Schulman On The Giants

"For one, they'd like to upgrade at shortstop. However, the Giants' current pursuit of Rafael Furcal would be "impacted," says Schulman, by any deal that sends Jake Peavy to Atlanta. It's expected the Braves would get in on the bidding for Furcal if Peavy were acquired. By "impacted," I'm going to assume this means the Giants would be much less interested in the free agent shortstop. " -Alex Walsh

The article saying that the Giants persuit of Furcal being "impacted" by a Peavy-to-Braves trade is because if Escobar is moved to the Padres, the Braves would need a SS and would likely be in on Furcal.

My understanding of the "impact" of a Peavy to Atlanta trade would be that a) the Braves would be in need of a shortstop, and b) they would be interested in bringing back Furcal to the Braves.

The Giants would still be just as interested; however, Furcal might be swayed, presumably, by interest from a team he spent 6 years with.

I agree with SF in 2010 on hardy for sanchez especially if the new CC rumor is true about the giants preparing an offer.

Sanchez + for Hardy would be ideal.

This Sabathia talk is interesting... If some how he decides to leave $ on the table and come home the bay (pure speculation)...

Adding Sabathia, Affeldt and Hardy would make us the favorites to win the division next year.

Imagine going up against CC, Lincecum and Cain in the playoffs... good luck.

Imagine going up against CC, Lincecum and Cain in the playoffs... good luck.

haha. first you have to get to the playoffs. With that offense, good luck.

Schulman is on KNBR at 6:30 pm

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im not sure if the rest of oyu guys get this but the point of getting Sabathia would be to create the best Rotation in the league, meaning keep Sanchez, not be able to trade off one of their young pitchers as they have in the past.

and philsWS has a good point, in the complete hypothetical, if we signed Sabathia for somewhere around 6 years 120 mil, even if we decided to trade one of the young pitchers, we wouldn't have any salery room to get a young premium hitter. I mean think about it, half of our payroll would be dedicated to 4 players (Sabathia - 20 mil, Zito - 18, Winn - 9, Molina - 8) That's 55 mil right on the table. I'm not saying I don't want CC to come home, but I don't think the price is what the Giants should pay considerign they're supposed to be...REBUILDING.

"I agree with SF in 2010 on hardy for sanchez especially if the new CC rumor is true about the giants preparing an offer."

Numerous reports have Hardy staying at SS and word is Randolph is already working with Alcides Escobar at 2nd. If Melvin is not even moving Hardy from ss for Escobar, then don't think you're gonna get Hardy for Sanchez.

phils,

you right. I had a feeling I left someone off that list. So with Rowand included with my previous 4 that would mean 5 players on the team would take up 66 mil. Honestly is that the way the giants should be spending? No! Those were the Barry Bonds days in which we would overpay for veterans to help Barry look even better then he was. We need to put that money to use in other places. A premium bat, and the draft/international markets.

Don't forget. Noah Lowry may very well be in the rotation in 2009.

giantsfan315,

sorry my bad. I guess I should have assumed it was hypothetical.

oh and bcsteve,

are you kidding me? Why would Milwaukee who were in the playoffs last year and are trying to compete hand you their SS (an all star recently) for an unproven ML pitcher with a 5+ ERA and two green kids who are promising but haven't sniffed past High A ball? I think you'd have an easier time selling off Zito (assuming you ate at least half the contract).

That's almost as good as the yankees fan earlier that said he'd consider Brett Gardner untouchable in a trade for Halladay.

"The money coming off the books next offseason frees up about 20 mil."

Actually if you take into account the raises in contracts from now until after next season, together it comes to 10M is coming off the books. And that doesn't add in Lincencum's arbitration raise which will probably be more than 5M. So basically if they're willing to support at 100-110M then they can take on CC while keeping their other commitments.

Good points to everybody, but keep in mind that the NL West will not be as easy this coming season as it was in 2008. The Dodgers have 5 young position players who are rising stars, along with standout pitchers Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw, and Jonathan Broxton. Of course the Giants can counter their pitchers with Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Brian Wilson, but they cannot counter that offense- not yet. If the Dodgers sign Manny or CC, they will be the team to beat in the NL West. The Giants may be wise to use 2009 to continue what they began in 2008, which is to evaluate their young talent. Nobody really knows what Pablo Sandoval, Manny Burriss, John Bowker, Travis Ishikawa, Kevin Frandsen, Eugenio Velez, Fred Lewis, and Nate Schierholtz can do at the Major League level. However, with a full season of complete evaluation, the Giants would then know which ones can be impact players. Maybe then they would have an answer to the Dodgers' nucleus of Russell Martin, James Loney, Blake DeWitt, Matt Kemp, and Andre Ethier. If the Giants devote their time to the development of these youngsters, and if they wait for Buster Posey and Angel Villalona and Nick Noonan and Conor Gillaspie to arrive, then they may achieve long-term success. They should save the big spending for when they are in a position like the Dodgers are in now, when they know that they are only one or two big players from seriously contending.

Imagine this:

1. Manny Burriss, SS
2. Nick Noonan, 2B
3. Fred Lewis, LF
4. Buster Posey, C
5. Angel Villalona, 1B
6. Conor Gillaspie, 3B
7. Nate Schierholtz, RF
8. Ben Copeland, CF

Pablo Sandoval could easily play catcher, first, or third as well, and he would fit well in the 4-6 spot in the lineup. Along with this great lineup would be a killer rotation:

1. Tim Lincecum
2. Matt Cain
3. Madison Bumgarner
4. Tim Alderson
5. Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez, or Noah Lowry

That pitching staff IS scary, but sorry, that lineup scares no one. The only one of any real value is Posey and he's 2 years away and when he comes up if that's what he has around him, he'll be pitched around.

Again if I were a Giants fan I wouldn't worry about pitching (maybe relief pitching), I'd worry about finding 200+ runs in my offense becuase that's where they're deficent. Go sign an Orlando Hudson type, Furcal and other middle rung players instead of signing one Mark Teixeira.

Ok my fellow Giants fans before you go tying up like 45MM a year for the next 5+ years on 2 pitchers and printing those play off tickets for next October don’t just consider the lack of “o” ( which is well stated above) but look are our infield “D”. If the last does not improve it will make the pitching a lot less effective. Sorry to break it to you be CC does not make this team a contender in the NL west. With, or with out him, the ability to raise up the ranks in the NL West will depend on a lot of young position players panning out and career year or two at the same time.

DWA: I like Furcal. When healthy he is a fun player to watch and straight out of the older mold for SS. I also think he will not be healthy for 3+ years. His agent says no incentive based contracts and if he wants longer terms Godspeed to him but not in Orange and Black thank you much. In theory if he was healthy I agree though.

The only other infielder I would consider for more then 2 years is Tex. Still not wild about tying up close to 55MM year in 3 guys for the next 4 years but at least Tex would help the line up 5-6 days a week. If the front office was to say they were raising the budget by that ammount i would be a lot happier with it.