The Giants Baseball Blog

When I look up and down the Giants roster, as is right now, it really reminds me a lot of the bunch they had entering the 2010 season. But instead of Buster Posey pushing for Bengie Molina's job, this year it will be Brandon Belt in the hunt for Aubrey Huff's first base job. Now, being that the Giants failed to add any real legitimate power to their lineup, and haven't added a bunch of new personnel to their 25-man roster at all, in order for their offense to turn around in 2012, they need guys like Aubrey Huff, who were miserable in 2011, to get back on track. If he doesn't, and either Brandon Belt or Brett Pill outperform him throughout the spring and the early part of the season, I hope the Giants won't hesitate to make the switch to the younger, more valuable player, much like they did when they shipped Bengie Molina out of town to make room for Buster Posey in 2010. That move was one that helped catapult them into the playoffs and eventually to the top of the b...

It took a lot longer than I was expecting, but the Giants finally added a little bit of depth/competition to their middle infield mix this spring by agreeing to terms with Ryan Theriot on a one-year deal worth about $1.25 million. I like this move quite a bit, not because I expect Theriot to be a long-term answer at short for the Giants, but it gives the team depth in the infield when they really needed it and provides some competition heading into spring. It's a non-guaranteed deal, meaning unless Theriot beats out Burris or Fontenot in spring for an opening day roster spot, that contract becomes void, leaving him with plenty of incentive to show up rearing to go. Theriot isn't quite as good defensively at short as he was 3-4 years ago, but he's still the best option the Giants now have there besides Crawford. Again though, the best part of this deal is the fact that it ensures that guys like Burris or Justin Christian aren't going to be just handed a job do to lack of...

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 ...

If the Giants were counting on Lincecum giving the team a hometown discount, they may want to think again, after reports surfaced Monday that the ace right-hander turned down a 5 year, $100 million contract. Now, that deal would have only bought Lincecum out of 3 years of free agency, and would have freed him up when he turned 32. At that age, he'd easily be up for another long-term, big money deal as long as he keeps up his dominant ways, so it is a little bit concerning. However, I don't at all see this as a sign that he wants out of San Francisco like everyone in the media is trying to make it out to be. All this really tells me, is that Lincecum isn't going to give the team a hometown discount, and after the numbers he's put up, he's got the right to do so. He's arguably one of the most valuable pitchers in the game right now, based on the fact that he's not only a dominant ace with 2 Cy Youngs already at 27, but a fan favorite who will fill up a ballpar...

After the Giants came to deals with nearly all their arbitration eligible players this week, including signing Sergio Romo to a one-year deal Friday, the teams final arbitration eligible player is also their biggest. Even though their preliminary figures were $4.5 million off, I still expect the Giants and their ace to come to terms before they'd be forced to go before an arbiter. The Giants gave one of the premiere set-up men in the game in Sergio Romo, a one-year, $1.5 million deal. That's more than double what he made in 2011, but the right-hander has really earned it as he's become one of the games premiere set-up men. The only minor concern I have with Romo is his durability. At such a young age (28), you'd expect him to be able to take on more of work-load than the 49 innings he threw in 2011, but none the less, the 49 innings he threw in 2011 were pretty darn dominant. He ended the season with a 1.5 era, 70 K's, 5 BB's, and a 0.71 WHIP over those 48 innin...

Well, you can mark off the two newest Giants on the list of arbitration eligible players who still need deals. The Giants inked each outfielder to one-year deals and avoided any hearing with Santiago Cassilla by inking the reliever to a one-year deal as well. Melky Cabrera, who the Giants shipped off Jonathan Sanchez for, ended up getting a one-year, $6 million deal, and will become a free agent after this upcoming season. After the season Cabrera just had, I have to consider Cabrera's figure pretty reasonable. Dude hit over .300 with over 200 hits, 20 homers, 20 steals, and had over 100 runs scored, all of which are very good benchmarks in terms of arbitration. With Pagan, the Giants may end up getting a steal at $4.85 million for 2012. It's been said more than once this offseason, as long as the Giants get a determined Pagan, and get him back closer to his 2010 form, then they'll have themselves a very affordable, legit leadoff hitter (something they didn't have at an...

Here we are, about a month to the day until pitchers and catchers report to Scottsdale, and though it appears as if the Giants offseason activity is probably over, there are still several players available on the free agent market that I believe could improve the team's 25-man roster. Now, being that it is well into January, most of the premiere guys have already found homes, and the ones that haven't (Prince Fielder, Carlos Pena, Roy Oswalt) probably won't land in a Giants uniform. However, there are still just a few guys I've kept my eye on over the last few weeks, and if they approach February without homes, would certainly be worth taking a flyer on, especially on a short-term deals. Those players are: Cody Ross, OF: Ever since the Giants struck out on Beltran, I've made it more than clear that I want Cody Ross back in a Giants uniform. So much to the point where I should put under the heading of the page, "Bring Back the Boss!" In all seriousness tho...

What has been an extremely quiet last couple of weeks in the Giants world, they finally made some headlines as they retained their right-handed breakout star from 2011, Ryan Vogelsong for 2 more seasons with a third year option. Seeing as the Pagan and Cabrera deals were each trades, this is by far the best signing the Giants have gotten done this winter, as they will have Vogelsong's services for the 2012 and 2013 season, for less than $4.5 million per. Now if he puts up numbers close to the ones he did last season, I'm not expecting a sub-2 era again, but 12-15 wins and a 3.50'ish era would be just fine by me as long as he keeps that WHIP under 1.30 and strikes out his usual 5-7 batters per game. The deal is such a good deal when you look around the league and see decent level mid-relievers making 4 million per season, and the Giants got a top-end starter, when on, for that price. Certainly the coup of the offseason thus far by Mr. Sabean, even though it was just a signin...

I know Ronny Cedeno isn't going to get anybody excited or optimistic, but the 27 year-old was, not too long ago, a top prospect in the Cubs organization. Granted, he hasn't yet materialized at the big league level, I still think he's well worth the $1.15 million he'll make to back up Ruben Tejada for the Mets, and could have been a defensive utility guy the Giants could have used. Sure, missing out on Cedeno isn't some big blunder by any means, but in the grand scheme of things, as I've said all winter, I wouldn't mind another option up the middle outside of Manny Burris and Mike Fontenot. Cedeno is a terrific defender, who's near gold-glove caliber at short and above average at second, so if your motto is pitching and defense (like the Giants), this guy would appear to have fit in nicely. Even though Cedeno had an off year with the bat in 2011, in roughly a full-season's worth of at-bats (616) spread out over '09 and '10, he put up a .258 av...

Spring training is creeping up on us quicker and quicker now that the holidays have passes, as pitchers and catchers are only a little over a month from reporting to camp. During this time here at the Giants Baseball Blog (GBB), once the calendar turns over to the new year, we like to do our version of the Giants organizations top-20 prospects. And no, outside of the top-3 maybe, it's nothing at all like John Sickels' list. Anyway, here we go: #1. Gary Brown, CF: The speedy, good contact, great fielding center fielder has been chattered about for the last couple of seasons as the heir apparent in center field for the Giants. After the .336/14/80 line coupled with 55 steals and 34 doubles and a .407 on-base percentage he produced in San Jose in 2011, the 23 year-old looks destined for big things. I compare him a lot to Jacoby Ellsbury, and I think the Giants would love it if he were 3/4 the player Ellsbury has become. Either way, Brown should start at AA, and depending on how h...

It's been a while since I've just done a "Giants Notes" post, and just threw out random thoughts about where the team is right now. Since I'm in the midst of putting together my 2012 Giants top-20 prospect list, I figured I'd let go of so random thoughts. First on the agenda, big news amongst Giants faithful this week is that Aubrey Huff is supposedly getting himself into the shape of his career. Not surprising since he's heading into another contract year, but it's very good to see Huff humbled by the horrible year he had last season. Anytime your OPS drops over 200 points in a year, you know you didn't do your homework that offseason. Whether it's the Pilates or the weight lifting that getting him "ripped", the Gian ts need the 2010 Huff to show up in order for this team to not be a total disaster offensively again. If Brandon Belt or Brett Pill beat him out for first base this spring, it'll be a flat-out nightmare, but I think ...

First post of 2012, and already a tad on the bitter side about this Carlos Quentin trade. Heading into the 2011/12 offseason, the Giants had really one main goal, improve the offense. What was lacking from that offense the most was a right-handed power bat who could strike fear in opposing pitchers, someone exactly like Carlos Quentin. After getting beat by the Cardinals offer to Carlos Beltran, the Giants again missed a shot at getting themselves the outfielder they really need. Now, I was thinking Kenny Williams was bluffing on offering up Quentin earlier this winter, and was under the assumption he'd only be let go for a sure thing prospect and/or an already proven young player with big league experience. Because the Giants j ust traded away some of their better young talent and young trading chips in the last couple of months (Thomas Neal, Zach Wheeler, Jonathan Sanchez etc...) I figured a match between the two would be highly unlikely. "The Giants just don't have enou...