Roberts to the Giants, and more

It looks like Dave Roberts is going to be a Giant.  This will save San Francisco fans from self-immolation over their front office’s apparent inability to make stupid deals, and ensure that the Giants theme of "oldsters in the outfield" remains intact even with Steve Finley and possibly Barry Bonds on their way out.

In other news: Woody Williams got a two-year deal with the Astros for $12.5M.  That seems remarkably sane, though I wouldn’t plan on drafting Woody for your fantasy team.  He had an okay year in Petco, but he’s moving to one of the unfriendliest parks in baseball for pitching.  If the short porch in left is going to do wonders for Carlos Lee, it’s going to hurt Williams nearly as much.

Phil Rogers offers a plethora of random thoughts: the Cubs want to move Jacque Jones; Jones or Geoff Jenkins would be an improvement for the White Sox (so he says); and the Sox could send Scott Podsednik and Juan Uribe to San Fran for Omar Vizquel (much less likely after the Roberts signing, I’d imagine).  Emphasis on "could": he’s obviously just making stuff up. 

Speaking of making stuff up: now that most of the center fielders out there have found homes, it’s time for the second basemen to start falling into place.  There’s been more news lately of Adam Kennedy, who is likely to land in St. Louis, or possibly Toronto.  The market for Kennedy, Ronnie Belliard, and others may depend on whether Julio Lugo and/or Ray Durham end up as outfielders, which would shrink the market for those teams who need second basemen.

By Jeff Sackmann