The Giants Baseball Blog

Well, the Giants' front office are keeping Giants reporters (and us bloggers ) occupied here early in the winter, as they made their counter-move to the Dodgers' signing of Juan Uribe within 36 hours of hearing news that the infielder wouldn't be returning to San Francisco in 2011. I haven't yet had a chance to talk to anyone close enough to the team yet to verify, but something tells me the Giants had Tejada in mind all along as a backup plan to Uribe . Otherwise, I don't see how they could have acted so quickly. My suggestion in the previous post was to wait out the market and see what happens with arbitration eligible shortstops (J.J. Hardy, Yunel Escobar and Jason Bartlett were a few guys who may have been available via trade, or non-tender free agency), but they already had a plan. In the end, it's going to be Miguel Tejada who will be manning shortstop for your 2011 San Francisco Giants, as the Giants got him on a 1 year, $6.5 million deal. I know sai...

Well, if you've been following Giants' news over the past few days, your no stranger to the fact that Juan Uribe was in talks with the Dodgers about signing in LA to play 2nd base. It looks like those talks are coming to fruition, as Uribe has now signed the deal and is just awaiting a Tuesday physical in the Dominican to wrap things up. Uribe and the Dodgers have agreed on a 3-year, $21 million deal that will put Uribe in the Dodgers' infield along with Casey Blake, Rafael Furcal and James Loney. The 31 year-old figures to spend most his time at 2nd in LA, but as Giants' fans know, has the versatility to move around the infield. I'm not surprised Uribe is leaving, just a little surprised, in a middle-infield thin market, he signed so soon. He was a ste ady contributor for the Giants in his 2-year stint here, but I don't blame Sabes for not wanting to match the Dodgers offer of 3 years. 2 years at $7 million for Uribe would be doable, but that 3rd year is the k...

Just Tuesday night, within 24 hours of the Giants signed Aubrey Huff to that 2 year/$22M deal, the team announced they will offer free agent infielder Juan Uribe arbitration. Not much of a surprise, and smart move by Sabean, as Uribe was the lone Giants' free agent I expected them to offer arbitration to. Uribe is one of the premiere left-corner infielders on the free-agent market, with the ability to play both SS and 3B at respectable l evels, with a solid line of roughly .266/25/80/.770 per-500 ab's and a knack for the clutch hit over the last two seasons. Just go back and look at the 2010 postseason and you'll see what Uribe means to this team. He didn't have great batting average, but it seemed like everytime he did get hits, he made them count. There are some negatives though, as he's a bit of a free-swinger and as a side effect, not too patient at the plate (though he did have a career-high 45 BB in 2010) and he'll strikeout his fair share. However, all th...

Well, it was obvious both sides genuinely wanted to get a deal done, and they did so quicker than even I expected Tuesday morning, as the Giants signed first basemen Aubrey Huff to a 2 year, $22 Million deal. My first thoughts were, good, Huff's back, but those were immediately followed by the wow! $22 million! Still, I think it's safe to say that the majority of Giants fans wanted Huff back, we all knew it would take more than 1 year, and at $11M per season, it's only about $2-3 more than I was expecting he'd get. The one spot where this FA market is stocked at is first base, with Adam Dunn, Carlos Pen a, Paul Konerko, Derek Lee and Adam LaRoche leading the charge, but the Giants got a great performance out of Huff in 2010 and know he's not detoured from hitting at AT&T Park. If the Giants don't have Aubrey Huff in 2010, no World Series tittle. So did they jump the gun a bit and overpay a tad to get him back, sure, but after what he did for them, the versat...

Well, typically here at the Giants Baseball Blog, with high-praised youngsters like Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner and Pablo Sandoval coming up through the system the last 3 years, we've been doing a monthly minor league check-up on what's going on inside the lower levels of the Giants organization. However, since the team made the playoffs for the first time in 8 years, and ended up World Series Champs, it's been a few months since we've even thought of the Giants farm system. Now, even though Posey and Bumgarner are now in San Francisco for good, there are still some names who Giants fan's will become familiar with very soon down in the minors, and this year, nobody was more noticeable than first basemen Brandon Belt. The 22 year-old tore up the minor leagues in 2010, eerily similar to the way Pablo Sandoval did in 2008. At three different stops, High-A San Jose, AA Richmond and AAA Fresno, Belt hit a combined .352 with 23 HR, 43 2B, 113 RBI, 22 SB and a whopping...

Bruce Bochy just missed winning NL Manager of the Year, and although Giants' fans were a little upset about it, nobody really cared too much. Why? They're still basking in the aftermath of their World Series victory. Celebration time is winding down though, cause key dates are creeping up on us quicker than every body's used too. Like I said earlier in the postseason, since the Giants played a whole extra month, it's making this offseason go by very quickly. We're just 2 short weeks away from the arbitration deadline in which teams must choose to tender or non-tender their eligible players for 2011 contracts. The Giants themselves have quite a few key components to their World Series winning team eligible for raises. Those guys include Postseason hero Cody Ross, Andres Torres, Jonathan Sanchez, Postseason bullpen hero Javier Lopez and Santiago Casilla. I'm assuming all will be tendered contracts, so I wouldn't worry about any of them leaving the Giants, I...

The 2010 Giants got another reason to celebrate Monday, as their rookie catcher Buster Posey officially won National League Rookie of the Year. Posey's biggest challenger was Atlanta's Jayson Heyward, but Posey managed to edge him out. The advantage Heyward had going for him was that he played with the Braves all year long and was on the opening day roster, whereas Posey didn't arrive in San Francisco until the end of May. Still, Posey was a more valuable player in 2010 than Heyward, even with that considered. Heyward had a nice season, hitting .277 with 18 homers and 77 RBI supported by a solid .849 OPS in 142 ballgames. Posey hit .305 with 18 homers and 67 RBI to go along with a .869 OPS in his 108 games, so even in the lesser amount of games, Posey and Heyward's numbers are nearly identical, with the batting average being the one separator offensively. Heyward also had over double the amount of strikeouts than Posey as well. Defensively, obviously, you have to give t...

This Giants team achieved greatness in 2010, but if you told me the Giants would have won the World Series with their team MVP from 2009 riding the pine, I would have called you crazy. The Giants offense managed to have success in the playoffs despite getting much of anything out of the guy they centered their offense around coming into the season. As Sandoval gained weight over the season, his batting average dropped, and it got to the point that he was benched in favor of Mike Fontenot for a while there to start the playoffs. Granted, his benching led to the eventual heavy playing load on Edgar Renteria, and we all know how well that turned out, so luckily it turned out for the Giants. Still, this team needs Sandoval to be "The Panda" again in 2011, as they face an unsure future on the left-side of their infield. I'm not sure the .330, 25, 95 Sandoval is the guy Giants fans should expect, but I'd say somewhere split between his '09 and '10 numbers would be s...

The Giants have only been World Series Champs for a little over a week, but the front office has already gotten back into work mode and have plenty of big decisions looming. Brian Sabean and Co. have a handful of players, many of which were very key in their championship run this year, who are set for free agency, or due hefty raises in arbitration, they now need to focus on. None bigger than the red-thong totting first basemen that really took to this team and carried it on his back all year long, Aubrey Huff. Also facing unsure futures are shortstops Juan Uribe, Edgar Renteria and left fielder Pat Burrell. Then there is postseason hero Cody Ross, who's in for a hefty ra ise on his $4.5 million paycheck in 2010, probably upwards of $7-8 million in '11. I'd like to see the Giants just ink him to a 2 year deal and get it done with. He's got the versatility to play all over the outfield and we've seen what he does in the clutch, he's a keeper. Also do for hefty ra...

The City of San Francisco and every Giants fan across the globe got a chance to Celebrate with the team on Wednesday, as the Giants returned to San Francisco and celebrated their first ever World Series tittle with a ticker tape Parade through the city. It was certainly a spectacle, as tens of thousands (possibly even hundreds) flooded the streets of San Francisco to watch the 2010 Champs stroll through downtown on Cable cars with parade tape reigning down from above! It was a fitting way to end what was a memorable run by the Giants here in 2010, and I think I speak for all Giants fans when I say, I could really get used to this. The feeling is still sort of sinking in for me, but I've had this perma-smile on my face ever since Brian Wilson struck out Nelson Cruz with that nasty cutter in on the hands. The Giants outplayed every team they faced in the playoffs, and they absolutely deserved the trophy. As most players made a point of saying in the post-series interview, this Giant...

Well Giants fans, it's time to officially go crazy, as the San Francisco Giants are World Champs for the first time in history! Tim Lincecum was brilliant in a fitting end to a great run by the Giants, as they defeated Texas 4 games to 1. There's not too much I can say right now, as I want to join the rest of the Giants' brethren in celebrating this thing, but how professional is Edgar Renteria and how nails was Timmy? Edgar, with the torn biceps muscle and all, just lit up Texas pitching in this series to win himself the MVP. And Timmy, well, Giants fans are well aware of this kids moxie by now, and that Game 5 start by Lincecum showed everyone in the world just how dominant this kid is! Every Giants fan on the face of the planet watched the game, so that's all I really have to say right now!!! This bunch has been amazing to follow, write about and cover, and I've been waiting for this moment since my first Giants' letdown after that heartbreaking end to the...