traded for OFer Melky Cabrera. As of right now it's not known just where Cabrera will play in 2012. As of today it would most likely be LF with Torres playing CF just based on defense. In the Sanchez for Cabrera trade, the Giants saved some money. Not a lot but did manage to save. As of now, the lineup would look like this:

1. Torres-CF
2. Sanchez-2B
3. Posey-C
4. Sandoval-3B
5. Huff-1B
6. Cabrera-LF
7. Schierholtz-RF
8. Crawford-SS

SP- Lincecum, Cain, Bumgarner, Vogelsong, Zito
RP- Lopez, Romo, Affeldt, Casilla, Ramirez
CL- Wilson

Giants still need upgrades at SS and in the OF with Beltran and Reyes being the main focus or at least should be. Beltran did a great job with the Giants and is the only top flight FA that won't cost a draft pick. Giants also need a backup catcher and someone off the scrap heap to compete with Zito for the 5th starter job. No way can the Giants just hand Zito the job. Giants once again find themselves weak at the upper levels in starting pitching. Surkamp is the only worth talking about but its clear he needs a lot of work. They can find someone on a minor league deal or in the Rule V draft. Another way they can find some help is by trading Jeff Keppinger. No reason for the Giants to keep both Keppinger and Fontenot who is also a candidate to be non-tendered.

If I were the Giants, I would do my best to get Jose Reyes. He is built for AT&T and would be a great leadoff man for this team. I would offer something around 4 years/$72 million with a vesting option for a 5th year. The Giants have got to start building a team around AT&T and that means speed, defense and pitching. Giants have the pitching and are pretty good defensively. Reyes will cost draft picks but I am OK with that since its hard to find SS's like Reyes, no matter the injury history. Giants don't need big sluggers to score runs. The one thing they do need is speed and guys that can get on base. Reyes fills more holes than any other FA out there. He's a switch-hitter, good defensive SS, SB threat and leadoff man. Look at this lineup:

1. Reyes
2. Sanchez
3. Posey
4. Sandoval
5. Huff
6. Cabrera
7. Torres
8. Schierholtz

That's 4 switch-hitters in the lineup. If the Giants can find a good 4th OFer with some pop along with a backup catcher, Giants look a whole lot better. That's a team with a lot more speed which will lead to more scoring opportunities.

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For some reason Jon Heyman thinks the Cabrera trade means they are out of the Beltran sweepstakes. He reasoning makes no sense at all and doesn't really cite a source. Not buying it!

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I am a little disheartened not to hear anymore about Beltran. Beltran seemed to like it in SF and the Giants did everything possible to feel like he was wanted so I don't get why we don't hear more reports about the Giants staying in contact with him. The Giants CAN afford to get Beltran on a 2 year/$24 million deal and that number comes from what Berkman signed for in September. Berkman will make $12 million so I don't see why Beltran will think he will get more than that. Beltran won't cost a draft pick making him the best affordable option for the Giants. I still would love them to get Reyes but it looks like the Marlins are dead set on getting him and don't want to get in a bidding war. The Red Sox have been the only other team mentioned in regards to Beltran and they have yet to talk to him. Beltran did very well in SF despite hurting his wrist which landed him on the DL in the middle of a playoff push. That left a sour taste in some Giants fan's mouths but he still performed when healthy and shit does happen.

1. Torres
2. Sanchez
3. Posey
4. Beltran
5. Sandoval
6. Cabrera/Nate
7. Huff
8. Barmes

I added Barmes because I think he could be had for a reasonable one year deal which would allow Crawford another year to develop. Beltran was the best hitter the Giants had last year and if the Giants want to get back to the playoffs, they need him because there are no other better hitters in the Giants price range.

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According to SI.com's Jon Heyman, the Giants will attempt to lock up Tim Lincecum this offseason.
Lincecum is coming off a $14 million 2011 salary and might prefer to continue going year-to-year with the Giants, but they'll try an offer anyway and see if he likes it. The 27-year-old right-hander posted a 2.74 ERA and 1.21 WHIP this year for San Francisco, striking out 220 batters in 217 innings. He's headed for a major payday.

I am hoping both Lincecum and Cain can get locked up.

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Giants signed Gregor Blanco on a minor league deal. Finally, the Giants get the big bat they need!!