LATE NIGHT UPDATE: From the Baggs link below, we learn the Giants aren't sure whether to keep Ryan Garko next year. The risk is he gets a few mil in arbitration and becomes an expensive bench guy if the Giants acquire a first baseman (or third baseman, sliding Pablo Sandoval to first, which Sabes hinted was a possibility). Looks like Garko had his 150-AB audition and failed.
Sabes also said it's too risky to switch Sandoval back to catcher. (Stay tuned for a guest column on this topic tomorrow.) I still like the idea of being more creative with the roster, using Sandoval behind the plate once or twice a week, especially if Posey starts the year in AAA and Name-Your-Veteran-Stopgap is the erstwhile starter. (NYVS won't be the 38-year-old rapidly declining Pudge Rodriguez, by the way -- he's signing with Washington for an outrageous two years and $6 M, which will make it that much harder to sign the Torrealbas and Kendalls of the world to a one-year deal.)
Garko is "on the bubble," but Brandon Medders will be offered a contract. He was useful last year, but he's the very model of a modern fungible bullpenner. Maybe the Giants see him as a possible 5th starter. As for other 5th starters, Baggs writes this: "[Sabean] said Kevin Pucetas maintains some value on the trade market, which they take as a positive sign that he'd be a productive option."
If he's got value on the trade market, why not trade him?
Whatever you think of Sabean's comments, it's wise not to take them as gospel. As I've noted frequently, the man will say things about personnel that seem etched in stone then reverse himself months later. In fact...here's the Merc's Tim Kawakami, from the day of the Garko trade:
A key detail: Garko is under team control for two more full seasons-he's arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter and Sabean said he expects Garko to be a member of the team in 2010.
(I hate to bring this up, but A.J. Pierzynski was in a similiar situation when the Giants acquired him before the 2004 season, was arbitration-eligible after the season. The Giants did not make him a qualifying offer, which is the equivalent of a release, and Pierzynski became a free agent, signing with the White Sox.)
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Reportedly the Cards have nabbed Brad Penny with a base salary of $7.5 million with $1.5 million in incentives. Wow. No wonder the Giants couldn't compete. Perhaps I'm overreacting, but if indeed that's Penny's contract, it's a sign that the market correction of last winter might have run its course.
Good for the Giants. They don't need to spend that kind of money for a starting pitcher this winter. Not including Lincecum, of course. Baggs has the breakdown and other notes from Sabean's Day One debriefing. I'll add a few more comments later tonight.
