Giants Find Their Shortstop

Well the search for the lost shortstop has finally come to an end as the Giants announced that they have signed free agent shortstop Miguel Tejada to a 1 year/$6.5 million contract.

Most of you know Tejada from his glory days with the Oakland A's from 1997 to 2003, as a fan favorite during his 2002 MVP campaign.

The Giants have had a recent history of acquiring veteran shortstops, first it was Omar Visquel, then Edgar Renteria, and now seasoned gamer Tejada. He was on the Giants radar since the free agency began this off season, and once the Dodgers took their top choice Juan Uribe, the Giants wasted no time in picking up this former MVP.

Last season, Tejada posted an acceptable stat line of .269/.312/.381 with 15 home runs and 71 RBI while playing for Baltimore and San Diego. Averaging over 150 games a year, Tejada has not been a victim of many injuries over his career.

I'm not completely surprised with this signing, he was one of the best shortstop options available for the Giants, and he has had a very successful career in the Bay Area with the A's. His defense is average, while his bat is above average.

Anyway you want to put it, $6.5 million for 1 year is way better than paying $21 million over 3 years for the same declining veteran. Giants fans, do not be worried about Uribe, we  have a very similar player with a bigger upside and a much safer contract.

This is a decent pick up and Ill give another bit of kudos to the Giants front office for not overpaying.

Welcome back to the bay Mr. Tejada.

Go Giants.

Dodgers Sign Giant Hero Uribe

Well the Bums have done it again, they have taken our best and most beloved shortstop option for next season right out of our trembling hands. Juan "Jazz Hands" Uribe has signed a 3 year/$21 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Should we be worried? Naw, not really.

For most of us, seeing Uribe in a dodger uniform will be a tough one to swallow. We cheered him on at every at-bat the last two seasons, echoing "Uuuuuuuuuu-ribe!" throughout AT&T Park. He has hit countless clutch home runs for the Giants in numerous situations, he became our second most productive hitter in our lineup last season and he has given us a warmth in our heart with his infectious smile.

Forget all that, he's a Dodger now, an enemy, a foe. Someone who shall be boo'd instead of uuu'd(?). This same situation will be handled much like the Jeff Kent debacle, and the Jason Schmit decline: a man that was, at one time, good, has turned pure evil within a matter of weeks.

Giants fans, do not be discouraged. Three years is a long time to be a Dodger, and for $21 million, the Dodgers are giving him a lot of money, money the Giants can spend somewhere else.

So Giants fans, let's give it up to Sabean and the crew from not spending an enormous amount of money on an aged veteran like we have in the past.

BOOOOO-RIBE!

and Go Giants.

Huff Re-signs 2 yr/$22 mil

Its official, according to Andrew Baggarly of Extra Baggs, Aubrey Huff will be rejoining the Giants with a sound contract of 2 years, $22 million with a $10 million 2013 option.

Getting this contract over with is a big accomplishment for this Giants organization, Huff was the top priority for the Giants to focus on this off season, and to see that they did just that before December is a good sign.

"We're extremely excited to be able to re-sign Aubrey," General Manager Brian Sabean said at this morning's press conference. "He was an integral part in the team’s success last season, not only with his outstanding play in the field, but also providing a great clubhouse presence.” 


I think this contract is perfect, not to small, and not to big (which was my main concern) but just right. This contract length and size was so important because the Giants wanted to make sure Huff wouldn't block top prospect Brendon Belt from cracking the starting lineup sometime next season.  


In a free agent class with Adam Dunn, Carlos Pena and Lance Berkman, it would have been easy to over pay for a slugging first baseman. Fortunately for Sabean, he had a good first baseman that wanted to come back to the bay and would take a reasonable contract. 

So say hello, Giants fans, to you're starting first baseman in 2011.

Welcome back Aubrey Huff and Go Giants.

Optimistic Off-Season Outlook

Now that the ticker tape has finally settled on market street and the World Series championship has disappeared into a numb distant memory, we turn our heads towards the off-season.

Every year around this time, Giants fans across the globe drool over the big bats of free agency, demanding we go out of our way to overpay a guy who bats .220 but hits 30+ home runs each year. In the past its always been "Mark Texiera!Manny Ramirez!Adam Dunn!" Or we try to add to our already elite pitching staff by throwing out names like "Sabathia" or "Burnett," but everybody knows those big names are all heading to the Yankees. Why bother?

Well we can still dream, we construct our lineups in almost every way possible to make our team sound like contenders. In the past we would dump x amount of players and sign/trade y amount of players. Hoping the media will take our team seriously in the upcoming year.

All of that will change.

We just won the World Series, our team is the best, the elite and the all-powerful. We already are contenders, even if our top slugger hit 26 home runs, or our best pitcher had an ERA of 3.07.

Coming into this off-season, The Giants have 6 big free agents entering the market: Huff, Uribe Mota, Renteria, Burrell and Guillen. So we lose our starting shortstop, First baseman, left fielder and a long reliever.

Some big names to fill those voids are Adam Dunn (1B), Adam LaRoche (1B), Derek Jeter (SS), Christian Guzman (SS), Carl Crawford (OF), Jayson Werth (OF), Dan Wheeler (RP) and Jason Frasor (RP). All of those names are plausible additions to the team, but highly unlikely any of the two sign with the Giants.

Talks with Aubrey Huff and Juan Uribe are looking like a deal will get done with the Giants, but everyone else has been quiet. With the team's flexibility, we can add almost any position into our starting lineup:

Huff- 1B, LF
Uribe- SS, 2B, 3B
Sanchez- 2B, SS, 3B
DeRosa- LF, RF, CF, 3B, 2B, SS, 1B
Torres- CF, LF, RF
Sandoval- 3B, 1B, C
Posey- C, 1B
Ross- LF, RF
Fontenot- 2B, SS, 3B
Velez- LF, CF, RF, 2B

Multiple lineups can be formed with these core players, so instead of trying to fill specific positions, we can try to fill any other void we may have.

One main void the Giants have is speed. Right now on the roster, we have one stealing threat: Andres Torres. Some fast free agents are Carl Crawford (47 SB last season with TB), and Derek Jeter (18 SB last season with NYY). Both of these players are going to be very expensive and on high demand from the rest of the league. I suggest we don't spend our money on either of these guys and instead invest money in our other void: power.

The Giants had 162 home runs last season, which is a big accomplishment for them ranking them 11th in the league in that category. With Huff knocking out 26 and Uribe sending 24 over the fences, the Giants didn't really have much pop.

Sure guys like Burrell and Posey hit close to 20 for the Giants, but the team still lacks a guy who is a threat to hit one out of the park at every at-bat. One guy who's name has been shopped around lately is Florida Marlins third baseman Dan Uggla. Or perhaps free agents Jayson Werth or Adam Dunn can provide the pop the Giants need.

We know there are endless options out there, it's just up to the Giants front office to create the best possible lineup for next season.

I will be going over potential free agents the Giants may be interested in and will provide write ups daily in a new addition called Free Agent Focus.

Also, if any of you have any ideas as to what your dream Giants lineup is, please make sure you comment below.

Go Giants.

1,000th Visit

Congratulations to The San Francisco Giants World Series Champions and Seed Spitters for reaching its first 1,000 page views.

To celebrate, here's an awesome  Giants music video:




Thank you everyone and keep on visiting! I'll be sure to cover the entire Giants off-season.