Nov 17th 2008 8:45PM by Jacob Wheatley-Schaller (author feed)
Baseball’s free agent signing period began a few days ago, and now we have our first signing, as the San Francisco Giants have inked left-handed reliever Jeremy Affeldt to a two-year contract.

Affeldt, 29, had his best season since 2003 while pitching for the Reds last year. In 78.1 innings, he struck out 80 hitters while walking just 25, and posted a 3.33 ERA. His 9.2 K/9 ratio was easily the best rate of his career. In the Giants’ pen, he’ll likely slot in before Brian Wilson, since only the latter has earned the “proven closer” label.

Regardless of titles, Affeldt will be the best pitcher in San Francisco’s bullpen, and having him pitch before the ninth could actually be advantageous. Not only will it give manager Bruce Bochy the opportunity to have Affeldt face as many lefties as possible, he’ll also be able to save him for key situations, rather than being “forced” to put him in for every save opportunity, which are not always high leverage situations.

The contract is only for a total of $8 million, which is a steal considering what some other relievers, such as Francisco Rodriguez and Brian Fuentes, will likely end up getting. Both aspects of this deal — the short length, and the low annual value — have to be looked at as positives for the Giants. Additionally, since Affeldt is a Type B free agent, they won’t be forced to part with a draft pick as compensation.

Nov 12th 2008 9:45PM by Nick Dallamora (author feed)
Congratulations are in order for Tim Lincecum on receiving the National League Cy Young award in just his second season in the bigs. Super thumbs up. Granted the kid should be showered with rewards for playing ball in San Fran for an entire year without demanding a trade, ultimately resulting in a hostage situation and bloodshed. Tough guy, that Lincecum.

As we mentioned before, no one cares who wins this award. So that about wraps things up on this side of the jump. Click the link for a thing.Continue Reading

Nov 11th 2008 2:45PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Now 57 games into his big league career, Tim Lincecum has officially arrived. The Giants right-hander ran away with the National League Cy Young award, garnering 23 of 32 first-place votes, to become the second San Franciscan so honored.

It is quite difficult to argue with the selection. Lincecum led the NL in strikeouts, ERA+ and VORP, while allowing the fewest hits per nine innings. His 18 wins were good enough for second in the league, and represented a full quarter of the wins that the Giants mustered for the entire season. When you take into account the team’s bottom-of-the-barrel finish in all the key offensive categories, Lincecum’s season becomes even greater.

Brandon Webb finished second in the voting, earning four first-place nods, for the second straight season, largely because of his league-leading 22 victories. Johan Santana, who was a better choice than Webb, also got four first-place votes and finished third in the voting. CC Sabathia got the other first-place vote, even though he only pitched 17 games after his trade to the Brewers.

There’s no doubt that Sabathia was the most impressive pitcher after he moved to the Senior Circuit, but Lincecum was the best from the first day to the last. While Santana should have finished higher than Webb, I’ll settle for being impressed that the win total didn’t sway the voters enough to give Webb an undeserved award.

Nov 11th 2008 3:30PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
New Giants managing partner, William Neukom, has reportedly pushed general manager Brian Sabean to field a much more competitve team. If that means opening the pocketbook to bring in big names, so be it. Obviously, the subject of Manny Ramirez qualifies. When asked about him, Neukom replied: “I can’t say there is no possibility.” Of course, later he raved about the shape of their outfield and said that shoring any part of it up was not a high priority.

The bottom line here for Giants fans is that this sort of talk is a good thing. Management is obviously planning on increasing the payroll, which means signing a few offensive weapons is a definitey possibility. “Player payroll is going to depend on two things,” Neukom said. “First of all (is) the best thinking of our baseball guys. What does that optimal 2009-and-beyond roster look like? How do you build that roster? That’s going to have a price tag to it. The other major influence is, what can we afford?” I know what direction I’d go. There’s no reason to start dealing in the trade market when you can throw some money around, and this shows the Giants aren’t afraid to. It might not be Manny, but Mark Teixeira and several other big bats are out there. We’ll see how the Giants work.

Nov 10th 2008 2:00PM by Matt Snyder (author feed)

The Giants were not a disappointment in 2008 as far as I’m concerned, because they only lost 90 games and did not finish in last place. Going into the season, in looking at the rosters, Giants fans had to expect 100 losses and a definite last place finish. Moving forward, there is hope for a quick franchise turnaround.

Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and even the injury-prone Noah Lowry have the makings of a quality young starting rotation. They could be above average with offensive support and an improved defense. Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand can be helpful players on a good team, but they cannot be the centerpieces of the offense, as they were this past season. Randy Winn and Fred Lewis are viable starters for ‘09, but they need to be slotted at the end of the batting order.

The key to the approach for 2009 is to try and compete without foregoing the future. The rotation, closer Brian Wilson, and potential stars like Madison Bumgarner, Conor Gillespie, and Buster Posey are too valuable to deal in a trade just to land one player.Continue Reading

Nov 6th 2008 11:30AM by Matt Snyder (author feed)
According to Giants GM Brian Sabean, young hurler Matt Cain is untouchable, yet his name continues to surface in trade rumors. I’ve actually heard a few unsubstantiated rumors where he would land with the Brewers or Cubs, among other teams. Do the other GMs not know Sabean is keeping Cain no matter what?”Yes. Clubs know that. That hasn’t necessarily discouraged clubs from inquiring or making suggestions of offers. But we don’t see anything out there that gives us a net gain by losing him.” I guess it’s okay to try and knock Sabean over with an offer, and considering he’s the guy who has single-handedly dismantled the Giants organization, you can’t blame the other GMs for not believing him.

You have to admit, Sabean is in a pickle — albeit a self-inflicted one. Their offense as it stands is absolutely pathetic. They do have a good amount of quality arms. If you can’t raise enough money to sign Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira, Adam Dunn, and a few other studs — which would only begin to broach how much offensive help they need — the only way to improve the offense is to deal from the strength for a net gain.

Just don’t expect Cain to be the piece that moves. Or Tim Lincecum, for that matter.

Oct 17th 2008 11:45AM by Pat Lackey (author feed)
Look at our Barry Bonds tag. All summer, we here at FanHouse talked about rumors that were floated about Barry Bonds signing with someone; the Mets, the Astros, the Red Sox, the D’Backs, heck, even the Royals were all linked with the disgraced slugger. If you go far enough back, Bonds and his agent said in May that if no one signed him this summer, collusion was a likely cause. Well, no one signed him and now the players union says they have proof that the teams in the league did act in concert to keep Bonds out of baseball this year:”There were numerous things that occurred that made me believe that the clubs were acting in concert,” Bonds’ agent, Jeff Borris, said Thursday. “When I testify as a witness in the case, I will delineate each and every one of them.”

[…] “We have the agreement about the timing of a potential grievance,” [union counsel Michael] Weiner said. “Our investigation revealed a violation of the Basic Agreement. It’s a violation of the Basic Agreement related to Barry Bonds and free agency.”
The idea that the owners worked together to keep Bonds out of baseball is completely believable. Bonds has brought nothing but scrutiny to baseball in the past few years and with the league looking to clean up its act, getting rid of its most notorious player is something that would seem to be high on the list of things to do. Bonds, despite all his faults, is still a very good hitter and there’s no doubt that there were a number of teams that could’ve used his help this year. Bonds might be a jerk, but that doesn’t make collusion right.

Sep 29th 2008 12:15AM by B (author feed)
Now that baseball season is almost over, it’s time to completely forget about baseball and focus on awards season! My original idea for tonight’s Dugout was the AL Cy Young Award 2008 Chatroom, but that ended up being Cliff Lee bouncing a rubber ball against a wall for 35 panels, so here is that Dugout’s hotly-contested National League equivalent. On second thought, they should just give that to Cliff Lee too.

Tonight’s Dugout, with all the speculation and obsessive statistical analysis you come to the Internet for, is after the jump.Continue Reading

Sep 25th 2008 9:15AM by Craig Calcaterra (author feed)
A couple of weeks ago, Eric Young retired as a member of the Colorado Rockies. Now J.T. Snow is retiring as a San Francisco Giant:

The team signed Snow to a one-day contract so he can wear No. 6 a final time and retire as a Giant, providing the closure that eluded him as his career ended quietly with Boston in 2006 . . . It is a real contract, not ceremonial, that will pay him about $2,100, a one-day portion of the big-league minimum.

General manager Brian Sabean said he informed the commissioner’s office of the Giants’ plan for Snow and the rest of the team to take the field a few minutes early Saturday. Snow then would be replaced before the game begins.What’s up with this? We’ve seen this “retire-as-a-whatever” meme in the NFL for several years now, but why in baseball, and why with these guys? Did Sam Beckett from “Quantum Leap” show up and determine that having slightly above-average roster fodder like Young and Snow retire with undesirable teams throw history so out-of-whack that the wrongs needed to be righted? If we still sleep well at night with Babe Ruth the Brave, Willie Mays the Met, and Henry Aaron the Brewer, why must the J.T. Snows and Eric Youngs of the world be returned to whatever team it is they consider to be their spiritual home?

But I suppose that’s just nit-picking on my part when, in fact, this particular move poses an actual serious risk. I mean, given that this is Brian Sabean pulling the strings, Giants fans shouldn’t be too sure that Snow won’t start the remaining four games this season and be extended through 2010.

Sep 18th 2008 6:31AM by Craig Calcaterra (author feed)
Henry Schulman reports that Giants’ General Manager Brian Sabean is probably safe for next year:
William Neukom will have many important items on his agenda when he becomes the Giants’ managing general partner Oct. 1, but it appears his to-do list will not include a general manager search. Numerous team insiders say they expect Neukom to retain Brian Sabean for the final year of his contract.

They stressed that no decisions have been finalized ahead of Neukom’s official ascension to the No. 1 chair, but he is leaning strongly toward retaining Sabean for a 13th season as general manager.There are about 18 different brands of spin in article about why this is a good idea. None of them seem to hold water for me, but that’s probably not important as it is Giants’ fans and not grumpy bloggers who will make the final determination of whether keeping Sabean is a good idea.

Here’s one that is particularly troubling, though:
The Giants’ downfall after eight straight winning seasons stemmed from an overplayed strategy of building around Barry Bonds. Those above Sabean in the front office were culpable, too, so the blame cannot fall entirely on the GM even if he made some poor choices along the way. This is rather incredible to me.Continue Reading