It's a busy work day, so let's get to the bullet points. I'll update this post with more items and thoughts as the day goes along, unless big news hits that requires its own post.
* 3pm: Scott Boras has spoken, and Brian Sabean has answered. Boras tried to fluff up the case for Adrian Beltre, and Sabean responded that he's mainly focused on first basemen, with a two-year contract in mind and "maybe something close to done." Let's just say it's Nick Johnson. Here's a lineup partially constructed from the hints Bochy and Sabean have dropped the past couple days:
Velez/Torres
Renteria
F. Sanchez
Sandoval
Johnson
Rowand
Schierholtz/Bowker
Posey/Mike Sadek
pitcher
Keep dealin', Sabes!
* 12.30pm: Why not Kevin Correia as 5th starter? He'll probably want to stay on the West Coast, he's familiar with the team, and the Giants' previous doubts about him as a starter should be assuaged by his 2009 season in San Diego. He could command $2 million, but the Giants could sorely use rotation depth, whether to bank against a J-Sanchez trade or to give Bumgarner more time in the minors.
* When I saw the Kevin Kouzmanoff rumor, I thought, "Good God, why not just go re-sign Pedro Feliz? He's just as hackalicious, he'll make roughly the same salary, and his D is better." Then I went to Fangraphs. Believe it or not, despite Kouz's crummy OBP, he compares favorably to Feliz. I won't get into the numbers, but the upshot is KK's hitting overcomes his disadvantage on D. And Feliz's D has regressed from spectacular to merely good, according to UZR. Still, "He's actually better than Pedro Feliz!" is not a reason to make a trade.
* Bruce Bochy's media session yesterday left me shaking my head. He said Velez should get the lion's share of time leading off. "Bochy hopes Velez can increase his unimpressive OBP and patience as he gains experience," writes Baggs. The good news: Bochy realizes Velez needs to improve. The bad news: Bochy might keep him in the leadoff spot all year waiting for him to improve on the false premise that "this kid continues to get better and better." As I've noted before, he didn't get better and better in the second half of 2009; he simply rode a hot start into an everyday job. Why doesn't this attitude apply to, say, Ryan Garko, who has shown glimpses in his pre-SF days of being a patient, powerful hitter? (One answer: Velez doesn't stand to make a couple million dollars in 2010. Another answer: You can't teach speed!) In a nutshell, there continues to be no rhyme or reason to the way the Giants evaluate position players.
* The hot market (at least for backup catchers) has taken the Giants by surprise. Last year, the slow market took the Giants by surprise, leading Sabean to say that he would wait things out this year. I'm going to reserve judgment for a couple more months, but the early trends show free agency -- the acquisition route the Giants said they prefer -- requiring a little more cash flexibility.
* "We want to stay young," said Brian Sabean. "That's a blanket statement." I suggest you season that statement with a very large grain of salt, dear readers.
