Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: San Francisco Giants' to a friend
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By Tim Dierkes | at
Email a copy of 'Offseason In Review: San Francisco Giants' to a friend
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Daniel Stern
I dig the unbiased tone this was written in! Sounds as uplifting as sticking a pencil in my eye
jordan4giants
probably a dodger fan
martinfv2
Having been accused of bias against all 30 teams hopefully means I’m doing something right. But the goal of the offseason in review series is not to be objective, it is to give our opinions on each team’s offseason moves.
Daniel Stern
Ah wasn’t aware Tim, thought it was supposed to be more objective. Thanks for clarifying
Snoochies8
just curious, is there a certain order you chose to do the reviews/contract issues/other serie like this? or is it just randomly whatever team you feel like doing next?
martinfv2
Sometimes we’ve gone in reverse order of record, other times alphabetical within divisions…but this is random.
Snoochies8
awesome, good luck with the a’s review…you’re going to really have your hands full with that one haha
ZAK A.
Keeping the 2 lefties works to allow Lopez to be the lefty specialist- hence the reasoning. Similarly Sandoval will likely show his full potential in 1 of the 3 years coming, so they may have saved quite a bit of arbitration money- that was not unnecessary if you believe he will be much better than those numbers at some point. Melky Cabrera is already showing the form to make losing the dirty Sanchez headache, at least the Phils won’t have reason to brawl anymore.
The real question is what they do with Cain who’s described as “hitting a wall” in contract talks currently. They are much better off sinking the money into him now because Lincecum may be more sought after but he would likely limit his own options based on where he’d be willing to play- SF is right in his clime. Maybe they anticipate being able to get Lincecum regardless, in which case trading Cain becomes a possibility. Especially with the added playoff scenario the value of a second ace like Cain can be is multiplied considerably, probably what’s stalled the talks.
ZAK A.
Keeping the 2 lefties works to allow Lopez to be the lefty specialist- hence the reasoning. Similarly Sandoval will likely show his full potential in 1 of the 3 years coming, so they may have saved quite a bit of arbitration money- that was not unnecessary if you believe he will be much better than those numbers at some point. Melky Cabrera is already showing the form to make losing the dirty Sanchez headache, at least the Phils won’t have reason to brawl anymore.
The real question is what they do with Cain who’s described as “hitting a wall” in contract talks currently. They are much better off sinking the money into him now because Lincecum may be more sought after but he would likely limit his own options based on where he’d be willing to play- SF is right in his clime. Maybe they anticipate being able to get Lincecum regardless, in which case trading Cain becomes a possibility. Especially with the added playoff scenario the value of a second ace like Cain can be is multiplied considerably, probably what’s stalled the talks.
55saveslives
On Paper the Giants are much better than last year.
Healthy Posey > No Posey
Healthy Sanchez > No Sanchez
Healthy Sandoval > Injured Sandoval
Melky >>> Rowand
Pagan > Torres
Belt/Pill off the bench > Rowand/Injured Burrell
Of course the games have to be played, but this team can easily compete against the Dbacks for the NL West
Daniel Stern
the bench & defense are much better!
mmiller54
Ramon Ramirez was really good and losing Beltran hurt. Torres was very underrated.
letsgogiants
He was very under-rated in 2010. However, nagging injuries throughout the season is what made Torres 2011 season a very unproductive one. Had he shown a glimpse of what he showed in 2010, the Giants would have given him every shot to remain with the Giants.
Ramirez was good, but bullpen arms are a dime-a-dozen and the Giants could easily replace his arm in the bullpen.
Daniel Stern
Perfectly replied, thank you!
55saveslives
On Paper the Giants are much better than last year.
Healthy Posey > No Posey
Healthy Sanchez > No Sanchez
Healthy Sandoval > Injured Sandoval
Melky >>> Rowand
Pagan > Torres
Belt/Pill off the bench > Rowand/Injured Burrell
Of course the games have to be played, but this team can easily compete against the Dbacks for the NL West
HummBaby
I’m surprised Bobby Evans agreed to be interviewed for/comment on this. Seems MLBTR is moving up in relevance…nice job Tim.
Jumbaco
Was hoping you would mention the Owners pocketing all that World Series dough and a year of sell outs money instead of getting any sort of REAL bat. Melky and Pagan isn’t going to cut it and while the excuse from the GM was that they were saving money to “lock up” Cain and Lincecum neither has happened. They made a short term decision with Timmy (2 years) and are dragging their feet with Cain.
By the time the Bandwagon fans stop coming to the games the owners will have already let Cain and Timmy go thinking they will still get sellout crowds.
thieu1
Affeldt and Lopez are not similar. They are very different. Affeldt is a power arm – regularly in the 94-95 range with a plus breaking pitch, and he is in the mix for closer by committee if Wilson is hurt. Lopez is (arguably) the pre-eminent lefty specialist in all of baseball (see 2010 postseason, and talk to Jason Heyward, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Josh Hamilton, etc. – the Giants probably don’t win the Philly series without Lopez or Affeldt, especially game 6 when Sanchez melted down and the bullpen threw 7 shutout innings). Sabean continues the trend of building teams from the 6th inning on (the Diamondbacks resurgence last year was due in large part to the best bullpen improvement in all of baseball). Losing Ramirez hurts, the hope is Hensley can reclaim his 2010 form. They are in good shape (providing health).
Cain is reluctant to sign a multi-year deal because he’s human and wants to see what he’s worth on the FA market (he basically said as much a couple of days ago, before this article was posted). The Giants aren’t dragging their feet. There’s a game of chicken going on between Cain’s camp and Hamel’s in Philly – same circumstances.
Barring injury to others, Cabrera won’t hit 3rd on this team. Sandoval, Posey, Huff (of Belt) hit 3-4-5. Cabrera hits 2nd (or maybe leadoff if Pagan tanks, gets hurt, etc.).