The Giants Baseball Blog

With the calendar ready to flip to December, MLB Free Agency has started picking up as expected. B.J. Upton has been the biggest name to switch teams thus far, and his deal may set the market for the rest of the outfielders. Upton landed a huge, 5 year, $75 million deal with the Atlanta Braves, signaling their moving on from Michael Bourn, and really setting a precedent for outfielders in this free agent market. I mean, Upton is a nice player with some upside who is entering his prime, but $15M/per for a guy who hits .240 and doesn't carry an OPS over .800? Granted, he's a skilled defender in center, and does have 20+ home run power, but he was hitting in a live yard in Tampa and never really developed like everyone expected he would. With Hunter getting $13M a year earlier this month from Detroit, and now Upton getting this deal, it certainly helps out Angel Pagan's status. Maybe he will find that 4 year/$50M deal he's been reportedly seeking after all. He doesn'...

The Giants made a few moves since they won the 'Series last month, but since the Affeldt signing and assuring Pence a contract for 2012, things have been pretty quiet. Well, you can expect that to change in the coming week as MLB's free agency appears to be picking up, and there has been a lot of talk about the Champion San Francisco Giants. Most of the talk, to nobodies surprise, has been of Angel Pagan, and the chances the Giants have of signing the second-half machine. As I've suspected all along though, I just don't see him coming back, as some other team is destined to overpay for him for what he did from August 3rd-on. Friday, it was leaked that the Giants and Pagan's party seem to be a ways apart on a new deal and both will look towards other avenues in the next few days. I don't know the details of what's holding up negotiations for certain, but it's likely coming down to years. Most likely, the Giants won't go more than 3, and won't pa...

I know free agency is starting to heat up, but with Buster Posey winning the NL MVP Thursday, I wanted to take a quick look back down on the farm and see who the next big stars are that will be heading our way. We'll be right back into the free agent frenzy this weekend, by which time it wouldn't surprise me if the Giants make another move, but until then, I wanted to look at some of the standouts from the minors this year. First off, we'll start down in Low-A Augusta, where the name of the game down their for the Giants was their starting pitching, particularly in the form of their two brightest young arms in Kyle Crick and Clayton Blackburn. The 19 year-olds each had their way with the the SAL's hitters, as Blackburn piled up an 8-4 record, 2.54 ERA and an astounding 143:18 K/BB ratio over 133 innings of work. Crick was equally impressive, firing off a 7-6 record, 2.51 ERA and 128 K's in 111 IP. He didn't show the command Blackburn did, but got stronger ...

Fresh off their 2nd World Series tittle in 3 seasons, Brian Sabean has gotten right back to work and has already made multiple roster decisions regarding the 2013 team. After declaring that the Giants will be tendering Hunter Pence arbitration last week, the Giants have apparently agreed on a new three-year deal with Jeremy Affeldt. The internet was buzzing Tuesday with news that the Giants and reliever Jeremy Affeldt were enclosing on a new three-year that would pay the lefty upwards of 18 million dollars during it's span. It's now become official, and that goes to show you the market for quality left-handed mid-relievers, cause that's a pretty large deal for one about to hit his mid-30's. Now, don't get me wrong, Affeldt has been huge for the Giants since he put on their uniform, but you hardly see relief pitchers that aren't closers or elite set-up men get three-plus years in a contract. That being said Affeldt is one of the best left-handed relievers in t...

Well, we were going to use today's post to go back and review what went on down on the farm in the Giants' organization, but the Giants are already making some moves towards shaping their 2013 roster. Brian Sabean announced Thursday something that every Giants fan was expecting, stating that they will offer arbitration to right fielder Hunter Pence, ensuring he'll be in the orange and black for the 2013 season. There was never really any doubt as to whether or not Pence would be back after he helped spark the team's incredible run in October, but the Giants are hoping his personal production improves next season. Pence hit just .219 with a .671 OPS to go along with 7 HR's and 45 RBI in his 59 games with San Francisco, and struggled even more in the postseason. However, even though he wasn't as prudent with the stick as he'd have liked, he was one of the Giants most clutch hitters with runners in scoring position as evident by his high RBI total, and he als...

Although Giants fans all over the world get to relish in this World Series Championship all winter long, it's time for the Giants management to start shifting their focus towards 2013. Now, before I start putting this season in the rear view mirror, I just wanted to talk a little bit more about this World Series victory and the incredible parade we all got on Wednesday. Again, we'll be doing season reviews in the coming month, rating how each unit of the team did this year, from starting pitching to the bench guys and everyone in between. There just isn't a lot to be said about the 2012 Giants that hasn't been eluded to a number of times. I would be lying if I told you I had the World Series on my mind after this team lost it's star closer and then their top hitter midway through the season while also getting pedestrian numbers out of the guy they were hoping would help carry the offense in Hunter Pence. But that's further testament to how well this team playe...