Congrats to Athletics GM Billy Beane, who was named the Executive of the Year by the Sporting News following his team's surprising run to the AL West title. Here's the latest out of the Bay Area…
- "We're not going to do that," said Beane to MLB.com's Lyle Spencer when asked if the Athletics will trade one of their starting pitchers for a shortstop. "In years we've been successful, it's because we've had good young pitchers."
- Giants GM Brian Sabean confirmed to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick that the team will tender a contract to Hunter Pence prior to the November 30th deadline. With a projected salary of $13.8MM, Pence will be this winter's most expensive arbitration case.
- Sabean also told Crasnick that the Giants are "actively working" to re-sign Angel Pagan, Jeremy Affeldt, and Marco Scutaro. He said he's "optimistic" about all three but declined to go into detail about the talks.
nice…just sign upton from tb and maybe loshe..and we are set for another title run
No way they go after Lohse. Starting rotation is set with Lincecum. Value of a long reliever during playoffs far exceeds that of one during the regular season. Plus if you bring him out of the bullpen you ruin any chance of signing him past next year.
They’ll probably go after a low-cost guy like Chris Young or Tim Stauffer as a safeguard, with an invite to Spring Training but opt-out clause if they don’t make the team. But yeah, I’d guess Lincecum will be in the rotation.
The payroll isn’t going to double. If they manage to re-sign all 3 of Pagan, Scutaro and Affeldt that will be the end of any major contracts they give out this year. A cheap RH bench bat and/or platoon corner OF like Gomes, Bay or Hairston and possibly another backup infielder would be about it. All that would still require a pretty large jump in payroll. They just aren’t going to be looking at Lohse at all and the only way they look at Upton would be as an alternative to Pagan.
I envy any team that signs Bay. He’s going to sign for almost nothing and is all upside. So fun to have a guy like that on your team, unless of course he fails miserably which is always a possibility.
How do you figure a large jump in payroll to sign there own free agents? If the Giants keep the same payroll as last season they have 51M available to pay the arb players, the 3 main free agents, and minimum players. The money is there.
All we know for now is that the Giants are trying to sign their own free agents. They probably have a backup plan. We will see how things go.
Good news on all counts for the Giants!
Congrats to Billy on award. Clearly one of best stories this year along with Reddick GG award. Now just need BoMel to win the well deserved manager of the year
hope Scutaro rents a condo in Denver and trains there this offseason. really anywhere high up will do the trick.
Would be nice to keep all 3! We’ll have to overpay. Hopefully not GROSSLY.
Pagan is sooo meh though- Brown is ripping it up in the AFL with a 2-4 day so far today his avg is at .345 with his OBP close to .400 and OPS at .805. He’s 24 now and already 2 years removed from the futures ASG with Trout and Harper. Not saying he’s all that caliber player but the #1 ranked prospect can’t just sit in Fresno all year. His BB/K ratio is improving as well. So i like a Brown Blanco platoon in CF with Brown playing against some RHP as well when he’s hot.
I don’t want Pagan in CF bottom line- and i definitely don’t want him overpaid to stay here in CF, that’s ridiculous in light of Brown.
I am big on building team with the farm system, “BUT” not all prospects are Posey’s and Bumgarners. Some players are Belt’s and Crawford’s that are slower to develop.
We don’t know what Brown is except that he’s the #1 rated prospect and you don’t want to keep that guy in the minors when he’s ready. What you have to consider is that Pagan wants multi-year, CFer $ which is 4/40 starting point. You can’t afford to pay him that and then move him to a corner.
The Giants need a stop gap at cf and 2b until Brown and Panik are ready. I wouldn’t go to high on Pagan. I would like a little more punch at the corner than Pagan would give you. I wouldn’t want to move Pagan to a corner.
Blanco deserves a shot in CF just for the D and the lefty bat who can be productive at the top.
Moving Pagan to LF is not going to happen for the kind of $ he wants- which makes me skeptical they resign him. Agreed you’d like more pop but there’s just not a lot of FA players out there. A sign and trade possibility is there with Pagan, I wouldn’t rule that out. Possibly even in season once Brown is ready Pagan could get dealt.
Belt flew through the minor leagues. Just because the Giants screwed him up a little by yo-yo’ing him back and forth between AAA and the majors doesn’t mean he was slow to develop.
.800 OPS in the AFL is not that impressive, and it’s in a small sample. He was just average in AA this year. He’s not ready yet. They’ll need a CFer for 2013, and Pagan could potentially shift to a corner after that.
I’d be fine with starting Blanco in center full-time and trying hard to upgrade in a corner spot too, if the right player is available.
I’m OK with moving Pagan to LF- but he’s got to be willing to take less than CF $ and we already know he’s not going to do that because the market is bleak for CFers.
Swisher might be the only worthy replacement FA but highly unlikely to sign with SF, though with the odds makers who knows…
Of course it’s a SSS in the AFL- the point is he’s trending upwards in all those categories starting with the second half of last season in AA. He was below avg in AA for the first half of the year and well above for the second. He’s on track to start in Fresno which is not nearly the challenge that the jump to AA is. If he’s tearing it up there it would be foolish to hold him back because of Pagan.
Brown isn’t ready yet. He needs at least a season in AAA. He also needs to learn how to read a pitcher. Picked off/Caught stealing WAY too much.
Crawford played at 24 and came into his own at 25. There’s no way Brown needs a whole season in Fresno if he starts there- Richmond is a tougher hitters league and transition.
Stealing bases is not nearly as critical as his BB/K ratio; he still needs to walk more but he’s starting to figure that out. The quality pitching he’s seeing of late in Richmond and now is making him come around. He won’t see anything that much better in Fresno.
I agree with you.
Don’t make the same mistake they made with Huff after the 2010 world series but on an even bigger scale with a 4 or 5 year commitment to Pagan after one of the best years of his career. I’d rather put Blanco and maybe Brown (after a few months in Fresno) in CF and use the money Pagan would get on Swisher, Upton, or even as payroll flexibility to make a deal for a guy like Choo.
No on Upton. Strikes out way to much. .242/.316/.420 slash line the last 4 years. No thanks. I’d take Pagan over him for less money any day of the week. .281/.333/.424 Pagan’s career line.
I understand why you feel that way, but with age and defense factored in I give the edge to Upton. Upton also has a stronger career wRC+, though it must be pointed out his is buoyed by his 2007 season that looks pretty flukey now.