I agree. They are jurking around Pablo Sadoval too. At the end of the season he was the 1B to be for 2009 and now he is the 3B to be. Heck they are now having Burriss play 2B when Frandsen plays SS in the AFL.

What I am guessing is that they are trying to maximize their options. I think they plan to have Sandoval start at whichever CI spot they don't sign a free agent for or trade for and to have and an open in house competition for whichever MI spot they don't sign a free agent for or trade for. Why they don't just say this (and didn't just say this to begin with) is beyond me.

The Sandoval flip-flop is puzzling to me too, but there I am guessing they realized that any FA 3B are not worth it, the 3B trade market may dry up, and then their best corner infield combo is Sandoval and Ishikawa/Aurilia.

The middle infield thing is puzzling too. I can see liking Burris more at 2B. But to move him for Renteria or Cabrera? Ridiculous.

The only real hope here is that, in my recollection, there usually aren't a whole lot of rumors which swirl around a Giants FA signing. They sort of just happen. So hopefully that's the case here too and these rumors don't materialize.

"Sabi-Won Kenobi" -- brilliant...that can be the basis of a whole Star Wars series of posts!

The say-what-you-mean-and- mean-what-you-say thing matters to players at all levels...so much of competition is about judgments, and if you don't know what people are thinking, then you'll be wasting energy worrying about it. Sabean doesn't understand players, especially younger ones.

I wonder what position Pablito is playing down in the Venezuela Winter League.

Is this the last year for the deferred payments to Bonds? $8.5 mil is quite a chunk of change.

I don't have a real problem with this. I agree it is a flip-flop, but anyone looking at the situation should realize that this is a very fluid situation and shouldn't have expected it to be written in stone.

In fact, Sabean never promised SS to Burriss unchallenged, he said that he would be the "incumbent" going into spring training but would still face competition.

And, it was based on his feelings at the end of the season. Just like opinions change greatly between the start and end of spring training (hello Brian Wilson 2007), once new data comes in, like AFL play, you make adjustments to the plan. Is it better to stick to the plan in the face of new and conflicting info?

So now instead of competing for SS, Burriss might be doing that for 2B with Frandsen. Even if Burriss was at SS, he probably would have been competing with Frandsen anyway.

I think if someone did something deserving of praise, you have to say something good about him that fits that moment in time. I think players would be equally bothered if management never gives some public pats on their back.

In Pablo's case, they could have handed 1B to him because they thought that they had a better chance to find a 3B either via free agency or trade, but after the meetings the other week, they perhaps view 1B as a better position to either find someone or, maybe, they think an internal choice makes more sense now. Or perhaps Pablo is really sucking at 1B in winter ball.

Again, you want to give him some sort of public pat on the back when you can, but have to change the plan should things not work out the way you thought. So now he's slated more for 3B than 1B, I don't think that should be a big deal to a player, as long as he has time to adjust to it, like what Durham wanted when there was talk of him in CF.

The point was to give some accolades to players they felt was deserving at that moment in time. Being young players, they should not expect to own a position outright until they've done it for a full season or most of a full season. That is, like the way Burriss handled it.

Sabean could be a bit more circumspect, but I agree with Obsessive, everyone knows how fluid the offseason situation is in baseball. There are no guarantees and it is only desperate fans such as ourselves who tend to over-read every word which Sabaen utters.

Looking at the free agent market there really aren't a whole lot of attractive options including Texiera who will be extremely overpaid for the next 8 - 10 years. We have the young pitching to pull off a trade but unfortunatly we don't have a GM shrewd enough to make it happen. Corner infield should be the priority at this point and instead of signing Tex for 10 years/200 mil, it would be great to see a trade worked out with Colorado for Atkins who they seem to be shopping. As far as I am concerned, Sanchez, Pucetas, and maybe even Cain or Alderson are all trade bait and should be on the trading block to see what other teams will offer. Unfortunatly the chances of Brian "Lyin" Sabean making a trade with an NL west team are slim and none. Why is it that Billy Beane makes being a GM look so easy while Sabean makes it seem like rocket science??

Prince Fielder could be had for either Alderson or Cain and for a few more prospects Milwaukee might even throw in JJ Hardy. How is it possible that the Giants don't make this deal happen? If the Giants end up signing Renteria as their big offseason move I'm gonna vomit. With a full starting rotation of Zito, Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez, possibly Lowry and soon to have Alderson, Pucetas, Bumgarner, and a few other up and comers, can't we afford to trade one or two of these guys for a power hitting corner infielder??