I don't hate this deal. I don't like this deal. I do think it's a little much for a guy who will hit .260 and give you maybe 10-15 homers. Couldn't they get that much production from Emmanuel Burriss?
Probably, but they wouldn't get the leadership that a guy like Tejada brings to the table. Unless it's a major injury, this guy isn't going to miss a whole lot of time on the field. At one point Tejada was the active leader in consecutive games played.
His power numbers actually went up when he came to San Diego last season in a ballpark that is just as pitcher friendly as AT&T is. There have been scouts out there who said that that Tejada is going to be the free agent bargain of the season. So this could be a diamond in the rough type of signing. Not Aubrey Huff type diamond in the rough but good for the value. A guy who got stronger in the second half of the season at 35 years is not necessarily a sign of a guy who is breaking down.
Tejada is more of a third baseman at this point in his career so this could be a challenge to Pablo Sandoval. Although if they wind up playing Tejada at third they still have a hole at short. Mark Derosa has played short in his career, but he is more of a left-fielder at this point and I would suspect that the Giants are really hoping DeRosa fills more of that Super-Utility role that Uribe has filled for them the last few seasons.
Lastly, I still think the Giants can make a move for Jason Bartlett of Tampa Bay. The price has got to be right however. He is young and cheap. His hitting style would probably play well in the spacious AT&T park. There is no guarantee that Sandoval is going to be counted on and Tejada at third with Bartlett at short would be a real possibility.
Now to paint my Miguel Tejada Atheletics bobblehead orange and black!
This deal may work out to the Giants' favor in the long run. Uribe has missed a few games in each of the last few seasons due to nagging injuries. His average and OBP are subpar, his defense is OK at best, and did I mention that he tends to have a lot of nagging injuries? The injury bug is really the biggest question mark that I have about this deal. A guy who has a lot of muscle strain type injuries like Uribe has will only miss more games as he gets older. Although I'm not too upset that it will be the Dodgers dealing with this.
Juan made a big impact on the Giants in his two years with the team. He had two huge RBIs in the Phillies series and is a huge reason they made the World Series. The homeruns he hit during the regular season always seemed to come at key moments. He will definitely be missed.
This does leave the Giants with a glaring hole at shortstop. Look for them to make a deal for a guy like Jason Bartlett from the Rays. The Rays are said to be looking for some bullpen help which I think that the Giants can come up with. The internal options are not good. They can try Emmanuel Burriss but he has not shown anything at the big league level that would make you think he could come close to filling Uribe's shoes. Brandon Crawford is just terrible with the bat and beyond him there isn't much help. The Giants may resign Edgar Renteria but if they do it will not be as a starter.
The Giants are also said to be interested in Miguel Tejada, but his best days are behind him. If they could give up Dan Runzler and another bullpen arm, they may be able to swing a deal for Bartlett and while he isn't going to put up 20+ HRs he may just be the guy that is available and is the best fit for the Giants.
The deal is for 2 years and is valued at $22 million. There is also a team option for a third year.
On the face of it, the dollars seem like a lot. But when you consider that Huff has put up similar numbers in the past, the fact that he can play multiple positions, and how much of a clubhouse leader this guy is, you start to realize that this deal isn't all that bad.
The way the deal is constructed is pretty good too. If Huff shows some decline next season, the Giants still will have another season to decide if they will retain him for the third year.
Look for this to be the model that the Giants go with for veterans over the age of 30 in the future. We can also gain some insight into how the Giants are going to approach the Juan Uribe negotiations as well. Uribe's numbers were almost identical to Huff's. He had 1 less RBI, 2 less homeruns, but only scored 64 runs to Huff's 105, and hit for a much lower average than Huff(about 50 points lower). Uribe does have some added value due to the fact that he can play multiple infield positions as well.
The story from SFGiants.com that I linked above quotes Sabean as saying Uribe and the Giants "weren't talking the same language yet" as far as figures go. Hopefully now that Huff the sides will come together quickly. But if Uribe someone were to offer Uribe a four year deal or even a 3 year deal with the third year not an option year. I could see him walking. I just don't see anyone giving a 34 year old super utility guy who has some issues with nagging injuries a 3 or 4 year deal.
But stranger things have happened.
Anyway, Welcome back Aubrey Huff! It will be good to see you in a Giants uniform for the next few seasons. If nothing else but to read all of your quotes!
Well you can add the rookie of the year award to the already impressive list of accomplishments this season for Buster Posey and the San Francisco Giants!
After all of the worrying about the media continuing the East Coast bias and handing the ROY award to the less deserving Jason Heyward, Posey collected his hardware today.
Not bad considering he played less games in the season which he won his rookie of the year award than any other rookie in the last 30 years. He is also the first San Francisco Giant to win the award in 35 years. So now Buster can join other Giants greats such as Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda, John Montefusco, and Gary Matthews as rookies of the year.
A lot of people will point to the fact that Posey did not play much more than 100 games this season (he played in108). But if you look at his numbers and compare them to Heyward's then you will see that Posey was just as productive as Heyward. In 120 less at bats to boot!
So Buster, enjoy your award for a few days, a week, maybe even a month. Then get back to work and start on your MVP award for next season!
After the last few tumultuous years the San Francisco Giants had been through, I don't think any body would have ever expected that headline.
But there it is.
Just the fact that he brought a World Championship to San Francisco qualifies him for this title, but if you look a little closer at his overall run and see how successful he has been, you can see he was deserving of the title already.
His first trade as the Giants GM was the infamous Matt Williams and Trent Hubbatrd to the Indians for Jeff Kent, Julian Tavarez, Joe Roa, and Jose Vizcaino. This trade probably made a lot of people view Sabean as a terrible GM from day one, but Jeff Kent had a Hall of Fame career with the Giants and most of the players in the trade not only contributed to the Giants 1997 playoff run but also to the 2002 World Series appearance.
Speaking of World Series and playoff appearances, Sabean's five playoff and 2 World Series appearances are tops in San Francisco Giants history as well. The last time the Giants had appeared in the playoffs more than once in a five year stretch was when they made it to the NLDS Vs. the Cardinals in 1987 and in 1989 when they played the A's in the Bay Bridge series. I think we all know how that one turned out.
Sabean's detractors grew in numbers with the disastrous Joe Nathan trade. I refuse to type the name of the guy the Giants got in return( partly because it's a pain in the ass to spell) that's how bad this trade was. This trade looked a little worse for the Giants when Francisco Liriano, a guy who was considered a throw-in at the time of the deal, turned in to one of the top pitching prospects in the game.
Sabean's credibility took another hit when the Giants struggled to four consecutive losing seasons. He was crucified when Big-money signings for Barry Zito, Aaron Rowand, and Edger Renteria turned out to be busts. (although Renteria would redeem Sabean somewhat with his 2010 World Series MVP award.)
But for every poor move Sabean has made, Marvin Benard's big contract, Edgardo Alfonso, and Dave Roberts there are a bunch of guys he has pulled off the scrap heap and got what he needed out of them such as Benito Santiago, Bengie Molina, Reggie Sanders, Pat Burrell, and Andres Torres.
These deals don't even compare to the steal he made in the deal for Jason Schmidt. The Giants got Jason Schmidt and Jon Vander Wal from the Pirates for Armando Rios and Ryan Vogelsong. Rios and Vogelsong never amounted to much for the Pirates. Schmidt, on the other hand, went 78-37, struck out 1065, and had an ERA of 3.36 in six seasons for the Giants. He finished 2nd in the CY Young award voting in 2003 and 4th in 2004. He also made 3 All-Star game appearances for the Giants along the way.
The Giants W-L record since Sabean took over as GM is 1212-1054. Not too many teams can claim a +.500 record for 15 seasons.
All in all, the Brian Sabean ERA in San Francisco has been the most successful and exiting in San Francisco Giants history.
I didn't even mention the white flag trade in 1997 that led to the Giants improbable NL West crown in 1997!
So I went to the parade on Wednesday! All I can say is what a blast! Getting there and back was quite an odyssey too! 1.5 million Giants fans all squeezed into downtown San Francisco was quite a sight to behold. The atmosphere was fun and the scene was amazing!
The whole idea to attend the parade was my cousin Rob's. He sent me a text message before the start of the World Series that said: "You gonna be able to go to the parade when we win the World Series?" I told him I would figure out a way. I was a little worried since I only had one day of PTO left but I figured the Giants would win in a way that would be all I needed!
When the Giants won on Monday night and the parade was set for Wednesday it guaranteed that I would be able to get to the parade and get back down to Palm Desert in time for work at 6 AM on Thursday morning. We would just have to leave Tuesday night, drive up to Sacramento to pick up my uncle Paul, go to the parade in S.F., drive back to Sacramento to drop off my uncle, and then drive back to Palm Desert. My cousin, who lives in San Diego, would still have another 2 hour drive to get home after dropping me off.
Rob got off work at quarter to 5 and shot up to my house from San Diego. He got to my place just after 7 PM. I was ready to go. But my 3 year old wasn't ready for me to go. He had been sick all day but now he had been crying for the last hour and complaining that his stomach hurt. We weren't quite sure, but there may have been a trip to the emergency room in his immediate future. His mom was freaked out enough as it was, but the thought of her having to take my son, who just would not stop crying and our 4 year old daughter to the ER by herself for untold hours were really frazzling her. I decided I would take our daughter with us and drop her off at my grandmother's before the parade since I really didn't think that lugging a 4 year old around San Fran with hundreds of thousands of people around would be the best idea in the world.
We got to Sacramento around 3:30 AM. Enough time to get some sleep before we got on the road at 6:30. My cousin wanted to drive into the city but my vote was that we should take BART. The deciding factor was when Rob talked to his brother and heard that all of the parking garages in the city were closed already at 7:30 AM. We decided to take the BART train at the Del Norte station.
I used to live in San Pablo and had a class in San Francisco that I had to attend for a week, I rode into SF on the BART from the Del Norte station so the fact that the parking lot was full at the station wasn't that strange to me. We had to park up the hill from the station a little bit and walk. As we were heading to the station we got our first idea of how long this day was going to be. A lady, who was walking back up the hill, asked us if we had our BART tickets already. We told her no and she said: "It's an hour and a half wait." We thought "Bullshit" and decided that even if it was there was no stopping us from getting to the city
Well the scene at the BART station was one I had never seen before and I rode the BART train during times when the Bay Bridge was closed! There had to be at least 2000 people in line at the station. We got in line and waited for about a half an hour before the BART officials announced that we would be allowed to ride the train for free. Even though the officer said to stay where we were and we would all get on the train there was still a mad dash to the gates. We stayed back because we figured we would get there and it wasn't worth potentially getting trampled. This was also the first of many times that I was glad I left my four year old in Sacramento with her great grandmother.
The train ride into the city was uneventful. We got off at the Civic Center BART station because we got into the city after the parade started. We decided we would go straight to Civic Center and watch the speeches at the end of the parade.
Once we got out of the BART tunnel it was a scene you never would have expected. I had a little bit of an idea because I had been checking my phone and seeing pictures that people were posting on Twitter from all of the office buildings along the parade route. But Market street was wall to wall people. they had the road blocked off and people just walked down the middle of the street. We walked down to UN Plaza and they had the farmer's market going on and there were thousands of people swarming the Plaza. They weren't bums either!
We found a good spot on the grass at Civic Center and stayed there for the rest of the festivities. It was an unreal scene. people were climbing on top of the elevator housing for the Civic Center parking garage (I really thought we might see that thing collapse), there was so much pot smoking going on you would have thought you were at a reggae concert or that prop 19 actually passed (take that Josh Hamilton), above all everyone was excited and happy to be there. From the chants of UUUU-Ribe, to the Boos for Arnold Schwarzenegger, to the chants of MVP, MVP, for Edgar Renteria. It was awesome.
The trip home wasn't quite as arduous. There were still crowds everywhere and the BART train was just as crowded. We left the city at 2:00 and if you throw in the normal Commute traffic we didn't get back to Sacramento until 6:00 PM. We picked up my daughter and headed for Southern California. I got home just in time to get ready for work!
So out of 57 hours from the time I got p on Tuesday until the time I went to bed after work, my cousin and I were awake for 54 of them,we traveled over 1200 miles (my cousin put in more like 1500), we got mentioned in the Sacramento Bee, and we witnessed one of the coolest things we have ever seen. 1.5 million Giants fans celebrating the WORLD CHAMPION SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS!
Here are a few pictures and videos from all the fun:
GIANTS 3 - RANGERS 1
Edgar Renteria is the World Series MVP for the San Francisco Giants.
Wow.
Somehow the fact that a guy who was castoff and considered one of Brian Sabean's worst signings being voted as the World Series MVP makes sense, Aaron Rowand being in the starting Lineup for the deciding game 5 was just right, and Tim Lincecum being on the mound was perfect.
All of this, all the beards, the waiver wire claims, the pitching, the clutch hitting, and did I mention the pitching? All of this adds up to the first World Series in San Francsico history.
Tim "The Franchise" Lincecum struck out 10 Texas Rangers, the team with the highest batting average in baseball during the regular season, and held them to one run while outdueling Mr. Postseason Cliff Lee. Edgar Renteria hit a three run homerun in the 7th inning to break a 0-0 tie and account for all of the Giants runs. It was a typical Giants victory.
That's the way the season should end.
I'll have more for you guys as the week goes on. Right now I want to just sit back and soak in the atmosphere. Tomorrow night I'm gonna head up to the bay with my cousin so we can watch the parade in San Fran so it's gonna be a long week since I'm gonna have to work on Thursday!
Celebrate San Francisco fans! Your Giants are World Series Champions!
The San Franciso Giants shutout the Texas Rangers for the second time in four games. The club with all the offensive weapons at it's disposal, you know: Elvis Andrus, Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Josh "Superman" Hamilton, and Nelson Cruz, have only mustered a grand total of four runs in the last 3 games against this Giants staff if you take away game 1. This is the team that set an ALCS record with 39 runs against the Yankees. The team that 49 out of the 50 states thought was gonna manhandle the Giants.
Instead, a 21 year old rookie southpaw from North Carolina held those bats to three hits in eight innings.
Good pitching beats good hitting. Sure the Rangers have some nice starters, but really, after Cliff Lee their starters aren't Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, and Madison Bumgarner. If one of the Rangers starters is suffering from fatigue due to a career high number of innings pitched as Sanchez is for the Giants then they have nobody to step into the void and replace him.
The Giants do. His name is Madison Bumgarner.
It's time for the Giants to bring a World Series title to San Francisco. They need to do it so the kids have something to celebrate since they won't be able to get toys in their Happy Meals anymore.
Tonight is game 5 with Cliff Lee Vs. Tim Lincecum.
