The Giants Baseball Blog

We're nearly into December, which tends to be the most active month of the player movement season in baseball, and the Giants have been extremely quiet since their Jonathan Sanchez/ Melky Cabrera swap early in the month. However, I do expect things to take off here in the next couple of weeks with anticipated Winter Meetings starting up on December 5 th . Once the Meetings start, we're certain to see a flurry of moves and things start to fall into place, but I must say how surprised I am at the lack of movement early on so far. All the elite talents are still available an d normally the dominoes don't fall until those guys sign. One domino who may be out of the Giants mix in 2012 is 2010 NLCS MVP, Cody Ross. The Giants failed to offer Ross arbitration before last weeks deadline, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the end of the road for Cody in the orange and black. Ross has expressed on numerous occasions that he wants to return and I believe him. His injury...

After dealing Jonathan Sanchez away earlier this offseason, it opened up a spot in the Giants starting rotation. Barry Zito currently holds the spot, but the Giants haven't exactly give him a vote of confidence or made any kind of guarantee to him and could very well be assessing some free agent starters. We all know that the team's top priority in free agency is to shore up their outfield and add some depth to their shortstop position, but one thing I think they're doing behind the scenes so to speak, is exploring some of mid-level starting pitcher options. After the success the Giants had with Ryan Vogelsong in 2011, they could find themselves again scraping the barrell for depth in their rotation, and there are a surprising amount of effective starters out on the market. Obviously they don't need to get in on the top guys like C.J. Wilson and Roy Oswalt, but this market is deep with 2nd-tiere starters who could fit very well at the end of a rotation. Javier Vazquez w...

With the Giants continuing their search for outfield help after acquiring Melky Cabrera earlier this month, they have to keep circling back to Carlos Beltran, as he still remains the best fit for the Giants outfield. We just talked about Beltran possibly heading to Boston in our last post, and Brian Sabean has already gone on record as saying that Beltran would likely be out of the Giants price range. However, despite rumors of him close to signing in Boston, the fact that it hasn't happened yet could signal that he's still keeping his options open at this time. He fits so well with the Giants for a couple of reasons, one of which his contract demands aren't actually that outrageous. He's apparently looking for a 2-3 year deal and it's not like he tore it up so much in 2011 that he's going to command a huge annual salary. In this market, where mediocre players are getting multi-year deals, Beltran at 2 years and $15 million per season doesn't look so bad. No...

While the Giants haven't done anything of note since their trade for Melky Cabrera earlier this month, it hasn't stopped the rumors from rolling in as MLB's Hot Stove heats up. What appears to be the most likely of all rumors surrounding the Giants lately, is Carlos Beltran likely headed Boston on a two-year deal. Beltran said he'd prefer to stay in the NL but could very well see Boston as a spot with a legit chance at 2 World Series runs over the next 2 seasons. Add a healthy Beltran to Bostons lineup and they've got themselves a huge upgrade over J.D. Drew. This shouldn't be too surprising of news though, as Brian Sabean has already stated that he believes Beltran wouldn't fit into the Giants budget. Now the focus is turning to who may be replacing Beltran in right field for SF. The name of the week as far as free agent outfielders has been Grady Sizemore, who the Giants have apparently expressed some interest in. I like Sizemore, and don't think a 1 y...

The Giants took care of one of their big up coming arbitration cases by dealing Jonathon Sanchez to the Royals rather than sinking upwards of $8 million into him for 2012. However, they still have a few big decisions to make with players who were huge during their 2010 Championship run. One of the big names who won't be facing arbitration, but someone the Giants must make a decision on is Cody Ross. It's no secret that Ross was a major disappointment in 2011 after winning NLCS MVP in 2010, but a lot of his slow start can be attributed to injury. Then after the Carlos Beltran trade, he seemed to become the odd man out. Still though, Sabean and Co. need to determine whether or not they'll give Ross the two-year d eal he's seeking (likely for $7 mill per year). Right now, the only guy assured to be in the Giants 2012 starting outfield is Melky Cabrera, so they will definitely be exploring their options over the next couple months. Another key outfielder they need to make a...

Coming off their first big move of the offseason in obtaining Melky Cabrera from the Kansas City Royals, plenty of fans are wondering whats next! One of the biggest needs on the team lies up the middle at shortstop, where offense was non-existent in 2011. Rookie Brandon Crawford had his moments, especially early on after his call-up, but had his batting average well below .200 for most of the season. His glove and arm at short are 2 nd to nobody in the organization, and it's what kept him up at the big league level for so long, but when a guy is hovering around .200, that's a tough bat to keep in the everyday lineup, especially in the NL . The Giants had one of the leagues worst offenses last year and cannot afford to just hand the reigns over to Crawford until his bat improves. Brian Sabean said early on that the Giants are strongly considering sticking with Crawford at short for 2012, though that could just be strategy on Sabean's part letting any potential free agen...

They started out a lot quicker than I was anticipating, but the Giants made their first move of the 2011/2012 offseason, trading Jonathan Sanchez to KC for outfielder Melky Cabrera. It's a very run-of-the-mill trade and not one that has the Giants comunitty necessarily "buzzing". Never the less, one of the Giants biggest problems this season was that leadoff spot and center field, where Andres Torres failed miserably in his attempt to repeat 2010's performance. In comes Melky Cabrera, who had an all-star, break-out 2011 season that saw him hit .305 with 18 homers, 87 RBI and 20 steals, and he should immediately grab hold of one of the outfield jobs and likely the leadoff spot. What's a little concerning though, is that despite his .307 average, Cabrera only managed a .339 OBP, and h e's never been a very high on base type of hitter so he's not a typical leadoff guy. Also, his defensive range suggests he's not a prototypical center fielder either. KC ha...

Even though their offense was dreadful, the Giants managed to keep the season interesting until the final week or so of the season, so they don't have too far to go to improve their chances at returning to the postseason next year. In the 3rd and final segment of the 2011 Season in Review, we take a look at what the Giants must do this winter to get back on top in the NL West! As good as the pitching was, it's caused some people to start to question whether or not Brian Sabean plans to break up that fine staff in order to get more offense onto this roster. At the end of the year, it was put in papers that Sabean would "consider" parting with either Tim Lincecum or Matt Cain if it were to make a big enough offensive impact. I don't agree with that though, as good as this teams pitching is, they really don't have a bunch of arms knocking down the door to get to the big leagues like Cain, Lincecum and Bumgarner did. If they decide to deal one of those guys, it al...