The Giants Baseball Blog

I know it happened a few days ago, I was just waiting for another move to follow which is why I'm just now getting around to posting about it. I'm sure everyone who cares knows by now that Randy Johnson signed a 1 year, 8 million dollar deal with the Giants. I fully support this move as the pitching staff was a little overrated before this move (Outside of Cain and Lincecum, you didn't really know what you were going to get) but adding RJ into the mix for a year is a great move. He can still pitch obviously, as evident of his 2.41 era, and 8-5 record over the second half of last season. Put that together with the fact that he's now coming to pitch at a legitimate pitchers park for the first time in his career and we could see The Unit find a fountain of youth here as he closes in on 300 wins (at 295 currently). While he should be a fine pitcher here, he will also be a great sounding board for the young power pitchers, and a solid overall team leader. Now, I'm not s

John Sickels , who covers minor league ball for the Sports Bloggers Nation as well as minorleaguebaseball .com, came out with his annual top prospect list this past week and his Giants list had a few odd choices for his top 20. One of which was Waldis Joaquin ranked 9 th . Joaquin has some upside and has a good young arm, don't get me wrong, but there are a lot more accomplished prospects in this organization that didn't make it onto the list, such as the Cal League's minor league pitcher of the year, Kevin Pucetas . I figured I would go ahead and rank the Giants top 20 prospects in the order I believe they should be at this point in time. Take into mind that I am not including any of the players who have debuted for the Giants (outside of Connor Gillaspie ) so Pablo Sandoval, Travis Ishikawa , Nate Schierholtz , Emmanuel Burris, Sergio Romo etc. won't qualify for my list. Because I could literally make a whole post on each prospect, I am going to try and keep things

Over the first month and a half of the off-season, the Giants have been one of the busier teams in baseball signing 3 major league free agent players and being very active amongst other free agent and trade discussions. However, they haven't made a news breaking move since signing Edgar Renteria a few weeks back and they probably will stay relatively quiet until after Christmas. They did make a move that may have gone slightly under the radar though by signing minor league free agent Jesus Guzman. The Giants nabbed the 24-year old third basemen in hopes that he could figure it out in the upper levels with their organization. The youngster hit .305 with 25 home runs and 112 RBI in high A ball with Oakland in 2007, then went on to lead the Texas league (AA) in hitting last season batting at a .364 clip with 14 home runs and 76 RBI. What is a little worrisome though is that he hasn't really done much (59 at-bats) above Double-A. He has carried his success from '08 into the Win

About a week ago there was a blurb mentioned from the Winter meetings about the Twins offering the Giants Delmon Young for Jonathon Sanchez. While that trade straight up wouldn't be the best deal for the Giants as their need is for infielders and not outfielders. However, this proposal did get me thinking. I wonder if the Twins would consider expanding the deal and adding a few more players into the mix. My offer to the Twins would be Jonathon Sanchez, Nate Schierholtz and Randy Winn for Delmon Young, Michael Cuddyer ( atlthough I still consider it if Cuddyer weren't involved) and Nick Blackburn. Here's why it would make sense for both teams: The Giants: They'd be getting a young right-handed bat who massively underachieved in Minnesota last season and has huge potential. In the long run, Young will be better than Schierholtz and is a way better fit in this ballpark. Young reminds me of a younger Alex Rios and I think it's only a matter of time before we see

Towards the end of November, I gave my first line-up prediction of the off-season and now it's going to be a little bit easier as things look like they are rounding into shape, at least as far as the Giants management is concerned. I still see this team with a major hole at whatever corner position Pablo Sandoval doesn't fill. They also have a hole in their starting staff where it looks like Noah Lowry cannot be counted on to be ready for the season, thus has prompted talks of Randy Johnson joining the squad for a year. I still think the Giants, although they say they are pretty much set, have a few things up their sleeve (for better or worse) and I could now see a Giants' roster lining up like this come April. Signings: 3B Joe Crede (1 year, $6.5 million w/incentives and option year), IF Ty Wigginton (2 years, $12 million), LHP Randy Johnson (1 year, $8.5 million+incentives) Lineup- LF Fred Lewis 2B Ty Wigginton (I could see Sabean having interest in Wigg's power:

The Giants went into Las Vegas with a few different agenda's on mind (hopefully none of which included strippers, roulette tables and an array of intoxicants). One of which was to try and figure out a way to get power and a little bit of defense onto one of the infield corners. They also had CC Sabathia on their radar as well as Randy Johnson, who could serve as an insurance policy if Noah Lowry is unavailable come March and April. However the most newsworthy item that came from them this week is that Aaron Rowand will be moving down in the lineup. CC ended up in New York, which is for the better anyway. Him, Timmy and Matty would have been brutal for opposing hitters, but it's just too hard to tie up that much money into only two pitchers, especially with Lincecum getting ready cash in big in 2 years. And apparently the asking price for any young hitter who could help was too much. So, amongst all that talk, Brian Sabean , Dick Tidrow , Felipe Alou , Bruce Bochy and Co. ha

Major League Baseball's annual Winter Meetings got underway Monday morning in the Las Vegas, but as of midday, no real big news has surfaced regarding the Giants, or any other team for that matter. The Giants seem to be in on a number of players, free agents and possible trade targets alike but I would say that the chances of the Giants making any sort of newsworthy moves over the next few days aren't as likely as their flurry of recent action has lead some to believe. Still though, Sabean is there, hopefully taking part in meetings/discussions all day rather hanging out at the the Hard Rock, sipping cocktails and gambling away. The Giants have a glaring hole in the middle of their lineup and at the corner of their infield and that needs to be number one on the list this week for the Giants management. They've also had an eye on the CC Sabathia sweepstakes while conducting other business. If anything, the front office should have a clear picture as to where the market st

Although the initial report came about 2 weeks premature, the inevitable did finally happen officially on Thursday afternoon as the Giants signed shortstop Edgar Renteria to a 2 year, $18.5 million contract. I've gone over Renteria in depth over the past couple posts so I can't say much that hasn't already been said. I don't love this deal by any stretch, but I don't hate it either. Again, I would have rather seen Rafael Furcal sign since they were insisting on adding a shortstop, as I think his ceiling is a lot higher at this point that Renteria's (yes, even with the back concerns) . That said, I fully expect Edgar to return to closer to his career averages next season after a sub-par year in Detroit. Renteria , by far, is better offensively than anyone the Giants have had at shortstop since earlier in the decade when a younger Rich Aurilia was playing all-star quality baseball for this team. The good news about Renteria is that he's supposedly working

The Giants made their second official signing of the offseason on Wednesday morning signing reliever Bob Howry to a 1 year, $2.75 million deal. Howry gives the Giants another veteran reliever who can handle the pressure of the 7 th and 8 th innings, but he wasn't the most ideal choice out there. Of course there is always that other free agent that I personally would have liked to see them sign and in this case it was Kyle Farnsworth . Although Farnsworth is coming off of a subpar year with the struggling Yankees, he has always seemed to pitch better in the NL and I could have seen him returning to dominance in a spacious park like AT&T. However, Farnsworth wouldn't have taken a 1 year deal like Howry did so he was likely never even an option. Howry isn't bad, but he had a big fall off last season and although relievers do rebound, his age makes it unlikely that he's got any of those low 3 era seasons left in him. That said, I do expect him t come in and b

Monday, December 1st at 9 pm pacific marks the deadline for teams to offer their free agents arbitration. There was already word out of Detroit early in the day that the Tigers would not be offering Edgar Renteria arbitration, meaning any team could sign him without forfeiting one of their top draft picks. This move comes as a surprise to few as the Tigers bought Renteria out of his contract last month and it was pretty clear that his time in Detroit was over. Now the speculation should start flying again as the Giants have supposedly already been exchanging contract proposals with the 33 year-old shortstop. The team is still expected to be in on Rafael Furcal, but as I stated in my last post, those chances seem to be dwindling by the day and now that Renteria is officially "free" coupled with the fact that Sabean likes to strike quickly could mean that Renteria has moved onto the top of the Giants wish list of shortstops. I'm still not at all sold on Renteria and I stil

Last spring, while the Giants were searching for 3rd basemen and before they landed Jose Castillo, there was strong speculation that Joe Crede would get traded to the Giants at some point. It never transpired and Crede went on to have a big first half before getting hurt and missing most of the second half of the '08 season. Now, roughly nine months later, Crede is a free agent and could probably be had on the cheap as he's trying to prove that his back injuries are a thing of the past. Due to the thin market at third base, and that being one of the Giants biggest holes, I actually would take a long look at Crede . Again, he's coming off an injury (a back one at that), so he's not going to be able to command a multi-year deal and is likely going to have to settle for a mediocre base contract with incentives until he plays 140 games in a season. He is a Boras client, so negotiating won't be easy, but I don't see teams lining up to sign him so a 1 year deal is

The Giants appear to have shifted all of their focus at this point to bringing a new shortstop aboard and it looks like it will be either Rafael Furcal or Edgar Renteria. Brian Sabean has apparently been exchanging contract proposals with Renteria's which I hope is not too serious. I have made clear the risks associated with Furcal here in previous posts, but even with those risks, I still think he is clearly a better option than Renteria at this point. Furcal is a few years younger, therefore will likely get another large contract if all goes well during this one, so he will have motivation to continue to be a top shortstop. Renteria is a decent player, but his game is a lot like Randy Winn's (minus the speed) and the Giants don't need another "Winn" type player on this team. Sure Renteria may hit .300, but his offense has been in decline and his defense is starting to slip a bit too. Furcal is an all-star caliber player when he's healthy and Renteria isn

With rumors swirling around the league, and the Giants apparently in on everyone from the big names like C.C. Sabathia to relievers like Bob Howry , I figured now would be a good time to throw out a possible lineup projection for next year. Even with the recent reports that the Giants are serious on Sabathia , I would still give that about a %10 chance of transpiring. The Giants have greater needs than pitching and as good as Sabathia is, I would rather put that money into a guy like Mark Teixeira if they insist on spending. The Giants also have apparently stepped up their efforts in pursuing second basemen Orlando Hudson. Hudson is declining offensively and his defense slipped last year as well. I would rather sign Furcal who may bring more of a risk, but if healthy, would reap more reward. Here is a look at how I think the 2009 Giants could look heading into Spring Training in February: Jon Signings: Rafael Furcal (3 yr. - $40 million), Paul Byrd (1yr. - $3.5 million), Bob How