Woo-hoo! Winter Meetings! Meetings in the winter! Wasn't that fun?
The Giants come away from Indy with a wriggling bag of snipe courtesy of Scott Boras and little else, inducing panic among those who think the Winter Meetings are the only forum for gettin' shit done.
Nosiree. There will be mucho parlay in the days ahead. Some of the rumors floated in Indy made a whole lot of sense -- a couple years for Nick Johnson, an effort to get reasonable terms on Dan Uggla -- others, well, did not, as Grant explained this morning whilst banging a heavy frying pan atwixt his own noggin. Scott Podsednik: The First D is Silent, but Our Protests Shall Not Be!
What struck me as the meetings wrapped up is Brian Sabean's stubborn lack of creativity. When was the last time this man did a three-way trade? (Or a three-way anything? Nyuk, nyuk.) Making complicated trades isn't necessarily a sign of genius, but it does show that a GM is thinking on a few different levels. It's the same kind of thinking a GM needs to build a roster, especially when that roster doesn't have a stable of reliable stars, or the team doesn't have a lot of financial flexibility. Juan Uribe worked out well because he filled in admirably at second and third, hit a lot of home runs, and cost very little. Will Mark DeRosa do the same? He certainly won't cost very little, but if he hits 15 to 20 home runs, sports a .343 OBP (his lifetime mark) -- or higher, which he's shown capable of doing in recent years when he's healthy -- his ability to play 2B, 3B, and the corner outfield spots could be huge for a team that will have a lot of moving parts throughout the year.
Yes, DeRosa is turning 35 in February, but he's only been a full-timer for four years. Perhaps he's had less wear and tear than, say, Johnny Damon or Jermaine Dye. I'd much rather the Giants sign DeRosa than those two, in large part because of DeRosa's flexibility. And really, that's the key, isn't it? Because the Giants can't (and shouldn't) overpay Matt Holliday or Jason Bay for instant O, they need creativity and flexibility, though not in a Michael-Tucker-and-a-cast-of-thousands-instead-of-Vlad kind of way.
If you're not bringing home rock-solid stars who get penciled into the season's lineup in December ("batting 3rd, Matt Holliday, left field"), the players they acquire in the next couple weeks shouldn't block other moves they might make later in the winter. Nick Johnson is a risk in that regard. He's stuck at first base, and his injury history makes it likely he'll spend time on the shelf, eating payroll and forcing the Giants to shift personnel and cover for his absence. For the right price, though, Johnson's OBP is mighty tempting.
Being creative doesn't mean every new player must carry five gloves in his travel bag and a Leatherman in the console of his Escalade, but last I checked, Ryan Garko was a catcher in college and could pretend to play left field. And last I checked, the Giants had no right-handed power hitters to speak of. Or not to speak of. So what this post is really about, now that I've stopped typing and starting thinking for a second, is a plea. PLEASE DON'T NON-TENDER RYAN GARKO TOMORROW. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.
I'm sure he'll hit more home runs next year, especially if Bruce Bochy does the right thing (uh...) and plays him against left-handed pitchers. Wait, but if the Giants sign Nick Johnson, Garko wouldn't play much at all. Unless Johnson were injured. And if they sign Mark DeRosa or trade for Uggla, Sandoval would probably spend a lot of time at first base, which means the Giants would mainly need a guy like Ishikawa for late-inning D. Not Garko.
Man, this is complicated. I wish the Giants would hurry up and make a move fer chrissakes so we have one less moving part to worry about. What? They came away from the winter meetings without doing anything? COME ON, ALREADY! I mean, if Jon Heyman says you're a loser, you're a loser.
You know the real takeaway from the Winter Meetings? Someone wrote this headline -- "The Worst Signing of the Winter" -- and it wasn't about the Giants. Yesssssss.
