SF Giants: Giants Land Rowand
| 8
|
by Trecole696
The San Francisco Giants made their first big move of the offseason Wednesday, signing Aaron Rowand to a 5 year, 60 million dollar contract to be the teams new center fielder. Rowand had a career year last season (.309, 27, 89, 105) and was a major part in the Phillies winning the NL East. I thought that Rowand was set to be overpaid this winter due to the way he played last year and to the fact that he was one of the top 3 outfielders available on a weak free agent market this winter. However, after seeing the terms of the deal, and comparing that to what Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter got, I feel the Giants got themselves a real solid player for a decent deal. The 5 years is a little long, but 12 million annually for an all-star, gold glove center fielder who can hit and is just entering his prime isn't a bad deal at all. One of Rowand's best attributes is his all-around hustle and hard-nosed approach to the game. That is something that Giants' fans are going to notice about him right off the bat, and they're going to enjoy watching him play. There are some people who are concerned that his production was a byproduct of playing 1/2 his games Citizens Bank Park, but his home/road splits where actually very similar to each other. It's not likely that he's going to hit 27 home runs a year playing at AT&T Park (probably more around 20-25) but don't expect his production to see much of a drop-off besides that.
I have done my fare share of Sabean ripping this offseason, but I do give him credit on this move. This offseason was workings itself in a direction where the Giants were beginning to be put in a corner. Aaron Rowand was the last impact bat on the market, and if the Giants had missed out on him, they would have had to part with a Cain or Lincecum to get someone of his caliber through a trade. For those reasons, Rowand had a ton of leverage in negotiations with Giants, and they still got him for a relatively good deal. This by no means is a move that will save this team or reshape this offense, but they had to start somewhere and signing Rowand is not a bad start. The Giants do have depth in the outfield and didn't need to spend money there, but no current Giants' outfielder has the credentials or the offensive ability that Rowand brings. Sabean still has a lot of work to do before the team breaks for camp, but it's good to see him get something done to improve the team, without giving up the two young studs.
The San Francisco Giants Blog-http://giantsbaseballblog.blogspot.com/
