Here's the latest from baseball's two West divisions…
- The Giants are not in the market for outfielders such as Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Bobby Abreu according to Hank Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). They feel the lineup is too lefty-heavy as it is, and defense is a concern as well.
- Ivan Rodriguez has fielded a few inquiries according to Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com (on Twitter), including one from the Diamondbacks. Pudge seeks a job with "real playing time," however.
- Angels manager Mike Scioscia told MLB.com that he believes he can find regular playing time for Abreu, and that the veteran hitter won't be a distraction after saying he wanted to be traded.
- The Dodgers have signed left-hander Brent Leach, reports Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (on Twitter). The 29-year-old reliever appeared in 38 games for the Dodgers in 2009 (5.75 ERA), but spent last season in Japan.
quick question..any giants fans on this sight think the giants were even remotely interested in any of those players? you should have added that they were not interested in trading posey as well…….
Seriously, the Giants already have a couple of guys who can’t play the OF that they still trot out there.
They also picked up a couple of guys that can play the OF..
I can just imagine any of those three fumbling around in right field. It’ll make Giants fans long for Jose Cruz, Jr. again.
Sorry Rodriquez.. Starting gigs for 40YO catchers are just not going to happen. Ask Varitek. Your quest for those remaining 150 hits to 3k will be via a reserve role.. If you are smart enough to accept any backup MLB contract period thrown your way.
Giants should have dumped Whiteside and gone with Pudge, probably his best opportunity for playing time if they’re limiting Posey behind the plate, so he would sign for a million or less.
That’s an intriguing idea except Whiteside is still way cheaper.
Neither Whiteside nor Stewart can hit and Stewart is clearly better defensively. I hope the backup job goes to Stewart. Pudge is unnecessary for the Giants, IMO.
Hello? Hector Sanchez???
This will be Sanchez’s age 22 season with very little time in the upper minors. If the Giants feel like he can be a major league catcher, he would likely benefit much more from getting as much playing time as possible at AA-AAA. I honestly don’t know much about his defensive prowess, but what I have heard/read is that he is known for his offense. I think a backup backstop, especially for the Giants, should be solid defensively and at least Stewart and Whiteside have that going for them.
Only if Posey can only go 60-70% of starts would I consider HSan.. mostly for the same reason posted by Jason_F below. The kid needs to play as much as possible.
Sadly it looks like Whiteside is getting the nod since he got 0.6 million in arb, which doesn’t seem like much but it’s guaranteed money. Watch Pudge sign in the 0.8-1 million range.
Ehhhhh, he still didn’t exactly perform very well when he did play last year. I wouldn’t really say he’s that much better than Whiteside. His defense is down, his offense is down so really you’re just looking at paying a replacement level guy more than the existing replacement level guy.
Logic tells me you’re right, but it would be awesome to have Pudge.
Whiteside is pure trash, rather have Pudge behind the plate over Whiteside
Pure trash? I think I’ll let our pitching staff decide what they think of Whiteside. That said, he’s not guaranteed the backup spot yet. And he did alright as a backup in 2010. I’d love to see HSan on the OD 25, but his playing time will depend on Posey.
The Mets should sign Pudge to work with those pitchers and try and get somethin out of them this year so they can trade them for prospects. He comes on the cheap and we all know the Mets aint drinkin 20yr old Jamison. Also, Givin Pudge some playin time may bring a few people to the park on occasion which the Mets are gonna need big time this year.
I hope one of my teams rivals trades for Abreu.
Starting to wonder if the Angels would be better off trading Trumbo instead of Abreu. They could probably get a pretty good return on Trumbo instead of having to give away Abreu and pay him.
Its not hard to sign decent corner OFs in the FA market. Abreu could also bounce back a little bit, who knows?
He’s what, 38? The list of players that have had bounce back seasons at 38 is pretty short.
“He’s what, 38? The list of players that have had bounce back seasons at 38 is pretty short”
It is and got me looking cause thought it coincided me my favorite players bounce back season and really.. Last terrific season.. Carl Yastrzemski.. GG, .877OPS, 28HR and even in the MVP balloting..
frank thomas was 38 in 2006 with the a’s, just looked it up
That was the only one I could think of, and it probably was because he was my favirite player. Point is, if we struggled, we could probably cone up with a list of 5 or 8. And likely they were HOFers or close. History isn’t on Bobby’s side.
The Pirates have a young team that might benefit from Pudge’s veteran leadership… and the attention of his 3,000 chase.
“The Giants are not in the market for outfielders.” That’s what it should have read.