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Giants Closing in on Pat Burrell

It's been no secret this month that the Giants offense needs some help, and apparently they are going to be bringing Pat Burrell on board for the rest of the 2010 season.

It's been reported all over the Bay Area over the last few days that the Giants were in talks with Burrell, and now it appears to be pretty much wrapped up. According to Henry Schulman, the Giants should announce the signing of Burrell by Saturday evening. Burrell won't be immediately added to the roster upon signing though, as he'll likely go through a small stint in Fresno before the Giants figure out what capacity they're planning to use him in. As far as my reaction to this move? I don't really see any harm in it, but I'm really not expecting Burrell to come in and be any kind of savior for this lineup. That said, there's always that chance he comes up, gets hot and puts together a couple of streaky months and works his way into the lineup. This situation almost reminds me of the Brad Penny deal from last year. After successful seasons in Philly, Burrell never got comfortable in the AL with Tampa and was really castoff by the organization because of it. The Giants are hoping a move back to his more familiar setting may help kick-start his bat. Again, they're adding him on the cheap and it's not costing them a roster spot, so essentially, it's a potentially low-risk, high-reward type add and you can't complain about those.

At least the Giants have been hitting better as of late and did get back on track vs. the Nationals by taking 2 of 3 games. Then started off solidly vs. the D-Backs on Friday night behind a Matt Cain 1-hit shutout. The top of the lineup, Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez, are starting to provide some consistency to that part of the lineup, and it's allowing the Giants bats in the middle of the order to relax a bit. Out of nowhere, Andres Torres is becoming a very serviceable major league outfielder, and his stats are climbing with the more pt he's getting. Torres is carrying an OPS of nearly .900 this season, and remember, he was basically obsolete in April. As a matter of fact, there were a few different games in April in which Torres played a big part in the Giants losing and I was ready to see him sent down at that point. I'm just glad Sabean and Bochy had more patience with him than I would have cause he really has been a blessing for this team. Freddy Sanchez has picked it up right along with Torres too. He's had multi-hit games in his last two starts and has 3 RBI in those two games. He and Torres need to stay right around .300 in order to keep the top of that lineup afloat.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I don't think he's going to help much, he seems like he's washed up. those last 2 years have been really bad in Tampa. Maybe he has one more stretch like 2008 left in him though. We'll see.
4:54 PM
Schruender said…
You couldn't ever see Torres performing the way he has. He's 32 years old and his career high in at-bats was 168 coming into the season. Saying that, I think it's unlikely he keeps doing what he's doing and Burrell's role will be defined by Torres' eventual drop off.
9:17 AM
Genos Turn said…
Burrell is now a Giant, er, Grizzly. Considering he comes in for the league minimum ($300k pro-rated if called up), there is little downside. Hopefully, his poor performance in Tampa Bay was largely due to playing DH only (only 2 games in OF in 2 years).
9:35 PM
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