December 2003 Archives

Ain't it funny how time slips away? (A better man than me has asked the same question.) Wasn't it just the millennium, and before that Clinton's first inauguration, and just before that Reggie Jackson hitting all those bombs in the...
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Here's a fun roster: all free agents who haven't signed with a team yet. I'm excluding those who are supposed to retire. C: Pudge-Rod 1B: Rafael Palmeiro 2B: Roberto Alomar SS: Rich Aurilia 3B: Todd Zeile OF: Juan Gonzalez OF:...
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The Baltimore Sun reports, as far I've seen, the first concrete contract figure that's been put in front of Vlad Guerrero: 5 years, $65 mil from the Orioles. No doubt other numbers have been bandied about without making it into...
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On a day like today, with a massive Pacific storm pounding us silly and bending the eucalyptus in Golden Gate Park like rubber doorstops, it's hard to imagine that day in early April when the sun warms the bleachers and...
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The Cardinals just announced they've completed funding for a privately-financed downtown stadium in St. Louis that's scheduled to open in 2006. Like the Giants, the Cards will own their stadium. No word yet on what this means for team payroll....
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From this list, one could assemble two-thirds of a team that might give the Devil Rays a run for their money. (I'll try not to include players who have signed or are about to sign with the clubs who non-tendered...
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Meanwhile, the decision could lead the rival Yankees to switch theme songs. Instead of playing "New York, New York" at the end of every game, the Bombers might now consider that traditional labor ballad, "Look for the Union Label." -...
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I just got mail from Walt, the man behind Ahead of the Curve, the site with the spanky cool salary info. Walt explains that his data's still a wee jumbled up between luxury-tax figures and actual-dollars-paid figures, and that he's...
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By Sunday, teams must decide to offer or not offer arbitration to their less-experienced players. (As opposed to the Dec. 7 deadline to offer arbitration to veteran free agents.) The Giants have four: Brower, Eyre, Feliz, and Pierzynski. Will they...
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According to my estimated running total along the right hand side of this blog, the Giants are on the hook for well over $80 million in 2004. I think $5 million of Bonds' salary this year is deferred, in which...
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Boy oh boy. If I start to get depressed about the Giants' off-season moves, all I have to do is jump over to the good ship USS Mariner, whose writers have just suffered a collective myocardial infarction over the ineptitude...
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Reports this morning out of the Big Sleazy say the Giants have traded a player to be named later for the Twins' Dustan Mohr. That makes for a Dustan and a Dustin on the roster. Or, if you will, one...
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At the end of October I posed my own top ten free agent questions. Several have been answered. *Today, Jose Cruz Jr. came to terms with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays -- two years, $6 mil -- the equivalent of...
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Corned beef hash and over easy eggs, 2 cups of strong black coffee, and the Chron sporting green: that was all before me at Howard's Cafe this morning, er, well, more like noon-ish. Despite the martini, the spiced rum cider,...
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There's a report that the Jays have signed Miguel Batista to 3yrs/$15mil. Batista's always been a sleeper in my book. I like his numbers pitching in an extreme hitter's park since 2001; he starts or relieves without a complaint; he...
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So far this off-season, the complicated calculus performed by Giants fans trying to determine the direction of Our Fair Franchise -- [[(Neifi - Aurilia) + Herges(2x) - (5.5Worrell/2) + A.J.(ArbX) Tucker(vsRHP - vsLHP)/sqr*1st-rd-draft-pick * THG]] -- has been even more...
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As Steve Shelby of the Daily Giant Planet noted yesterday, Brian Sabean was on KNBR and said the Giants had exceeded their payroll limit. Sabean also noted that he's not planning to trade Torrealba, as the Yorvit-A.J. combo is one...
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Re. my "barlor game," Josh in Hollywood writes about four Giants who made their teams that much better in subtle ways: --1986: This was where the Giants went from lovable losers to a team to be taken seriously, year in...
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I love my Giants, but I fear my front office. I'm a congenital pessimist, so take this under advisement. Or with a double bourbon. In five years, when the Giants are mired in perpetual Blue Jay-land, ie, good enough to...
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Rob Neyer weighs in today on Kaz Matsui and the Giants' latest moves. Here's the kicker, as we say in the hack biz: But man, the Giants are looking at a lineup that includes Neifi Perez, Michael Tucker, and a...
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So Michael Tucker "can see [himself] playing right field most of the time." Rounding out the outfield will be Jeffrey Hammonds and Marquis Grissom, alongside The Greatest Of All Time. But wait. I'd just like to note the importance of...
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The Giants just announced two signings but no financial details yet: 1) J.T. Snow is coming back for a year, plus an option. 2) Michael Tucker signed a two-year deal. Unless the Giants are planning to sign Miggy Tejada or...
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Before the arbo deadline, the Giants signed Matt Herges to a 2-year contract: $1 million in 2004, $1.5 M in 2005. Sounds good to me. He might well be the closer in 2005. (After his first game with the Giants...
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In the spirit of the Washington Post's Style Invitational, a reader-fueled, weekly contest of puns, quips and other wordplay, I'd like to institute a Lefty Malo barlor game -- a frivolous diversion that's more suitable for barstools than salon divan....
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Writes Jayson Stark: The buzz is that the Orioles are prepared to offer Guerrero a five-year contract. But Guerrero is said by friends to prefer a team with a big population of Spanish-speaking, and preferably Dominican, players. And that's not...
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Theo Epstein must feel like Prometheus, who dares pull a fast one while the gods aren't looking, then, just as he's feeling smug and slapping high-fives with his fellow mortals, he's suddenly chained to a rock, exposed to the elements...
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Sounds like an early '80s cop-comedy TV show. But it's not. It's something far more dramatic. In a world where warriors were valued by their deeds... In a time where only the strongest lay claim to unimaginable fortune... One man...
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Peter Gammons is reporting that the Giants will sign Jeffrey Hammonds to a one-year deal laden with incentives. This is all right. If you're going to sign Jeffrey Hammonds, you should do it in such a way that you don't...
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According to the Merc, the Giants haven't even approached Rich Aurilia to negotiate, signaling that he's all but gone. That we figured. But then the paper reports that the G's are also shopping Neifi Perez. Zippity-do-dah! Then the paper says...
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Good news. The Giants just resigned Dustin Hermanson for $800,000 with another $400,000 in potential performance bonuses and $35,000 in facial hair design consultancy fees, according to wire reports. Another piece of the puzzle is in place. A rotation of...
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This just in: Steven King is feverishly working on a new novel, "The Girl Who Thought Tom Gordon Totally Sucked Ass." As with most stories written in New England, it will likely end in nightmarish disaster in front of 60,000...
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When the Giants play Arizona next year, it's going to be a very different ball club. As expected, Az. just traded for Richie Sexson, giving up one of the prospects they got in the Schilling deal as well as a...
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