From one land of the ice and snow to another: ex-Twin Michael Cuddyer is going not to California but to Colorado, apparently, for $31.5 million and three years. There was talk of Carlos Beltran as another Rocky possibility, so does this mean the Giants are no longer over the hills and far away from singing "You don't have to go" to Carlos?
I raised the idea last week. Unless the Giants make a couple trades or find some unmarked bills in a greasy paper bag outside Red's Java Hut or some other dingy dive, they won't have cash for Beltran no matter how far his asking price drops. It's possible the Cuddyer contract sets the floor for Beltran: $10 mil a year for three years, and no lower. Cuddyer is two years younger and plays more positions; Beltran is still a better hitter. Their outfield defense will probably be equally bad in the next three years. Beltran was once a great outfielder, but age and knees are already taking a toll, according to UZR.
Beltran's agent might be able to squeeze three years or more from an American League team, but ah, age and knees, I think Beltran will have trouble getting more than two from a National League team.
So my contract suggestion from last week still stands -- two years with lopsided pay to push much of the cash to 2013, and a third-year option -- but I'll amend it slightly. Instead of a third-year team option, making it an easily-reached vesting option. If Beltran stays healthy, it vests. Because if Beltran stays healthy, there's a good chance he'll keep hitting, and if he keeps hitting, his foibles in (what I assume would be) left field of Mays Field would be easy to overlook (See: Bat, Pat the). I know I should turn the page on this bon homme Beltran but I can't help but jones, even if he becomes barely more than a potted plant in the outfield.
Now, the second part of my harebrained scheme requires a couple trades to clear payroll. The key is Jeremy Affeldt, whose $5 million option the Giants exercised fourteen seconds after the season ended. Keep an eye on two free agents: Arthur Rhodes and Darren Oliver. Both are quatragenarians, both throw from the port side, and both remain unsigned. Rhodes earned $4 M last year, Oliver $3.25 M. And keep in mind the Orioles just signed Japanese lefty starter Tsuyoshi Wada to a two-year $8 M deal, and he might end up as a reliever. If teams are convinced Affeldt is healthy, a $5 M price tag isn't outrageous at all.
One other thought about re-Beltranning that didn't occur to me last week. Under the trade-Melky scenario, more Carlos wouldn't necessarily mean less Brandon Belt. In the first year of Beltran's contract, one or the other could still play right field at Mays Field. Suboptimal, sure, but if the bats are hot, I'd be OK with the sacrifice of defense. That makes Nate Schierholtz -- surprise! -- the fourth outfielder again. Did you really expect anything different?
And in the second year of Beltran's never-gonna-happen, pie-in-my-sky contract, Aubrey Huff will be gone, Belt will take what's rightfully his, first base, and Beltran can slide to left field full time. Hot dog!
I raised the idea last week. Unless the Giants make a couple trades or find some unmarked bills in a greasy paper bag outside Red's Java Hut or some other dingy dive, they won't have cash for Beltran no matter how far his asking price drops. It's possible the Cuddyer contract sets the floor for Beltran: $10 mil a year for three years, and no lower. Cuddyer is two years younger and plays more positions; Beltran is still a better hitter. Their outfield defense will probably be equally bad in the next three years. Beltran was once a great outfielder, but age and knees are already taking a toll, according to UZR.
Beltran's agent might be able to squeeze three years or more from an American League team, but ah, age and knees, I think Beltran will have trouble getting more than two from a National League team.
So my contract suggestion from last week still stands -- two years with lopsided pay to push much of the cash to 2013, and a third-year option -- but I'll amend it slightly. Instead of a third-year team option, making it an easily-reached vesting option. If Beltran stays healthy, it vests. Because if Beltran stays healthy, there's a good chance he'll keep hitting, and if he keeps hitting, his foibles in (what I assume would be) left field of Mays Field would be easy to overlook (See: Bat, Pat the). I know I should turn the page on this bon homme Beltran but I can't help but jones, even if he becomes barely more than a potted plant in the outfield.
Now, the second part of my harebrained scheme requires a couple trades to clear payroll. The key is Jeremy Affeldt, whose $5 million option the Giants exercised fourteen seconds after the season ended. Keep an eye on two free agents: Arthur Rhodes and Darren Oliver. Both are quatragenarians, both throw from the port side, and both remain unsigned. Rhodes earned $4 M last year, Oliver $3.25 M. And keep in mind the Orioles just signed Japanese lefty starter Tsuyoshi Wada to a two-year $8 M deal, and he might end up as a reliever. If teams are convinced Affeldt is healthy, a $5 M price tag isn't outrageous at all.
One other thought about re-Beltranning that didn't occur to me last week. Under the trade-Melky scenario, more Carlos wouldn't necessarily mean less Brandon Belt. In the first year of Beltran's contract, one or the other could still play right field at Mays Field. Suboptimal, sure, but if the bats are hot, I'd be OK with the sacrifice of defense. That makes Nate Schierholtz -- surprise! -- the fourth outfielder again. Did you really expect anything different?
And in the second year of Beltran's never-gonna-happen, pie-in-my-sky contract, Aubrey Huff will be gone, Belt will take what's rightfully his, first base, and Beltran can slide to left field full time. Hot dog!
