Off-field Issues Surround Giants

The Giants organization has been in the news quite a bit lately, and it's not the kind of news that you hope for. I'm sure most Giants fans are aware of the trouble that "The Franchise" got into a couple of weeks back after being caught with an illegal substance, as well as the tragic news out of the Dominican that involves Giants' elite 19 year-old infield prospect, Angel Villalona.

Now, these two issues are drastically different and on completely different levels, but both seem to be making news each day over the past week or so. The Lincecum news isn't something that is going to get him into any kind of legal trouble, or get him any suspensions from the MLB or the Giants, but it is something that will likely follow him wherever he goes in the immediate future. I'm not in anyway comparing steroid use to marijuana smoking, but I'm expecting the same type treatment from road fans towards Linceucm as Barry Bonds got after the steroid scandal. Obviously not to the extent Bonds got, as Lincecum is generally well-liked in opposing cities, but you'll definitely be seeing some signs and hearing some rants, and he's going to have to keep focused. I can't wait to see what the fans at Dodger Stadium, or in New York have to say to Timmy once he takes the mound in there yards. Again, this is not something that is going to hurt Lincecum's status as an elite pitcher or anything like that, but I guarantee you that this is going to be something that won't go away as quickly as I'm sure he's hoping.

As far as the Villalona case goes, things are starting to pick-up in the investigation and it's not looking pretty for the 19 year-old. Andrew Baggarly reported yesterday that two new witnesses have come forward and are set to testify against Villalona, the main suspect in a homicide in Santo Domingo in September. However, Villalona apparently has reached an agreement with the victims family in which Villalona will pay them 150,000 to drop charges. Even if they do drop the charges though, Villalona is still facing trial and the possibility or 20 years in prison if convicted. This situation really cannot end up well for the Giants no matter what happens in the case. If Villalona is found guilty, his professional baseball career will be finished and he'll be incarcerated until he's 40. However, if he's found not guilty and avoids prison, then what do the Giants do with him? I'd hate to speculate on a case I know very little about and accuse Villalona, but how on earth do you employ someone in his situation if he does manage to get off? I guess only time will tell, but my feeling is that Angel Villalona's career has ended before it really got a chance to start, and it's such an unfortunate situation in all aspects.

AFL Stuff: The Arizona Fall League has been going now for a few weeks and the Giants have a few prominent youngsters getting some action in. SS Brandon Crawford, OF Thomas Neal, C Buster Posey, as well as pitchers Joe Martinez, Daniel Turpin and Scott Edlefson are all playing for the Scottsdalle Scorpions. Neal and Crawford are both having respectable offensive showings. The 22 year-old Neal, who tore up the California League for San Jose in '09 with a .337 avg, 22 HR/90 RBI season, is hitting .288 with a homer and 7 RBI and leads the team with 8 stolen bases for the Scorpions. His play over this year has put him on the map as one of the Giants' top outfield prospects. Crawford, who had a terrefic start in A and a solid finish in AA in '09, is hitting .309 with a .845 OPS with a home run and is second on the team in runs scored and walks. Both of those guys have played much better than Buster Posey, who's hitting just .224 with 2 homers and 8 RBI in 15 games. On the mound, Joe Martinez has looked pretty good, sporting a 1-0 record with a 4.32 era and 17 k's in 16 2/3 innings spread over 5 starts.

Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010.

I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in the lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indicate. However, I really can't say I'm too upset with the terms of his new deal. I think Sabean did the best he could given the situation in this case. Sanchez has shown that he's capable of hitting .300 if he stays healthy, and I think his gap power could translate into dozens and dozens of doubles for the second basemen here at the spacious AT&T Park. So, to sum this situation up in a sentence; I wasn't looking forward to having Sanchez back at 8.5 mill in 2010, but having him around at 6 mill is much more reasonable and in line with his value, and it also gives the Giants an extra couple of mill to use on more infield help.

With Sanchez (2b), Renteria (SS) and Sandoval (1B-3B) all penciled in for starting spots in the Giants infield, it would appear that their is still one opening in which the Giants may be able to store that big bat they so desperately need. Travis Ishikawa and Ryan Garko will be the returning options if the Giants fail to upgrade in that department, and they also have potential free-agent Juan Uribe who they appear to have sincere interest in keeping. I was stoked on the performance that Uribe gave the Giants last year, playing for the ML minimum, but being truly honest, I don't think he's an everyday player, and I'd hate to see Sabean give him something like a 2-year, 10 million dollar deal with the belief that he can be. I want Uribe back on this team next year, just not as a guaranteed starter, and I can't help but think that there are going to be other teams out there that are going to want Uribe's services after the year he put up for the Giants in '09, and I certainly wouldn't get into any kind of bidding war if that's the case. Uribe is especially valuable to the Giants because of his ability to play shortstop, where Edgar Renteria may need a caddy throughout the year.

Yankees Win World Series: The New York Yankees reeled in their 27th World Championship on Wednesday night, defeating the Philidelphia Phillies and Pedro Martinez to clinch the Series in 6 games. The Yanks' starting pitching was the superior of the two, and the Yankees were only using a 3-man rotation. What was really surprising to me though, was how well the Yanks bullpen threw. I think the pen was key for them in this series as they really held the potent Phills lineup in check. Offensively, everyone knew the Yankees would score enough runs, and they certainly did. Series MVP Hideki Matsui sported a ridiculous .625 batting average with 3 home runs and 8 RBI in the 6 game set. Mr. November, Derek Jeter, continued his November brialliance, hitting .407 with 6 runs scored and led both teams with 6 hits in November. The Yankees were definitely the best team in this postseason and as much as it pains me to say it, they certainly deserved to win this thing.

Trading Rowand Might Be An Option

MLBTradeRumors.com posted and interesting piece today regarding the different players around baseball that are being vastly overpaid. After looking at the list, it makes me feel a little bit better about the Rowand, Renteria and Zito contract disasters, and it also got me thinking of how to possibly get one of these guys, most likely Rowand, off the Giants hands.

Now, this is mostly just speculation on my part, and since there really hasn't been anything to report on for the Giants over the last 2 weeks, I figured why not start some trade speculation. If the Giants have any hope of getting some of the dead weight like Aaron Rowand or Edgar Renteria off their roster, it would likely be in a deal in which they'd have to bring back some other teams' overpaid player in what basically amounts to a swap of bad contracts. Right away, when looking at the list of baseballs most overpaid players, the one name that I was surprised to see on there was Alex Rios. The 28 year-old outfielder was the guy that Brian Sabean and co. were considering dealing away either Tim Lincecum or Matt Cain for in the winter of 2007, but eventually passed. Rios went over to Chicago after the deadline this season, and played terribly. He hit just .199 with 3 home runs, 9 RBI and 26 k's in 146 at-bats with Chicago. The White Sox are also the team that brought up Aaron Rowand, and were supposedly interested in him when he was a free agent 2 years ago before the Giants swooped him up. Rios is due to earn 60 million over the next 5 seasons and Rowand is on the hook for 3 more years and $36 million. I also look at the White Sox need for second base while the Giants have Freddy Sanchez for another year, and I think he's expendable to them.

I have no idea if the White Sox would still have interest in Rowand after his 2 sub-par years in San Francisco though, and I'm not sure they're looking to trade Rios so soon after acquiring him as they may want to give him a full year in Chicago before assessing his performance. I just think that a Rowand and Sanchez for Rios deal would make some sense for both parties. The Sox would get a veteran center-fielder who they're familiar with and who's had success in Chicago in the past while also saving themselves upwards of 25 million dollars. They'd also get a second basemen who's been an all-star and a .300 hitter for much of his career in Freddy Sanchez. The Giants, I'm sure, would like to get Rios because they still see the upside he has and a move to a new league could be a nice change for him. In a way, he's almost seemed to digress over the last couple of seasons and I can't help but think that a move to a new league would give him a fresh start. I also look back to the summer of 2007 when Rios player here with the AL all-star team and put on a ridiculous showing in the home derby, repeatably hitting balls deep into the left field bleachers and up near the giant coke bottle that sits 505 feet away from home plate at AT&T Park. Again, this probably won't even be discusses between the two teams, but if they did, they'd probably see a little bit of logic in that deal.

WORLD SERIES: Major League Baseball's Fall Classic takes kicks off tonight, with CC Sabathia squaring off with former mentor, Cliff Lee. I'm always stoked to watch the World Series, regardless of the match-up, but I really think the Phills and Yanks are about to give the world one heckuva battle. Both of these teams have the big offense, and both have their pitching staffs working at close to full health. I just really like the momentum that the Yankees have going for them right now, and I think they'll end up being too much to handle for the reigning world champs. The Yankees are running a 3-man rotation with Sabathia, Burnett and Pettite, who are all throwing very well in this postseason. I think Sabathia and Pettite could pose match-up issues vs. the Phills trio of Raul Ibanez, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley which could give them the slight edge in an otherwise tightly matched world series. I'm a National League guy, so naturally I'll be pulling for the Phillies here, but if I were to bet, I'd say the Yanks take it in 7.

Sanchez and Garko Must Be Better In '10

The majority of the Giants' fan-core have been very open about there displeasure for Brian Sabean's trades from this last summer. Sabean sent two of the teams top-5 pitching prospects (#2 Tim Alderson and #5 Scott Barnes) away in separate trades for Freddy Sanchez and Ryan Garko, and their first 2 months in the orange and black couldn't have gone much worse for them.

For Freddy Sanchez, it was a problem for him to stay on the field. He played in just 25 of the 67 games that took place while he was on the Giants roster, and when he did play, he clearly was affected by his back. His numbers took a big time plummet after the trade, but I think it's more so the injury issues with Sanchez that have people frustrated. He's a good hitter when he's on and healthy, but he just couldn't stay on the field after coming over from Pittsburgh. He sported just a .295 OBP and a .619 OPS while with the Giants, and wasn't much of a run producer either, hitting just 1 homer, driving in 7 and scoring only 11 runs while hitting at the top of the Giants lineup. When taking a look at his career, if you take away 2006 and 2007's career years for Sanchez, he's really been mediocre. The Giants dealt for him based on his 2009 performance at that point, and I think Sabean felt comfortable dealing Alderson because he knew Sanchez wouldn't just be a rent-a-player. Because of that, I don't think the Giants will seriously consider declining their $8.5 million option on him. Since that's the case, all we can do is hope he gets right next year and hits over .300 with 40+ doubles and 75+ RBI, cause he's being paid to put up those kinds of numbers, and hopefully still has that potential.

Garko's a different story. Sure his failure in the NL can be partly attributed to learning the new league, but his performance in SF was borderline disastrous and only seemed to get worse as the season wore on. So bad in fact, that Bruce Bochy went back to Travis Ishikawa, the guy Garko was supposed to take over for, for much of the final month of the year when the Giants were making their run at that Wild Card. Garko also made some pretty ugly mistakes in the field too. If you take away one big game in Colorado in which he hit 2 hr's and drove in 4 runs, his numbers would be as follows: .235 avg, 0 hr, 8 RBI, .299 OBP and a .597 OPS in his 40 games with the Giants. Pretty disappointing that the only 2 home runs the so-called power-hitting first basemen hit in 40 games with his new team came in the most offensive friendly yard in baseball. I'm not trying to rip these guys apart, just stating the facts as to how their time in a Giants uniform went last season. These guys were dealt for to help the Giants with their pursuit of a playoff birth and they did nothing to help that cause. All this being said, these guys are Giants now and will be next season, so all we can do is hope they can turn things around, cause they have the potential too. Garko has 25 hr, 90 RBI potential, even as a platooner as he showed in Cleveland. He can be a valuable player, and the Giants are going to need to see that out of him next year.

Performance Review: Sabean and Bochy

With so many people expressing mixed emotions about the Bochy/Sabean extensions over the past couple of weeks, I wanted to take a little bit more of an in-depth look at what these two have done here during their time in San Francisco.

It's no secret that Sabean has made big time mistakes over the past couple of years through free-agency. He signed Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito to multi-year deals that will ultimately pay the two under-achievers nearly 200 million dollars before their time in San Francisco is up. Then capped it off by guaranteeing a aging, injury prone under-achieving Edgar Renteria nearly $20 million for 2 years. Even since he took over reigns of the Giants in the mid-90's, free agency hasn't been too kind to Sabean and that's not how he's put his good teams together. Sure, he did get Juan Uribe for peanuts and Jeremy Affeldt on a great deal last off-season, but come on, every time this guy shells out multi-year, big dollar contracts, he flat out misses. If you look back through the years that Sabean has been pulling the strings for this team, all his big acquisitions that have paid off have come via trade (Jason Schmidt, Jeff Kent, Ellis Burks, Livan Hernandez, Kenny Lofton, Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez, Rob Nen, Randy Winn ect..). Now, a lot of those guys he ended up re-signing after he acquired them, and a few of them really paid off in that way (Jason Schmidt, Jeff Kent, Ellis Burks, Rob Nen) but those guys don't count as true free agent acquisitions since they were already with the team. So, Sabean's track record has clearly indicated that he's been much better on the trade market than he is in free agency.

However, ever since 2003, his trades have really turned into crap shots. The one player acquired after 2003 that I can think of as having an impact with the Giants for multiple seasons is Randy Winn. Other than that, all that comes to mind are Shea Hillenbrand, Sidney Ponson, Ryan Garko, Freddy Sanchez, dealing away Russ Ortiz after 2002 and getting nothing in return, and of course, the dreaded AJ Pierzynski deal. So, Sabean's had a bad track record in free-agency throughout his career, and now all the sudden he's striking out in the trade market that he used to be so good with? So why did the Giants extend him you ask? I think it's largely in part because of what he's done in the last couple of drafts. He's really rebuilt the farm system, although they still lack a bunch of offensive talent. He pulled the trigger on the small, unorthodox Tim Lincecum when other GM's where skeptical and I think that one pick is what ultimately has Sabean still running the team. Take away Timmy, and the Giants are very ordinary. Now Sabean has another tough task in locking up Lincecum for the long-term as he hits arbitration this winter.

I can't say as much about Bochy, because he's only been here 3 seasons, and in two of those seasons he really didn't have anything to work with on the field. What I've seen from him though, hasn't been bad, but certainly not great. For starters, I really do like the way he uses his pitching staff. It seems like everyone gets enough work in the pen, but they don't get overworked. He lets his starters' performance dictate how long they go in a game, and doesn't rely so much on a pitch count like Felipe Alou did. Now, that said, he does have some tendencies that I'd like to see changed. I don't like his stubbornness with the lineup. He insisted to hit Bengie Molina cleanup over the second half of last season at a time when Bengie was a guy who was weighing down the lineup in multiple ways. And like his predecessors, Felipe Alou and Dusty Baker, he definitely seems to feel much more confident in playing the veteran ballplayer. I can think of numerous games when Nate Schierholtz was hot in which he insisted on playing a struggling Randy Winn over the youngster. I'm just not sure this is a guy you want leading a young up and coming team. He's a little laid back, kind of suited to run a veteran ball club, and they might need some more energy from that spot. So yes, like with the GM spot, it would have made a lot of sense to get a younger person in there with new energy and philosophy, but at the same time, Boch did well with what he had in '09 and it would have been tough to fire him after that year.

If worst comes to worst, and Sabean fails to address their obvious needs this Winter and the team comes out and struggles under Bochy next summer, I wouldn't put it past the "Bowtie" to eat the final year of their deals and cut them loose.

Bochy, Sabean Sign Extensions

Though it wasn't official at the time, it was made pretty apparent in the Giants' postseason press conference last week that both manager Bruce Bochy and general manager Brian Sabean would be returning to the team for the 2010 season. On Tuesday, it became official, as both signed 2 year extensions with the Giants, with a club option for 2012 on both.

I'm still not too thrilled with the fact that both of these guys are going to stick around for another couple of seasons, but the deals are done, and I'm not going to sit here and magnify the mistakes these guys have made over the last couple of years. Sabean has been hit-or-miss in the free agent market over the past 5 years, with most of his moves coming up as misses. The area in which he has succeeded in though, is rebuilding this teams farm system. The organization, from top to bottom, is in much better shape now than it's been at any point this decade, and I think that is what ultimately got him his extension. The Giants are giving him two more seasons to see if he can finish off what he's started building here over the last few drafts, but if the Giants can't make the postseason in the next two years, I'd say Sabeans' run will finally come to an end. Bochy also will be here through 2011 with Sabean, and although I see the logic in bringing him back, I've not been too impressed with Boch in his time here running the team. That said, he did get his bunch to overachieve mightily this year, and the Giants' brass likely feels that he's the guy that's going to lead them back to the postseason. I just wasn't a fan of the way Boch filled out his lineup card on a nightly basis, such as the continues use of Bengie Molina in the cleanup spot, even when he was clearly struggling and hurting the team in that spot. On a positive side though, I do like how he'll play guys who are playing well, like playing Juan Uribe over Ryan Garko on most nights when Uribe was roping the ball and Garko was struggling. I'm really going to be interested to see how the Bochy/Sabean tandem pans out in 2010, as both will have expectations for the first time in a few years.

Sabean's going to have an interesting agenda this winter, as he'll try and add offense to the team without disrupting their great chemistry they have amongst their pitching staff. This team was really a hitter or two away from being a legit contender, and Sabean will be hard at work trying to find those bats this offseason. I just really hope he doesn't overpay, whether it be via a trade or free agency. The whole baseball world is aware of the Giants strengths and weaknesses, and teams know they're going to be in search of offense. The Chronicle's Bruce Jenkins wrote a piece last week in which he listed a few potential trade options for the Giants this winter, but none of the potential game changing, middle of the order bats the Giants need could likely be had without subtracting from their pitching staff. The one guy who's seemingly been mentioned every year over the last few seasons as a potential trade chip is Jonathan Sanchez. The 26 year-old lefty is coming off his best season as a pro (including a no-hit performance in July) and really started reaching his potential this year. He's the one guy I'd deem expendable in the right situation, since they have Madison Bumgarner so close to being ready to take a spot in the Giants rotation.

Trade Target? One name from Jenkins article that I would really like to see the Giants pursue if possible is B.J. Upton. I'm fairly certain that he'd cost the Giants more than just Jonathan Sanchez, but he's the type of guy I'd consider putting together a nice package for, especially since he's coming off a sub-par year and his trade value could be at an all-time low. Apparantly the Rays are really focused on signing Carl Crawford to an extension, and they have 22 year-old top prospect Desmond Jennings (.320, 11 HR, 62 RBI, 52 SB in AA and AAA in '09), ready to start his big league career. The Rays are not likely actively seeking to deal Upton, but I'm sure he could be had in for the right deal.

Giants Offseason Begins Now

The Major League Baseball offseason doesn't officially start until the end of the World Series, when free-agents can file and trades can be made. However, for the Giants and GM Brian Sabean, the offseason planning should start now.

Even after a year in which they overachieved, the Giants have a bunch of question marks heading into the winter. In our last post, I put a bow on the Giants season and talked about some positive things they have to look forward to in 2010 (Pablo Sandoval, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson etc..) but they still have a bunch of things they need to figure out in house, and they only will have a couple of weeks to do so before all the baseball world enters the off-season mode.

The major questions for the Giants will be what to do with their impending free-agents, and they certainly have a couple of key ones. The two guys who have been tenured here the longest, Bengie Molina and Randy Winn, will both be free agents in a couple of weeks, and I'd say chances are that neither will return. It's pretty clear that Winn will be finding a new home, as he struggled through 2009 with minimal power and without his usual steady average and base stealing abilities, but Molina will poses a tough situation. I think the Giants want him around for another season, to help Buster Posey with his transition to the big leagues and to keep him with these young starters who he's worked so well with over the years. However, Molina will be one of the most sought-after catchers in a very thin free-agent market and will most assuredly get bigger dollars and more years from other interested teams. Based on what Buster Posey showed in his brief stint in September here, he still has a little ways to go before he can be counted on as an everyday guy, so if Molina does depart, Sabean will need to find another veteran presence who can share and possibly shoulder the load should Posey deem un-ready.

It's not just the catching position that is unclear for the Giants in 2010 though, as they sit right now, they have openings in right field, left field, the corner infield spot that Pablo Sandoval doesn't end up at, and quite possibly second base. Unfortunately the Giants will be paying Edgar Renteria to play everyday at short next year otherwise they could use an upgrade there as well. Judging by Sabean's words in his postseason press conference, it appears as if the Giants are planning to have Freddy Sanchez back in 2010, even though he's going to cost upwards of 10 million dollars and sorely (no pun intended) disappointed in his brief stint here this summer. The real tough questions with this team though lie in the outfield, where Sabean will need to fill 2 spots. The Giants don't have any outfielders in the system who are remotely close to contributing at the big league level, so unless they plan on rolling with Schierholtz and Velez as their corner outfielders, there will be some movement there.

It's going to be another month or more before moves start to be made, sure, but that doesn't mean that the Giants should be sitting on their hands waiting for things to happen. They need to figure out how they're going to address all the questions above, and hopefully by the time November roles around, they'll have their plan in place.