Giants Rumors: Lincecum, Sanchez, Penny
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News has the goods on the Giants, after speaking with GM Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy.
- Technically, Sabean and Bochy's contracts are up at the end of the month. They don't have commitments for 2010 in hand, yet the expectation is that both will be back.
- In discussing Tim Lincecum's upcoming arbitration case, Sabean referenced Ryan Howard's record first-time award ($10MM) from February of '08. Of course, with Howard, the Phillies screwed up by submitting only $7MM. Sabean wants to file his salary request for Lincecum before discussing a long-term deal, so as to not show his hand early.
- Closer Brian Wilson is another first-time arbitration-eligible player, and you have to think he'll jump up to $5MM+.
- The Giants would like to restructure Freddy Sanchez's $8.1MM option into a two-year deal, but seem confident in his return. Baggarly says they even consider the option as a fallback if the restructuring fails. I can't see Sanchez getting $8.1MM on the open market.
- A Brad Penny return appears unlikely. If he sticks to the NL and the West Coast he'll be down to the Padres pretty much. It'd also be surprising to see the Giants re-sign catcher Bengie Molina, who wants a two-year deal worth more than $6MM annually.
- Sabean wouldn't rule out trading a pitcher for a bat, but said he'd agonize over such a decision.
- Brandon Medders, Justin Miller, and Ryan Garko are non-tender candidates. The Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner call-ups locked up two 40-man roster spots.
- Quoting Baggarly: Sabean justified the $18.5 million contract he gave [Edgar Renteria] last winter by saying they needed a veteran shortstop."
Odds & Ends: Padres, Jays, Giants
A few links to start the evening….
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today believes the Padres would be making an epic mistake if they let GM Kevin Towers go. The odds of Towers being retained look "very slim," according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter).
- Earlier today we discussed reports of tension in the Blue Jays' clubhouse between players and manager Cito Gaston. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com relays reaction quotes on his Twitter from those involved. Vernon Wells says it's never been this bad in Toronto in the past.
- Keith Law of ESPN.com opines that Buster Posey's only weakness is his game-calling, which could only be fixed by gaining major-league experience with the Giants' staff. He suggests San Francisco save the money they could spend on Bengie Molina and hand the catching reins to Posey in 2010.
- As Tom Verducci of SI.com points out, the game now has a dominant group of young pitchers such as Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw.
- Houston owner Drayton McLane tells MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that rumors of the Astros being for sale are "absolutely untrue."
Odds & Ends: Padres, Jays, Giants
A few links to start the evening….
- Bob Nightengale of USA Today believes the Padres would be making an epic mistake if they let GM Kevin Towers go. The odds of Towers being retained look "very slim," according to Corey Brock of MLB.com (via Twitter).
- Earlier today we discussed reports of tension in the Blue Jays' clubhouse between players and manager Cito Gaston. Jordan Bastian of MLB.com relays reaction quotes on his Twitter from those involved. Vernon Wells says it's never been this bad in Toronto in the past.
- Keith Law of ESPN.com opines that Buster Posey's only weakness is his game-calling, which could only be fixed by gaining major-league experience with the Giants' staff. He suggests San Francisco save the money they could spend on Bengie Molina and hand the catching reins to Posey in 2010.
- As Tom Verducci of SI.com points out, the game now has a dominant group of young pitchers such as Felix Hernandez and Clayton Kershaw.
- Houston owner Drayton McLane tells MLB.com's Brian McTaggart that rumors of the Astros being for sale are "absolutely untrue."
Giants Rumors: Penny, Molina, Posey
The latest on the Giants, who trail the Wild Card-leading Rockies by just a game:
- Brad Penny gave the Giants more than they could have expected in his return to the NL, as Dan Gelston of the AP notes (via the Miami Herald).
- ESPN.com's Keith Law would like to see the Giants play Buster Posey enough down the stretch to prepare him for a starting role in 2010. They could then let Bengie Molina walk and spend on another bat.
- Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle wonders if the Giants are trying to "light a fire" under Bengie Molina.
Odds & Ends: Posey, Maybin, Penny
Links for Wednesday…
- Due to Bengie Molina's injury, the Giants have changed their mind and called up top prospect Buster Posey according to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News. So Posey's clock starts earlier than planned.
- Speaking of service time, MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith tells me Cameron Maybin's call-up gives him 129 days of service time after this year. That puts him on the fringe of Super Two status after the 2011 season.
- ESPN's Jerry Crasnick ranks the impact of trades made by contenders in July. He talked to an exec who thinks Matt Holliday "could make an extra $3MM a year as a free agent this winter because of his strong finish."
- Yahoo's Gordon Edes has his trade deadline winners and losers.
- Ryan Doumit's agent Matt Sosnick shot down recent negativity surrounding his client, while Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette gets to the bottom of the catcher's recent benching.
- Brad Penny still hates the Dodgers, a team he'll face twice this month according to Baggarly. Baggarly also has a quote from Penny ripping on the Marlins.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel has more from Brewers shortstop J.J. Hardy, who knows he gained trade value when the team delayed his free agency.
- J.C. Bradbury of Sabernomics wonders whether the Braves should pick up Tim Hudson's $12MM option for 2010. Hudson has the right to void that option, not that he would. Back in January Dave O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution said the Braves "fully intend to exercise it, barring some unexpected turn of events."
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs notes that Kendry Morales has matched the production of the Angels' former first baseman, $180MM man Mark Teixeira.
- Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic has comments from Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes on the team's Jon Rauch–Kevin Mulvey swap. Piecoro says the D'Backs have about $23MM to work with this winter as they presumably look to add pitching.
- Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times guesses Ken Griffey Jr. will retire after this season.
Odds And Ends: Jays, White Sox, Posey
Some links for the morning…
- GM J.P. Ricciardi tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com that being good isn't enough in the AL East. The Blue Jays have to be great.
- White Sox GM Kenny Williams told Dave van Dyck of the Chicago Tribune that he's unhappy with his team, which trails the Tigers by 2.0 games in the AL Central. "We're underachievers," he said.
- Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle hears that the Giants have no plans to call Buster Posey up this season. They just drafted the catcher last year, so GM Brian Sabean says "there's no rush."
Sabean On Lincecum, Sandoval, Bonds, Posey
Giants GM Brian Sabean tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports that the Giants were determined to draft Tim Lincecum in 2006. Sabean avoided watching him pitch in person because he was worried someone else would take him and he didn't want other teams to know how serious the Giants were. Here are some highlights from the interview:
- Sabean says the Dodgers are the best team in the NL.
- He says the Giants could have used a high-profile player to distract from Barry Bonds once Jeff Kent left.
- Sabean is confident the Giants want to keep him on as GM.
- The Giants aren't sure what position Pablo Sandoval will play long-term.
- Sabean is non-commital on the future of the catcher position. Bengie Molina's a free agent after the season and top prospect Buster Posey has reached Triple A.
Odds And Ends: Timlin, Rays, Reds
Some more links as the trading heats up…
- Buster Posey and Clay Buchholz are two of the better-known players on the list of untouchable players compiled by John Manuel of Baseball America.
- Mike Timlin worked out at Coors Field and the relief-starved Rockies may offer him a minor league contract, according to Troy Renck of the Denver Post.
- Dave Cameron of FanGraphs implores Andrew Friedman and the Rays to go all out and trade for Cliff Lee.
- John Fay of the Cincinnati Enquirer adds Jerry Hairston Jr. to the list of Reds trade candidates and says he'd be "stunned" if they deal Brandon Phillips.
- Check out this NBC Sports clip for my take on Roy Halladay, Matt Holliday and others.
- I'll be talking trades on The Big 1070 at 4:15 CST and here's a clip from an appearance earlier in the week on the Sports Show Live.
Bengie Molina Talks About Future
FRIDAY, 2:42pm: Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News reports that Molina wants to return to the Giants, but won't discuss any extensions after the All-Star break. After that Molina wants to focus on the season and deal with free agency afterwards.
THURSDAY, 3:27pm: ESPN.com's Rob Neyer writes that the Giants need to get the most production possible out of Molina while he's on their team, even if that means suggesting they're more serious about discussing an extension than they really are.
9:18am: Talking to Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, Giants catcher Bengie Molina discussed the future. Molina is earning $6MM in the last year of his contract. He considers himself a starting catcher for another two or three years and wants to finish his career with the Giants. However, Molina knows Giants prospect Buster Posey may be ready for the Majors as soon as 2010.
Schulman learned that Molina isn't offended that the Giants haven't discussed an extension with him, but he would like to have a conversation soon. Molina said:
"I'm not afraid of going to free agency. What I've done for this organization, I've left my heart out there every night, day in and day out. All I want is, when the time comes, they come forward and tell me what their plans are."
Molina's gotten a nice chance to bat in the middle of the order in his Giants career, boosting his RBI totals. His high contact approach leads to strong batting averages but low walk totals.
Giants Invite 16 To Big League Camp
Including a couple of Giants prospects, catcher Buster Posey and right-hander Kevin Pucetas, San Francisco has invited 16 players to its Spring Training camp, Chris Haft of MLB.com reports.
The rest of the list: third baseman Jesus Guzman; infielders Scott McClain and Ivan Ochoa; right-handers Francis Beltran, Brandon Medders and Justin Miller; catcher Eli Whiteside; first baseman-outfielder Josh Phelps; outfielder Andres Torres; catcher Todd Jennings; infielder Jake Wald; catcher Jackson Williams; right-hander Ronnie Ray; infielder Matt Downs.
Pitchers and catchers report Feb. 14.