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

11.01.2009
Two More Years! Two More Years!

I've been off the grid for 24 hours, part of which was spent here stuffing my face here, but plugging back in I've found two items of good news. First, Gavin Newsom has dropped out of the governor's race. I thought for a while early in his first term he would be a standard-bearer of sensible politics (yes, gay marriage is sensible), but between his inability to stand up to the kooks on the S.F. Board of Supervisors and his inability to keep his willie in his pants, he disappointed me tremendously. May he be merely a blip in our city and state political history.  
I'm also slightly kinda heartened that the Giants signed Freddy Sanchez to a two-year, $12 million contract extension. There is a chance Sanchez's injuries at the end of 2009 are a grim harbinger of decline. It's a real possibility, which is why I hedge my enthusiasm. Well, that and the fact that Sanchez even at his best is not really that great. 

But there is also a chance he could be a better-than-average second baseman with the glove and the bat for the next two years, and no matter how conflicted we are about trading Tim Alderson, Sanchez's work will be worth far more than what the Giants are paying, which is a very good thing. There's a good chance. For most of his career, he's been worth at least $10 million a year. Let's assume that the Giants' medical staff can get him fixed up right this off-season to get back to his usual decent-little-ballplayer kind of self. Then again, the medical staff probably greenlighted his acquisition in the first place, a move that made me, among others, say hmmmm, so I'm not quite as inclined to assume wondeful things about the Giants' docs these days.

What it certainly means is the Giants aren't going after Dan Uggla on the trade market, one name that's been bandied about as a possible power source. So as we've expected, the boppage will come at an outfield or infield corner. It also means that Kevin Frandsen isn't getting his big break next spring, but you didn't have to be Nostradamus to figure that one out. At this point, many planets and stars will have to align for Frandsen to get a full season of major-league at bats. The Giants seem dead-set on Frandsen as middle-infield utility, at best, and my guess is most other teams see him the same way, otherwise someone would have pried him loose from the Giants' death grip this year.

So let me qualify the Sanchez extension even more: It's a good move if the Giants find another big bat or two to boost this lineup. Sure, he's an upgrade over Emmanuel Burriss, in the same way that Edgar Renteria theoretically was an upgrade over 2008 Omar Vizquel, but unless he has another career year, he's a supporting character.  

More 40-man roster movement: The Giants declined Noah Lowry's option and made him a free agent. They also outrighted Justin Miller and minor-leaguer Kelvin Pichardo to triple-A, removing them from the 40-man. I've updated the list to the right, removing all upcoming free agents, and I've included next year's estimated salaries for those on guaranteed contracts.
 


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3 Comments

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Doug Purdie | November 2, 2009 12:46 AM | Reply

We did get him for just the right price too. It's almost the exact number I had in my head for Sanchez. He's not great, like you said, but he's better than any other 2B we have in the system and, since he now has a recent injury history his price got lower than the previous couple years.

This has me thinking $5M for Bengi (with maybe an option for a 2nd season) is a real possibility. As good as I think Posey is going to be, we'll need a backup catcher. He'll be a rookie, which means he'll falter.

... and of course get a big hitting 1B or OF.

Matt | November 2, 2009 4:51 AM | Reply

Nah, I'd say we stay away from Bengie. He's vastly overrated because he has some pop and is popular with fans, but in truth he's an offensive liability because of his dreadful on-base percentage.

Posey's performance in AAA indicates that if he isn't ready, he's damn close. I say sign a Gregg Zaun-type as Posey's caddy but stay away from Bengie.

Let's hope a team like the Mets in a panic move offers Bengie too much money and the Giants laugh and let him walk.

obsessivegiantscompulsive | November 2, 2009 11:55 PM | Reply

I think the signing is a great deal no matter what else the Giants do with the roster. Without him, we have no viable candidate to play 2B, either offensively or defensively. Velez is not ready for that and neither is Burriss. I would start Frandsen, but clearly the Giants don't think he's worthy anymore or perhaps just want to ensure a level of production at some positions, which allows them to experiment with young players at other positions, like RF.

Also, I don't think that we are that far away from a pennant winning-ready team, as long as everyone is healthy and producing at least what they have proven to produce.

The rotation is great and should be better in 2010 if Sanchez and/or Zito can produce over a full season what they did in half a season. If they can pick up Penny for pennies, even more so. The bullpen looks pretty good to improve with Runzler and Joaquin ready to step up, and Romo becoming established.

The lineup is not even average at best, but if Sanchez and Renteria can produce at prior levels, that will give our offense a good boost, plus Sandoval should hopefully be producing for a full season instead of roughly half a season. Also, Ishi-Garko should be a good platoon overall and hopefully Posey is given the chance to start the season, and he should be producing by season's end, like Weiters did.

All that should be enough to get us into playoff contention, though probably not enough to go deep into the playoffs. But one thing at a time, people get too anxious, unwilling to be patient with the process, trying to push the team to win it all before they are ready. I guess one could call that premature post-season expectations.

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