The Giants Baseball Blog

With the new year just around the corner, this will be our last post of 2011, (wow how time flies) and we figured we'd just go with a basic State-of-the-Giants post and provide who currently holds or is most likely to hold one of their 25-man roster spots come opening day in April. I know we're still 4 months away from games counting, but spring training is just 6 weeks out, and unless the Giants have something up their sleeve (yeah, I'm talkin about you Cespedes), it doesn't look like they're going to do much before pitchers and catchers report in mid-February. Speaking of Cespedes though, it's funny to mention his name because it almost seems like the market has disappeared for the Cuban slugger? I don't know what the deal is but I thought he'd had signed by now and gotten a decent deal. He'd be great in right field at AT&T and make fans forget Beltran in an instant. But enough about him, I talked about him at length in our Christmas Wish list ...

I thought it was one of the funnier quotes I'd heard all offseason when I believe a Yahoo journalist described the Giants activity, or lack thereof, as them "twiddling their thumbs". Here we are, just days away from the calendar turning to 2012, and the Giants are the same team, add Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera, they were in early November when they lost all their free agents. Sabean said early on not to expect any big splash signings or any earth shattering moves, but they haven't even made little signing yet to help fill the smaller holes on this team. Why they don't have another infielder yet is beyond me, unless they have some plan to trade for one during Spring Training. Also, rumors surfaced right after Christmas that Cody Ross and the Rockies were nearing a deal that would bring the outfielder to Colorado. It makes sense on Cody's part, as he wants to play in a hi tters park if he's going to sign a one-year deal and since the Giants don't seem...

Well, it's been a pretty dissappointing offseason in the whole scheme of things for the Giants so far, and things probably won't change too much with the free agent market pretty much picked over. But it's Christmas time and the New Year is around the corner, so I thought I'd try and be optimistic for our holiday post before we take a few off for a few days. First off, there are still a few players out there that could help out the Giants right now. If they truly are going to go 100% pitching and try and just dominate teams 2-1, they should look into upgrading their 5th spot in their rotation. Paul Maholm is twice as effective a starter as Barry Zito and and as long as he passed his physical (shoulder strain). He's 29 and could give the Giants some insurance in-case (god forbid) Matt Cain refuses to stick around and pitch for a team in which he deals each night yet ends up with 8-14 seasons! Or maybe look into Edwin Jackson, but only if he got real and broug...

It amazes me that the Brian Sabean felt that Beltran's demands were un-reasonable and counted themselves out of the race so early, because I think the Cards just got themselves the steal of the winter. One the Giants will be kicking themselves for come next season! Seems like teams that won Sereis' the previous season really get to Beltran, as he signs a 2 year, $26 million deal with St. Louis. He'll be their new right fielder, shifting Lance Berkman to first in Albert Pujols former spot. Certainly not going to fill Pujols' shoes, but this move makes the Cards legit World Series contenders again. Brings me back to my original thinking though, and I've been saying it all offseason, the Giants can afford Beltran, they need Beltran, but there must have been something there that turned one off to the other. Either Beltran didn't like the way the Giants management dealt with him or the Giants didn't like Beltran's nonchalant attitude, but it doesn't seem...

I was thinking last night about who the Giants have added this offseason, and who they have lost, and to the surprise of many, the team that's supposed to be one of the top-5 earning teams in baseball has lost more than they've added this winter in terms of players. They haven't signed a single significant free agent, and it's now to the point where there aren't even any more left. For some odd reason, they are hell-bent on staying away from Carlos Beltran even though they clearly saw what he could do for that lineup when he got healthy in September, and that was without Buster. They've lost Jonathan Sanchez, Andres Torres, Cody Ross(?), Beltran and they've basically replaced them with Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera. I'd say the Giants are losing the value end of that swap over. It's not surprising they've been so quiet, as Sabean's been distracted by a new infant son (who wouldn't be), but he's a professional and has been there before...

With the Giants staying quieter than a mouse on the player movement front, and nothing likely to be done before now and the first of the new year, I figured I'd do a "mid-offseason" version of the NL West Power Rankings and rank where each team is halfway through the winter. Remember, still a lot can change, but here's sort of the "State of the NL West Address" heading into 2k12: 1. Arizona Diamondbacks : They were the best team at the end of the 2011 season and by more than many people, mostly Giants fans, wanted to believe. Not only that, but they're so young that they're only going to get better over the next few years. They added another potential ace in Trevor Cahill to go atop the rotation with Ian Kennedy (27) and Danny Hudson (24) along with the 23 year-old Cahill. Lost in the Cahill deal was their signing of gnarly set-up man Takashi Saito, who any right-hander in baseball will tell you they'd rather not face and is a nails set-up man fo...

We've almost hit the Christmas break in Major League Baseball (when offices shut down for a few days), and most teams are looking for final additions to their roster at this stage in the winter. However, I still see some tinkering with the Giants' roster before spring training 2012 next February, and this is how I think the opening day 25-man roster will play. Projected Signings : OF Ryan Ludwick (1 YR/$3.5M), C Ronny Paulino (minor league deal), IF Ryan Theriot (minor league deal) - Again, not my personal choices on signings, just guys I see fitting the Giants needs/budget/ Sabean's weird obsession with mediocre, mid-aged players! Opening Day Lineup: CF Angel Pagan 2B Freddy Sanchez LF Melky Cabrera 3B Pablo Sandoval C Buster Posey 1B Aubrey Huff RF Ryan Ludwick SS Brandon Crawford Starting Rotation: RH Tim Lincecum RH Matt Cain LH Madison Bumgarner RH Ryan Vogelsong LH Barry Zito Bench: C Hector Sanchez, C Ronny Paulino , 1B/OF Brett Pill, OF Nate Schierholtz ...