SF Giants: Lots of Talk, Little Action
| 5
|
by Trecole696
Baseball's Winter Meetings came and went with very little action to speak of on the Giants front. A ton of talk and rumors, but no moves materialized. The Giants did however offer Pedro Feliz arbitration and unless he gets his coveted 3 year offer from some team, it looks like he will accept arbitration and return to the Giants for yet another season. The Giants just can't seem to get rid of this guy. Now they have filled up a spot where they had a chance to improve at. Without having 3rd base as an option to acquire a bat, it also increases the chances of a Tim Lincecum/Alex Rios trade (which is still on the table) or a Noah Lowry/Hideki Matsui trade. This offseason is slowly getting worse as it moves along. At this point, Sabean should just hold onto his pieces and try his best to fix the bullpen. They're building around their starting pitching and the best way they can help that this winter is to add arms to the bullpen. Remember all those games that Matt Cain ended up losing or getting no decisions for because of the faulty bullpen? Why Sabean constantly continues to avoid fixing it is beyond me. There are still some decent relievers available who could come in and be upgrades. Jeremy Affeldt, Luis Vizcaino, Eric Gagne, Shawn Chacon, and Ron Mahay are guys that could help this team. I'd take Affeldt and Vizcaino over Taschner and Chulk in a heartbeat.
I was just watching some video of Fukudome for the first time and I wouldn't be opposed to see Sabean push hard after him. I didn't want to see the Giants dip to heavily into free agency this winter, but Fukudome is starting to make some sense. His bat speed is very quick, and although he's real big, it's easy to see how he generates power. He's not going to be the big home run guy in America like he was in Jaapan, but in AT&T, with his style of game, could still do well in the extra base hit department. I could see him hitting over .300 with 20 homers and 40-50 doubles while providing gold glove caliber defense in right. He also appears to be a real patient hitter. Some say he will be a lot like Aki Iwamura from the Tampa Bay Rays, who showed good contact but very little power in his first season in America. He reminds me more of Hideki Matsui, with his bat speed. The Giants were said to be one of the top 3 or 4 teams in pursuit of Fukudome during the week in Nashville. If they could get him for a 3 year $35-40 million deal, it might not be that bad of a risk. It would beat trading away one of the franchises' cornerstone arms for a bat. He and Mike Lamb are the only free agent position players who I'd consider signing at this point. I'd look to Mike Lamb only as a fallback if Feliz declines and they can't pull off a deal for a guy like Joe Crede or Juan Encarnacion.
The San Francisco Giants Blog-http://giantsbaseballblog.blogspot.com/
