SF Giants: 2009 Champions! Then what?

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10/28/2009

A lot to cover today. I'll split it into two posts. The first will cover everything in the title of this post. The second post will cover the new budget, and the players that need attention (arbitration, contract option, and free agents).

GM Rating: 95 out of 100. I did win the world series!

Retired Giants: The only Giant to retire was Randy Johnson who was inducted into the hall of fame. Congratulations Randy, you deserve it.

Hall of Fame: Other players who retired and were inducted to the hall of fame: Tom Glavine, Ken Griffey Jr., Mariano Rivera, Gary Sheffield, John Smoltz, and Frank Thomas.

Other notable players to retire: Jason Giambi, Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez, Jim Edmonds, Omar Vizquel, Moises Alou, Mike Mussina, Greg Maddox (no HOF?!), Tim Wakefield, Kenny Rogers, Jose Contreras, and Troy Percival.

Fired Personnel:
GM's: Epstein, Gillick, Williams, Michael O'Neal (Twins), Minaya, Hendry, and Byrnes.

Managers: Mako Oliveras (Red Sox), Guillen, Manuel, Pinella, and Cooper.

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10/28/2009

Budget: The owner has given a budget of $107,991,031 for 2010. This may be a little more than 2009, I'm honestly not sure.

Team Options: The only team option was for Magglio Ordonez. He did not meet the AB's or games played to force his option to vest. With a VORP of only 4.2 in 2009 and the option for $15M, this is a pretty easy decision. He is too injury prone, and lost too much power (9 HR in 2009) to justify this large of a salary, even if our outfield looks to have some major holes. The last year of his contract was voided.

Arbitration Eligible Players:
Tim Lincecum: He is asking for $6,915,600. Truthfully he is worth every penny. We don't want to low ball him, and risk pissing him off, but if we can settle for a little less we should. Being new to arbitration it is unclear how the player will respond. Hard to imagine he will take an offense to the submitted offer of $6M.

Jonathan Sanchez: He is asking for more than Lincecum! He wants $6,931,200. He has been great but not Lincecum good, and is even a year older. He was offered $5M.

Brian Wilson: He is asking for $1,170,400. After the year he had, he deserves it. We offered and even million. You never know when an extra $170K can help land a free agent or push a deal through.

Kevin Frandsen: He is only asking for $400K. Ask and thou shalt receive. We offered $400K.

Free Agents: 11 players here. This may take a while. Bring in the extra cups of coffee.

Noah Lowry: He hasn't pitched in two years and is asking for a 3 year deal for around $4.5M. I will track him if he doesn't latch on with another team, and would love to keep him as a Giant, but at this point I won't consider more than a 1-year deal. No offers, no arbitration.

Ben Sheets: Type A free agent looking for a 5-year deal. With serious durability issues I will not be offering him a contract. He will be offered arbitration and if he accepts and he is a Giant for another year, great! And if not, we'll take the draft picks.

Shawn Chacon: Didn't pitch particularly well, and is injured through next May. No offers, no arbitration.

Bob Howry: Pitched great all year. He wants 2 years at $740K/year. I have offered him a 2-year deal at $1M a year, but the second year as a team option. He is getting older and I'm worried about his skills falling off a cliff. But if he pitches well again, I'm happy to dish out the extra $260K/year to keep him.

Rafael Soriano: He wants a 3 year deal, $9M/year. That is big boy money and he is a reliever. There is no way we will pay him that kind of money. He is a Type A free agent. I'm torn between offering him $15M over three years, or just letting him go. If he isn't offered an extension, or he turns it down, he will definitely be offered arbitration. I have until 11-20-2009, and will postpone deciding what to do here for a while.

Morgan Ensberg: Did not play well, ever. No offers, no arbitration.

Juan Uribe: He was decent, and would be a viable backup, however I anticipate he, or comparable players will be available closer to Spring Training and the price will go down. He wants 3 years, $1.5M/year. No offers, no arbitration.

Magglio Ordonez: A Type B free agent who just might accept arbitration. Too risky to offer for a supplemental draft pick. No offers, no arbitration.

Randy Winn: Played pretty well and could be a great 4th OF'er or starter if we struggle filling the corners, or have injuries. He wants 3 years and this is too long. I am gong to take a similar approach as with Soriano and think about this for a while. See if his price comes down a bit. Arbitration (no compensation) or an extension are still possibilities.

Joe Borchard: Did not play well, and will not negotiate with me anyway. No offers, no arbitration.

Vladimir Guerrero: Wants a 4 year $60M deal. Just might be worth it but I'm scared of those last 2 years. Plus, missed over 2 months with injuries last year. He is a Type A free agent and will be offered arbitration and I hope he accepts. Realistically he won't.

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10/29/2009

Bob Howry wasted no time signing the extension. If he can come anywhere close to the type of season he had last year, $1M is well worth it. If he bombs out, well..we can afford the $1M.

In other news. Arizona traded J.A. Happ to the Mets for Tobi Stoner. Neither pitcher has pitched particularly well, but Happ is pitching in the big leagues and has some potential whereas Stoner hasn't pitched about A ball and has little to no potential. Nice to see a division mate get weaker as Arizona clearly lost this deal.

No progress as to what should be done with Soriano or Winn.

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10/31/2009

It's Halloween but the only think haunting me is what the bullpen will look like without Rafael Soriano. I woke up this morning to three emails: Feliciano 1-year deal with the Mets, Bruney 1-year deal with the Yankees, and Tony Pena signed a 3-year deal with the Pirates. Not one of these relievers come close to Soriano. I decided to spend the rest of the day drawing up a contract that hopefully Soriano would accept.

The deal:
2010: $8M (Almost what he wants every year)
2011: $7M (Awfully good for a setup guy)
2012: $7M (Team option. Go ahead, force me to exercise the option)

Apparently will power and restraint aren't my strong suit. However, with our closer being relatively affordable, let's lock Soraino up. Soraino, Wilson, Howry, and Affeldt should be an excellent bullpen. Kind of important for a team that is more about pitching than offense.

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11/2/2009

Beltre signs a 4-year $48M extension. He had a very good 2009 hitting over .300 and while he hit the same number of home runs as his down years, his doubles shot up to 44 and he had 119 RBI's. A lot of money to pay a guy who performs on contract years but we'll see.

On that note, still no word from Soriano. Hopefully he'll accept. I'm really struggling on what to do with Winn as well. His numbers were pretty good and I do need a LF'er (and a RF'er). I'm starting to think I will offer him a 2-year deal with the second as a team option. If he and Soraino accept, I am probably out of the running for Holliday, but I suspect that is already the case. Anyway, I'll continue to put off the Winn decision.

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11/3/2009

Soriano rejected the offer. He said he was open to ideas, but when I approached him to find if he had lessened his demands he hadn't. At the risk of upsetting him, I'm going to resubmit the previous offer, though make the last year a mutual option. I'm not sure if this will sweeten the offer or not. If he rejects this one as well, I will let him go off to free agency and collect the draft picks, unless he accepts arbitration. That would be just fine for me as well.

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11/6/2009

Rafael Soriano has agreed to stay with the Giants! Not to toot my own horn, but he said the main reason he came over was because of my negotiating skills. Take that Ned Colletti. It's a 3-year $22M deal, with the third being a mutual option.

I sent off some stats to the media in a press release that I though they should focus on to keep our fans fired up.

Career ERA: 2.62
Career WHIP: 1.04
Career K/9: 9.65
Got 25 saves last year.
In 2008 and 2009 combined: 2 HR's in 91 IP. Wow!
Age: 29

In other news: Michael Bourn is going to the Royals in exchange for Brian Bannister, Yowill Espinal, and $1,303,000 cash. Astros and Royals, I won't state my opinion on this trade because, at this point, who cares.

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11/6/2009

I have made a decision on Winn and will not be offering him a contract. I think he could be a decent contirbutor to the team but not for the years and money he wants. This team has enough #2, 6-8 hitters and doesn't need another one, at least not for that money.

The implications are Eugenio Velez is now the pre-season favorite at LF, and Bowker in RF. This also means Frandsen has the edge at the 2B position. Guerrero could throw a kink (a happy one) by accepting arbitration, as well as the FA market. Power, and the corner OF has me worried after looking at this and I fully intend to place a call down to the Fresno Grizzles (AAA) and tell them to throw Viciedo out to LF and get him some on the job training. He isn't coming up at 3B any time soon anyway with Sandoval being the offensive face of the franchise.

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11/7/2009

Unfortunately for the Twins and Jose Mijares, the 25 year old is done with Baseball. He continued suffering setbacks, and got the news from the doctors that he won't be able to throw another pitch. He was run of the mill in 2009 with a 4.87 ERA but had a lot of promise. Never want to see a CEI.

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NL:
P: Derek Lowe
C: Brian Schneider
1B: Casey Kotchman
2B: Brandon Phillips
3B: Ryan Zimmerman
SS: Troy Tulowitzki
LF: Nate McLouth
CF: Matt Kemp
RF: Jayson Werth

AL:
P: Sean Gallagher
C: Dioner Navarro
1B: Mark Teixeira
2B: Asdrubal Cabrera
3B: Adrian Beltre
SS: Elvis Andrus
LF: Curtis Granderson
CF: Coco Crisp
RF: Alex Rios

Congratulations to all the deserving winners.

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11/9/2009

NL ROY: Jordan Schafer
AL ROY: Chris Getz

Congratulations to these young men and good luck to their future careers.

Minor notes: I gave Bo Greenwell a phone call this morning informing him that it looked like he should get his wardrobe ready for the hot and muggy Southeast. He has been promoted to Augusta for A ball, and at this point, we have every intention that he will start the season there.

The 21 year old LF'er came over from the Indians as part of the Bengie Molina trade. He is a good defensive OF'er with not a whole lot of offensive potential, but his skill set should translate well to Low A next year.

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11/10/2009

NL: In an announcement that makes no sense, I have been awarded the manager of the year. I sent Selig an email informing him that I'm a GM, and that the award, along with all rewards should go to Bruce Bochy, our manager. I also gave him the tip that when Bochy orders the manager of the year cap, he won't be exaggerating as to cap size. His head really is that big. Maybe that's why he's so smart.

AL: Joe Maddon. Maddon led the Rays to the AL East title with a 100 win season. They were ousted by Texas in 4 games in the first round. Congrats Joe.

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11/11/2009

NL: Jake Peavy takes the NL Cy Young. I was really hoping one of our own as we had a couple viable candidates but it's hard to argue against the 21 game winner who had an ERA of 2.27. That;s uhhh, pretty good.

AL: Kerry Wood takes the award here, getting 44 saves, with a 1.38 ERA. HE struck out more than a batter per inning.

Tomorrow MVP and that will do it for awards.

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11/12/2009

NL: Hanley Ramirez put up amazing numbers hitting .354 with 32 dingers and 128 RBI's. His team didn't make the playoffs, but those numbers are deserving. Oh yeah, his OBP was .450!

AL: Matt Holliday. His numbers didn't come close to touching what Hanley did. I guess this will drive up the bidding for Holliday this year and may make him a bit more out of reach. I'm still dreaming however.

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11/18/2007

We find out the arbiters decision tomorrow morning. Nothing too exciting, though hopefully Sanchez doesn't feel like he's been low-balled.

Seatlle moved Cesar Jimenez, a 25-year old RP, to the Phillies for a couple 20-year olds, Julian Sampson and Travis Mattair. Jimenez has been serviceable while the other 2 have not really shown any promise. I don't really get what the M's were thinking. This trade was announced on 11/13/2009.

The O's sent Scott Moore to the Red Sox for Junichi Tazawa and Austin Gallagher. I was surprised at first to see the AL East cooperation, plus I held Tazawa and Gallagher in high regard. The numbers don't support this and only time will tell if either team got a real contributor from this deal. his trade was announced on 11/15/2009.

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11/19/2009

As a GM I have a lot to learn. Like don't low ball a 27-year old lefty who throws gas.

Jonathan Sanchez won his arbitration case and is getting paid $9.5M!

Contrast this with Tim Lincecum who lost his case and is getting paid $6M. Well, there could be worse, I'm happy both are on the Giants.

Brian Wilson lost his case and will be paid $1M.

Kevin Frandsen also lost his case and will be paid $600K. I thought I had offered him $400K so I'm a bit confused, he asked for $800K. Guess the arbiter split the difference.

With these new salaries, I have $41M to offer in extensions and $6M for FA. I hope these numbers reverse once players file for free agency.

As excited as I was about Soriano remaining with the team, apparently there was some miscommunication. He wants to be the closer, and though his overall morale is great (we did win the World Series after all) he is upset with his role as setup man. Barring injury, Wilson is the closer and hopefully this will not be an issue during the season.

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11/20/2009

Free agency begins tomorrow. I have already put some agents number in spped dial, and I'm ready to start making the pitch.

Apparently I should be tatlking to other GM's as well as another trade went throught.

The Rays send Ty Wiggington to the A's for reliever Chris Schroder. Both had nice 2009's and assuming both teams traded from strength for weakness, it seems to be pretty fair.

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11/21/2009 12:00:01 AM

The Free Agents were just announced and I'm about to make some phone calls. I anticipate another post discussing offers made today. I'm at least hoping to get that far with a couple agents.

Wants: a power bat, particularly at both corner outfield positions. Matt Holliday and Rick Ankiel would look great in a Giants uni.

2 SP are also on the wish list. Sheets, Lackey, and Harden top that list.

We announced we wouldn't be bringing Magglio or Vlad back to the fans yesterday. The response was dismal. Our calculated level of fan interest decreased from 76 all the way to 62. We won the World Series, cut me some slack! Now to win them back.

Oh, Vlad and Sheets obviously both declined arbitration so the Giants are in line to get some draft pick compensation. This will be nice, especially since I am looking to sign a Type A free agent myself.

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11/21/2009 11:59:59 PM

What an exhausting day, but I made 4 offers, all should be competitive to 4 players.

Matt Holliday:
Wanted a 4-year deal worth $12,170,000 each year.

I offered a 5-year deal, the last being a team option at his demands. I considered offering a little less money but I really would like to see Holliday become a Giant. He is a Type A free agent.

Rick Ankiel:
Wanted a 4-year deal worth 7,630,000 per year with the last being a player option.

I offered a 4-year deal, $7M each year, with the last being a mutual option. I think I have a good chance of having revamped corner OF in the near future. He is a Type A free agent.

Rich Harden:
Wanted a 4-year contract worth $25,780,000. The salary increased with year.

I offered a 4-year deal. However I subtracted $1M from each years salary and put an incentive to get that cash back for each year he throws at least 160 innings. I also made the last year a mutual option. His history of injuries makes me a bit nervous, which is why I threw those clauses in there. He is a Type A free agent.

Erik Bedard:
Wanted 1-year for $1M.

Offered it to him.

Sheets and Lackey both wanted too much money and were not offered contracts.

Having Magglio, Molina, Winn, Vlad all leave has left me with a ton of money to play with. Even with Lincecum and Sanchez getting huge raises. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, but if all 4 of these guys sign, this roster will be looking awfully good.

Take that ungrateful fan base.

Oh, one more important note. After losing players to free agency I now have only 32 players on the 40-man roster. This will come in real handy before the rule V draft.

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11/22/2009

5 trades today and the D-Backs were involved in three of them. Plus they sent me a trade proposal.

Arizona and Oakland announced 2 separate trades today. I'll combine them as one trade for here.

The Diamondbacks sent Yusmeiro Petit and Connor Graham for Josh Outman, Rashun Dixon, and Anthony Capra.

Seems like the advantage goes to the D-backs here. Outman is an upgrade over Petit. Graham and Capra are insignificant, and Dixon has some potential. My scout John Barr says platoon player at best, but I think we might see a bit more for him. So, Arizona upgraded it's starting rotation and improved its farm system. Win-win here, and should make them more formidable in the division.

Arizona also hooked up with the Royals sending Ryan Roberts for Johnny Giavotella and Carlos Fortuna. Not a lot of interest here.

They proposed sending me Eric Byrnes for Tyler Chatwood and Rolando Gomez. Byrnes is a local kid, I made need a LF, and he has a great personality. However the numbers don't merit the salary, and I like the kids they were asking for. I rejected it without continuing the conversation.

The Cardinals sent David Freese to Detroit for Armando Galarraga and Jermaine Dye went from the White Sox to the Yankees for Chien-ming Wang. Dye still hits lefties but seems to be in decline, and Wang isn't putting up great numbers these days. Kind of an interesting shuffle.