The Giants Baseball Blog

The Giants have been one very quiet so far this offseason and it's really tough to judge at this point exactly what direction they are headed in. Brian Sabean said at the end of the season that he would likely have to deal some young pitching in order to obtain some offense and at the pace free agents are being signed right now, it's likely they will have to do just that. Trade 1 : 2b Ray Durham and lhp Pat Misch to Seattle for 1b Richie Sexson Trade 2: lhp Jonathon Sanchez, of Dave Roberts and cash to Chicago for 3b Joe Crede Free Agent Signings : rhp Troy Percival (1 yr. $4.5 million plus incentives) and lhp Jeremy Affeldt (2 yr. $8 million) Lineup : CF Rajai Davis RF Randy Winn 3B Joe Crede 1B Richie Sexson C Bengie Molina LF Nate Shierholtz 2B Kevin Frandsen SS Omar Vizquel Bench : OF Freddie Lewis IF Rich Aurilia 1B/OF Dan Ortmeier OF/IF Eugenio Velez C Elezier Alfonzo Starting Rotation : LHP Barry Zito RHP Matt Cain LHP Noah Lowry RHP Tim Lincecum RHP Kevin Corriea Bullp...

After locking up Omar Vizquel for next season, Brian Sabean said he would now turn his attention towards finding the team's next third basemen. Alex Rodriguez is on the brink of resigning with the Yankee's so any slight possibility of louring ARod to the bay is out the window. That leaves Mike Lowell as the top 3rd basemen left on the market and even though they haven't ruled him out, I'm pretty sure the Giants will not pursue him. So if they are going to add another 3rd basemen from outside the organization this winter, it will have to be via trade. Here are some names that have been thrown around the trade market: Miguel Cabrera : Sabean mentioned that the Giants definitely would have interest in a guy like Cabrera, as any other team in the league would, but it's hard to believe they could come up with a package to get him unless they included one of or both Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum . The Giants are building around pitching, so I would rather hang onto th...

The Giants announced Wednesday that they had re-signed Omar Vizquel to a one year contract with a mutual option for a second year. I fully expected this move, but didn't expect the Giants to give Omar 5.5 million dollars in 2008. This means he's getting a pay increase after one of his worst offensive seasons in his career. This just goes to show how bare the free agent market is for infielders this winter. If the Giants had taken a chance and let Vizquel explore the open market, he would have gotten better offers. Although signing a 42-year old shortstop doesn't fit into the Giants ultimate plan of getting younger, faster and healthier, I do see the logic in bringing Vizquel back for a year and I do expect him to be better with the bat next year. His contract for 2009 will be activated if he plays in 140+ games. With the Giants most likely going through a rebuilding year in 2008, he's not going to play 140 games unless he's earning it. Most of all, this signing ...

Some of baseball's biggest names wasted no time putting themselves on the free agent market this week. Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Torii Hunter where among dozens of players to file for free agency as soon as they possibly could. This is going to be a very interesting offseason for the Giants as they will be building a team without Barry Bonds for the first time in 15 years and already the rumors are flying about a possible Bonds' replacement. The San Jose Mercury News ran an article today discussing the possibility of Alex Rodriguez joining the Giants which all the sudden has become a popular thought. The normally discrete Brian Sabean dropped a hint that he would "kick the tires" on any potential Arod deal, something he didn't even say about Barry Zito while in negotiations last winter. Even the New York papers and baseball writers seem to think the Giants have a legit shot at landing the best player in the game. However, once the negotiations start, I have...

The World Series starts tonight, and even if your team isn't a part of it, the fall classic is always something a baseball fan will tune in to. My March predictions for this year's fall classic were quite a bit off, thanks to injuries to the Tigers pitching staff and underachieving by the Mets . Here is a breakdown of a 2007 World Series that nobody in the World could have predicted. Colorado Rockies vs. Boston Red Sox Offense : On paper, the Rockies don't appear to measure up with the Red Sox offensively, but they have shown that they're streaky and certainly peaking right now. Recent history has shown that the team that's hot in October wins it all, and this year the Rockies are that team. Say what you want about Manny Ramirez or David Ortiz, Matt Holliday is the best player in this series. The Rockies have to get Todd Helton and Garret Atkins going. Willie Taveras also has to do a better job at the top of the order if they want to keep their streak alive....

The Arizona Fall League has gotten underway and there are a few Giants' of note participating this year. Daniel Ortmeier , Nate Schierholtz and Eugenio Velez are all getting an extension to their 2007 season. Ortmeier and Schierholtz are getting the most attention as both have a shot at starting somewhere for the Giants in 2008. The Giants' longterm plan of moving Ortmeier to first base has carried over into the fall and it's looking more and more likely that the position will be his next season. He's gotten of to a hot start in the AFL, leading the league in hitting with .406 avg. through his first 6 games while playing a flawless first base. He's also been getting a lot of mentoring from J.T. Snow during the process. I am very curious to see how this experiment works out. I never had high hopes for Ortmeier, but He kept getting better and better with the more playing time he got towards the end of the season. 6 home runs, a .287 average and .819 OPS over 157 big...

According to the St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minnesota), the Giants are one of the three most likely destinations for free agent center fielder Torii Hunter. Everything at this point is just speculation, but this seems to be right up Brian Sabean's alley as far as players he'd have interest in. I have mentioned a few times in recent posts that I would steer clear of Hunter for many reasons. His best asset is his ability to play center field and a top flight defensive center fielder is about the last thing the Giants need at this point. They already have depth at the position with Rajai Davis, who proved to very good center fielder himself, and Dave Roberts returning next season. If Hunter were an average defensive player, he'd be worth nowhere near the amount of money that he is going to get this winter. Yes, he's above average offensively, but I wouldn't say he's an offensive force by any means. A career .793 OPS isn't worth paying 17+ million dollars a year fo...