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

12.03.2007
Feliz: Plan Z?

A bit of news that might have been drowned out in the roar of trade rumors: the Giants offered Pedro Feliz arbitration. This means the team will get draft-pick compensation if another team signs Pedro. It also means Pedro can accept arbitration and force the Giants to offer him a one-year contract for 2008 at what would likely be a nice raise from his $5 million 2007 salary. 

The latter situation rarely happens. Greg Maddux dropped it on the Braves a few years back, but that’s the only example I can come up with. If Feliz accepts, we’ll know that his demands for a multi-year contract fell on deaf ears around the league.

I read it this way: Sabean is confident Feliz will sign elsewhere and wants the draft pick. The risk of Pedro pulling a Maddux doesn’t outweigh the modest reward of the draft pick, because Sabean isn’t totally confident he can land a third baseman in a trade of his liking, be it Miguel Cabrera, Miguel Tejada, or Edwin Encarnacion. Nor, I suspect is he ready to enter 2008 with Kevin Frandsen as the third baseman. (A sentiment shared by our regular reader and commenter, Boof.)

In that chain of events, one more year of Feliz wouldn’t be a disaster. There’s now the possibility that Sabean trades for a third baseman and Feliz accepts the offer. But that seems extremely unlikely. He would return as the odd man out, benched or shifted around the diamond, getting the daily stank eye from club officials who resent his presence. He’d probably prefer signing a one-year deal with another club that wants him as the everyday third baseman. 

***

3 P.M. UPDATE: A few deals today. Here they are, bullet-point-style, with the significance (if any) to the Giants:

* Nats get bad boy Elijah Dukes from Tampa Bay for a minor-league lefty hurler. Significance: Once thought to be a great trade match with the Giants, Tampa Bay has now traded two of its surplus outfielders for pitching. Giants will have to look elsewhere.

* Arizona trades Carlos Quentin to Chisox. Significance: Quentin stalled out last year, perhaps due to injury, but he wasn’t a big part of the D-Backs 2008 plan anyway. In exchange they take a chance on Chris Carter, a hulking low-minors slugger who might be better suited to DH.  

* Padres close to extension for Jake Peavy. Significance: Peavy’s presence through 2012 guarantees at least 15 more shutouts of the Giants.

* Andy Pettitte will return to the Bronx. Significance: If this makes the Yanks less eager to chase Johan Santana or other starting pitchers, it means a little less demand for the Giants’ only trading strength. But I don’t think it’ll stop them one bit.



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[December 3, 2007 3:45 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Paul R. said

He'd also get the daily stankeye from the legions of Giants fans who resent his presence. What is it about Feliz that the Giants just cannot get rid of him? Didn't we tell ourselves the old "one more year of Feliz isn't the worst" thing before the '07 season, and then almost immediately people were calling for his head? Enough is enough. He's just so effing bad.

I agree that Frandsen isn't the answer, but there's got to be something out there...got to be.

[December 3, 2007 4:36 PM]  |  link  |  reply
David said

I am over disliking Feliz. Let's face it, the team isn't going to win the World Series any time soon, and Feliz is far from the biggest reason for that sorry fact.

Given that, I have come to terms with what Feliz can and can't do. If he returns, I'll enjoy watching him play a darn good defensive 3rd base, I'll cheer when he gets a fat fastball down the middle that he parks in the bleachers, and I'll shrug when he strikes out on the low-and-away slider.

I am sure that Zito's bad starts will bother me much more than anything else with the Giants foe the next several years. I find his nibbling (at like 7K/pitch) maddening.

[December 3, 2007 5:46 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

It might come down to this: Would you prefer the Giants in 2008 with Miguel Cabrera and no Lincecum, or Lincecum and Pedro Feliz hitting fourth? That's an oversimplification, but that's roughly the parameters of the choices Sabean has to make.

[December 3, 2007 7:51 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Cyrus said

Honestly? Choice B.

[December 3, 2007 7:56 PM]  |  link  |  reply
obsessivegiantscompulsive said

The fear over Frandsen shows the mindset of the thinker: I don't want to be working towards competitiveness in 2008, it is a year to take a pause, see what we got, let our pitching mature a bit more, let our pitching develop a bit more, get another great draft pick in 2009, my focus in on 2009 and beyond, and Frandsen could be a part of that future at 2B, but you won't really know for sure unless you play him.

The only trades that make sense given my mindset is ones that are overloaded to us, not ones that are overloaded to the other team, like us trading to get Miguel Cabrera.

I think the best way to get Feliz not to accept arbitration with the Giants is for them to clearly let him know that they will continue to search for a 3B and if we get one, he's playing elsewhere, as ELM suggested above. I would predict 1B since we technically need one, but utility as ELM suggests is fine with me too, either should scare him off, he needs to play regularly if he's going to get another free agent contract next season.

[December 3, 2007 8:12 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

I have been saying for weeks that there is NOTHING out there as far as 3b goes. But, why not a M Lamb/Aurilia platoon? Lamb bats LH. I know nothing about his D, but he can hit and also play 1b.

[December 3, 2007 8:55 PM]  |  link  |  reply
Paul R. said

Having Feliz play first base makes no sense whatsoever since he's a plus-plus defender at 3B, and if he's going to hit horribly, at least go for the great D.

As for Lefty's scenario, I'd go with choice B, but if you're going to go with a stopgap like that, there has to be some better and cheaper alternative in the middle. Paying a guy $6 million to be one of the worst hitters in the league doesn't sound attractive at all.

[December 4, 2007 5:08 PM]  |  link  |  reply
sfgfan said

Paul, one of the plusses of the second option (which would be my preference, too) is that Feliz is a one-year thing. Not that there isn't the possibility that he could come back (yet again) next season, but at least it allows the team to participate in the 3B market the following year.