Our 2011 Short Stop
Who’s it going to be? I could see it being Renteria but I hope not, I think he put everything he had left in the game into that final swing. Brandon Crawford? The only way our line up can absorb that type of offensive downgrade is if we also sign Carl Crawford. Plus, that type of move just feels too….I dunno….”Bo-cocky” to me. There’s no free agent SS that interests me (including Derek Jeter). I keep coming back to Juan Uribe but what does that cost? Two years/10 million at least, I would think. And his defense is going to be getting worse, not better…….
Oh well, not the biggest concern in the world but still something to keep an eye on this Winter. The one thing I’m a little worried about is that Sabean will feel so much vindication for winning the WS with “track record” guys that he just tries to re-sign all his FA players. Bad idea. We caught lightening in the bottle with the 2010 group. Trotting them all out there again, with another year of age on those legs, doesn’t seem like a recipe for repeat……
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
My question about Uribe was if you do bring him back, and I don’t see how you can’t with his clutch play and clubhouse influence, where does he play? His range at SS isn’t much better than Rents, really. Pablo is not a 1B imo, tho maybe MDR could play there or 3B is Uribe is at SS. Sure would be nice to have someone younger in there that Uribe could mentor.
How ready is Burriss? Can he legit play that spot? Does he have SS arm or not? How much offense did SF get out of this position last year?
Point here would be, if you can improve at another spot or two, SS doesn’t have to hit much as long as you get the D. But, Sf can always try and add piece to score more runs, pick up the OB and OPS numbers.
Well, who woulden’t you want back? I think Huff and Uribe are absolutely mandatory. Maybe you’re thinking more of the arb eligible guys, I think there are 8. Ross is obviously required, Torres as well, the relievers, I don’t know who they wouldn’t want: Ray and/or Ramirez perhaps. They still need a stud 8th inning guy. Twins have a boatload of FAs who might fit the bill and Balfour is coming off a big year for the Rays.
Edgar, the Gamer, and Burrell are the question marks, with much of those decisions impacted by DeRosa and Pablo. I don’t think Panda will blow it. I still see a 2011 opening day LU of Sandoval, Uribe, Sanchez, Huff or Belt in the INF, Buster behind the plate, ande Huff/Belt, Torres, Ross OF. Reserves: Velez or Ford, FA reserve catcher, Fontenot, DeRosa, Posednik.
I’m contemplating keeping some form of my contests going, not as extravagant but a little something for these awful weeks as we await ST… buying more love, as one of my esteemed colleagues put it…I’ll think about it and talk to Craig.
Well I took a few days away, went to the Dugout store on Sunday with my son. 4 hats and 4 t-shirts later headed home. The store was still wall to wall people. So Giants mania has not ended yet. Has anyone seen a WS Champion pennant? They had National league Champion pennants but not a WS one, has anyone seen one on the net?
http://www.footballfanatics.com/World_Series_Merchandise
thanks for that!!
after the mugs, bumper stickers, T-Shirts and all for me and my lads – that’s $150 that could have gone into my online bingo account.
geeezz
Burriss, thank you WillieD, I forgot about him. Not sure why, I still think Manny is going to be a good ML infielder. Maybe a competition with he and Crawford in ST? Normally, I think ST competitions are bullshit (see: Bowker/Nate *competition* from 2010 ST) but if Crawford and Burriss are all we have, might as well give Manny the edge going in and as long as he doesn’t totally fuck it up, give him the job……
I agree with Twin, Huff and Uribe are mandatory signings. With that, I think you have a few less pieces to sign this year to compliment the core.
Nate and Ishi are out of options so they will be part of the whole think tank thing (DeRosa and Panda are probably first on the agenda though).
Flav – That Tee shirt I’m holding in that picture/avatar/gravatar says in Polish, “Beer is my fuel” . Although, the other day when I was wearing it I told the neighbor lady that is was Polish for World Champion San Francisco Giants. The folks in these parts think I’m a fucking loon, I love it.
Lol. Nice shot man.
Thanks Bat. It was taken at a Polish festival in Chicago about 5 or 6 years ago.
Bozo, you look ready for Pit Masters. Gotta good rub recipe?
My rub is pretty basic Twin. Paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, oregano, salt and just a bit of cumin. For ribs I top it off with brown sugar. Although I call it a dry rub, I do get the ribs a little wet with some apple cider vinegar. Man, I wouldn’t mind some ribs right now.
Flav: Had the very same immediate Bocock flash run through my head at the thought of starting Brandon Crawford at SS. Appears he is ML ready defensively, but has a bunch of ways to go with the stick. Maybe its time to take a long look at Tampa Bay as a trading partner as they have, what is it, three guys who are average or better at SS. Giants should have someone available whom they would like in an exchange.
Michael: Most of us seem to be on the same wavelength on re-signing Uribe and Huff. Almost a certainty that both want to return. This is a get it done and make everyone happy situation. My preference is to see Uribe at third, where he is more than adequate. Where does that leave Pablo? Potential logjam at first. Belt may or may not be ready coming outta ST, but i do see him getting the callup before the Break. He may have the wheels to play in the OF, but he is a natural first baseman.
Some creative trading may be in the works. Sabean has won a lot of respect, along with the entire team. Many an organization likes the idea of doing business with a winner.
What’s the deal with Burriss? And I’d be interested to learn more about the japanese player that AllyKat dug up. Uribe is solid at short but i’d sacrifice o for d and keep uribe at 3rd and backing up ss. I see there’s some interest in keeping fontenot but as what? utility infielder, giving everyone a rest? And talk of shipping zito out is just crazy talk. the guy pitched nearly 200 innings and was mostly solid. who you gonna get that’s going to duplicate that?
Brandon Crawford is an intriguing player. I saw him play a few times for SJ. He’s not Bocockian in size. He’s a bigger guy, more Tulowiskian in size, though obviously needs to improve his hitting. His fielding is very good. It still seems likely he starts the season at Fresno. If just one of the two- Belt or Crawford could make the jump to the majors next season, that would be huge.
Anyone up for some ice cream? Something like that should come with its own backhoe.
Jesus H. Christ, Pablo.
http://tinyurl.com/2fdccq5
Come on, that’s old and it was a shared dessert. It’s far past time to just see how it goes for him with the fitness people. He’s been told the deal.
Had to be an old picture, he was at least 30 lbs heavier during the World Series…
I see Crawford as a Kahli Greene or Bobby Crosby type- for better or worse.
Burriss is a young man who can PLAY, won’t fuck up, will steal some bases, but alas, I fear he just will never hit enough. The sleeper is the Adrianza kid.
“Well I took a few days away, went to the Dugout store on Sunday with my son. 4 hats and 4 t-shirts later headed home. The store was still wall to wall people. So Giants mania has not ended yet. Has anyone seen a WS Champion pennant? They had National league Champion pennants but not a WS one, has anyone seen one on the net?”
Kevin, this one is on the G’s site:
http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=10888021&cp=1452365.1452888.3500436
Not really a traditional pennant, but pretty cool.
Thanks,
The 2010 Giants proved one thing, you dont need multi-year deals for any position player to win a World Series.
I would expect with a World Series victory as well that ownership should be willing to add another $10 mill in payroll to bring the key pieces back.
#1) Uribe and Huff both earned two year deals. Earlier in the year I thought $4 mill for Uribe and $6 mill for Huff were both fair deals. I think now with a Championship, Uribe for $5 mill and Huff for $8 is fair.
#2) I would have Crawford and Burriss compete in Spring Training for the backup job at short to Uribe. Fontenot is arb eligible and dont see him getting much more than the $1 mill he got in 2010, so he may be the third one competing for the backup job and I think we learned this year the value of having a vet come in and play key support roles than handing the spot to untested rookies are young players. Burriss should be able to beat the other two for the spot and Crawford maybe a mid-season upgrade if Uribe struggles at all or ends up hurt.
#3) How much longer can we afford Jonathan Sanchez? Arb elibible this year and next. He may be making as much as $8 mill in 2012. Can we afford Zito at $19 mill in 2012, Cain at $15.3 and Tim will have two more arb years and could easily be at $17.5 in 2012? That is $52 mill for those 3, $8 mill for Sanchez will make it $60 mill for 4 pitchers. Sanchez is then a free agent in 2013. Sanchez should make $4 mill this year at least in arbitration.
May be the time to make a trade for Sanchez while his value is sky high.
#3) We still have a hole in the cleanup spot that I dont think Burrell will be the year long answer for. I see us bringing Burrell for $2 mill for 1 year because he was such a huge clubhouse presence. Worth the money. But landing Uggla for the cleanup spot would have a huge impact in challenging for another World Series.
My offer is Jonathan Sanchez and Freddie Sanchez (Marlins only on the hook for Freddie for one-more year and only $6 mill – total for both Sanchez is probably $10 mill) for Uggla (arb is likely to get him at least $10 mill and he is then a free agent and we may not wish to pursue a long-term deal for him) and either Anibal Sanchez or Chris Volstad to be our fith starter.
I love Jonathan, but I think his post-season letdowns are probably indicative that he is probably too high strung to win those big post-season games. Freddie was fantastic with the glove in the playoffs, but I think we would not be surprised that he misses chunks of time in 2011 due to injury. No Jonathan, no need to have El Presidente back either and I am all down with sticking Panda into that backup role.
#4) Bring Ross back and sign Torres to a 3-year $12 mill deal. Torres is never going to get a big contract at his age, giving him some insurance on a 3-year deal would be a wise step for the organization. Ross made $4.4 mill in 2010 and had a worse regualr season. I think the Giants could hold the line for Ross at $4 mill and maybe offer him a two-year deal to avoid going to actual arbitration.
So maybe total salary increases would be:
Uggla – $10 mill maybe more
Huff – $8 mill
Uribe – $5 mill
Torres – $4 mill
Ross – $4 mill
Burrell – $2 mill
With the $71 mill then committed in payroll to the rest of the roster, this would bring payroll to $104 mill. I would then pencil in an extra $6-$8 mill for the rest of the bullpen and roster. $110 mill payroll is very fair for a World Series champ to defend its title.
Starters:
1B – Huff
2B – Uggla
SS – Uribe
3B – Panda/DeRosa (Panda has to earn it)
LF – Burrell/DeRosa
CF – Torres
RF – Ross
C- Posey
Bench: DeRosa, Schierholtz, Ishikawa, Burriss/Fontenot/Crawford, Belt/Ford/Rowand.
I think a buyout for Rowand would be the best for the teaam because they wont be able to trade him for anything. I like to see what Belt and Ford could do and saving a roster spot having Panda backup catcher is very helpful indeed.
Lineup:
1) Torres – CF
2) Ross – RF (DeRosa when he is in the lineup)
3) Posey – C
4) Uggla – 2B
5) Huff – 1B
6) Burrell – LF
7) Uribe – SS
8) Panda- 3B
I forgot to add Velez in that backup OF spot with Ford/Belt/Rowand…and maybe Nate should be competing as well for that one spot if they think they need to have a real backup catcher…
Jesus, GH, that’s pretty extensive stuff. I don’t know if a word of it makes sense but I appreciate the work put into it. Bravo.
Cody Ross and Dan Uggla were /are pretty good friends. The Giants should try to retain Ross and get him to use any influence he may have to score Uggla
I had a build up after laying off the blog for most of the week celebrating!
ROY announcement a little later today. “Murph” on KNBR this morning said he got a bad vibe or something from Gammons. Heyward had a longer exposure, east coast bias, the usual BS. I can’t see it happening. Even still, Buster will be getting the one piece of hardware that truly matters, a World Series ring.
Baggs also on this morning. Scouts told him Crawford still has a ways to go at the plate. Big swing, strikes out too frequently. He mentioned Bartlett as well as a trade possibility. Says they’ll explore every avenue to move Rowand. Good luck with that one.
Bartlett may be indeed available. The Rays like they have in Grignac and have another in their system. I could see Bartlett being moved….will they take Affeldt?
Brignac that is…
i thought roy wasn’t until next monday? did I set my clock too far back?
You are correct, sir . . . .
Head, no way they keep Burrell with Rowand on the team. Both could leave, and they wouldn’t skip a beat.
I don’t see much possibility in the way of losing Rowand, though . . .
Same deal with Zito. The Yanks are desperate for pitching, but not THAT desperate.
I can see the buyout then for Rowand…
FYI:
Tues., Nov. 9th: Rawlings Gold Glove Awards for the American League, 3:30 p.m. (ET), ESPNEWS
Wed., Nov. 10th: Rawlings Gold Glove Awards for the National League, 3:30 p.m. (ET), ESPNEWS
Thurs., Nov. 11th: Louisville Slugger Silver Slugger Awards, 6:00 p.m. (ET), one-hour special on MLB Network
Mon., Nov. 15th: AL & NL Rookie of the Year Awards.
Tues., Nov. 16th: NL Cy Young Award.
Wed., Nov. 17th: AL & NL Manager of the Year Awards.
Thurs., Nov. 18th: AL Cy Young Award.
Mon., Nov. 22nd: NL Most Valuable Player Award.
Tues., Nov. 23rd: AL Most Valuable Player Award.
All BBWAA awards are announced at 2:00 p.m. ET.
Thanks Chuck
So, did dennis hear wrong? Or did Murph on KNBR actually say RoY was being announced today?
Either one’s possible
Rowand is gone, he’ll replace Werth in Phiily, IMO. And do just as well.
that is funny Twin
Are you beiong an idiot again, FatHead ?: Rowand’s last year in Philly was well better than Werth’s. And Aaron was better on the road.
I’ve heard that as well Twin. The Phils are in a payroll bind (or so they say), so I guess we would have to eat some salary as well as take someone owed some $s.
I was agreeing with you Twin..the irony is funny…
I wouldn’t mind Werth here. He looks like he’d fit right in . . . or piss everyone off. Hard to tell. He’s gonna be a lot I’d think.
Rowand has $24 mill still coming to him, right? I suppose that’s eatable.
I mean, it ain’t the $61 mill the G’s are on the hook for Barry for still . . .
But, he’ll be a serviceable #5 . . .
I wouldn’t take a Boras client unless he moved Zito for us.
Yeah, ChuckFuck… Werth was .270 9-34 on the road. We can give him Rowand money, see how he likes the bench splinters.. …
I dont think Werth is going to break $15 mill a year, but there are people who think he will and as I said earlier, no need to give anyone more than a two-year deal except for Torres as I mentioned earlier…
Philly is certainly goping to go with that young player in right and keep their lid on payroll for now…
Just a few weeks to preliminary LU bashing…
GHead, there is no way to tell that you were agreeing and that scares me anyway. Soph does that occasionally and I’ve contemplated suicide…
Dierkes at Trade Rumors speculates that Huff stays here, Uribe to the Bums, Burrell to the Pads… Edgar wants to return here.
he said his over/under on being right is 25%…
Hard to imagine the bums outbidding the Giants for Uribe this winter. (There are some pretty amusing websites devoted to the McCourt divorce proceedings.) Burrell in San Diego makes some sense. Not a pleasant prospect, but the Giants shouldn’t offer him too much to stay.
I don’t see Sabes getting into a bidding war over Uribe or any other player, don’t want to over pay. I see Sabes seeing how the FA signings fall out. and then goes from there.
There won’t be any “war” with the bums. Other teams, well, that’s another story. . . .
I like sticking to two year deals. for special friends of rick, an option year. and no to dunn and werth.
who is Rick?
from casablanca. ingrid is looking at carpets while boggie is trying to talk to her. the carpet guy sees “rick” and says for friends of rick, good price. then he realizes that there’s more going on between them so he says, for special friends of rick, special price. ingrid blows him off and buys no carpet.
We’ll see how much these guys like Huff and Uribe want to return to SF when the offers start pouring in. Ballplayers almost always go to the highest bidder and ignore other factors.
Didn’t even suggest that I agree with Dierkes. Just reported his take, he also mentions Uribe as very possibly staying.I ascribe to that latter theory. I think he and Huff both stay…
ditto
I am embarrassed by the moronic and not at all defensible one-word reply of “ditto,” with its intimations of FatRush Limbo. Abject apologies for abandoning verbal-artisan standards here.
With that, early day and night for me today. I’m out.
Just a quick note. Perralta signed a 2 year deal w/Detroit for 11.5 mil. That will certainly drive up Uribe’s value, he’ll want at least 2/12…
Dorkkes also says in addition to the Dodgers and Giants, Uribe’s versatility
“could also fit with the Twins, Mariners, Mets, Astros, Cardinals, Padres, Orioles, Reds…
Boy, that’s really narrowing it down, Tim.
OK, I’ve been checking out the Spash, I lied. Probaby take a vacation from there, Xoot and Bag and a few others can hold down the fort while the trolls fatten up. Seal usually hits 300 by December 26. Thread now is Miller and Morgan out at ESPN…Why oh why does the name Ryan Seacrest resonate? I’m going Tim Gunn and Heidi….
Pawlie— your gift arrived today. I didn’t actually believe it was going to come, I thought it might have been some ironic joke you were playing on me. But, sure enough, Pawlie found an actual 4 inch tall toy of Jeff Leonard holding a bat and get this, you can move his right arm up and down to go “one flap down”. And seriously, how could I ever have Hackman ever in a non-flap down position? Seriously Pawlie, I have no fucking idea where you found this, it had to have been sitting on a store shelf for some time—Hackman is rollin’ with his vintage cheesy moo-stash from 1987. But I love it, I am taking it to work tomorrow. I’ll take a picture of it a little later and post it.
avec mon plaisir — you might say I’ve been inspired by TedSpe’s karmic good will
It’s posable but not Posyable.
And your speakers are on the way to you, Craig.
Thanks twin, you went so far above and beyond on this gift…
BTW, I’m pretty much w/ Twin. I’m all for keeping most of the champs together, not merely out of sentimentality (which will hurt the Yankees as they re-sign Jeter). And, no, Jayson Werth. Not our style. No.
I saw an obscure bit in one of the SF Chron issues I’ve been reading — in the business section — saying that the Giants were slated to lose several million dollars until they hit the postseason, which turned it around to the tune of $7 million, if I recall correctly. But get this: they said it was mostly from merchandising of postseason stuff. Not that I give a whit about the plight of millionaires and billionaires, but by that reasoning, you could infer that WE really did help the team. (I just read that over and it is half right but mostly stupid. It’s not like we own stock. Sometimes I should STFU.)
I would dig seeing Jayson Werth in Orange and Black. I love his all-around game and I think he’d fit in here where he can grow his hair down to his ass and continue to be a stand-offish prick half the time and no one here will hassle him about either thing.
I’m still waiting for my moment when it finally hits me that the Giants won it all. Scrambling up the stairs at the La Quinta Inn in Fresno frantically flipping on the set to see the final out surrounded by high school students who wouldn’t know Tim Lincecum from Tim McGraw wasn’t the exact ambience I always dreamed of for this epic event.
I’m coming up for Cal-Oregon this weekend and will stay in downtown SF at least one night. I’m hoping it all comes together then. Maybe it is a good thing that the hype has died down a bit—–and maybe not. We shall see.
Heritage Marina was $68 for me. Yeah. No. Not hourly rates. Not quite. Yeah. No. Maybe.
What makes you think he’d do well here? Rowand’s last year in Philly was better than Werth’s 2010. Jayson had very ordinary road numbers, as well.
One HUMONGOUS NO to Werth–sorry SanDiggityDawg but I think that would be Rowand Redux only worse. But who knows, maybe he’d grow some sicker ass beard than he already has and bang out 40 bombs next year. The beard is a powerful thing, as we know……..
New thread with Pawlie’s Hackman gift. That thing cost a buck. The postage was $1.56. *Hack*larious……
Happy 1 Week World Series Champs Anniversary.
same to you, sweetums
There’s a part of me that doesn’t mind if some of our guys get huge paydays from other teams. That’s OK. They’ll always be part of the 2010 magic, and be legends of that season. I hope they get the best deals they can for their future. They don’t owe us anything more. They gave us a World Series championship.
But I do hope we get a bunch of them back. I’m hoping they’ll make staying here a priority. There’s such great chemistry on this team.
great post Zoom– get paid, they deserve it. And over-paying for someone is a classic Sabes deficit from the past– no reason for him to start doing that shit again…….
I’m not a big numbers cruncher, Twin. Often when I watch the guy play I come away impressed. He can run, he can field, he plays hard, hits for power, seems to be a smart player.
Really, I’m trying to get out of the armchair GM game after a season where I wanted nothing to do with signing Huff, Uribe, Bat, and Sanchez, and would have done cartwheels if they would have DFA’d Rent at any point in the season.
Werth is arguably my favorite non-Giants in the bigs, so I’m throwing in my two cents on this one
Hear you there, Sdog, Werth is a winner and looked great to me in our left field.
My feeling now is we could not have dealt for him last year and this year I am not seeing things the same.
One big difference between Rowand and Werth: OBP. Make that a huge difference. Not that I’d pay him big $$$ and give him a long contract at his age. But he is and has been a better player than Rowand.
SanDawg you throw in your 2 cents and whatever the Hell you want to throw in. Fuck it, you say Werth is the guy, I’m on board. You saw skillfully enough into the future to purchase tickets 2 months in advance to the Buster Posey 2010 Debut Game that you ended up taking me to….. So you dude….are…..THE MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We stepped onto a ride that day that changed our lives forever, my friend.
I’m stoned on Ny-Quill and beer right now. I’m going to bed.
we should all be so lucky. Sleep well , my friend……..
I will give Werth this…he did yank one out of here to dead right, something Rowand still has not figured out how to do in 3 fucking years. But he’s too expensive.
I’d rather pay JS whatever the arb guy says he worth. And keep him—the problem with GH deal is that while you certainly strengthen the O, at the same time you weaken both the D and the pitching. In other words, the two things that won the WS for the Giants.
San Dog, you flarvint alls you wants toooosay. I wash born here, an I wash raished here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin’ bushwackin’, hornswagglin’ cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter.
FLARVINT!!!!
ted, I have no fucking idea in Hell what that means but I’m bet-both-lungs-mortgage-the-house-double-down with it………
Where I hail from, we don’t cotton to folks what cotton to other folks ballplayers that don’t cotton to folks that cotton to them. That’s cotton talk, see?
He isn’t coming here , thank gawd, so dream away, children.
“I’m not a big numbers cruncher, Twin. ”
Neither was Sabes. That’s how we got Rowand..
hahahahaha
LOL, you old coot!
numbers suelumbers, rowand had game, but he slipped on the mustard.
cool beans dude