The Giants re-signed outfielder Pat Burrell to a one-year, $1MM deal that does not include any incentives. The team announced the deal today.
Burrell, 34, hit .252/.348/.469 with 20 home runs in 437 plate appearances for the Rays and Giants this year. He tallied over 600 innings in left field for San Francisco. The return to the National League, and perhaps the chance to play defense again, resulted in a solid comeback. Burrell isn't known for his glovework, but on the plus side he was the only free agent left fielder to hit 20 home runs in 2010. His agents at Legacy Sports seemingly adhered to his wish to remain in San Francisco rather than shop around for the biggest contract.
Andrew Baggarly of the Mercury News was the first to report that a deal may have been struck between the two sides and Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle reported details on the deal (Twitter links).
Tim Dierkes contributed to this post.
The Cardinals just MAY have just signed Barry Bonds.
Looks like you can’t buy championships…how much was STL’s payroll?
i may have just won the lottery..
Hank Schulman just confirmed it.
Hell yes!
This is a good thing? Burrell looked finished in the playoffs.
he’s always been streaky. always.
He came up with huge ding dongs all season long.
I’ll chalk the World Series to SSS, he’s still the Machine to me and every other Giants fan in the Bay Area. We need him next year.
the giants won the world series because of JUAN URIBE…he helped the giants and the whitesox back in 05….think about it both teams Juan-o has played for he has been a part of a no hitter and a world series…..look like the dodgers are going to get both soon,…
he was only part of a no-hitter with the Giants because he booted the ball to ruin a perfect game.
he was only part of a no-hitter with the Giants because he booted the ball to ruin a perfect game.
Yeah, Timmy, Cain, Bumgarner, Huff, Ross, F. Sanchez, Posey, Wilson….those guys had nothing to do with it!!
why do i keep taking this kind of bait? here goes anyway…
if you want to think that a .240 hitter who hits a well-timed bomb now and again is the major reason for a world championship, then you aren’t very bright. pitching, pitching, excellent pitching is the reason that they had a shot with a subpar offense.
tejada is a similar player to uribe and without the risk of a 3-year contract. good move. burrell, as cold as he was in the playoffs, is a machine (ok ok sorry for the pun) when he hits a hot streak and really turns the middle of the lineup into something that can’t be laughed at.
bochy proved he can find the hot hand, just give him some options. burrell is a good move at a 1-year deal, very limited risk.
i was being sarcastic about uribe people need to chill ye he was part of two no hitters and part of two WS but i never meant it to sound like he is the reason they all happened
Well he did a good job of making sure that second no hitter wasn’t a perfect game.
I agree, wholeheartedly. If he can stay healthy, we’re getting 30HR potential for 1$M/1. I know somebody is going to say 30 big flies is outrageous, the operative word there is POTENTIAL. I’m not saying it’s extremely likely, but he did hit 20 in 370 ABs last year, 18 of which coming in a mere 290 ABs after signing with the Giants. I don’t know what’s up with him and the AL (that showing in the WS was embarrassing) but he’s a stud against NL pitching. Always a tough out and when he’s hot he really crushes the ball. That mammoth shot off the top of the buidling in San Diego was RIDICULOUS.
The best part about the Giants in ’10 was that everyone contributed, everyone shined at one point. this teams the real deal.
He was just taking bad swings mechanically, he was on every one of those pitches but was dipping under them. Burrell could be the Giants’ version of Jason Giambi off the bench this year and that’s not too shabby with their other OF options being crap in AAA.
if brandon belt is anything near what we hope he is, you put belt or huff in left field if burrell doesn’t perform. no risk in a one-year deal. torres and ross to fill out the outfield, hey that beats the heck out of a derosa-rowand-bowker outfield last year opening day.
Another thing, after that terrible series against the Brewers (IIRC), he took the initiative and called a hitters meeting and righted the Giants’ ship.
I know true believer SABRmetrics people tend to smirk at “intangibles” like clubhouse leadership but Burrell’s presence and mentoring abilities cannot be discounted. He fit in perfectly with the Misfit mentality.
He and Uribe both batted .143 in the playoffs.
Burrell also had an OPS+ of 132 during the regular season for the Giants
He got them there!!!! Look how that worked out. With Ross, rowand, shirholz, huff, and Torres he will not be needed every game. I like the deal for 1 million
Oh I forgot derosa
I’d honestly be kind of surprised if they did. Brandon Belt is near-ready, and Belt, Huff, and DeRosa can all play the outfield. I was assuming that we’d see a Belt/Huff-Torres-Ross outfield this year with DeRosa and/or Rowand filling in until Belt was ready. Guess not.
huff’s not playing OF. at least not decent OF. And derosa’s coming off injuries so I can see how this makes sense. I’m not a pat burrell fan at all (very inconsistent & weak fielder more my taste). But the man did mash for SF, so if they got him at under 6mil I think he’ll fill out their outfield rather well
Maybe you should watch some more Giants games, Huff was above average in left last year and average in right
I think years of being exposed to Fred Lewis has warped our minds when it comes to LF defense. Huff played well compared to Lewis or an old Barry Bonds, but he’s still less than ideal as a defender.
By all defensive metrics he was above average in left. Lewis was bad because he couldnt tell the difference between a texas leaguer and a bomb off the bat
One could argue Lewis was also above average defensively using defensive metrics… only difference may be Huff actually produced offensively and a little more consistently. But like every Giants fan can tell you watching Lewis in LF was an adventure.
I agree Huff is about average in LF (considering LFers are typically poorer defenders then CF and RF) and made the plays he needed to make. Burrell’s speed and size definitely hurt his defense but he’s not a butcher a la Dunn or Vlad.
Good point, but lewis had the speed of a CF, he was just a terrible OF, bad jumps, bad hands, but decent arm and great speed. Huff makes good reads and makes all the plays he should. Thats what makes him average to above average. Burrell is slow but he also make the plays he should and will surprise you occasionally with a very good play once in a while
huff’s not playing OF. at least not decent OF. And derosa’s coming off injuries so I can see how this makes sense. I’m not a pat burrell fan at all (very inconsistent & weak fielder more my taste). But the man did mash for SF, so if they got him at under 6mil I think he’ll fill out their outfield rather well
YEAAAH! PAT the BAT! He is back in Orange and Black! Just think about it… Uribe gone, the Giants cannot lose out on another free agent. We are getting those 20 Home runs back with Burrell in 2011.
full season of burrell, call me crazy but i want 25-35 dingers in 2011, and a ton of walks. and i really think there’s a good chance i’ll get what i want in this case.
Finally! Someone mentions his patience at the plate!
People do know that this site is about rumors right? Therefore when something like “a team MAY have signed a player” is heard of, they report it… Just seems like some people don’t understand what a rumor is.
A reliable reporter reported it, and another reliable reporter confirmed it.
No, I think we all understand what a rumor is.
And in case you haven’t noticed, Tim’s site has expanced FAR FAR beyond mere rumors.
looks like this seals the deal on bartlett. aint happening
DeRosa is an already paid for Bartlett, I guess.
Let’s hope his wrist tendon doesn’t asplode again.
Somewhere, Ned Colletti is throwing stuff.
Can’t really dislike this deal since it is just for 1 year, but got to see the dollar amount. Pat the Bat did well for us last year and he’ll make a great bat off the bench and he is also a great clubhouse guy
Torres CF
Sanchez 2B
Huff 1B
Posey C
Burrell LF
Ross RF
Sandoval/DeRosa 3B
Tejada SS
That looks pretty good along with their pitching staff. They just better hope noone hits the ball to the left side of the diamond.
Good DeRosa insurance policy.
I think it will work out to be the other way around.
Exactly. The idea of Burrell/DeRosa at 7m is a bit easier to stomach than DeRosa at 6m. Having said that though, this could also be thought of as Belt/Neal insurance. If Pablo earns a ticket to Fresno, Tejeda/DeRosa might just slide over to 3B if Burris, Rohlinger, or Adrianza (or Crawford, if he gets an invite) make a strong case for themselves at SS in Spring.
They signed Burrell to make Huff happy.
Are you saying it’s a bad thing? They went to college together, and feed off each other’s energy and production. Did you see how pumped up huff was when Burrell hit that homer against the Dodgers in late July? He could barely contain his rally thong. As the Giants have already proven — stellar pitching+great team chemistry+an average offense= a world series
Am I saying it’ll happen again for sure then? Of course not, it’s baseball. And to be honest that offense is average at the LEAST. A whole year of ROY Buster Posey who racked 67 rbis missing two months of baseball, the power of Burrell, former batting title champ Sanchez, Torres who was one of the top in the league in doubles with about a month of no play during the season..Ross the Boss (whos 2x better than Bowker). Do I need to go on?
i also forgot to mention Tejada who has had 170+ hits in his last 10 seasons (yes, last year too lol) ppl already know huff and panda so i’m done explaining here
key thing that all the blind tejada haters are failing to see is that tejada still brings a proven 162-game work ethic. uribe doesn’t offer that. i’ll concede that uribe was better defensively in 2010 but i’m not a bit convinced that it’ll be a significant difference in 2011.
i just don’t think anything is lost going from uribe to tejada on paper.
I don’t get where I implied that this was a bad signing. I am a HUGE Giants fan. I even skipped school (I’ve only missed 2 days of school since Kindergarten and I’m a Senior in high school now, so skipping for me was a big deal) to watch that NLCS game that started at 1 on a Monday when Bumgarner pitched. But I like the signing cause of that reason. Team Chemistry. I have never seen 2 grown men so happy. Without Burrell we wouldn’t have gotten to the playoffs. He came up clutch for us so many times. So take your assumptions somewhere else please.
your comment could be interpreted both ways, thats all im saying. You sounded bitter in your claim!! Anyways, yer a Giants fan and thats all that matters in the end. I’m not here to cause tension within our fan base. lol. Go Giants
where did he say it was a bad thing? don’t jump to conclusions.
I agree with most of the things you said… but I feel you overreacted just a tad lol.
lol i wasn’t freaking out/ticked off. I was just a lil confused. Its hard to read tone through text
I agree with most of the things you said… but I feel you overreacted just a tad lol.
Exactly, Huff was quoted as saying that when Burrell got to SF, the dynamic of the team changed and he really started loving it there. If everyone’s having fun, the teams tends to win… On top of all that, having a strong veteran presence is good for a team when it comes to teaching rookies like Posey and hopefully Belt this year.
Isn’t it strange that as soon as Burrell and Posey showed up, the Giants’ offense started clicking? They were the only two guys in the lineup that would take a walk and it made all those homeruns they started hitting count more since guys were ACTUALLY on base.
Burrell led the team with 4.22 pitches per at bat. He is a disciplined, but streaky hitter, not a free swinger. I think he and Posey stabilized the lineup with their patient approach. Did you see how Torres did better when he did the same thing in the playoffs?
Exactly, Huff was quoted as saying that when Burrell got to SF, the dynamic of the team changed and he really started loving it there. If everyone’s having fun, the teams tends to win… On top of all that, having a strong veteran presence is good for a team when it comes to teaching rookies like Posey and hopefully Belt this year.
Isn’t it strange that as soon as Burrell and Posey showed up, the Giants’ offense started clicking? They were the only two guys in the lineup that would take a walk and it made all those homeruns they started hitting count more since guys were ACTUALLY on base.
now that we know what we know…they signed burrell to make burrell happy. dude, i can’t tell you how much respect i have for pat burrell today. giants fans lose the right to boo burrell for remainder of his career.
smart move, his 18 homers in 90 games was huge for the giants
Good move. After all, Brian Wilson needs The Machine!
Now they can release Rowand
Now they can release Rowand
…and Ned Colletti can sign him.
…as soon as Ned gets done firing the assistant that forgot to fax the 3 year deal over to Burrell’s agent.
The Giants 2011 opening day lineup is much better then the 2010 opening day lineup.
Welcome back Burrell.
am i stupid to call out how much of an offensive liability benjie molina was? even a sophomore slump by posey won’t approach the horrific .310 on-base and .450 slugging that molina struggled to post yet so many giants fans still considered him a good player.this offense in september, and even in october when they hit the playoff-pitching-induced cold streaks, was 8 guys who were capable of producing at any trip to the plate. in april it had been sure outs from our catcher, right fielder, center fielder, and left fielder.
We considered him good because he was one of the architects to our deadly pitching staff. Other than that he was mediocre at best.
Yeah, Molina did a great job of not getting to balls and letting so many pass through his glove. The argument about him calling such a great game always got to me, how hard is it for a pitcher to say no. Posey did okay with them right?
Speaking of .310 OBP, that was Uribe, too.
now if only we could still get bartlett…still a chance, Giants do have a slight surplus in pitching relief (Chris ray, ramon ramirez)
Happy to have him back. He had some big hits for the Giants, most notably that homerun off Jonathan Broxton that beat LA, and put Brox into his latest nosedive.
He may have struck out a lot in the WS, but he had two key at bats where he drew a walk before a big hit, and he had a seven or eight pitch at bat against Lee which Renteria says helped him hit his big HR.
He is a professional hitter and, unlike Rowand, Sandoval or Uribe, rarely swung at pitches in the dirt. Good move for the Giants.
Torres CF
Sanchez 2B
Huff 1B
Posey C
Burrell LF
Ross RF
Tejada SS
Sandoval or DeRosa 3B
There are no easy outs in that lineup. I say it’s good enough to make the playoffs, which is the Giants biggest challenge. Once they’re in, no one wants to face that pitching staff in a short series.
There isn’t an easy out. Not to mention that there are guys on the bench that can come in and do the same thing.
burrell will be an easy out for a good portion of the season, per usual. better hope sandoval loses 30 lbs too.
burrell will be an easy out for a good portion of the season, per usual. better hope sandoval loses 30 lbs too.
There isn’t an easy out. Not to mention that there are guys on the bench that can come in and do the same thing.
1 mill? No way anyone can complain about this!
Wow… I’d have thought Burrell would command more than a $1M base. Good deal for the Giants. No risk and plenty of reward. Makes you wonder how Huff convinced them he was worth $22M…
I was honestly expecting that Burrell wouldn’t make more than $3 million this coming season, regardless of where he played. He also said during September that he wanted to return to SF next season (he grew up locally), and would be willing to do so in whatever capacity the Giants wanted him to, even as a bench bat. This is a bench bat kind of contract, but I still expect him to be the opening day left fielder.
Burrell told his agent he wanted to come back. Not that he wanted $.
Huff had a similar offer from another team, I’ve heard it was the Dodgers or the Rangers.
This is the kind of deal that won them the world series last. Not at all saying they will repeat but a very good move by giants. No risk whatsoever. Huge upside with burrell’s power and locker room presence.
WOW! with all these players playing strictly for the money and forgetting about everything else, you have to love Pat for this one. Talk about playing for the love of the game and taking a hometown discount!
Derek Jeter do you hear me?
jeter is so moved by this that he calls up casey close and says, screw the yankees, i want to be part of that kind of team. tell sabean i want $1m in 2011.
Best deal of the offseason so far!! Talk about playing for the game and his hometown, much respect to Pat the Bat!
WELCOME…………TO THE MACHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE.
I love that it’s for 1mm. Having his presence for that much is a huge bargain. Good Job sabean!!
I love that it’s for 1mm. Having his presence for that much is a huge bargain. Good Job sabean!!
Great signing at that price.
Pat the Bat sure moved up in my book, nice to see an athlete play for the love of the game.
I wonder if Pat’s agent is Dr. Evil from the Austin Power’s movies…
Dr. Evil: We demand the sum… OF 1 MILLION DOLLARS. Muahahahahahhahahaaa!
Wow, I wonder how much the incentives are? 1M seems like an awfully big hometown discount. Huff resigning probably factored into his decision as well.
No incentives. $1MM. PEriod.
Wow. If Huff has any sense of fairness, he should share some of his $22 mil to his buddy Burrell.
Nice signing Sabean.
No kidding. Dinner’s on Aubrey every time they go out.
No kidding. Dinner’s on Aubrey every time they go out.
Really close now. Soon the Giants will be in position to stand Pat.
$1MM with no incentives. Awesome.
and if you believe everything you read, that was far from his best offer available. amazing move by burrell, this gesture guarantees that i’ll be there opening day to ensure that everyone in my section gets on their feet to recognize his sacrifice on our behalf.
huff+burrell for $12m in 2011? suddenly looks pretty good. same trick we keep playing with zito+lincecum for $25m and rowand+posey for $13m and derosa+sandoval for $7m, etc.
A player take less money to play where he loves??? Unheard of!!!!
A player take less money to play where he loves??? Unheard of!!!!
It does give you warm fuzzies to see Burrell signing for next to nothing, simply for the chance to play for his chosen team. But does it not occur to anyone else that it might turn out to be a good decision for Burrell financially, long-term? Yes, he probably could have gotten $3-4 mil a year to play in a reduced role (DH or platoon maybe) in a town/situation he was less comfortable in. But even assuming he did well within that capacity, what kind of deal would he have been in line for after 2011? Not much more than that. If he believes playing every day in an environment he’s comfortable in can get him closer to his 2008 numbers, and if he can play every day in the field without being overly horrible (no guarantee there, obviously, but still) he’ll be looking for a one or two year deal after 2011 as a regular for much, much more money than he’d have gotten in a couple years as a well-paid role player.
Or, in short, he’s probably hoping to pull an Aubrey Huff.
It does give you warm fuzzies to see Burrell signing for next to nothing, simply for the chance to play for his chosen team. But does it not occur to anyone else that it might turn out to be a good decision for Burrell financially, long-term? Yes, he probably could have gotten $3-4 mil a year to play in a reduced role (DH or platoon maybe) in a town/situation he was less comfortable in. But even assuming he did well within that capacity, what kind of deal would he have been in line for after 2011? Not much more than that. If he believes playing every day in an environment he’s comfortable in can get him closer to his 2008 numbers, and if he can play every day in the field without being overly horrible (no guarantee there, obviously, but still) he’ll be looking for a one or two year deal after 2011 as a regular for much, much more money than he’d have gotten in a couple years as a well-paid role player.
Or, in short, he’s probably hoping to pull an Aubrey Huff.
Deal just got better, no incentives.
Not bad for 1M.
Excellent deal for the Giants.