Skip to main content

Giants' Winter Meetings Review

After an extremely quiet first three days in Dallas for the 2011 Winter Meetings, things picked up at a record pace on day four. One of the games biggest stars, Albert Pujols, found himself a new home in LA with the Angels, and he was quickly joined by C.J. Wilson to really solidify an underachieving Angels squad from last year.

As active as it was Thursday, the Giants were quiet after their deal for center fielder Angel Pagan, and Brian Sabean and Co. are relaying information that leads one to believe the Giants are done making any impact moves for their starting lineup. I still expect a utility infielder to come on eventually, though Sabes and Bochy are adamant that Manny Burris will start the year as the teams utility infielder/right-handed shortstop option. I like Manny, and on a deeper team with better starters, I think he makes a lot of sense as a utility/pinch run option, but the Giants don't need anymore light-hitting players on this roster. If they indeed plan to start the season with an outfield of Cabrera-Pagan-Schierholtz, left to right, as well as having Crawford at short on a daily basis, then I don't care how much Buster Posey heals and Pablo Sandoval contributes, this lineup will be identical to the 2011 group. Now, there's still plenty of time in the offseason for the Giants to change their tune, they've done so more than once in the past, and if a guy like Josh Willingham or even Carlos Beltran can't find a destination they like, then maybe the Giants sneak in and make a play for one of them. But right now, Sabean is giving all indications they aren't even considering another outfielder now that Pagan's around. I liked the Pagan deal as far as the the value of the trade, but I did fear that Sabes would consider him the final piece to the offensive puzzle when they still have needs.

I do think Pagan is better than Torres and will be in 2012, granted he returns to his normal defensive self in center and hits closer to .300 than .250. However, because they've failed to address their number one need heading into this offseason, and now appear content with where they stand, I have a hard time giving them any grade above a C/C- for the work they've done since the offseason started. They've essentially added two, top of the order, speedy contact hitters with average OBP's, yet they still don't have a guy on their roster who's a threat to hit 30 jacks in a given season or a shoe in for 100 RBI like most winning teams have. Pablo could be that guy, but he's more of a gap-to-gap line drive hitter than a real big home run threat. Now I'm not advocating that you need a player who hits 30-40 HR's a year on your roster in order to win, but with the questions at 2nd base and Sanchez's health, your .200 hitting shortstop, and your first basemen coming off a .240, sub-.700 OPS season, your offense needs more tinkering than a couple of speedy singles hitters.

Anyway, with the Winter Meetings now concluded, the next big step on the MLB calender will be the arbitration deadline date which I believe is December 12th. The Giants have decisions on Jeff Keppinger and Mike Fontenot and it wouldn't surprise me if both were non-tendered. Also, after that date, their will be a whole new slew of free agents hitting the market, so it's conceivable Sabean is waiting until that market opens up before getting to serious with any free agents.

Now, I'm off to Southern California for a week, and will try to take a small break from posting during that time, but certainly check back as I'll have the laptop and if something noteworthy goes down, I'll be all over it. Regular daily/bi-daily posting will return next Thursday! Hopefully Carlos Beltran has signed and the Giants have traded for Alexi Ramirez by then! Hey we can wish can't we?

Comments

Anonymous said…
I give them a D. Pagan is basically Torres, just better base stealer, and Ramon Ramirez was our backup closer last year! How many singles hitting outfielders is Bruce Bochy trying to get?
Marvin Benards said…
Ohh, Alexi Ramirez, hadn't heard that name at all yet. Is that really a rumor? I'd so do that as long as they didn't have to give up Brown or Belt.
BeastMode said…
Wonder if they'd get a 1bmen and move huff to lf and Cabrera to right? Carlos Pena is a good hitter!

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...

SF Giants' 2024 season preview and predictions

 We've reached the finish line of spring training and it's time for the games to start mattering. The Giants are a much different team than the one we saw report to camp six weeks ago. Did they add enough over the winter and spring to catapult them into playoff contention? What are some keys to success this season? We'll get into all that and more in the 2024 season preview. A winter that started out a little slow and concerning for Giants' fans, really came into form in the spring and was capped beautifully by a Blake Snell signing just over a week before opening day. The Giants are indeed a much improved team from the one we saw in 2023, just how much better they become will rely a lot on three big things. Three Keys to 2024 1. Health Of course, you can say this about every team in baseball and in any sport. In order for them to reach their end-season goals, they'll have to have had stayed relatively healthy throughout the summer. But for the Giants I've highl...

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...