Congratulations to the National League 2010 Rookie of the Year winner Buster Posey! Rumors Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe says Pablo Sandoval can be a name that is mentioned at the general managers meeting in Orlando. Stock dropped after a huge offensive falloff (.330 to .268), and the Giants have told him he won’t be a starter unless he loses significant weight. Could be a DH. Cafardo also says the Giants and Braves are expressing some interest in the streaky right-handed power hitter Pat Burrell.
Mark Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times says the Cardinals and Giants could be interesting matches if the Rays decide to trade shortstop Jason Bartlett. (.254, 71R, 47RBI, 4HR)
Jerry Crasnick of ESPN says (via twitter) the San Francisco Giants are in on precisely 2 free agents at the moment: Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe.
Uggla Trade
The Giants have been linked to Dan Uggla rumors for a while. The Braves pulled the trigger that landed him in Atlanta. Uggla will be a free agent at the end of this year when Freddy Sanchez’s contract is up. Which means don’t expect the Uggla rumors to stop next offseason!
The San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean hopes the World Series Championship will make San Francisco an attractive place for free agents this winter.
The Giants will look to upgrade in one of the corner outfield spots. Pat Burrell will only come back in a platoon or backup role.
Crawford/Werth Sweepstakes
It’s not clear at this time if the Giants will be players in the Carl Crawford or Jayson Werth sweepstakes. I really don’t think the Giants will pull the trigger on any of these guys. I would love to see Crawford in a Giants uniform. Sabean doesn’t think they can compete for top free agents like Crawford.
The Giants are looking to get more left-handed, so Werth is more than likely not even on their radar.
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle speculates that Sabean will monitor the Yankees negotiations with shortstop Derek Jeter. Schulman does say this is pure speculation on his part, and would bet a good chunk of change on it. Sabean was the head of the Yankees scouting team when they drafted Jeter in 1992. Everyone knows Jeter and the Yankees will work out a deal soon.
Pablo Sandoval was told he may find himself playing in the minors next year if he doesn’t shed some pounds. Sandoval will train with a specialists in San Diego, and has weight benchmarks he must hit at various times this winter. Sandoval will also report to Arizona a month early for spring training.
Aaron Rowand appears to be on the trading block, but may be hard to trade. He has 2 years/$24 million left on his contract.
Hot prospect Brandon Belt will likely be brought up midseason like they did with Buster Posey.
“That would be the conservative and old-school approach” Sabean said. “But sometimes you can’t hold somebody back.”
2011 Payroll
Sabean is interested in retaining all 8 of his arbitration-eligible players. He also has clearance to take the payroll over $100 million for the first time in franchise history.
Hey Giants fans is this the year? This year has been torture, but this group of guys sure make it fun! Below is a video that was sent to us by one of our daily readers. Thanks again Alex for sharing your point of view of Juan Uribe’s huge sacrifice fly.
The San Francisco Giants have finalized the 25 man playoff roster. They have decided to go with 11 pitchers, 2 catchers, 7 infielders and 5 outfielders.
Pitchers (Starting Rotation) Tim Lincecum Matt Cain Jonathan Sanchez Madison Bumgarner (Bullpen) Brian Wilson Sergio Romo Ramon Ramirez Guillermo Mota Javier Lopez Santiago Casilla Jeremy Affeldt Catchers
Buster Posey Eli Whiteside
Infielders
Aubrey Huff Freddy Sanchez Juan Uribe Pablo Sandoval Mike Fontenot Edgar Renteria Travis Ishikawa
Outfielders
Pat Burrell Andres Torres Cody Ross Nate Schierholtz Aaron Rowand
The two big names left off the roster are Barry Zito and Jose Guillen.
Game 1 Matchup
Derek LoweTim Lincecum
GS 33 GS 33 W/L 16-12 W/L 16-10 ERA 3.99 ERA 3.43 HR’s 18 HR’s 18 WHIP 1.36 WHIP 1.27 K’s 136 K’s 231 BB 61 BB 76 IP 193.1 IP 212.1
Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle says Edgar Renteria might retire after this season. Renteria has had three trips to the disabled list this year. Renteria also acknowledged he didn’t live up to the deal (2-yrs 18.5 Million).
Renteria said, “I’m not proud of what I’ve done. If they pay me to play, I just want to give back, not get injured. that’s me.”
Side Notes
Juan Uribe hit two homers in the same inning. Last time that was done by a Giant was in 2007 by Bengie Molina. Did I forget to mention that one of the homers by Uribe was a grand slam? The last time two homers by a Giants in the same inning and one was a grand slam was hit by Willie McCovey in 1977.
I’m going to have a little fun with this blog post today. =) I attended the San Francisco Giants vs. Boston Red Sox game on Friday night with my girlfriend. We went with a group, so we sat in the upper deck and I was thinking we might have a better view of the A’s game than the Giants. We weren’t too excited to be sitting up there, cause we love being in the bleachers, however it wasn’t as bad as we had anticipated. We were surrounded by Red Sox fans which made it a unique experience and the view wasn’t bad at all. It was like having a birds-eye view of the game, and it was very cool to see the fog roll in. The only bad thing was we couldn’t see the scoreboard very well.
The Red Sox fans were very friendly and just loved talking baseball. It was just really cool to hear them talk with their Boston accents. We did however have one thing in common, we both didn’t like the New York Yankees. I met some Red Sox fans that moved to the Bay Area a while back, and there were others that flew here from Boston to follow their team and vacation in San Francisco. The energy out there was very electric! It felt like a playoff game and the Giants haven’t made the playoffs since 2003. The game was super exciting and had both Giants and Red Sox fans on the edge of their seats.
I have been to a ton of games, but this one will definitely stand out when I look back at games I have attended. The Red Sox jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. I knew if I didn’t do something fast this game would get out of hand. My girlfriend and I knew we had to pull out the big guns if we were going to get luck back on our side. No lucky penny was going to work. We went straight to the Garlic Fries! Once we started munching on them we knew it would be a matter of time before the Giants would make it a game again. The Giants did come back and then took the lead on a Juan Uribe homer. I don’t think the Garlic Fries are really lucky at all, we just love them, so we had to have them right away.
It was a scary ending as the Red Sox loaded the bases, but closer Brian Wilson was able to prevail! I do have a video that I recorded at the game. I will upload it to the site in the next few days. It’s the Red Sox fans doing their chant (Lets Go Red Sox). The Giants took game one of the three game series. I had high hopes with Madison Bumgarner and Tim Lincecum pitching games two and three, but the evil Red Sox showed their lineup was far superior.
Steve Phillips of Fanhouse tells us who he thinks the buyers, sellers and teams holding are at this years trading deadline. He has the San Francisco Giants listed as buyers, and I would have to agree with him. The Giants are half a game out of the NL West behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.
The starting pitching has been there all year for the Giants. It’s been their inability to score runs that has cost them games. This team does seem to have more of a thump in their lineup lately. Freddy Sanchez has returned from his injury and the call up of Buster Posey has really helped ignite the offense. They have Juan Uribe and Aubrey Huff both playing some outstanding ball right now. The addition of Pat Burrell also has them producing more runs per game. He brought that right-handed power that the team needed. Plus he seems to have found his stroke. You know what the saying is… “Home Sweet Home”
With that said the Giants can still always upgrade their offense. When you’re not putting out an everyday lineup like the New York Yankees. Then there is always room for and upgraded offense. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star has said in an article that teams may have interest in David DeJesus and Jose Guillen. Bob told me via email that he hasn’t heard any rumors linking the Giants and any Royals players at this time.
The Giants beat writer Chris Haft told me via email that he thinks the Giants may need another reliever more than they need a hitter. The Giants do have the flexibility to move players around to acquire a bat, but the question is who are they willing to part with?
Going into the offseason the San Francisco Giants knew they had to upgrade their offense. Which means everyone knew Brian Sabean would have his work cut out. We know that he has tried in the past to bring in a big bat, but some players refuse to come San Francisco. Sabean offered power hitting Carlos Lee a six year $112 million contract in 2006. Lee declined the offer and signed with the Houston Astros (11-24-06) for a six year $100 million deal. I’m sure that short porch in left field (Crawford Boxes) at Minute Maid Park had him excited to play in Houston.
It’s known that the Giants will have to overpay to land free agents in San Francisco. Sabean did however happen to pull off a couple of steal deals. He brought in Juan Uribe a year ago, and he’s done nothing but produce for the Giants. They even brought him back again this year for a 1 year deal worth $3.25 million. His been a very valuable piece to this team. He’s moved all around the infield, and has been doing yard-work (raking) all season! Uribe has a .289 AVG with 10 homers, 41 RBI’s and 31 runs scored.
Another player that Sabean has brought in this year is the left-handed swinging Aubrey Huff. The Giants were the only team to offer Huff a contract. Which is probably the reason he jumped on the offer ($3 million 1-year). Barry Bonds made it look easy to hit homers at AT&T Park, but all the left handed hitters know that’s not the case at all. Huff has been known to hit monster homers when he hits them, so I’m sure that right field wall didn’t really scare him too much. Eight of his ten homers this year have been hit at home.
Huff is currently hitting .300 AVG with 10 homers, 34 RBI’s and 34 runs scored. Huff and Uribe are a big reason the Giants are playing so well right now. We knew their pitching would keep them in games, and it was up to their offense to score enough runs. Guys like Andres Torres and Freddy Sanchez are getting on base while Uribe and Huff continue to drive them in.
Uribe and Huff are hitting a combined .294 (AVG) for the season with 20 homers, 75 RBI’s and 65 runs scored. That’s some pretty nice production from the middle of the lineup.
The Giants had a great home-stand against some very “Built Ford Tough” (hope Ford send me a check for that plug) teams. It was a 6-3 record against the ST. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and Colorado Rockies. The Giants had a chance to sweep each team, but dropped the finale in each series.
Now it’s back on the road for the hot Giants. It’s a mystery to see which Giants team will make the trip. Will it be the hot team coming straight from San Francisco, or the cold team that went 1-5 on the Los Angeles/San Diego road trip. It’s like night and day…
Tim Lincecum gets the start tonight against the Florida Marlins. Let’s hope he can get this road trip started off on the right foot. Timmy has been taking a lot of heat for not being able to pitch in the heat. I’m not sure how hot it will be in Florida at game time, but I’m sure it will be very humid. Timmy has been labeled as a cold weather pitcher. Let’s hope he can show he’s dominate in any type of weather.
This is a two city stop for the Giants on this road trip. They will be in Florida for 3 games, and then New York for 3 more. The Giants need to prove to themselves and their fans that they can win on the road. The Giants have proven that they can hang with anyone at AT&T Park. Let’s just hope Bruce Bochy figures out a way to jump start this offense in other places than San Francisco.
The Giants could use Sanchez as soon as possible, Baggarly says. Juan Uribe is listed as day-to-day, Edgar Renteria is playing through bursitis in his right shoulder, and Mark DeRosa has a bad hamstring too.
SIDE NOTES
Todd Wellemeyer’s start Tuesday probably will be his last until May 8th. The Giants have two days off and are likely to skip his next start.
King of Cali thoughts: The 2010 Giants look like the 2009 Giants right now. They can’t seem to get any clutch hits. I was hoping Aubrey Huff would turn into the offseason steal like Uribe was a year ago. It’s still very early in the season, so a lot can change. I just wouldn’t be buying your “Vote For Huff” All Star shirts this year.
Huff still has that power that the Giants need. Even though he has yet to show it this season. It may take a while for him to get in his comfort zone since he’s coming from the American League. Just an FYI to Huff. Buster Posey is swinging a very hot bat in Fresno. He may force the issue and take over at first sooner or later if Huff isn’t producing! Things that make you go hmmm…
If F-Sanchez joins the team within 2 weeks. That’s going to be a big spark that the Giants desperately need. This guy can flat out hit and get on base. I know that doesn’t solve the problem of guys driving in runs, but it does bring an above average bat to the everyday lineup. This will also give the Giants more options as far as who’s hot to stay in the lineup. If Renteria isn’t pulling his weight. Then he can sit the bench and keep Bruce Bochy company.
The Giants had a great home-stand against some very “Built Ford Tough” (hope Ford send me a check for that plug) teams. It was a 6-3 record against the 
