The Panda pounds away in Venezuela

And now, for some good news -- Pablo Sandoval had a single, double and homer in a game Sunday in the Venezuelan winter leagues. He's hitting .395 with 3 homers and 18 RBIs in 76 ABs.

A cautionary note -- winter league pitching isn't very good. Kevin Frandsen, who was overwhelmed by MLB pitching this year, is raking in Puerto Rico with a .337 average, 2 Homers and 14 RBIs in 86 ABs. He's with the Giagnates de Carolina, as is Armando Rios (.377) and Nate Schierholtz, who's at .324 with a homer and 9 RBIS.

Whining about the Yankees

Gary Peterson of the Oakland Tribune writes about how unfair it is that the Giants lost out to the Yankees for the services of Nick Johnson and how we've become insensitive to the inevitability of Yankee dominance. I'm not impressed. Winning a pennant isn't impossible IF YOU USE YOUR RESOURCES WELL. The Giants were in contention until the last weekend of the season, thanks to otherworldy pitching. If the Giants weren't operated as incompetently as they are, they could have gotten the additional two or three or four wins they needed. Instead, they traded away two of their best prospects for Ryan Garko and Freddy Sanchez.

Frankly, this feels like nonsense from someone who's unwilling to admit that it's the fault of the Giants front office that they're in this spot. In other words, Peterson's just another apologist for Brian Sabean. Rob Neyer at ESPN is more of a gentleman than me and calls it "stale soup," noting that the Rox, Brewers and Twins have made it to the postseason recently with lower payrolls than the Orange and Black. Neyer believes that it's the outfield that's the problem (boldface is mine):

Not that I'm telling the Giants how to spend their money. But I'm not sure that first base should be one of their top priorities. At least Travis Ishikawa might be good enough, eventually (particularly if he's got a decent platoon partner). The last time I checked, the Giants don't have even one outfielder who's going to put up National League-average numbers. I know there aren't many outfielders available this winter. But there aren't many first basemen, either. I would rather have Johnny Damon than Adam LaRoche.

LaRoche in the Orange and Black?

Andy Bensch at Bleacher Report contends that the Adam LaRoche is the best available free agent left and contends that the Giants should pull the trigger on a 3-year deal worth $24 million or so. Here's the key parts:

-- Of all the free-agent bats the Giants have been linked to at corner infield, Laroche has the highest slugging percentage of all of them. With a mark of .491, Laroche out sluggs Dan Uggla (.482), Mark DeRosa (.424), Adrian Beltre (.453) and the aforementioned Johnson (.447).

-- A 24-27 million dollar deal over three years sounds like a good comprise considering initial reports stated LaRoche wanted 31 million over three years. Knowing how the Giants are extremely conservative on how they spend their money, they are probably going to wait until Laroche's demands fall to either 18-20 million over three years or if Laroche drops the third year. But if San Francisco waits for that to happen, they may miss out on signing him just like they missed out on signing Johnson.

No green from the Orange and Black

Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle has a long column that essentially asserts that the Giants aren't going to be able to lure a decent hitter during this offseason because they don't have any extra money and because no one wants to play in the park. I'm not sure if he's completely right -- and there's no sourcing at all on any of the key points, such as Nick Johnson turning down more money and Jason Bay not wanting to play at all in San Francisco.

Still, the main point is about the Giants not being willing to spend any more than $92 million. Here's the key verbiage:

The ballpark is an issue not because nobody can hit home runs there but because there are lots of other places where a fellow can hit a lot of home runs. Nick Johnson apparently took slightly less money ($5.5 million as opposed to $6 million) to sign with the Yankees, who play in a refrigerator box.
Makes a person wonder if maybe the staunch refusals to modify the dimensions shouldn't be revisited. I mean, it's a ballpark, not the Hermitage. If it were that sacred a place, it wouldn't already have been wed shotgun-style to three telephone companies.
That won't happen, of course, not while Larry Baer draws breath and a salary.
But the money issue is real - again, because the budget is capped in the $92.5 million range, and there is no wiggle room to take on a lot of extra cash or years on contracts. The truth of the rumor that the Giants offered real money and years to Bay is nebulous because according to sources, Bay (or his agent) made it clear before talks even began in earnest that there weren't enough dollars or years to make him play in San Francisco.
Sabean speaks often of "resources" without actually citing what the resources actually are, but we know that most of the spare money is already spoken for, between the signing of Freddy Sanchez to a new deal and pending arbitration for Tim Lincecum and Brian Wilson.
We also know that the days of deficit spending at King Street are gone, at least for the foreseeable future, because the one guy who didn't blink at a cash call, Harmon Burns, has passed, and the woman who inherited his piece of the team and his willingness to stretch the budget, Sue Burns, is gone as well.

The baseball Gods DO exist

A big Giants Win hat tip to Paulie at Give Em Some Stankeye for his matchless commentary on the signing of Tony Pena Jr. earlier in the week: The Giants signed erstwhile living Joe Posnanski punchline Tony Pena Jr. to a minor league contract, causing me to do an epic spit take. Now, when I heard this, I hadn't realized that Pena had already made the conversion from legendary offensive eunuch to budding reliever; I thought the transition was still in the rumor stages. Thus, I rolled my eyes when I heard the news, figuring here was a guy with a good defensive rep who the Giants would find way too much playing time for. Think Neifi Perez from Hell, if you can even begin to comprehend that. In reality, the Giants signed him to give him a shot to contribute out of the bullpen. I guess it could work out, in theory. The guy has a good arm. Still, it's sad that this is the most exciting bit of Giants news right now as the baseball world is bustling with blockbuster moves. It does give me the chance to repeat my favorite Tony Pena Jr. factoid though, that in the midst of a season where he was hitting .169/.189/.209, he was for some reason intentionally walked twice.

That's a link to an epic 2006 blog post by Joe Posnanski, who said he would have fired Blue Jays manager John Gibbons on the spot for giving Pena Jr. an intentional walk. Here's part of the post: I’m just telling you that intentionally walking Tony Pena Jr. or any other light-hitting middle infielder hitting .150 would be a fireable offense on my team. I’d have that written on a clubhouse sign.
And Gibbons (or whoever) would tell me how the walk set up the double play, tell me how by walking Pena they got the lefty-lefty matchup they wanted, tell me that in that situation, down two balls, you HAVE to walk Pena because any major league hitter becomes dangerous ahead 2-0 in the count and blah blah blah. Thank you. Please have your desk cleared by 9 a.m. tomorrow morning.
In this case, the Baseball Gods were as offended as I was, and the next batter — David DeJesus — scoffed at the whole leftty-lefty thing and drilled a single that scored two runs. Then Alberto Callaspo hit a single that scored another. The Royals snapped their losing streak and won 8-4. It was just. It was right. I’m not an owner, and it’s good thing.

Aubrey Huff in the Orange and Black?

That's the suggestion from Nick Cannata-Bowman at Croix De Candlestick. His argument is that he's not going to over-priced following a down season --

With the exception of a couple down years, Huff represents the best value for the production we can likely expect. He’s essentially like LaRoche and Garko in terms of ability only with better platoon splits. And since Garko’s not coming back due to his alleged tenuous relationship with Bruce Bochy, that leaves us with Adam LaRoche’s demands for a three year $31.5 million contract. Or Aubrey Huff for a one year deal that doesn’t leave as hamstrung a la Aaron Rowand.
Now if Huff doesn’t hit, then we’re none the worse. Our other option would be to overpay for Beltre, a Scott Boras client nonetheless, and deal with the second coming of Pedro Feliz for three to four years. And with Dan Uggla looking like less and less of a possibility, halfway decent hitters are getting harder to find. I’ve been over the list of possible targets more times than I’d like to count, and trust me, this is a last ditch kind of effort to dig up some semblance of offense out of what is turning into a largely disappointing offseason.

Nick notes that Huff hasn't been mentioned anywhere in trade rumors. He'll be 33 and was traded this season from the Orioles to the Tigers on Aug. 17. He's only one season removed from putting some fine numbers as an Oriole -- 32 HRs, 108 RBIs, .304 average, .360 OBP and .552 slugging. He even finished 16th in the MVP voting. But he was pretty bad once he got to Detroit. In fact, he was almost the same as Ryan Garko in his awfulness with 2 HRs and 13 RBIs in 117 plate appearances and a line of .189 batting average, .262 OBP and a .302 slugging.

Here's how Tim Dierkes at MLB Trade Rumors saw it two months ago -- Aubrey Huff wasn't great in 2006 (.267/.344/.469), but he still found a three-year, $21MM offer from the Orioles that winter. Surprisingly, Huff cranked out a .304/.360/.552 performance in 2008, ranking fifth in the AL in slugging. Huff was mainly a DH at that point, perhaps one reason why he cleared waivers.
Huff wasn't nearly as successful this year; he hit .241/.310/.384 in 597 plate appearances for the Orioles and Tigers. He was especially awful after the August 17th trade to Detroit.
Huff turns 33 in December, and his stock is down as he enters free agency. He logged 826 innings at first base this year, so we can't rule out an NL job. But does any team envision Huff as a regular player? Can he expect more than $2-3MM?

Nick Johnson not in the Orange and Black

The Yankees official web site has just posted a story that says Nick Johnson's near a one-year $5.5 million deal to don the pinstripes. Unfortunately, he was probably the most desirable free agent that the Giants could afford. The story also says the signing means the Yanks aren't going to sign Johnny Damon, so maybe that's who the Giants will pursue now.

Grant at McCovey Chronicles says it means that this offseason's not going to amount to very much -- I'm not going to blame the Giants for not trading Madison Bumgarner for a pre-arbitration cleanup hitter who doesn't exist. I'm not going to blame them for not wanting to part with Thomas Neal or Jonathan Sanchez for Dan Uggla.
So I'll spend the rest of the offseason gritting my teeth about the Aaron Rowand and Barry Zito contracts, and just hoping that some how, some way, the Giants fall into an average offense next year. If they sign Mark DeRosa for three years, I'll weep a little bit, but then I'll hope he improves the team for next year, and next year only. If they sign Adam LaRoche for a huge contract, even though he's a marginal improvement over Ryan Garko, I'll grumble and spit, and then I'll hope LaRoche makes the Giants a better team in 2010.
What I'm trying to say is that I'm giving up any hope for a good offseason. There isn't a permutation of players that will result in sound short- and long-term planning. There isn't a magical wizard who is going to come down from the sky and bless the Giants with prudent-yet-aggressive decision making. This isn't Seattle. I'm expecting a disaster of a contract -- something that will end as messily as Randy Winn's deal. So now that I've resigned myself to that mess, I'm focused on hoping that there's at least one good season that the team can wring out of the player(s) in question.
I'm hoping for an average offense built on the backs of players likely to decline. Is that too much to ask? The "players likely to decline" part is a given, so I'm trying to find a way to still be slightly optimistic.

Jamey Carroll in Dodger Blue?

Talk about an unimpressive signing -- a deal for a second baseman with zilch power. This guy is the very definition of what used to be called a banjo hitter in the mold of Hal Lanier. I guess the Dodgers feel that they have enough power in the outfield and don't feel like paying someone like Orlando Hudson another $8 million next year, what with the Dodger owners battling it out in divorce court.

Hard to believe that Frank McCourt OKd the signing of anyone named Jamey. Thanks, I'm here all week. Carroll does have decent OBP but no power at all. He has 12 HRs in over 2,500 plate appearances.

Actually, the comparison to Hal Lanier is unfair. Lanier was a truly awful hitter with a career .255 OBP over 10 years.

Sabean's errand boy slams Boras

The dreadful Bruce Jenkins of the San Francisco Chronicle is at it again, covering up for Brian Sabean's incompetence. This time, he's decided to dredge up Sabean's recent slam at Scott Boras, who had the audacity to point out that the Giants have a crappy offense as part of his efforts to get Adrian Beltre a new deal. (The slam is deep within a bunch of pointless ramblings in the Three Dot Lounge post). I suppose that now that Barry Bonds has been out of the game for two years, it's time for Bruce to get on the Scott Boras Hate Train.

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't it seem a tad ironic that Bruce is on the side of a guy who's demonstrably one of the worst GMs in MLB? And that he's while telling us that we need to hate on a guy who's quite simply doing his job -- in this case, getting his clients the best possible deal?
If I were running the Chronicle, I would tell Jenkins to stop kissing up to his sources and break some news for a change.

As for Sabean, I would say it's time to grow up and do your job, instead of going around insulting an easy target like Boras.

Pena Jr. in the Orange and Black

I've been remiss by not noting that the Giants have signed shortstop-turned-pitcher Tony Pena Jr. to a minor league deal. The guy's a flat-out terrible hitter and he did log a shutout inning as an MLB pitcher for the Royals back in 2008.

His dad was a pretty decent catcher for the Pirates, Cards, Bosox and Indians over 18 seasons with 107 HRs and two World Series appearances in 1987 and 1995.

I am trying to think of someone who's done the position player to pitcher transition. There's been a few successful transitions that have gone the other way -- Smoky Joe Wood and Rick Ankiel.

The Dodger divorce gets a date

Pretty much the only good news in the offseason for Giants is that the Dodgers aren't going to be making any big moves any times soon. Dodger owners Frank and Jamie McCourt really hate each other -- so much so that the Dodgers are going to have a hard time improving on this season's pretty decent club. The LA Times reports that there's now a May 24 trial date set to determine who owns the Dodgers and that the lawyer for Jamie McCourt called into question Frank McCourt's bookkeeping and promised "bombshell" allegations against him. The next four paragraphs reflect just how bitter all this has become:

"Mr. McCourt is not spending all of his income on his family and on the team," attorney Dennis Wasser said at Tuesday's hearing.Wasser declined to elaborate, other than to say he intends to present those allegations to debunk McCourt's claims that he is low on cash.Wasser opened his statement by saying that Frank McCourt had contracted RAIDS: "recently acquired income deficiency syndrome."
"It's an illness many people seem to have in dissolution cases," Wasser said. "We need to explore that illness and the basis of it."
Marc Seltzer, who represents Frank McCourt, countered later Tuesday in a statement: "Mr. Wasser's comments using an acronym for an illness are shameful, insensitive and reflect very poorly on Mrs. McCourt and her legal team."

Actually, the Dodgers dumped Juan Pierre -- he of the stupid 5-year, $45 million deal, given that he has no power and a crappy throwing arm -- on the Chisox, agreeing to pay $8 million of his salary. The Pale Hose are sending the Dodgers two players to be named later. I bring this up partly because Brian Sabean was also trying to sign Pierre to a deal during the offseason that the Dodgers got him.

The murky Orange and Black future

Steve Anglin at Bleacher Report suggests that the Giants may be stuck in neutral because of the passing of Sue Burns earlier this season. I must point out -- Anglin doesn't give any specific factual information, just speculation: Giants ownership may be in disarray financially, given the passing of Sue Burns. The passing of Sue Burns, the Principle Owner, has put pressure on ownership to not spend, due to legal and/or financial restraints.