Is Shea Hillenbrand Enough?

The Giants definetley addressed a huge need Friday when they dealt for 1st/3rd baseman Shea Hillenbrand. Toronto had already cut ties with Hillenbrand and had 10 days to deal him. For that reason, the Giants got a solid deal for Hillenbrand. I'm pretty sure Sabean was planning on parting with more than just one pitcher this July. It is to bad they had to part with Jeremy Accardo who some think was going to be the next closer for this franchise, but it takes quality to get quality. Not only do the Giants now have the best line-up in the NL West, they may have the deepest overall line-up in all of the NL. Ray Durham who has been on fire will now likely drop to the 6th spot and Pedro Feliz down to the 7th. The dominoe effect by adding Hillenbrand to the middle of the order now makes the bottom half that much stronger. I don't know of many teams who's 7th hitter has 16 home runs and 66 RBI's at this point. It's going to be interesting to see what Alou does with Durham if he keeps on hitting the way he is. Going into Saturday nights game, I think Shea Hillenbrand will hit 3rd, but it may be his and Durham's spot to share. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling Shea Hillenbrand the savior for this club, heck I'd rather have had Nick Johnson, but for what they gave up I'm not complaining.

The Giants also aquired right-hander Vinny Chulk in the deal to make up for the loss of Accar

do in the Pen. Chulk was decent last season posting a 3.88 era in 72 innings pitched, but this season he's been getting roughed up a bit. The Giants are now going to lean on Brian Wilson even more for late inning work with Accardo out of the mix. Wilson has shown some shades of belonging, but his 6.59 era does say something. Right now, I think Sabean should and will be focusing on a way to deepen the bullpen without giving up any more young arms. Joe Borowski has had a sensational year so far with the Florida Marlins, that's the type of guy who the Giants should have interest in and go after. They need another veteran righty, Mike Timlin type, who can come in late and help shorten the game. Armondo Benetiz has been ok lately, but they are going to need someone else to help him out down the stretch. I don't want to see Benitez start being called on to pitch 2 innings. Bullpen arms are usually the most plentiful thing on the market at the deadline, so I'd put my money on another addition there. With the Hillenbrand trade, I think the Giants did take a step ahead of the rest of the pack in the West, but I still don't think the team is strong enough to run away with any division or make huge noise in the postseason.

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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 th e 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 indi...

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

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Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get ...

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