Tejada to the Giants: Let's get weird...

This is completely unexpected. Miguel Tejada will be a San Francisco Giant... perhaps coming full circle across the bay from where he began his impressive career.

I didn't see this one coming. I said it yesterday. I thought Bartlett was the guy, especially with Ryan Theriot being dealt to the Cards and taking them out of the running. What does this mean?

Well, it's another $6.5MM alotted to another old guy with limited range to play SS. It really shows how desperate the SS market is when Tejada is being penciled in to play out there. That's $17.5 committed to Huff & Tejada thus far (for 2011) this offseason, with questions remaining about Panda, left field, and raises due via arbitration to Jon Sanchez, Cody Ross, Mike Fontenot, and Andres Torres.

We'll get into that later. Let's talk Tejada.

Assuming he will play the majority of his games at short, which he did last year after being traded to San Diego, we could certainly do worse. However, the man is damn near 40 and if the hot corner is manned by the Tai Chi Sloth (formerly Kung Fu Panda) or Mark DeRosa, I could see a lot of balls hit to the left side of the infield escaping into left.

Certainly Tejada can play 3rd, and has done so recently, but that would likely mean Tai Chi Sloth's days as a Giant would be numbered. Obviously then, a Jason Bartlett would still be necessary. Let's assume that doesn't happen.

It's a short-term fix for the SS position, and also a motivational tool in management's ongoing effort to get Sandoval's ass into gear. DeRosa's return to the active roster means theoretically, we wouldn't need Sandoval... something that better get his juices going-- hopefully not too much fruit juice though because of all the high fructose corn syrup added to them.

All accounts have Tejada as the Giants new SS, a role he played better than 3B last year interestingly... Here's how Tejada & Uribe compared in 2010.



It's really not a huge dropoff, save for HRs and 3B defense... but as I've pointed out, 3B really doesn't matter too much.

I'm not crazy about Tejada as our starting SS, but with limited options available, the move at least keeps us around the same level of production out of the position as 2010.

Annnnddddd... our dream of a "big bat" is one more veteran contract further away.

Uribe now dead to me & a look at SS

I don't even want to write about this... I really don't.

What can I say, there is no honor among thieves and no loyalty in professional sports. I'm not just talking about the players either. There is a lack of loyalty at the management level as well.

As the hangover from our World Series victory begins to subside, we've experienced our first wakeup call. It was one of those shrill hotel room wake up calls that angers the hell out of you because it's just so goddamn unpleasant.

Why Uribe? Why the Dodgers? WHY! WHY!

I mean, yes, the money was excessive, and yes the Dodgers will regret giving him 3 years and $21MM, but the fact that we lost a key player to our hated, disgusting arch rivals is just unacceptable.

The Giants get a compensatory draft pick out of it because they offered Uribe, a Type B free agent, salary arbitration, but that doesn't lessen the sting of losing such a well-rounded player.

He is an above-average shortstop, an above-average hitter, and is the type of lineup and clubhouse glue that got us our first World Championship in San Francisco. He was just nearly as important as Aubrey Huff, who in my opinion got $2-3MM more per year than was necessary.

I understand why Uribe took the money. Money is good, and this will be his last chance to score a multi-year deal like this, I just wish the Giants would've tried harder to keep him. To me, it just sounds like they let him go... and that's a tough pill to swallow for fans like me who become so attached to players.

Now we'll have to see our beloved Uuuu-Ribe do his patented jazz hands in Dodger Blue, a thought that makes me seriously nauseous.

It's not quite Johnny Damon bolting Boston for Pinstripes but that's what it feels like. The last such thing we saw was Jason Schmidt signing for huge dollars with the Dodgers... a move that hamstrung them for years.

I will never be able to root for Uribe again, which is unfortunate. In addition, he will suffer horrible effects from the traitor's curse he brought upon himself. Like Schmidt did, Uribe will toil in both injury, mediocrity, malaise, or all 3. It is not that I wish this on him, it is just what will happen. His fate is sealed, and there's nothing he or anyone can do about it.

As for our shortstop options now... the market is not very attractive, hence the big contract for the newly hexed Juan Uribe. Here are the available shortstops, thanks as always for the ever-handy MLB Trade Rumors

Orlando Cabrera (36) - Type B, not offered arb
Juan Castro (39)
Craig Counsell (40)
Bobby Crosby (31)
Adam Everett (34)
Cristian Guzman (33)
Jerry Hairston Jr. (35)
Cesar Izturis (31)
Derek Jeter (37) - Type A, not offered arb
Julio Lugo (35)
Nick Punto (33)
Edgar Renteria (34)
Miguel Tejada (37) - Type A, not offered arb

That, my friends is one ugly list. The only people on that list that deserve a starting role are Derek Jeter, Miguel Tejada, maybe Nick Punto and possibly Izturis simply because of his defense.

Derek Jeter's agent has been contacted by the Giants, but he will not be signing with us. If Jeter and his camp even entertain a phone call from Brian Sabean, it will be solely to drive up his price with the Yankees and it will turn into a one-sided pissing contest. So forget Jeter. It's not worth thinking about.

Tejada is old balls as well, and although he can still hit, I wouldn't want him necessarily as an every day SS at age 37.

Basically, our options are in house guys like Manny Burriss (not a viable option), Brandon Crawford (who hit .241 in AA and is not close to being ready with the bat), or to make a trade.

See, this is why I wanted Uribe back... it's ugly out there.

The trade options include Jason Bartlett, who the Giants have discussed with Tampa Bay, and possibly Jose Reyes of the Mets, who will be an unrestricted free agent next summer. Bartlett is the more likely scenario, but he's only a slightly above average player.

Bartlett will likely make $5MM via arbitration this year and Tampa has little use for him at that salary with Reid Brignac ready to step into a full-time gig.

There are other teams eying Bartlett, but that probably won't drive his price up too much. He is a good defender, gets on base at a decent rate, and won't hurt you, but he also can't hit it out or do anything spectacular. Although he a Bay Area native with ties to Mountain View and Stockton... so there's that.

As for Jose Reyes, he's a name I've heard floated recently. The Mets, who've dealt with Reyes's creaky hamstrings, occasional brilliance, and general disappointment, perhaps are ready to move on... especially with his pending free agency in '12 and totally new regime in place.

With Jonathan Sanchez likely available, this may be an intriguing deal to explore... And in case you're wondering, Sanchez becomes expendable due to the fact that Dan Runzler is being groomed as a starter.

Anyway, that's pretty much what we're looking at.

Return of the rally thong: Huff re-signs

I for one am thrilled to have Aubrey Huff returning to our WORLD CHAMPION SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (I love saying that, so I did it in caps).

As you've probably already read, it is a 2 year deal for a guaranteed $22MM complete with a club option for a third year. There is a $2MM buyout for the 2013 year, so it is essentially a 2yr/$22MM deal that could be worth as much as $30MM (3yr/$30MM).

So, back to reality here... 11 mil, huh? Ooooh... I don't know about that.

Look, we all love Aubrey Huff to death. He's all that's right about the game of baseball and humanity. He doesn't bring a single negative to the table. He hits, he plays multiple positions well, his teammates love him, and his love for the game is infectious. His contributions to the 2010 World Series team will never be forgotten, and I hope one day his unwashed rally thong sits behind a plexiglass case in Cooperstown.

That being said, this contract is not a good one for the Giants. Despite the fact that they won it all, they cannot and will not have deep enough pockets to put a $120MM team on the field.

With an $8MM per year raise to Huff, this basically wipes out all the money freed up by the end of Edgar Renteria's deal. Which is fine and good, but don't you think it would be nice to maybe use a little bit of that to kick over to Juan Uribe, or another free agent?

With arbitration raises due to guys like Jonathan Sanchez, Andres Torres, Cody Ross, etc., Huff's contract essentially eats up much of the money available to possibly add an everyday hitter to play LF or 3B. Because... even if the Giants were able to swing some sort of trade for a player, most or all the players available in that situation would likely constitute a salary increase over whomever was traded.

Huff, was one of the only significant available 1B's on the market (Adam Dunn and Adam LaRoche being the other two), and had himself a fine season in 2010:

.290 AVG., .385 OBP%, .506 SLG%, 100 runs, 26 HR, 86 RBI, 35 2B, 5 3B. On top of that, he made only 3 errors all season! His 12.4 BB% and 16.0 K% were excellent.

I don't buy into a lot of what Fangraphs and Saberjerks have to say, but I always enjoy the little "Value" stat they put together to say what a player was worth monetarily in a given season. It makes no sense and it has no bearing on the real world, but for what it's worth, it put Huff's 2010 value at $22.8MM.

Interesting... haha.

And I still don't know what the hell WAR is, but Huff's stands at +5.7, good for 17th in all of baseball. FYI, Andres Torres's was +6.0, good enough for 14th overall.

The only reason I bring up these stats is because for once, there's a player out there that both nerds AND real fans can agree on as being valuable on the stat page, in the clubhouse, and on the field.

Glad to have Huff back, but I hope this contract doesn't restrict our ability to defend our World Series crown.

Reader Submission #3: Finally, it's starting to sink in

The following is a reader submission to The Dodgerhater by avid Giants fan and Dodgerhater reader Julian Perez. I thought it was appropriate to get other perspectives on what this World Series means to people.



Finally it's starting to sink in

Julian Perez


Wow! I’ve waited just about 25 years for a World Series championship to come home to the best city in the world, and it has finally happened. Now that the parade has taken place, it is finally sinking in that the San Francisco Giants are the 2010 World Series Champs! It still feels weird saying that.

I was initially in shock after watching Brian Wilson record the final out of game 5. I dropped to my knees, screaming toward the sky and shaking uncontrollably. Unfortunately I was not with anyone else to share the utter euphoria I felt, but I am sure that the rest of the Orange & Black nation was feeling the same way. The first person I called was my brother, who was in tears over the win.

Many Giants fans have been suffering since the team moved here in ’58 and I can only imagine how they must have felt. I spoke to a guy at Game 2 of the World Series who had been at the series in ’61, 89, and ’02 and felt the same heartbreak at the conclusion of each. To this day I still have never seen fully seen the final out of the 2002 World Series. I walked out of the room as soon as Kenny Lofton made contact and flip the channel anytime highlights of that series are on. But when Nelson Cruz struck swung and missed on that final pitch, it felt like a new beginning. A 54 year weight had been lifted off everyone’s shoulders. The demons have been banished. The scars left by things like Willie McCovey’s line drive and Dusty Baker giving Russ Ortiz the game ball in the six inning of Game 6 have been magically healed.

People outside of the Bay Area (and maybe Boston, Cleveland and Chicago) have no idea what this wait has been like! The last time the Giants won the series, my parents were 2 and 5 respectively. I keep hearing East Coast fans saying that we don’t know how to handle ourselves and that we’re acting like idiots out here. You know what I say to that?

“You guys wait 54 years and then let us know how it feels you spoiled douche bags.”

I am also getting sick and tired of the media completely hating on this band of “misfits” that screwed up television ratings for Fox. I don’t think the teams were as responsible as the consistently biased, horrible commentators. Maybe it was the fact that the games didn’t start till 8 o’clock on the Eastern Time Zone. I couldn’t believe the fact that ESPN, the self proclaimed “Worldwide Leader in Sports” dedicated two slots of 30 second highlights the day after the win. It just proves that those executives are wearing blue and white pinstripes.

I even read an article on Deadspin.com the next day saying that San Francisco fans “don’t even know how to properly celebrate” because 5 people were arrested the night of game 5. Uh, last time I checked, when Boston won in 2004 there were riots in the streets and cars flipped over. That same year there were even worse riots in New York when the Yankees lost to the Sox in the ALCS. Wednesday’s celebration proved all those haters wrong! We know how to party, have fun, come together as one, and celebrate a world goddamn championship!

I would also like to congratulate and apologize to Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean. Those of you who read this blog as avidly as I do may remember I wrote an article ripping Sabean a new one for not getting a big bat after the trade deadline. Never in a million years did I think we would get to the playoffs--- let alone the World Series with the team we had at the deadline. Even during the waiver period, I was cursing the likes of Cody Ross and his 7 RBI’s over the last six weeks of the season.

I can admit when I’m wrong. Not only was I wrong, but I now have a whole new faith in Sabean and the entire front office of the Giants. They have put this team in a position to pitch their way back to the playoffs for years to come. Lincecum, Cain, and Bumgarner are all signed through at least next year and Jonathan Sanchez is arbitration eligible. It also makes me feel pretty good (and shitty at the same time) to know that a former CY Young winner is our #5 starter.

That being said, it is now time to wipe off the champagne, sleep off the hangovers from the amazing parade, and start thinking about the upcoming 2011 season.

This will not be close to the same team next year. Playoff hero Edgar Renteria will likely not be re-signed and Juan Uribe could likely be signed by another team after a career year. The Giants have said that re-signing Aubrey Huff is their #1 priority which is great, but where does he play next year? Do you put Pablo at 3rd again? Do they call up a guy like Brandon Belt to take over at first, or maybe give Ishikawa one more chance while having Huff in the outfield? What about Pat Burrell? It is hard to see him coming back.

Burrell most likely got his last hit as a Giant in the NLCS (0-13 in World Series). How about a guy like Jayson Werth hitting in the middle of the lineup with Buster and Huff?! A guy can dream can’t he? Either way it is obvious that a bat will be at the top of the list for the Giants during free-agency, but don’t be surprised if Jonathan Sanchez is pitching in a different uniform in 2011. There are talks of Dan Runzler being turned into a starter and the farm is packed with pitching talent. So it seems like the logical thing would be to trade Sanchez rather then pay him $5.5 million in arbitration next year for 8 BB a game.

Regardless of what the Giants do this off-season, we will always have this incredible, magical, and at many times torturous season in our minds and hearts forever. No person or team can ever take away the fact that the Giants are champions. Now it’s their turn to chase us for a crown! The wait is over and it was worth it! Black and Orange forever!!

P.S.: My friend, a hardcore Yankees fan, made a bet with me at the beginning of the playoffs that if the Giants won the whole thing that he would get Buster Posey’s number (28) tattooed on his leg. He has since told me that he intends to do it because it was a “man’s, man’s bet” so there will soon be pictures to follow.

More questions than answers

How quickly a week changes things, huh?

This is just a perfect example of why you just can't react to every little thing during your team's 162 game season. Where were we last Thursday? We were five losses lighter, that's where we were.


Look, it's just a matter of peaks and valleys, and this team doesn't appear to be one of those smooth sailers. I mentioned in my last post on Monday, that it was gut-check time, and that this Padres series would be a solid indication of where this team really is.

With the smooth sailing of the few series in the review mirror, it was time for the Gyros to step up-- on the road, without Rowand and a healthy DeRosa, and after a devastating loss to their arch rivals. A couple guys showed up in the San Diego series, namely Cain, Sanchez, and to a lesser extent, Uribe, but it just wasn't enough. This of course is saying something, because the Giants were swept by a final score of 9-4. No, that wasn't the final score of Wednesday's game, those were all the runs scored the entire series.

I believe this 2010 team to be different from last year's model, because up until this grisly San Diago disaster, I saw a vastly improved team. Hell, even in the Eckstein game, Juan Uribe donged one off of one of the best closers in the game in Heath Bell to tie up the game. That was huge, and it just wasn't something we saw last year.

Let's talk Wellemeyer for a minute.

Todd Wellemeyer is not the good version from two seasons ago. This is a "Spring Training Superstar" who's lost his marbles and his command. This quote from Baggarly via Twitter doesn't make me feel good:

"I didn't think Todd Wellemeyer could punt his rotation spot on the basis of three starts. This first inning is making me think otherwise."

You know when a non-knee jerk baseball authority is freaked out, it's time to really freak the eff out.

You don't need to see any stats to know that the dude is off his rocker, and is walking waaaaay too many dudes. But hey, people like stats, so let's look at how gross they really are. The guy is averaging almost 7 walks per 9 innings, an obscene 8.16 ERA, and a a WHIP just below 2. It's just fugly...

It's not like the guy is just giving up Texas Leaguers, seeing-eye grounders and running into bad luck. He's allowing more baserunners than should be legal, and is paying dearly for it.

Let's assume worst case scenario here for a minute, and that the guy needs to be replaced. There are a few options: Kevin Pucetas (AAA), Joe Martinez (AAA), Pedro Martinez (Free Agent), Jarrod Washburn (Free Agent).

None of them are particularly attractive to me, but hey, we're talking 5th starter here. We need a guy who won't pitch us out of ballgames. While the Pedro/Washburn route is certainly intriguing, it's unlikely. Pucetas is likely the guy, since he did indeed have solid spring.

However, Pucetas has given up 17 hits and 8 walks in 16 innings (3.94 ERA) so far in Fresno, which is certainly not something that makes me feel a whole lot better. After all, T-Dub's problem is baserunners, and that's the last thing we need while the offense struggles.

Joe Martinez, on the other hand is 1-0 with a 0.90 ERA in 10 innings thus far.

To be mentioned also is that there's some dude named Eric Hacker in AAA that is absolutely beasting around. Truth be told, I've never heard of the guy before, but he's 3-0 with a 1.10 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 16 K in only 16.1 innings. So for what it's worth, we've got this 27 year-old unknown down there mowing down the PCL.

Whatever the decision is, it probably needs to be made quickly, because we've got the Cards, Phils, and the damned dirty Rockies coming into town beginning on Friday.

Other random thoughts:

-- Is it possible that the Padres are a better team than they appear to be?

-- I bet the Gyros don't get swept by the Madres if Zito plunked a Dodger, resulting in a bench clearing confrontation

-- Velez is not a good outfielder

-- If Bruce Bochy refuses to play Bowker every day, how will we ever know if the guy can play every day? How do we know he really can't hit lefties? He's only gotten 3 ABs against them this year. Yes, he's gone 0-3 in those AB's, but it's like come on dude. If he was like 0-20, against lefties, then I'd say, "Okay, I understand."

This is the same confidence-shattering crap that we see time and time again from this organization. Stick his ass out there, and let him effing play. If he sucks after 150 ABs, then fine, do something else. God, I'm so sick of this.

-- My buddy proposed a hypothetical trade today. Assuming Madison Bumgarner stops sucking so bad and regains trade value... would you trade him for Carl Crawford, assuming we could sign Crawf longterm? He's eligible to be a free agent next season. Food for thought. That would be a lottaaaaa triples.

-- If you're like, "We'll sign a big bat this coming offseason." Let me tell you now, that you're dreaming. Here's the list of 2011 free agents. There's Carl Crawford and a whole lotta nothing.

Anything we get to improve this offense in the long term will have to come via trade, at a steep price. This is why there is such a high premium on great young hitters.

-- I hate the Dodgers all over again...

-- Is it possible that we suck on the road? Yeah we swept a terrible Houston team in Texas, but, yeah... we haven't done well since then outside SF...

-- If you're not on Twitter, I think you should, especially if you like venting frustrations during games. It's almost like a Giants chat room at times. I like to talk Giants a lot, so obviously it works for me.

-- Here's a great example of Twitter can be cool. I had this "conversation" with Nick Mangold, starting center for the New York Jets:

The Dodgerhater: PETA freaks protesting outside the KFC in San Rafael. This may be a perfect time to try that new Double Down. Haha! @NickMangold is down.

Nick Mangold: @TheDodgerhater where do I sign up?

The Dodgerhater: We could organize an eat in. Gotta check to see where the PETA jerks are going, then march an army of dudes into the KFC.

Nick Mangold: I like it dude

Shut up! How many starting NFL players did you talk about KFC and PETA with on Twitter? Hmm? Oh zero, that's what I thought!

-- Go Giants, Go Sharks.