The 2.5-headed duo of Bruce Bochy and Brian Sabean have had their contracts extended through 2013 with an option for 2014!!! OK, anyone surprised by that statement isn't going to be surprised by me printing it here. After all, it's late November. Only baseball nerds would read this site at this time of year, and baseball nerds already know this.
This morning, however, I read that the newly fiscally-secure Brian Sabean wants to trade Ramon Ramirez or Jeremy Affeldt. Didn't we just sign half of those guys? Actually, the idea makes sense. Sabean signed these guys because there is a dearth of lefty relievers around (Ramirez is a righty). Because of that, lefty releivers are valuable commodities to many teams, inlcuding the Giants. In addition to Affeldt, we have Dan Runzler and Javier Lopez to fill that role. If Barry Zito starts, Eric Surkamp may be another. Oh, and don't forget our stengths of Sergio Romo, and Santiago Casilla from the right, in addition to Ramirez. I'm just saying that if you want a good player in a trade, you have to have something good to give. And lefty relievers may be just that valuable of a trade bait so that Mr. Sabean can fish up something worthwhile in return. Names anyone?
4 comments:
Both Affeldt and Ramirez are free agents after this season. It would be weird to pick up a guy's option (Affeldt) for a relatively high price ($5M) and then dangle him as trade bait. I'm not sure many other clubs value LOOGYs like the Giants do, so I imagine it would be Ramirez on the block. We'll see. The original rumor appears to be from Ken Rosenthal who is usually pretty solid.
Like you say, you have to move talent to get talent.
Who is going to want to pick up Affeldt for 5 mil a year, besides the giants?
Someone who needs a lefty in the pen. And has someone to trade that is in the $3 - 6 million range. That's chicken scratch for any ML team.
And by the way, if anyone is stressing about trades/signings or lack thereof, just think about how you now can consider watching Sunday night baseball without Bobby Valentine's inane drivel.
I like Bobby V. He's a relentless self-promoter, and a motormouth, but he's smart and insightful when he gets around to actually talking baseball. I've often thought about the guys in the game I wish I could have an hour with just to learn from, and I must admit the blabbering egoist from Connecticut would make the cut. He LOVES Brandon Crawford, by the way, but that's not surprising from a former shortstop phenom. Did you know he was married to Ralph Branca's daughter? (Gotta love Wikipedia.)
That being said, I'm not sure the Sawx made the best move. I think Bobby V would be a great manager for a young, rebuilding club. (On the other hand, he likes the spotlight and he'll get it in Boston.) Amazing to me is how small the managerial pool is and how rarely fresh names get fed into the hopper. I love the Cardinals going with Mike Matheny who has ZERO managerial experience! Ballsy move, but so many people speak so highly of the guy it is easy to see why they took a chance.
Coming back the Giants, I can understand their desire to keep the continuity with GM, manager, and assistants. Baseball is a long haul game--long season, long road to the bigs, you know what I mean. It is interesting to still have Sabean who presided over the drafts of guys like Cain and Lincecum and then get to watch them develop from prospects into real ballplayers. That's rare. I think they'd like to keep Bochy, Rags, Wotus, etc. around forever. Hard to argue with that when you ask yourself "who out there would be better?"
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