The Giants Baseball Blog

It's Christmas and so far, the two most impressive things Sabean has done this offseason have been adding a solid free agent starter in Matt Morris and also getting rid of the enigma, Edgardo Alfonzo. Sabean's additions this offseason so far have been: Matt Morris, Mark Sweeney, Tim Worrell, Steve Kline, Jose Vizcaino and Steve Finley. The Giants have lost: Brett Tomko, Edgrado Alfonzo, J.T. Snow and LaTroy Hawkins. So far, I'd have to say the Giants have upgraded, although I'm not to high on Sabeans intrest in the players born in the 60's. He has had a fixation for Finley for years. Finley turned the Giants down in a contract offer, and vetoed a trade from the D-Backs to the Giants in '04 saying "the Giants weren't headed in the right direction." I think Finley will be a fine 4th outfielder getting close to 400 ab's. I expect him to surely rebound from last season. This guy is just 2 years removed from his career season when he hit 36 jacks, ...

Sorry for the long break between posts, I will try to be more frequent, but I've had a busy past 2 weeks. Obviously Giants fans know that Ned Colletti is now bleeding Dodger blue, and Scott Eyre will not return to the Giants, he now bleeds Cub blue. However, the Giants do have an offer on the table for right-handed starting pitcher Matt Morris. The offer is said to be a 3 year deal worth about 24 million dollars. I have stated before that I would like to have Morris on the team, but giving him 8 million a year is a little risky. He has had some injuries in his past and he did wear down a little towards the end of last season. I would try to offer him more along the lines of 6 million a year especially if we can't find a taker for Alfonzo. The Giants already have over 60 million locked up for next years payroll and they have about 15 roster spots open and now Sabean is missing his right hand man (Colletti). Maybe it's a blessing in disguise. The Giants didn't win any cha...

The Giants apparantly have contacted agent Barry Axelrod about free-agent pitcher Matt Morris and 1st baseman/outfielder Mike Sweeney. The Giants like doing business with Axelrod, and hate working with Scott Boras who represents most this years big name free agents. I would love to see Morris signed to be a #2 or #3 behind Schmidt and Lowry. I'd definetly take him over Paul Byrd. Estaban Loiaza is another starter not represented by Boras, and I think he might even be better and cheaper then Morris. As I've said before, I'd be happy with a rotation of: Schmidt-Lowrey-(Washburn, Morris, Loiaza)-Cain-Hennessey. Sure we'd all like to have A.J. Burnett, but the Giants aren't going to spend 10 million on another pitcher. Loiaza is a bit older, but I bet would come cheaper. I really hope Mike Sweeney isn't the Giants "left-handed bat" they've been talking about for months now. Sweeney is essentially a more versatile J.T. Snow without the defense at first....

Theo Epstien recently resigned as the General Manager of the Boston Red Sox due to complications with team owner Larry Luccino. Giants fans may remember a few years back when Brian Sabean's name was mentioned in regards to the Red Sox GM position. Sabean is a native of New England and he's said before that he wouldn't mind going back east. At the same time, he's still under contract with the Giants and as far as I've heard, Boston hasn't contacted the San Francisco Giants regarding Sabean. I like what Sabean has done with this club throughout his tenure here up to a point, but I think it may be time to move in a different direction. Sabean tends to try and build his team with veteran players who have had success, but have their best years behind them. This is understandable to an extent because they have Barry Bonds and want to win now, but ever since the Kenny Lofton trade in '02, the guy has tryed to put a cast of over-the-hill veterans around Barry. Yes t...

The Giants excercised their options on Jason Schmidt and Randy Winn on Thursday. LaTroy Hawkins, Moises Alou, and Ray Durham all decided to return to the Giants in '06 as well. Non of these moves should come as a surprise. If they wanted to get rid of Schmidt they would have done it in July. Randy Winn could do no wrong once he put on a Giants uniform. Brian Sabean wants to sign Winn to an extension before the '06 season starts. Winn will be making 5 million this year, and so he'll probably command about that in an extension. I'd say a 3 year, 15 million dollar deal sounds pretty good. Ray Durham is as fragile as they come, but when he's healthy he's an offesive force. The Giants need to figure out a way to keep him healthy, because he's sticken around for another year. LaTroy Hawkins may finally rebound now that he has a legit closer behind him and he will never be asked to close. He has such a live arm, but I can't help but think Felix Rodriguiz every ...

The Giants recently invited all their coaches back for the 2006 season, but it doesn't look like a lock that they will all return. Last thursday, Giants' bench coach Ron Wotus was interviewed by the Dodgers regarding their Managerial position. Also, pitching coach Dave Righetti is on the Yankee's radar as a possible replacement for Mel Stottlemyre. I doubt Wotus will land the Dodger job, but New York may be a good fit for Rags. He had some of his most successful seasons in his career pitching for the Yankees. The Yankees haven't asked for permission to speak to Righetti yet, but If Raggs were to leave, it would open up a door for Mark Gardner to possibly take over as the pitching coach. I don't think a change would be all that bad. Outside of Russ Ortiz, there is no pitcher who came up under Righetti who has had a really solid career. As far as Wotus is concerned, many viewed him as next in line on the Giants managerial list, it's not too surprising he's get...

Well, here we are, right in the thick of the Major League baseball playoffs, and for the second dissapointing season in a row, no San Francisco Giants. It's tough for me to become excited about the playoffs when the Giants aren't in it, but I'm a diehard baseball fan, so I still tune in and have interest. As much as it still hurts me to say, I was picking the Angels to go all the way this year, and still am even though they are currently down 2-1 to the Chi Sox and are without their ace for the rest of the series. If the Angels don't go, I predict the winner to come from the NL, I'm still not sold on the White Sox. The NLCS is very evenly matched, and tough to pick, but I think Houston's pitching may prevail. Enough about the post-season for now. The world series is right around the corner, so that means we are inching closer and closer to the offseason. This is going to be a very interesting winter for Brian Sabean. Right of the bat, as soon as the series is ov...