Next name to watch for Giants: Xavier Nady. There’s some mutual interest, but almost certainly on a minor-league deal + invite.
Other than organizational depth, don’t see a ton of reason for Nady at first or in the outfield, both of which are already log-jammed.
Oh wait. This means Belt goes to the minors while Nady plays backup to Pill and Huff? GET ME ON THAT TRAIN! CHOO CHOO.
*gags*
Then again, the Padres DID give Nady three games at third in the ’05 season to which he posted a perfect fielding record – maybe this is Sabean’s master plan. Nady, the utility infielder!!1!1!
Theriot, who owns a .282/.344/.353 line in seven MLB seasons is expected to provide insurance for both Brandon Crawford and Freddy Sanchez, but will most likely be the starting shortstop once Bruce Bochy watches Brandon Crawford go 0-3 one evening, assuming he makes the club out of Spring – which he should.
Defensively, Theriot really isn’t adequate at shortstop (and that’s being polite) so the Giants will take a hefty ding defensively, and while he does bring a more competent stick than Crawford, I question if the difference is that significant when combined with the sub-par defense.
I certainly don’t mind it as a depth addition (in fact, I’d call it a solid move), but, well, I think we’re pretty much all aware of what’s going to go down eventually in this scenario.
Either way, welcome to the Black & Orange, The Riot.
It’s not exactly the new edition Giants fans were hoping for, and we’re a little behind on the times, but Mike Fontenot is a new daddy according to Amy G. Congrats to Mike and his wife on the birth of their son on January 10th.
On a side note, while babies are always exciting, we’re all hoping the new bundle of joy doesn’t distract from Mike’s season too much.
Picking a starting first baseman may be as pointless as calling him “Who,” but until the beginning of the season rolls around, the position is up for grabs. So far, candidates include Buster Posey, Aubrey Huff, Brandon Belt, and Brett Pill. Now, I don’t doubt that at some point during the season, all four of these players will see time at first base. Posey will need a break from the rigors of catching, Huff may not find left field quite to his liking, Belt and Pill will quickly and repeatedly outgrow Fresno.
Buster Posey — Given his ongoing recovery, Posey won’t be starting at first base because the Giants have no better alternative, but because it’s a less taxing position than one behind the plate. In 2010, Buster started 30 games at first, with 196 putouts, 12 double plays and a single error in 248.0 innings for a FP of .995. He’s not my favorite choice for first base, but an understandable one.
Brandon Belt — The last time Belt saw a full season at first was in 2010, when he split 112 games among San Jose, Richmond, and Fresno, for 1,016 putouts, 91 double plays, and 9 errors. Of course, the main draw to Belt is in his bat. He batted .320/.461/.528 in San Jose and Fresno last season, and brought a line of .225/.306/.412 to San Francisco in 63 games.
Here, the concern is not ensuring Belt makes a good impression in Spring Training—or even in San Francisco, should Sabean and Bochy select him as their starting first baseman. It’s keeping him there, and getting him the consistency it takes to improve at a major-league level. What do you say, Giants? Can we do it this year? Continue reading this post »
Using the money they scrounged out of the vault under AT&T Park, the Giants bolstered their ‘pen today, adding former Giant draft pick Clay Hensley on a one year, $750,000 dollar deal with incentives which could (but wont) increase the contract to just over $1,000,000 dollars. Howevah, (H/T Schulman), the deal is un-guaranteed, so he has to make the club out of Spring Training to get paid anything of significance. Essentially, Clay’s the baseball version of a hooker.
Hensley, who was drafted by the Giants in 2002 and then later traded to San Diego in ’03 for *quietly speaks* Matt Herges *vomits* (you probably remember him better for giving up 755) struggled last season for the Florida Marlins, posting a eye-popping 5.19 ERA with a 1.36 WHIP in 67.2 innings.
A very rough August where Hensley was asked to play fill-in and spot start put the duds on his season, as he gave up 22 earned runs in just 20.9 innings in that short time span. As an arm out of the pen, he did pitch considerably well.
The former Giants pick had a very solid ’10 with the Marlins, posting a 2.16 ERA with a 1.11 WHIP in 75 innings. Here’s to replicating that in 2012, Clay.
You may have noticed, but the Giants pitchers are pretty good. Maybe it’s the park they play in, maybe it’s those beautiful creme uniforms with no name on the back. It’s probably more the pitching coach and the game strategy provided by the other members of the coaches and scouts. Their staff dominated lot of statistical categories in 2011 so I thought it would be more interesting to write about what they didn’t dominate in (I defined “dominate” in terms of “Top 10″ since there were a couple categories that were pretty close within the Top 10). And it takes some time to find.
Hit By Pitches: 14th fewest (50)
BB%: 2nd highest (9.1%)
Pitches: 9th most (23,920)… though analyze that how you like
Pretty difficult and I’m sure there’s more categories out there I wasn’t able to find, but the Giants pitching staff is pretty amazing. This also says they dominate pretty much every other pitching category out there and it will continue to be fun to watch these boys throw in 2012.
As we eagerly await pitchers and catchers reporting to Arizona and Florida, many of us also anticipate the release of what millions consider (and has been regularly awarded) the best sports game of the year, MLB The Show.
Sony released their project’s annual trailer yesterday to much fan fare and who did we spot as one of the featured athletes? None other than everybody’s favorite loveable catcher, Buster Posey. Posey, along with C.C. Sabathia, Jose Bautista, Josh Hamilton and cover boy Adrian Gonzalez make up the trailer (along with some notable cameo’s) to this years offering, which you can watch above.
No word on the cheat code to blow up Scott Cousins just yet.
By now you know that the Giants avoided going to salary arbitration court (which, if it were a court show, would be a much better show than all the other court shows COMBINED, as I remember seeing discussed over the Tweeter) by agreeing with Timmy on a 2 year deal. We know he’ll get $18.5MM in 2012 ($500K from a signing bonus) and $22MM in 2013 (making him the highest paid Giant on the roster that year). I think this is a fair deal and is probably pretty close to what he would’ve made in arbitration year-to-year. Here’s what I say to Timmy for his 2012-2013 seasons: make ‘em good, big boy, because if this front office continues to dawdle in getting a bat, you’ll get your money, but it probably won’t be from a team in San Francisco. It’s not because SF won’t give him the money, it’s because he’ll be so sick of not getting any run support, he’ll bolt to somewhere that will make him happier. And why not? I know W-L are not the perfect stats but at the end of the day these guys still look at them. Being 13-14 with an ERA at 2.74 can probably get in your head, and if Timmy sees 2 more years of that, why should he stay? Would you?
If you’ve followed Tim’s numbers over the past 3 years, you know that the insane level of honeymoon-period is over. Has he peaked already? Possibly. Why don’t I show you what I mean on this little chart I made:
2010′s numbers do not include the postseason. If they did, it would make it probably more amazing. 2008 and 2009 were ridiculous. I can’t believe we had that guy on our team. I also think he’s still our #1 pitcher and definitely could hold that title in 2013 vs. Cain and MadBum, but his K/9 have gone down as control issues helped is BB/9 hit a career high last year in a full season (I don’t consider 2007 a “full season” for him where his BB/9 was at 4). Sure, he doesn’t get injured, and yea his ERA last year probably should’ve got him more Cy Young consideration, but that FIP — Fielding Independent Pitching — while still pretty good, has me a little worried that he’s digressing. Maybe I’m paranoid that the league has caught on to him, or that he’s just not as electric as he used to be and I am blowing this out of proportion, but unless he proves otherwise in 2012 and 2013, I’m gonna worry a little bit about TL55.
——————————–
Changing the subject a bit…
Understand that the Giants roster situation isn’t so cut and dry that only one between Tim Lincecum and Matthew Thomas Cain can stay post-2012. On the contrary, both can stay if they Giants really want them to and can still keep payroll under $130MM if that number stays the same. You might have $45-50MM wrapped up in 2 pitchers, but you can still get 23 other guys for under $80MM. I guarantee it. You can get an updated look at this year’s roster situation here at Crazy Crabbers and in keeping my own books we’re pretty much on the same page.
It’s raining in San Diego, but you know where it won’t be? Scottsdale, Arizona. Spring Training is less than a month away, which means you can stop Tebowing and you can quit pretending that you care about the NBA. Baseball is coming!
Including the entire 40-man roster, the Giants released the list 25 guys that will also be making their way to the Land of the Sun.
A Royal Pain
Call To The Pen
FanSided
Fantasy CPR
Niner Noise
Chicken Friars
Lasorda's Lair
Rox Pile
Venom Strikes
Loading ...
