Skip to main content

Winter Meetings Preview

Baseball's annual winter meetings start on Monday, and according the the Giants beat writers, the team is expected to be active. We should have a much clearer picture of what the 2008 San Francisco Giants will look like after the meetings. The Giants' main goal is to come out of the meetings with a middle of the order type young hitter without giving up Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and preferably Noah Lowry. Brian Sabean also said the team is trying to steer clear of the free agent market, so Andruw Jones (though I have a weird feeling he could be a Giant) and Aaron Rowand don't seem to be in the mix. I highly doubt they are going to deal Cain or Lincecum, even with all the Miguel Cabrera rumors flying around. Therefore, if they want to get a young and somewhat proven player, which would be ideal, the would have to part with at least Lowry. There are many of teams that would love to deal for a 27 year old, winning left-hander who is under contract for 3 more seasons. Not only that, but he was having a breakout year and was on pace to win 17+ games last season, before his injury, pitching for one of the worst teams in the league. Say what you want about his slightly high WHIP or low strikeout total, the fact is he gets people out when it counts, doesn't give up many runs and most importantly he wins. The Giants should have very high standards for Lowry, who in this market could very easily command a multi-year deal worth $12 million a year (currently due $12 million total over next 3 years).

The Giants are looking for a young 3rd basemen who can hit in one of the 3-4-5 slots. A couple 3rd basemen who I'd consider parting with Lowry for are Colorado's Garret Atkins and Cincinnati's Edwin Encarnacion. Both the Rockies and Reds are looking for starting pitching, and I'm sure they would be willing to part with either of those guys for a package that included Noah Lowry. The St. Louis Cardinals have also expressed interest in Lowry in the past and if the Giants could get Chris Duncan and another youngster (Brad Thompson, Anthony Reyes) for Lowry, than I'd also consider a deal like that. The Devil Rays have a plethora of young hitters, but after dealing Delmon Young for Matt Garza earlier this week, it's doubtful they are looking to deal another one. If the Giants aren't going to get a young player who they can control for a few years, then they should keep their rotation intact and consider letting their own players have a shot in 2008.

Comments

Marc said…
Hi. I have a sports blog over at allballssports.blogspot.com

Do you want to link to each other? If so, comment over at my blog!
Anonymous said…
I agree. I don't know why they are strongly considering trading Lowry. And if they do, they can't undervalue him.
Anonymous said…
The Rockies are rumored to be shopping Atkins, but its going to take a hell of a lot more than Lowry to get him. And I doubt the Rockies want another junk balling lefty in their rotation.
Trevor Cole said…
I never said Lowry for Atkins straight up would get a deal done. "Both the Rockies and Reds are looking for starting pitching, and I'm sure they would be willing to part with either of those guys for a package that included Noah Lowry."

I guarentee you if the Giants offer a package headlined with Noah Lowry (who has pitched well in Denver) the Rockies will listen. Lowry were a fa this season, he'd be worth 10-12 million a year in this market. He has a lot more value than you may think, even if he doesn't strike out a batter an inning.
Anonymous said…
I don't like the Rios rumors. He's good, but he's no Cabrera and isn't worth giving up Lince or Cain.

Popular posts from this blog

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t

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

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