Offseason Outlook: San Francisco Giants

Ryan Garko may be the platoon player with Murphy that the Mets are lookin for. He hit lefties to a .308/.391/.479 line.

How is TIM LINCECUM getting paid 650K while BARRY F-ING ZITO is getting 18.5 Million!! Wow the giants front office needs to be fired!

How is TIM LINCECUM getting paid 650K while BARRY F-ING ZITO is getting 18.5 Million!! Wow the giants front office needs to be fired!

Posted by: TargetField2010 | November 13, 2009 at 02:48 PM

People forget Zito was a beast. And that Lincecum is only 25..

Geez Tim. I would hope you wouldn't mind the signing of Jeremy Affeldt.He was only the best F/A relief pitcher in baseball last year.His 2 year 8 million contract was a steal,for the amount of games he helped preserve wins in.

It seems few teams have more than 3-10m in payroll they can take on, yet articles continue to describe how many free agents are priced in the 5-8m range.
A suggestion for folks working on this site: sum all the available payroll for 2010 and start dividing it between the many free agents. Then we can see how much (or little) money they actually will make.

if they dont add some reliable pitchers or one or 2 big boppers, the giants are my 2010 bust team

No offense but I think the best F/A signing for a reliever was Belisario.

I love being a Giants fan, but I can't see them being a playoff team with stupid contracts like Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand. If they are going to keep their payroll around 80-90 mil, they need to invest in cheap younger guys. They don't need to sign another big contract for 1 guy that won't be a deciding factor on whether they make the playoffs. When Zito and Rowand get the F outa here (3 years max for Big Zit) that's when we sign someone like Holliday, until then we're playing the waiting game. THANKS SABEAN!!

@ TargetField2010- You are an effin moron. Have you heard of something called arbitration? Lincecum's 650 K will go up drastically as he prepares for his first year. Idiot.

Posey will be in the minors this year, he needs a year of seasoning. Whiteside knows how to manage the pitching staff and would do just fine as a 1 year stop-gap, however his bat is lacking. I see the Giants signing a veteran catcher on a 1-2 year contract until Posey is ready, with Whiteside backing him up. I really don't think Travis is it at 1st base, and I think that is where you'll see a free agent or trade acquisition. Preferably someone with some pop who can play 1st or 3rd (Pablo at the other corner), but most likely someone along the lines of Beltre, Johnson, etc. We'll see what Sanchez gives us with a full year at 2nd (I think he'll do great), and Renteria can't get any worse than he was last year (at least he's gone in a year).

Ya Ya Ya, we all know the whole zito/rowand sabean bashing routine but all the bitching and whining doesnt get us anywhere especially since they resigned sabean. if the giants can land uribe, penny, and uggla i'd say its a successful offseason. just find a way to keep the bullpen the way it is and bumgarner in the organization.

and johan is GOD, zito has proven himself realiable this year. his numbers may not show it but you watched all his starts the year you'd think otherwise

I agree with you regarding Penny, Doug. He did well at At&t and I personally would like to see him come back.

Brad Ausmus is a FA, I believe. One of the smartest players in baseball history. SoCal boy might not be down with the SanFranFreakShow, but if he is, one mil would get you the best mentor available. Better than Pudge or any Molina...

2mil probably gets you Zaun, who's also a good mentor with better offensive security.

How dumb does it look that Sabean flipped Ronny Paulino for Hector Correa after getting him from the Phils? he would have been an excellent stopgap.

Posey's a great learner, but my experience tells me he needs a little AAA time still, especially if Steve Decker gets the nod to manage at Fresno.

The Giants don't have much money to play with so I think Holliday/Bay are out of the question. I want to see the Giants make a run at CF Cameron and 1B Johnson. Moving the avg defensive Rowand to LF would really strengthen the OF defense, which will help the pitching staff and improve the offense with Cameron. Johnson provides a big OBP upgrade which the Giants desperately need. Both of these guys will get reasonable short term contracts that they will actually be able to live up to. Then just pick one of the Penny/Harden/Sheets/Bedard types that will take a lower base salary with incentives. If there is a little left over try and sign a back up catcher like pudge or Zuan.

If the Giants want to do anything next year, they need to get out and make a few surprising and bold moves.

Brad Penny should be resigned to turn this Rotation into a strength again. They need to be players in the Curtis Granderson trade talks, as well as the Dan Uggla trade talks.

Mark DeRosa is one of the only interesting free agents that are in their price range. Nick Johnson and Carlos Delgado are the other interesting guys. The rest are going to be over-paid and under-performing.

If they were able to add guys like Granderson and DeRosa in the outfield, along with Nick Johnson at 1B and Brad Penny in the Starting Rotation, they will be in the conversation come September. Without additions like these, they will get worse.

C Posey, 1B Johnson, 2B Sanchez, SS Renteria, 3B Sandoval, LF DeRosa, CF Granderson, RF Schierholtz.

Maybe an Aaron Rowand and Prospects for Granderson and Willis?

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The Giants were tied with the Dodger's for fewest runs allowed in all of baseball. What they desperately need is about .5 runs a game. No on Dye, maybe 3 or 4 years ago. Fangraphs has him as one of the worst outfielders in baseball. He 2nd half last year was a disaster. That's why I'd like to see Nady in LF. His defensive #'s play even in LF. He also can play 1st against lefties if Garko is non-tendered.

Maybe an Aaron Rowand and Prospects for Granderson and Willis?
Posted by: slr5607 | November 13, 2009 at 08:10 PM

I don't know why the tiger's are shopping Granderson. He's only making 5.5M this season and there money problems go away after 2010. Rowand's owed 36M over the next three years. Granderson and Willis about 37M. Why would the tiger's do that? They only free up 5.5M this year, but lose in the long run.

I don't think find a HR is necessarily what the Giants need... they need a rock solid hitter for the #4 and #5 slot. Someone who has HR power is a plus, but gap power will actually be just as porductive. To me guys like Johnson and Nady fit the bill more than Bay and Uggla. Holliday to me is worth the investment because to me his bat is a better fit for AT&T, but he's too expensive and wants too many years.

At the end of the day this team will live and die by the growth of their youth. Those that keep talking about power out of Ishi, well for those that have watched every game last season, if you haven't noticed he has tons of power, but really wasnt given the chance to adjust to ML pitching. When he was played consistently he got on a tear. I know people here just want to look at stats all day, but you give Ishi a fair shot and a hitting coach that knows how to break these kids in the ML (which i think Muellens is our guy) you may eventually see Ishi grow into an Adrian Gonzalez type player (who also started his career out slow). Another guy is John Bowker... if that guy can figure out ML pitching he's going to be another Holliday, mark my words.

We will compete in 2010, there is no doubt in my mind. But winning the division will come down to these young guys and Sabean not signing a crap FA that will just block them. Muellens is already doing a heck of a job with Ishi, Pill and Bowker. If we can just give them an environment where they dont have to perform like allstars day one, then i think we'll actually see we have a lot more talent than people give us credit for. And that is just the beginning... wait until guys like Kieschnick, Crawford and Neal emerge from the farm.

Also, those that think after Cain and Lincecum, the Giants staff is unreliable you need to watch the games. Zito was a great pitcher this year and suffered from the worst run support in the majors. Paired with an offense like the Dodgers or Phillies and he's a 15+ Winner in '09. Sanchez was the only one that fit the bill of inconsistent but that was all in his first half which was for the most part a disaster.

Sorry Bleacher but I still disagree. The Giants struggled with the clutch hit last year and bringing someone in like Uggla will not fill that gap. He is anything but clutch.
Also, Nick Johnson? Uh No... He's another Ray Durham. Can never seem to stay healthy.
All they really need IMO opinion is one big hitter who hits for avg but that of course that comes at high price.

Side Note: I expect big things from pablo this coming year, who I've heard started lifting weights for the first time ever in his life.

Isn't Lincecum eligible for arbitration this year as a Super Two? If so, then he's due a hell of a lot more than $650K. More in the range of $8-10 million I'd guess.

i do not want to see nick johnson on the giants roster. he had 8 home runs this year. ishikawa had 9. he shows more pop and a better glove. johnson does have a higher average, but we need a guy that will hit 20 home runs a season. i'd like to see maybe delgado signed to a minor league contract? but i'd really like to see uggla at 3rd and panda at 1st. i would like to see bay in left field, but dye would do.
rowand-cf
sanchez-2b/3b
sandoval-1b/3b
bay/dye-rf
uggla-2b/3b
renteria-ss
posey/zaun?/pudge?
schierholtz/velez

JT have you looked at Nady's 2008 numbers? .305/.357/.510...
i would say thats a hell of an improvement for either LF or 1B. He will be cheap as he's a risk, and for us its a risk worth taking IMO.

But i agree on you Granderson comments... i still think Sabs can get it done without moving posey or bumgarner... Neal, Kieschnick, Noonan, Gillespie, Crawford, Wheeler are still nice chips but to be honest the Giants would probably better off in the long haul holding onto those guys because when rowand and renteria are gone we're going to need some of them.

Kellum: Care to name the season Durham had on over 400 OBP? Or the years the Giants had on men on the 25 man roster that could use the play time in his position? So, No, Johnson is not another Durham. I would be perfectly happy with Johnson’s 90-110 games a year on a 1 year contract for under $8MM. Park that OBP in front of Sandoval and see if we can get a couple extra runs.
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I like the idea of Zaun at catcher. LHB that is decent at avoiding extra outs and has not played a full season for a few years so not likely to view as “The Answer” every time Poesy stubs his toe.
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If management ups the payroll chasing after Holliday is a no brainer. Assuming Management does not up the payroll Cameron has the strongest case of the rest of the current free agent OF. The rest of them does not impress much at all.
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Uggla depends if the Fish realizes he is first baeman without the track record there. If they keep talking about him as an elite second baseman they can enjoy the “privilege” of writing his checks in 2010.
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Find a nice 1 year commitment for the #5 starter for say under $7MM (I don’t think Baumgardner’s secondary pitches are ready yet for the MLB and going in with just Joey Martinez for the #5 is a bit short sighted) and this team is a ready to roll as it is ever going to get given the first 3 moves of this off season.

B&O Pride... Cameron would be a smart pickups for the Giants. He's a consistent hitter, posting an OPS around .800 every year, 20-25 HRs every year and he plays awesome defense. On top of that He's proven he can hit in pitchers parks (ie Petco). Plus consider we wont have a young OF ready until at least next year with Neal or Kieschnick (unless Bowker steps up at the plate... which i think he may).

Also I would note put Velez anywhere near AT&T's RF... they need to play Schierholtz there from day 1. His defense in RF is on par with Winn's except he has a canon for an arm.

schierholtz will emerge as a johnny damon type player. He has gap power which fits AT&T perfect, plays great defense, has speed and has a laser guided missile for an arm. They need to give him RF and leave him there. Let the power bat come from who ever is going to man LF next year.

giants need : nady,uggla,pudge and damon

giants give: ishikawa,zito j sanchez and shierholtz

that's all

People who think Posey is good for next year are retards to say the least. I live in tempe,az and watch this teams fall ball players. Posey needs a good year in the minors before even being close to ready for the majors. His game-calling is sub-par and takes an inside out approach to the ball often.

Zito's performance as we all know isnt worth 18.5 mil, but he was a good 3 spot this year. Like Linceum Says GSP said, anyone who truly watchs giants baseball knows that zito had one of the leafues lowest runs supports.

Penny pitched well for SF with the exception of that horrendous Dodger series, but if they can nag him for 5 mil, they should sign him.

Lincecum Says GSP

We will never get nady pudge and uggla, we dont have that much room in the cap to aquire three, and Sabean is reluctant in trades after giving up what he did this year. I would be happy with Uggla .

Djperalta,
are you on crack? that will never happen in a million years, i doubt giants will be in running for bay/holliday, and even if we got one, no way we get adgon too.