GM Not Expecting Talks With Lincecum During Season
Giants GM Brian Sabean told Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News that he doubts there will be talks with Tim Lincecum about a contract extension during the season (Twitter links). He added that "you never say never," but it would require "more of a meeting of the minds."
Lincecum is in the second year of a two-year, $23MM contract he signed before last season, but he'll remain under team control in both 2012 and 2013 as an arbitration-eligible player. He'll earn $13MM this season, so his starting point is high for a player with under five years of service time. Of course Lincecum is no ordinary player. He won the Cy Young Award in each of his first two full seasons, and he's led the league in strikeouts in each of the last three seasons.
Sabean also mentioned that the extension for Freddy Sanchez came together rather quickly, and that Cody Ross wanted multiple years when the two sides talked about a deal.
Giants Extend Freddy Sanchez
The Giants have reached an agreement with second baseman Freddy Sanchez on a one-year, $6MM extension, MLBTR has learned. The Giants have confirmed the agreement (on Twitter).
Sanchez's previous contract, signed in October of 2009, runs through this year, and the new deal extends him at the same salary through the 2012 season. According to our source, Sanchez turned down a 2013 club option with an accompanying buyout, preferring to retain control of his contractual status after the '12 season. Sanchez is represented by Sosnick Cobbe Sports.
Sanchez, 33, hit .292/.342/.397 in 479 plate appearances for the Giants last year, batting second most of the time. He's known for his ability to hit for average, with a .298 career mark and a batting title in 2006. He's also solid with the glove, based on UZR. The one recent concern has been durability, as he's missed time with back, knee, and shoulder injuries the past few years.
The extension pushes Sosnick Cobbe Sports into the $90MM range for total contracts brokered this offseason, putting the firm in play for top ten overall placement for the second consecutive winter. Though it's a small agency, Sosnick Cobbe has done about the same volume of business this winter as Wasserman Media Group and Octagon due to contracts for Jay Bruce, Ricky Nolasco, and others. Josh Willingham is an extension candidate with Oakland, which could push their total higher.
Giants Designate Travis Ishikawa For Assignment
The Giants designated Travis Ishikawa for assignment, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). Rookie Brandon Belt made the Giants' Opening Day roster, bumping Ishikawa from the team.
The 27-year-old appeared in 116 games last year and hit .266/.320/.392 in 173 plate appearances. He doesn't have much power for a first baseman (career .400 SLG), but UZR suggests he is well above average with the glove (career 13.5 UZR/150).
Ishikawa, who is out of options, didn't draw trade interest this spring, according to Henry Schulman of the Chronicle (on Twitter). That could change now that the Giants only have ten days to trade Ishikawa, release him or outright him to the minor leagues.
Giants Release Jeff Suppan
The Giants released Jeff Suppan, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter). GM Brian Sabean says the decision was mutual, since Suppan wasn't going to make the team. The right-hander is now looking for a job elsewhere.
Suppan posted a 7.84 ERA in 15 appearances with the Brewers before they released him last year. He then appeared in 15 games for St. Louis and posted a much-improved 3.84 ERA for the Cardinals. Overall, he logged 101 1/3 innings and posted a 5.06 ERA with 4.5 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 and a 40.3% ground ball rate.
Sabean signed Suppan in January to provide depth and insurance, but did not need him in the end. He could have earned $1MM for making the team.
Giants Notes: Belt, Lincecum, Posey
The Giants' offseason moves may not have generated much hype, but the defending champs are sure getting their share of attention now that the season's about to begin. Here's the latest…
- Buster Posey tops Jon Paul Morosi's list of candidates to become baseball's next superstar at FOX Sports.
- Giants manager Bruce Bochy did not make an announcement on whether top prospect Brandon Belt will make the team, according to John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle (on Twitter).
- Jon Heyman of SI.com offers some predictions for the coming season and two young Giants, Posey (NL MVP) and Belt (NL Rookie of the Year) figure prominently into Heyman's prognostications. Heyman also says the Giants "will prove that they are no fluke, winning the NL West."
- Tim Lincecum is one of the few true aces in baseball, according to baseball people who spoke to Tyler Kepner of the New York Times. What differentiates aces from other good pitchers? Giants GM Brian Sabean says the best pitchers inspire confidence when they pitch. “There’s a difference in your clubhouse,” Sabean said. “People are thinking, ‘This is win day.’ ”
Quick Hits: Rangers, Astros, Reyes, Burrell, Belt
Links for Saturday, after the Yankees announced that Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia will be their fourth and fifth starters while Bartolo Colon serves as the long reliever…
- The Rangers aren't looking for a centerfielder as they believe that Julio Borbon will be okay after suffering an elbow injury, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. It's not realistic to expect the club to land a starting pitcher either as there isn't much out there.
- Astros owner Drayton McLane Jr. denied a report saying that he's close to selling the team, writes Stephen Goff of Examiner.com.
- Left-hander Dennys Reyes told Alex Speier of WEEI.com that he is healthy after dealing with a forearm strain at the end of last year. Earlier today the Red Sox purchased the veteran's big league contract.
- More teams are structuring deals to guard against major injuries to their star players, writes Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe.
- As Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reminds us, chances are that back-of-the-rotation won't be the one the Yankees finish the season with.
- Phillies pitching coach Rich Dubee told MLB.com's Todd Zolecki that the team's bullpen isn't finalized (Twitter links). "We've still got a few things in the works," said Dubee, which Zolecki says could mean a trade, waiver claim, or an internal option.
- Henry Schulman of The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Bruce Bochy confirmed that Pat Burrell will be the Giants' Opening Day left fielder, meaning Brandon Belt is likely headed back to the minors. Check out Tim Dierkes' recent look at Belt's service time situation.
- Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports reminds us that 40-man roster space (or the lack thereof) can often serve as the tie-breaker when teams make roster decisions with non-roster invitees near the end of Spring Training (Twitter link).
Quick Hits: Santiago, Eric Young, Giants
We're officially less than a week away from the start of the 2011 season! Here are some news items to tide you over as we start the countdown to another great year of baseball…
- Ramon Santiago "is available in the right deal," an anonymous scout tells Steve Kornacki of MLive.com. The long-time Tigers middle infielder started 78 games last season, posting a .662 OPS in 367 plate appearances. Santiago's competition for the utility job, Danny Worth, "has made a great impression on Jim Leyland," Kornacki writes.
- Troy Renck of the Denver Post isn't hearing much "trade buzz" (Twitter link) from scouts about Jose Lopez, contrary to a Ken Rosenthal report from earlier today. Renck reiterated his item from earlier this month about how Eric Young Jr. would draw interest if the Rockies wanted to put him on the trade market.
- Baseball America's Matt Eddy rounds up the week's minor league transactions.
- The Giants "might be the deepest team in baseball," but Dave Cameron of Fangraphs thinks their "big flaw" is Miguel Tejada and Mike Fontenot at short. Cameron suggests San Francisco should try to move one of their excess outfielders for "a real Major League shortstop."
Belt, Britton Face Different Cutoff Dates
A week ago I wrote that a player's free agency could be delayed a year by calling him up on April 11th or later, making it impossible for him to accrue more than 171 days of service time. It turns out that I was only partially correct.
The April 11th date only applies if the player is not on the 40-man roster right now. For example, Brandon Belt could be promoted by the Giants on April 11th or later and his free agency would be delayed until after the 2017 season, because he is not currently on the 40-man. One related note – if he was called up exactly on that date, and thus fell one day short of the 172 needed for a year of service, his agent would probably file a grievance. There's also the possibility of a one-game playoff allowing him to pick up that extra day of service time anyway. So it makes sense to leave a little space.
What about a player who is on the 40-man roster, such as the Orioles' Zach Britton? In that case, the player needs to be optioned to start the season and spend at least 20 days on optional assignment in order to not get the service time back. So a 40-man roster player can earn either 162 or fewer days of service, or a full year. The Orioles will have to wait until April 21st or later with Britton, as Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun indicated today.
Olney On Shortstops, Juan Cruz, Mets
The latest from the blog of ESPN's Buster Olney…
- Olney muses on who the Giants might look at as a midseason acquisition if Miguel Tejada does not work out at shortstop. He comes up with Jose Reyes, Marco Scutaro, and Jack Wilson as possible trade candidates. I can see Stephen Drew, J.J. Hardy, and Ronny Cedeno as other possibilities.
- Evaluators tell Olney Rays reliever Juan Cruz looks excellent. Apparently recovered from shoulder surgery, Cruz has allowed one run in eight spring innings. He's whiffed nine and allowed only two hits, but also walked seven.
- The Mets intend to keep Rule 5 picks Brad Emaus and Pedro Beato, according to Olney. With Justin Turner being cut today, Emaus certainly appears to be the second base starter. Joel Sherman of the New York Post digs into the Mets' logic with Emaus here. The infielder, 25 on Monday, hit .298/.395/.495 at Triple-A last year.
Schierholtz, Ishikawa On The Bubble For Giants
The Giants have a pair of out of options position players on the bubble in Nate Schierholtz and Travis Ishikawa. According to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, "Schierholtz could be the easiest and most likely to be dealt. Perhaps soon."
Schierholtz, a right fielder, is trying to break into an outfield that already features more expensive players such as Cody Ross, Andres Torres, Pat Burrell, Mark DeRosa, and perhaps Aaron Rowand. And don't forget top prospect Brandon Belt, who could force Aubrey Huff to left field or play there himself. Just for good measure, Ishikawa is playing a little outfield this spring.
The 27-year-old Schierholtz has failed to produce in 758 scattered big league plate appearances. He has, at least, shown the ability to hit for average, power, and a strong contact rate in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Going back to the Baseball America 2008 Handbook, Schierholtz "plays a strong right field and has an above-average, accurate arm." He would have been a more interesting player for the Royals to try in right field than Jeff Francoeur, and could make sense for the Phillies currently.
Trading Rowand would alleviate the Giants' outfield logjam slightly, but Baggarly says there's nothing cooking on that front. Rowand is a release candidate in my mind, unless there's a team willing to pick up a couple million bucks of the $24MM owed to him for 2011-12.
Baggarly notes that both Schierholtz and Ishikawa could be on the outs if Belt makes the team. On Friday, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that the situations of Rowand, Ishikawa, and Schierholtz will not be big factors in the Belt decision. Belt's service time might be a consideration, not that the team would admit that publicly. If the Giants can survive the season's first nine games without Belt, they can delay his free agency by a year.