When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

11.30.2007
The Telegraph

Brian Sabean held a press conference yesterday to preview his thoughts on the upcoming winter meetings. Everything he said made sense to those of us who want to see the Giants tread carefully in the free-agent market and only trade their young pitching if the right deal presents itself.

But Sabean wasn’t talking to us. Ask any front-office schemer and he (or she) will likely tell you that dealing with other teams is

a) a chess match
b) a game within the game
c) cat-and-mouse
d) a high stakes poker tournament and knitting circle

Yes, these are all hoary cliches, but that’s how baseball officials roll, in a linguistic sense.

So Sabean’s little fireside chat yesterday was almost certainly fine-tuned for consumption among his peers. A telegraph to the other 29 GMs and to various agents, if you will, to let them know what he’s thinking. Or what he’s not thinking. Or what he thinks they think he’ll be thinking.

A few examples:

Regarding the Matt Garza for Delmon Young trade, and why the Giants didn’t get Young:

At the end of the day, we didn't have a match because of their asking price.

Read: If you want one of the Linc-Cain brothers, you’ll have to do better than Delmon Young.

Sabean said he would be “in shock” if Linc-Cain were traded. (Huh? Does that mean he would shock himself?) He also said this:

There’s too much chatter around the industry about these guys.

I read that as a signal to other GMs that his ears are open, but don’t flap your gums if you’re not serious. As to what he wants, he even makes a helpful hint:

It'd be nice to find a younger third baseman out there if we could trade pitching. Right now, that opportunity hasn't presented itself.

So even if they pass on Cabrera, which Sabean said is likely because the Marlins are making unreasonable demands, he wants a young third baseman. Combined with his comment about Pedro Feliz — “Their pie-in-the-sky is a three-year deal, which we'll never get to" — don’t be surprised if this talk of younger players is also a ploy to get Feliz’s agent to come down to a one-year deal.

That’s not my preference, mind you. But in all the happy talk of younger, cheaper, faster, pitchier, remember that Sabean has resigned Omar Vizquel and expressed interest in Troy Percival. Percival chose Tampa Bay for the chance to be a closer, which perhaps means the Giants weren’t willing to make that commitment (or offer two years, which the Rays did, or $8 million guaranteed, which the Rays did). And that’s a good thing. As I said, tread carefully in the free-agent market. A year of Percival for a few million wouldn’t have been a bad thing.

But all this tiptoe through the piles of veteran savvy could still lead to a year of Pedro Feliz. This is Brian Sabean, after all, and if he swings and misses at the Garrett Atkins and Edwin Encarnacions of the world, he just might panic at the thought of starting 2008 with Kevin Frandsen as his regular third baseman.

***

P.M. UPDATE: The Mets have traded Lastings Milledge to the Nats for all-glove no-hit catcher Brian Schneider and pretty good fourth outfielder Ryan Church. At first blush this seems a measly return for a prospect who not long ago was a lock to be a star. Maybe he’s more interested in rapping. Maybe the Mets have lost patience too soon. He’ll turn 23 in April.

SMALL PRINT UPDATE: Pitcher Scott Atchison is off the 40–man roster. He was sent to Fresno but opted for free agency. Which begs the question: Could his next stop be Topeka or Santa Fe? Also, I’ve added MLB Trade Rumors to the blog roll. Great site; I apologize for not doing so sooner.
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[November 30, 2007 1:58 PM]  |  link  |  reply
trilljester said

What do you think ELM? Another year of Feliz at 3B or Frandsen? I'm not sure which I would prefer. We know exactly what we're going to get with Feliz. Solid defense at 3B and a .298 OBP and pathetic swings at pitches in the dirt. On one hand, I'd love to see Frandsen get 500+ ABs at the major league level. We'll definitely get a clear picture of what kind of hitter we have with him at that point. But will his defense at 3B hurt more than his bat will help? In the effort of conserving money, I say try Frandsen at 3B. Maybe we'll see one of the farmhands surprise us in Spring Training and we'll be able to move Frandsen to 2B.


From what I can tell of Sabean's Magical Mystery Talk, he's given up on Cabrera. Reminds me of the great Vlad debacle of 2004.

[November 30, 2007 3:03 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

I'd prefer to start the year with Frandsen than Feliz.

I don't think this situation is akin to the Vlad debacle. that was free agency. This is about trading valuable assets.

[November 30, 2007 3:08 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

But realistically, he may have no other coice (than Feliz). Frandsen, as nearly as I can tell, has not played 3b since college - at SJ State. Not exactly a ringing endorsement for his potential to be plugged in there every day at the MLB level. And there may be, quite leterally, no other options, particularly if the White Sox aren't interested in Roberts or Winn (for Crede) and if Lamb signs a big dollar, multi year contract somewhere else.
I think frandsen is penciled in at 2b, with Velez at utility. There are no other options in the Giants system. I would rather go with Feliz for 1 year than overpay for someone who is not a long term solution.

[November 30, 2007 3:34 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Are you sure Frandsen is penciled in at 2B? I think they'll give Durham a shot at earning some of those multimillions he's due next year.

[November 30, 2007 4:24 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Boof said

Frandsen should not be playing 3B under any circumstances. Period.

We need to find out if he is going to be a viable Major Leaguer. The only position when he might make it is 2B. Playing him anywhere else is ........well, just plain dumb.

[November 30, 2007 6:12 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Cyrus said

Why wasn't Winn, $6M, and Alfonzo traded to the Mets for Milledge??? Just as good as the Nats package, and we're not in the same division.

[November 30, 2007 6:36 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

The Mets was looking for a good defensive catcher and Schneider is an all-field no-hit type of catcher. Alfonzo hasn't even proven that he's an offensive catcher yet, but he's pretty much shown that he's not a defensive catcher.

[November 30, 2007 7:09 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

Maybe the Mets didn't want Alfonzo. Maybe Winn vetoed the trade. And we can probably assume the Giants at some point offered Bengie Molina. Goes to show you what others think of Bengie's defensive skills. If Jon Miller has noticed serious flaws, you can be sure the rest of the league has done so, too.

Still, the Mets got reamed.