SFGiantWire

Giants expected to make huge offer to Sabathia

By Tom HaudricourtMilwaukee Journal Sentinel — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:47:46 +0000

An agent familiar with the situation said Wednesday he expected the San Francisco Giants to make an offer to CC Sabathia's agents.

Poll: Should Giants make CC their second $100 million pitcher?

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Lowe = Zito?

Big D — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:05:00 +0000

Man, Scott Boras certainly doesn't believe in understatement. He's told Fox's Ken Rosenthal that Derek Lowe deserves a Zito-like contract (7 years, $126 million) which should make all right-thinking Giants fans cringe.

One poster on Baseball Think Factory contended that Boras is trying to make potential buyers arrive at the conclusion that Lowe's much better than Zito. But another poster named Snapper astutely disagreed -- Every GM who thinks about Zito thinks "What a f-ing horrendous contract. Thank God I didn't sign him. I'm suprised it didn't cost Sabean his job." Boras shouldn't want the GM thinking those thoughts when contemplating giving his 36-year old SP a multi-year, big money deal.

CC You Real Soon?

E.L.M. — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:21:36 +0000

No big deals soon for the Orange and Black

Big D — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:05:00 +0000

Henry Schulman of the SF Chron blogs that the Giants don't appear to be revving up for a big free agent signing or trade any time soon. He cites several reasons why Furcal may not be signed, says there's little interest by the Brewers in making a deal for JJ Hardy or Prince Fielder and says Keichi Yabu will probably be back on the roster if he looks good in spring training.

I’m coming home — Affedlt and links

Aneel — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 02:56:51 +0000

I haven’t called the San Francisco bay area my home since 2000, more than eight years ago. I miss it terribly - there is no place I’m happier.

But in just 36 hours, I’ll be back in my favorite place in the world again. In addition to the people I love most… there’s the warm winters, ACME bread, the fog, Peet’s coffee, views of the city, great Chinese, Indian, and Mexican food, bumping into old friends… the list is endless. I can hardly wait. 10 days in the bay!

Back to the Giants! Earlier this week, the Giants signed Jeremy Affedlt, a solid move in my opinion (and Keith Law’s as well). San Francisco allowed 174 runs in the 7th and 8th innings last season - 4th most in the NL. The team hasn’t had a real late-innings quality arm since… well, Julian Tavarez. Gone (hopefully) are the days of relying on failed starting prospects for late-inning relief - and Affeldt is relatively cheap ($8 mil over two years). Any non-terrible move by Sabean is a plus in my book - and this was a non-terrible move.

A 16-year old female knuckle ball pitcher has signed with a Japanese professional baseball team. Good luck Eri Yoshida - I’m rooting for you!

Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP - which reminds me of another second baseman who didn’t deserve the MVP.

National Press Club Book Fair

Jay Roberts — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:55:34 +0000

I've always wanted to walk inside the hallowed halls of the National Press Club in downtown D.C., and yesterday I finally did so.   On a freezing cold night, they let the riff-raff mingle with the Fourth Estate for their annual Book Fair.    There were 80 authors scheduled and it looked like that many were there.    Justice Scalia drew the longest line. Roger Mudd was also popular.

I spoke briefly with Mark Stein author of How the States Got Their Shapes. We talked about Maryland's odd shape and he said that was the reason he got interested in the subject.   I was tempted to buy his book but didn't. (I always feel guilty when I talk to an author but walk away and don't buy their book).

I also got to speak with Paul Dickson, who I know through SABR. Paul lives in the area and has written over 50 books, including several on baseball.   He actually had two of his books on the table, Baseball's Greatest Quotations and On this Spot, Pinpointing the Past in Washington D.C. (2008, Third Edition).

I purchased the latter. As a lover of "what used to be there," I am thoroughly enjoying it. I started with Pennsylvania Avenue since it might come up in the coming weeks... There was a cluster of buildings at the west end of the Capitol near what is now the East Wing of the National Gallery of Art. At 339 Pennsylvania Avenue NW stood Jackson Hall. It was home to the Congressional Globe, which later became the Congressional Record. The Washington Post was here, as well as meeting halls for Democratic Party functions.

Dickson and co-author Douglas E. Evelyn also write about historic events that took place at places like the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday 1939, African American Marian Anderson sang from the steps in front of 75,000 people. Anderson had wanted to sing at DAR Constitution Hall but the Daughters of the American Revolution denied her request, citing the fact that only white performers were allowed to do so. Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes gave permission for the Lincoln Memorial to be used. Thousands of DAR members, as well as Eleanor Roosevelt resigned. The incident brought about awareness on discrimination.

If you're in to such things, this is a great book. I think I'll return to 14th and F next year...

Not a Dunn deal

Big D — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:18:00 +0000

photo by psychosem17

Andrew Baggarly of the Merc-News blogs a farewell to Fire Joe Morgan and links to a Philly columnist whining about how unfair it is that statheads have gained enough traction that a useful performance measure like Value Over Replacement Player helped voters to make the decision that Albert Pujols should win the MVP over Ryan Howard.

What's of interest to Giants fans is Baggarly's opinion that Adam Dunn won't be in the Orange and Black any time soon: On an unrelated note, Adam Dunn is a .157 hitter with four home runs in 89 career at-bats at AT&T Park. (Over the past three seasons, it’s .103 — 4-for-39 — with nary an RBI or extra-base hit.) Perhaps that explains why I haven’t heard his name floated in any Giants-related rumors.

As someone who was there at Mays Field on Sept. 10, I can tell you that he's also really lousy as an outfielder. He badly misplayed a catchable Velez flyball in the 3rd, which scored 2 runs in this glorious 4-3 vic.

You, Me and D. Lee

E.L.M. — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:37:36 +0000

San Francisco Giants Rumors, both Real and Invented

Grant — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:23:08 +0000

Sometime in January, when all of the free agents have been signed, I’ll sit down to write a post and start crying. I won’t want to write about Atlee Hammaker memories. I won’t want to write about how cool Donruss Diamond Kings were. I won’t want to write a 14,000-word Lord of the Rings parody with Sabean as Frodo, Bochy as Sam, Magowan as Golem, One Free Agent Cy Young Superstar to Rule Them All as the plot device, and a journey to Mt. Outright Release.

I’ll want to write about baseball. News about baseball, perhaps. But I won’t be able to because the world will be a wintery graveyard for baseball news. Then I’ll think, "Damn, I really should have posted more should-we-think-about-this-free-agent threads when I had the chance instead of opening some stupid pop-culture-based thread." I know this. I’ve lived it. And, dammit, I’m not going down without a fight. So for the next month or so, there will be a lot of rosterbation, speculation, and evaluation of the speculative rosterbation. If you don’t care for such posts, that’s understandable. We won’t delete your user account while you grumble in a corner by yourself until March. I just hope that you understand why I have to do it. Do you know that Bruce Bochy hasn’t made a questionable bullpen decision for over a month? Look it up. And yet you want me to continue writing daily posts about the San Francisco Giants? You jackals.

The chatter so far is that the Giants will either sign a corner infielder or a middle infielder or both. Maybe trade for one or both. Middle infielder or corner infielder. Corner infielder or middle infielder. Shore up the infield. Get an infielder. It makes sense, because if the outfield is Fred Lewis, Aaron Rowand, and Randy Winn with a Nate Schierholtz insurance plan, that’s a whole lot of acceptable to downright okay. Why would the Giants need to mess with that?

But if the Giants are looking for a combination of middle-of-the-order bat and a non-ludicrous long-term contract, they aren’t going to find it in the infield. Mark Teixiera? He’s sure to fetch a ludicrous long-term contract. And thus endeth the list of middle-of-the-order bats among free agent infielders. Then I read Ken Rosenthal speculate thusly:

Free-agent outfielder Pat Burrell also could attract the Giants' interest, but such a move would require the team to trade another outfielder, most likely Randy Winn.

The more I stare at the free agent list, the more it makes sense to trade Aaron Rowand and sign Pat Burrell or Adam Dunn. And by "makes sense", I mean "makes absolutely no sense, but if the Giants are committed to throwing $50M to $150M at a free agent, it makes more sense than some other options." Now, heck, I’d trade Aaron Rowand for a punch to the face just to get rid of his contract, but Sabean probably still thinks Rowand has a ton of value. Sabean might deal Rowand, though, if he were sure the end result would be a middle-of-the-order hitter. Trading Winn to make room for Burrell, Dunn, or, gulp, Manny Ramirez doesn’t make a lot of sense, as then the Giants would have huge commitments for 2/3rd of their outfield until the end of time. There’s no way that would end well.

I dunno. November spitballin’ is all this is. If I had to choose between $60M to Pat Burrell or $130M to Mark Teixeira, I’d choose Teixeira. For the extra two years and $6M or $8M annually, at least you’re getting a guy who is in the top third of his position and younger than 30. The corner-outfielder market is a big ol’ pile of expensive pyrite this year. But if the choice is between Aaron Rowand playing for the Giants in 2012 or Pat Burrell playing for the Giants in 2012, I’m somewhat intrigued.

Really, I like comedy more than baseball, so I’m actually pulling for the Giants to sign Pat Burrell (LF), Manny Ramirez (CF), and Adam Dunn (RF). But this is an Open Hey Could the Giants Actually Go for a Corner Outfielder?-Thread.

Hot stove odds and ends

Henry Schulman — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:50:11 +0000

Filed by Giants beat writer Henry...