Fool's Gold Crappy Substitute For Real Kind

As those weirdos across the pond say, Happy Christmas. Accept this early bounty of gifts, in the form of links, from your friends at OBnB. While the Yanks ponder offering a long-term deal to Danny Almonte, us fans of mere mortal (okay, incompetent) franchises are left to review lists of mythical prospects that we may or may not ever actually see on the television.

Okay, so I'm a little bit bitter about the Mark Texeira deal. (So is this guy, and he actually matters.)

The good news is that there are a couple of nice recently published breakdowns of the Giants minor league system.

Alex Eisenberg at Baseball-Intellect has a Giants top 15 prospect list, found here and here, that includes fantastic videos of the team's top prospects.

Meanwhile, the great John Sickels at Minor League Ball released his top 20 Giants prospects list this morning, complete with the snarkiness of SportsNation commenters.

And speaking of SportsNation, the fans continue to rank the prospects at McCovey Chronicles. They're all the way down to 22, but it looks like those crazed McCoven are going to keep voting until they get to J.R. Phillips.

Go ahead and enjoy those. I think I'm going to go start a Manny Ramirez rumor.

(By the way, Giants propagandist Chris Haft posits that the logjam the Teixeira signing creates in the Yanks lineup may bear some dredges in a trade possibility.)

Dirty Is Filthy; Giants In On Wiggin...ton

With fantasy season around the corner, fake GMs are emerging from various fake winter meetings in the far recesses of basements everywhere to find a whole new round of 2009 statistical projections. Among the most discussed of these projections are those of our very own Jonathan Sanchez. Bill James, the Godfather of Sabermetrics himself, pegs Sanchez as a 3.90 ERA / 1.40 WHIP pitcher next year. And while James's prognostications tend to be the most optimistic, all the systems peg Sanchez as a particularly unlucky pitcher in 2008 and who stands to improve as chance factors such as BABIP (batted average of balls in play) normalize and as the 26 year-old improves with experience.

Last month, FanGraphs put together an even wonkier breakdown of Sanchez's 2008 season for the die-hard statheads. Among the highlights:

On the bright side, Sanchez struck out almost a batter per inning over 158 innings – not an easy feat. Despite not throwing terribly hard (his fastball averaged 91 MPH), he showed a remarkable ability to induce swings-and-misses – in fact, batters swung and missed at 10.9% of his Sanchez’s pitches, the 9th highest total in baseball. Pitchers who induced higher rates of swings-and-misses were a who’s who of major league baseball’s best pitchers: CC Sabathia, Scott Kazmir, Ryan Dempster, Johan Santana, Cole Hamels, Edinson Volquez, and John Danks. That’s some elite company.

It seems that other GMs are certainly on to something as they continue to try to bamboozle and hoodwink Sabes into giving the kid up. Last season may turn out to be, on the surface level, the worst Dirty ever has.

Wigginton Update: The tireless Tom Dierkes has the Giants in on the bidding for Ty Wigginton's services, according to a number of sources. It seems that Sabean was kicking some said tires on Wigginton via trade ahead of last week's non-tender deadline, as well.

Extreme Utility Player Makeover

As I mentioned a couple days back, last night's non-tender deadline bore some potentially intriguing fruit, including a very attractive option in Ty Pennington, er, or Ty Wigginton, rather.

The 'Stros attribute the move solely to the financial crunch, and, given that there's no reason not to believe them, this pickup would be a step up from your run of the mill reclamation project.

Did I mention that Wigginton plays third, second, first and even outfield in a pinch? Did I also mention that he can hit for power? And he's even from the right (left) coast, so in the first time he explores free agency as a player of stature, there's presumably an interest to come out West.

Please Santa Sabes, don't sign Rich Aurilia, God bless him. Tell ole' Billy Boy to pony up a few mill more and get this guy. Two years. It's a good thing.

Other non-tender names that would intrigue me: Takashi Saito, Chris Burke, and Daniel Cabrera. Find the full list of non-tenders here.

Unit and Giants May Be Ugly Enough For One Another

Randy Johnson is zeroing in on the Giants as his preferred landing spot, according to John Shea.

Randy Johnson is being wooed by both Bay Area teams. He seems to prefer the Giants.

"Randy's really interested," one of his agents, Barry Meister, said Thursday, the final day of the winter meetings. "We made a check list of everything that's important, and San Francisco checks off on every box. They're in the National League. They'll be competitive. They train in Arizona.

"San Francisco has a lot of appeal."

Brian Sabean seems to be biting, saying he'd consider a one year deal.

With Noah Lowry a massive question mark and the back-end of the rotation being in less than stellar shape, a one-year deal may not be a bad idea.

Plus, it gives the marketing department, long since upset with the lack of milestones to celebrate with the departure of Barry Bonds, something to look forward to. Best of luck on the "It's 300 Wins, Who Cares If Most Of Them Came With Teams You Hate?" mini-season ticket package.

Random Rumor-Mongering

With the CC Sabathia non-sweepstakes behind us (leaving Brian Sabean more petulent and whiny than usual), the Giants offseason seems to have taken a turn for the boring.

Sabean has reaffirmed that the Giants will not go after Mark Teixeira, inferring he's not a player worthy of the franchise money he will assuredly get, though you could have fooled me. And Bruce Bochy has gone so far as to pencil in his 2009 lineup publicly, which ELM broke down nicely (pun intended).

Realizing the possibility of management returning to the mean (read: ineptitude) and not addressing the notion of Bengie Molina hitting cleanup, or that Rich Aurilia inexplicably remains on the radar, there absolutely has to be a third way. There are no less than four different ways to address the power vacuum where the team can stay competitive in the short-term while not hurting the long-term at all.

Dollars aside, Edgar Renteria's short-term deal is a good model: there isn't likely to be anyone ready at short for at least two years, and even though Renteria's defense is in decline, he's light years above anyone else the Giants trotted out there last year.

Sign Pat Burrell to a two-year deal that includes a first baseman's glove
Burrell is among the plethora of middle-tier free agents feeling the economic crunch. A Bellarmine product, there's been much talk he'd love to play for his de facto hometown team. Judging by his career stats at Pac Bell, I could see why.

He's a butcher at first? Maybe. He played first in the Phillies' farm system after playing third in the collegiate ranks only to shift to left to accommodate the indomitable Rico Brogna. He really hasn't played much at first since as the Phils have trotted out Travis Lee, Jim Thome and Ryan Howard for stretches during Burrell's tenure.

For two years, I'd give him a shot to be coached up by J.T. Snow. He's only 31, so the guy isn't on the downslope just yet.

And for those of you that think that he'd be "blocking" Travis Ishikawa or John Bowker, I commend your post-J.R. Philips/Desi Wilson/Damon Minor/Lance Niekro/Dan Ortmeier belief that a marginal Giants first base prospect could actually, you know, work out...

Sign or trade a bucket of baseballs for Ty Wigginton
Wigginton is arbitration-eligible and has been mentioned as a candidate to non-tendered ahead of tomorrow's deadline. The Astros simply can't afford him given their current financial situation, and should they even tender him, it shouldn't take much to get him as long as the Giants pay his salary.

Wigginton is a rich man's Rich Aurilia. He can play three infield positions and plays an adequate third. He hits for power. And the only reason his team doesn't want him is financial. Once again, he blocks no one and gives you insurance in a very fluid infield. Wigginton also allows you the ability to trade Molina if the right offer comes along and have Pablo Sandoval slide behind the dish.

Beyond the Boxscore even had Wigginton as one of the top ten third basemen of 2008. I like...

Offer Henry Sosa or Kevin Pucetas for Adrian Beltre
Beltre is good. He plays a good third. He hits well. He hits like .440 well at Pac Bell.

And given yesterday's trade, I'm not convinced that the new guy in Seattle's at all an improvement over the old guy. He certainly, at the very least, isn't interested in winning in the next two years.

As for the fact that Beltre's in a contract year? You retain roster flexibility and cost certainty. If the guy goes off, maybe he's apt to re-sign. He's certainly shown an affinity for the West Coast. You only got him for one of your mid-level prospects at a position where you're stacked...

Offer Pucetas AND Sosa for Dan Uggla
Not Jorge Cantu. Not Jeremy Hermida. Don't trade Sanchez. But this is an attractive package of decent pitching talent to a team with it's own cost certainty woes. You don't give up your top level prospects, and you bring in a proven power guy at a position of need. And you control him for a few years yet...

There are some moves that I wouldn't advocate, particularly signing Adam Dunn, who has hit hideously at Pac Bell and has a way that seems to sour teams and fans on him alike.

There's a legitimate case to be made for doing nothing, although I certainly won't. But you, my friends, can. Isn't the Internet terrific?

Comment! What you got, Armchair GM?

UPDATED: Sabathia To Yanks Close?

(UPDATE (7:30AM): The deal looks done. Seven years at $160M(!) Glad the big fella was able to leverage one concrete offer and a number of non-offers into a contract nearly as bloated as him. But seriously folks, I'm glad it's the Yanks who are going to go seven on a guy who threw 1.6 million pitches last season and makes Mark Mangino look positively svelte.)

The increasingly dubious chorus of unnamed sources say a deal between CC Sabathia and the Yanks is close following Brian Cashman's pilgrimage to San Francisco.

Unsure what to think what with the crappy game of telephone that transpired at the Bellagio this week, so take it for what it's worth. Whatever happens, we will look back at this as one of the biggest lose-lose personnel decisions the Giants have faced. Why, oh why, couldn't Sabathia have been a free agent in 2006?

UPDATED: Supreme Confidence ≠ Supreme Competence

(UPDATE (1:39PM): The Intrepid One says that Sabathia may well have declined the Yanks' $140 million offer, and that the Giants have met with him. Baggs also says that one exec says the Brewers may now be the frontrunner.)

Via the most excellent MLB Trade Rumors, word around the Bellagio is that the Giants are "supremely confident" that they will sign CC Sabathia, according to Inside the Dodgers.

(I'll leave it to you all to run with that title.)

That's an extremely stray rumor that Tom Tony Jackson concedes is based on hearsay, but the notion that the Giants are interested would seem to be corroborated by Ken Rosenthal's report that management plans to meet with CC in the Bay on Saturday.

Between Sabathia continuing to drag his negotiations out and the Giants non-denials, it looks like the smoke here is legit.

Which begs the question, if Bill Neukom is in a mood to make a 1992 Peter Magowan-esque free agent splash, wouldn't Mark Teixeira make a whole lot more sense?

Cajun Boy Fans Rejoice At Thought of Encarnacion

On the heels of a Jonathan Sanchez for Jorge Cantu rumor that left many quite disturbed, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports that the Giants have engaged in some tire kicking in regards to Edwin Encarnacion.

Encarnacion's glove at third is suspect, and although his power numbers spiked last year, his average did tumble from his 2007 level. Still, the 25 year old is already a proven commodity at a position of big need, and, unlike Cantu, his plate discipline seems to be improving markedly.

Comment! So is Dirty for Encarnacion a more palatable deal? Does anyone prefer Cantu to Edwin?

Further Proof That We're All Banging Our Heads Against the Wall

Yahoo Sports's Tim Brown reports that the Giants are closing in on Edgar Renteria. Big whoop. The Giants requested his measurements as soon as the Tigers declined arbitration.

But there is some far juicier news within his piece:

Needing offense and an overhaul of the left side of their infield, the San Francisco Giants believe they are closing in on signing shortstop Edgar Renteria and have discussed a trade that would send left-handed starter Jonathan Sanchez to the Florida Marlins in exchange for third baseman Jorge Cantu.

Sanchez, 26, was promising but ever inconsistent in 29 starts in 2008 for the Giants, whose offseason strategy is to part with some young pitching to upgrade one of the worst offenses in baseball. Released by the Reds last December, Cantu, also 26, turned his career around with 29 home runs, 41 doubles and 95 RBI for the surprising Marlins last season.

Heading into the offseason, I would have much preferred to make a move for Dan Uggla, especially considering that a throng of Giants fans nearly stormed Willie Mays Plaza last offseason pretty much demanding the Giants sign Cantu.

Instead, as we all know, Kevin Frandsen's Achilles snapped and we were stuck with the unnamed loser of the Marlins third base competition.

That being said, Cantu is young, plays a position of need, albeit somewhat poorly, and had a had a solid power output in a pitcher's park. He's a hacker, but he's also heading into his prime, and has hit for power throughout his young career.

Comment! So do you trade Dirty for him?

Trade Deadline News No Match for Veriz*n Crappiness

You can pin the no-post weekend on a certain unnamed internet service provider that, quite frankly, never delivered on their said promises of a telecommunications entourage.

I'm sure the loyal crazies, er, readers of the blog were up in arms over the lack of my pontifications regarding the ghastly D'Bag sweep of the good guys. A few positives, including a Fred Lewis four-hit game against one of the best, albeit, ugliest lefties of all time and another lights-out start by The Franchise in the game that shall not be mentioned.

(On an unrelated note, in case any giant-headed managers are reading: Scott Linebrink > Akinori Otsuka > Alan Embree > Steve Reed > Jim Poole > Your Mom > Everyone > Tyler Walker)

And now, your Monday Before The Deadline Primer!

~ Randy Winn: Winn seems to be drawing tepid interest from the corner outfielder-poor Metropolitans. ESPN speculates that the Giants are amenable to sending some cash with Randy in order to facilitate getting actual talent back.

The Yanks had been scouting Winn, but it looks like they've addressed their outfield vacancy by dealing for Xavier Nady.

~ Bengie Molina: The Marlins and the Yankees have emerged as potential suitors for Molina.

Following the Yanks' emptying out of their already thin cupboard in the Nady/Damaso Marte deal, the Marlins would seem to be a preferable match for the Giants. They have a lot of depth on the farm if not top-line talent (that seems to be pretty much all with the big league club, Cameron Maybin exempted). Given the Marlins depth at the corner infield spots, there could be a match here somewhere.

~ Rich Aurilia: Looks like the Cards may be interested.

As a fungible piece in the last year of his deal, I'm sure he could get moved for a low-level prospect. But he's one guy I don't necessarily want to see get moved. He's a solid backup and a great presence on this team, the kind of guy who will mentor the youth and embody the notion that this franchise was once relevant.

~ Jack Taschner: Left-handed reliever. Available. If the Giants want to trade him, they will be able to. The Marlins are also looking for a lefty reliever, so there's a larger trade possibility here.

~ Tyler Walker: Seriously, he has come up in rumors involving his the Rays, for whom Walker moonlighted in 2006.

If Tampa is willing to cover 3% of his salary and promises not to make fun of the Giants, that's Brian Sabean's biggest win since the Jason Schmidt deal.

~ Omar Vizquel: No real news that I can find. A team could theoretically opt for him as an insurance policy. Once again, wouldn't expect anything but some salary relief.

~ Matt Cain: Included simply out of due diligence, although indications seem to be strong he's not even close to being on the block.

Then again, Brian Sabean does have a certain cloak and dagger element to his oft-questioned ways, so I would never take him at his word.

The Rangers, as I've harped on before, would be a perfect match in any potential Cain trade. But the only thing I'm seeing is that the Giants are scouting Hank Blalock.

While the writer in the above article has a point that Sabean ain't all that, I will pay the gas-cost inflated ticket price to fly to Dallas and punch him in the face if Madison Bumgarner or Tim Alderson were to be included in a package to secure Blalock.

Don't really know what to believe, but for a guy who hasn't hit very well in recent seasons in a hitter's paradise while battling back problems, I simply don't see the Giants moving anything more than a couple B-level (read: not Bumgarner, Alderson, Villalona) prospects for him.

For the record, I would still think that's too much.

Comment! Open trade possibility thread! Great opportunity for first time commenters.

Trade Winns

Potential positive byproduct of sucking? Sabean harbors no delusions of contending and sells at the deadline, potentially infusing our system with more talent.

From today's Chronicle:

Cub talk: It could be a coincidence, but Gary Hughes, one of the Cubs' top talent evaluators, attended the A's-Giants games just after his club lost Alfonso Soriano to a broken hand. The Cubs are believed to be looking for a left-handed bat, but a source said they have not phoned the Giants about switch-hitting Randy Winn, the outfielder most likely to be shopped.

Hughes is based in the Bay Area.

The talent in the Cubs farm system has been drained as the North Siders played the part of buyer in past years, but they do have a couple of intriguing trade chips, including (in no particular order):

Josh Vitters, 3B: The 3rd pick overall in the 2007 draft, the 19 year old Cypress HS (CA) came marketed as the second coming. He has been anything but in the minors, however, struggling mightily and still searching for his first pro homer.

Still, the chances the Giants would land him in a trade for Winn range from slim to the existential nature of a ball of snow in the Inferno.

Josh Donaldson, C: Casting aside the Giants' sudden organizational depth at the position, Donaldson, a 2007 2nd rounder out of Auburn, may be what Jackson Williams was supposed to be: a polished backup catcher or utility infielder with some offensive potential.

He had some success in low-A last year before having trouble with high-A Peoria this season.

Perhaps a piece of a larger deal.

Sean Gallagher, RHP: The Cubs would have a difficult time parting with the hard-throwing 22 year old, who is having a decent debut with the big league club.

With the state of the Cubs minor league system, however, one would have to presume GM Jim Hendry would have to listen if a seller inquired about Gallagher's services.

Jeff Samardzija, RHP: Swap a two-sport star for another, perhaps? Potentially, although his 2008 season (repeating AA) hasn't been anything to write home about.

Furthermore, the Cubs would have to operate from a sunk cost philosophy to trade their $10M investment, a (sensible) management trait that front-office types tend to eschew.

If they were willing to deal him, however, he's still an intriguing guy because of his size (6'6", 215) and stuff.


There are some other middling prospects in the Cubs system, but you get the gist of it. Can't say I'm too excited about any of those guys save for Vitters and Gallagher, (and Geovany Soto, but that one simply ain't happening given his All-Star debut).

Should be an interesting trading season.

Midday Break: Norwich Bashing, Alou and Porn?

- Joe Perez of the Norwich bulletin has harsh words for Travis Denker and the entire Giants organization (I think I kinda like this guy) regarding the spate of complaints concerning the temperature in Norwich and the dimensions of Dodd Stadium.

- Felipe Alou: next Mets manager?

- Everyone's favorite adult-film moonlighting ex-Giant (and the then-centerpiece of the Matt Williams deal) is back.

Magowan A Goner?

Another day, another loss as the Giants get swept by the lowly (and I use the term ironically) Pirates. On a miserable afternoon, the boys in orange and black continued to make the Pirates' last ranked staff look like that of the 1990s Braves.

The Giants are now a season-high 7 games under .500.

If it's any consolation, this is a continuation of a trend - actually, the scientists among us should have expected this. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Pittsburgh has won 13 of its last 15 games against San Francisco and swept three-game series from the Giants in three straight seasons.

But the bigger news coming out of today is that Peter Magowan may be following his buddy Barry Lamar Bonds out the door in short course. Yesterday, Mark Gonzales of the Chicago Tribune reported within his blog:

The rain didn't arrive until much longer than three hours past the scheduled starting time. That caused San Francisco managing general partner Peter Magowan to blast the Cubs for their decision, as they suspected the Cubs were pushing for the rainout so Kevin Tapani could pitch later in the series...

Ten years later, MacPhail is in Baltimore. And Magowan is expected to retire soon, according to two sources, as part of a "change in control coming soon" in San Francisco, according to a major-league source.

Ray Ratto has reaction in today's Splash Blog.

The fallout of this potential bombshell is hard to ascertain. If Magowan does indeed step down, the most likely scenario appears to be one in which Sue Burns, the majority shareholder, takes over, which may be a continuation of the status quo - remember, all of the shareholders have invested their confidence in Magowan, and should he leave, there is no reason to believe they would be chomping at the bit to axe Brian Sabean, a close Magowan ally.

Then again, maybe they would.

The juicier (and less probable) possibility is that Magowan's shares (and perhaps others) may be divvied up not among current shareholders but sold to a new owner that then becomes managing partner. You know, someone like Larry Ellison, Mark Cuban or Paul Allen - guys who have the capital and are willing to spend what it takes to win. But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.

Then there's this idea from Rick Cook of Brentwood, CA in today's letters to the Sporting Green:

Editor - I believe I have found the solution to the Giants problem. They must give Barry Zito his outright release immediately. Zito can then retire from baseball and take all of the money the Giants owe him and purchase part of the team.

Assuming the Giants, in their sorry state, are worth maybe $200 million, Zito could become the majority owner with no out-of-pocket expenses for his salary. Then as majority owner he could fire whoever the idiot is whose idea it was to sign him. Assuming it was Peter Magowan - he's gone. Brian Sabean, because he didn't have the guts to quit, bye bye. Larry Baer, just because, so long. Bruce Bochy, if you are the one who decided to start Zito Opening Day giving him six starts in April, goodbye to you, too.

Zito could then take over all four positions saving the Giants even more money as long as he agrees to never activate himself. A win-win if you ask me.

RICK COOK
Brentwood

And although I wouldn't ever wish someone out of a job, I do wish that Brian Sabean had a different job, like, I don't know, say, as a podiatrist. This makes that dream of mine one step closer to reality.

Say Hey, Happy Birthday!

Following what surely was a thrilling day of sightseeing in Alabama - I mean, Central Pennsylvania - the Giants visit the Frank to the Phillies' Sylvester in the Pittsburgh Pirates tonight at beautiful PNC Park.

In stark contrast to the Giants, the Bucs have wet the bed this year in spite of a good offense: their ERA is dead last in the majors. In doing their best 2003 St. Louis Rams impression, the predictable Pirates are (you guessed it) bringing up the rear in the NL Central at 12-19.

Fans of the Pirates, our compatriots in (dare we say it, deeper) gloom, seem to have accepted their playoff-less destiny as fait accompli. At a recent get-together, I tried relating the improbable, albeit temporary, Lazarian tale of the 2006-07 Golden State Warriors to some downtrodden Pirate fans. Although I couldn't quite interpret their Iron City Light-tinged retort, I think it had something to do with me performing a physical impossibility.

That being said, the Giants are in a good position to wash the bitter taste of Philadelphia out of their mouths this week, starting tonight as Dirty takes on the struggling (but talented) Zach Duke. In the five starts since his tough season debut against the Brew Crew, Sanchez has kept pace with the likes of The Franchise, going 2-0 with a 1.82 ERA with 32Ks in 29.2 innings. This kid may be a keeper.

Duke, you may remember, is a 25 year old finesse lefty who had a lights out debut in 2005 but has battled inconsistency ever since. In future news, the San Francisco Giants sign lefty Zach Duke to a 8 year $187M deal.

Tonight also marks the return of Jose Castillo to Pittsburgh. To put in perspective, think return of Todd Linden. (Ouch, that's a lot meaner once I see it on the page - oh well.)

Let's hope the good guys display a collective short memory and we can make a good start towards a split our trip to Pennsylvania.

And, yes, that shirt is real.

Other notes:

- A very happy 77th to the greatest of them all, Willie Mays. The author of The (First) Catch, 660 career HRs, a pioneering career, and so much more, we are lucky as fans to say that he did it for the Giants.

- Armchair Scouting Assignment: Rookie Pirates GM Neal Huntington is looking to move Jason Bay, who has been accused of looking less than engaged in recent years. Then again, he plays for the Pirates and really, who gets Canadians anyway?

This Canadian, however, can hit. Given that the Pirates need young pitching in the worst way, it's probably worth noting that Bay may be someone on the move this July, and, if somehow, someway, the Giants stay in the thick of things, he's a guy worth targeting.