Today is the deadline for teams to tender contracts to their arbitation eligible players. The Giants have an unusually high number of players in this category including some pretty big names. Are Tim LIncecum and Pablo Sandoval big enough for you? Those guys, along with several others are no doubters. They will be offered contracts and the process will go on. At the other end of the spectrum is Eli Whiteside, who will amost surely not be offered a contract today making him a free agent. There are a couple on the bubble, most notably Jeff Keppinger and Mike Fontenot. Brian Sabean has already stated that one will be offered a contract and and one won't. It's almost literally down to who gets the chair when the music stops.
To my eye, the decision is easy. Fonty will be less expensive and can play multiple positions whereas Kepp is, for all practical purposes, stuck at 2B. Fonty had a down year at the plate last year, but Kepp was no great shakes and Fonty's projections are pretty solid. With a lefthanded leaning lineup, you might prefer a RH bat off the bench, but Fonty hits lefty's fairly well.
The Giants started out the Hot Stove League with 13 arbitration eligible players. They have pared that down to 10 with the trades of Andres Torres, Jonathan Sanchez and Ramon Ramirez. In addition to the aforementioned Tim Lincecum, Pablo Sandoval, Eli Whiteside, Jeff Keppinger and Mike Fontenot, they have 5 more including Sergio Romo, Nate Schierholtz, Emmanuel Burriss, Santiago Casilla, and Ryan Vogelsong. I expect all of those to be offered contracts. You might think Emmanuel Burriss might not be, but Sabes has been talking him up as a reserve infielder lately, which makes you wonder slightly if both Kepp and Fonty might be gone.
In addition to the 8 starting position players, teams usually carry 5 reserves and 12 pitchers to round out the 25 man active roster. They have to carry a reserve catcher who I think will be Chris Stewart. As of right now, the other 4 would be Burriss, the winner of the Kepp/Fonty musical chairs competition, Brett Pill and Brandon Belt. I'm more and more thinking Belt goes to Fresno to start the season. Leaving one potential opening for an OF reserve. Usually teams go with 2 OF reserves though, which is why I'm thinking there might not be room for both Burriss and Fonty/Kepp. Sabes specifically mentioned Burriss as having played some OF though, so maybe they only carry one.
MLB Trade Rumors has a list of potential non-tender candidates from around the league. I'll just list a few who caught my eye. Theres always some listed who are most likely going to be offered contracts, but it's fun to take a look anyway. I'm specifically thinking of players who might become non-roster invitees to spring trainging. I'll include a few others who might raise some eyebrows but would not fit into the non-roster invitee category.
Position Players:
Daric Barton- Wow! His stock has sure dropped.
Jesus Flores- Backup catcher?
Tony Gwynn, Jr.
Jeremy Hermida- I one time drafted him at the end of my fantasy draft. LOL!
Ronny Paulino- backup catcher.
Landon Powell- backup catcher
Skip Schumaker
Ryan Spilborghs
Ryan Theriot- reserve middle infielder. Better than Fonty/Kepp?
Luke Scott- Nice bat for a corner OF/1B spot.
James Loney- The Dodgers had announced they would tender him a contract. Does the DUI change that? BTW, did you hear the one about the other cars involved in his accident? They're lucky he doesn't hit hard! LOL!
Pitchers:
Taylor Bucholz- reclamation project for bullpen?
Clay Hensley- former Giants farmhand.
Andrew Miller- very nice possible reclamation project. Former high first round draft choice.
Mike Pelfrey- probably will get picked up an a major league deal if non-tendered.
Chris Volstad- I would think he would be tendered or offered a major league deal if non-tendered, but an intriguing name for t he back of the rotation.
Jerome Williams- hard to imagine him not being tendered after his season with the Angels, but the CJ signing might have pushed him out. I would also think he will get a major league deal somewhere.
Who do you like on the possible non-tender list?
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My white whale Andrew Miller re-upped with the Sox for 1.3MM. Boooo!
ReplyDeleteVolstad is an interesting case. I bet they're trying to trade him up to the deadline. If he does get non-tendered the G's should be all over him. That's my choice. I seriously doubt Wiliams gets non-tendered with all the money the Angels just threw down but I'd love to see him back with us.
The Riot's D ratings are not good, but he is a feisty guy. Alas a LSU/Cubs reunion with the Hobbit is looking slim. Luke Scott's political opinions make SF his 30th choice of destinations I'm sure. Better to just stick with our choice (who had better damn be the Hobbit) then chase C-list guys.
It is interesting to note Gregor Blanco and Hector Sanchez have been a twin wrecking crew down in the VZL for us. Blanco likes to draw walks, what the hell are the Giants in on him for? I'd give even odds those are the 2 guys who crack the roster, if they want to season Belt I bet Blanco is the 4th OF.
Ronny Paulino was a Giant for about 10 seconds. Very good defensive catcher in prior seasons, not sure about 2011, nice hitter too, so probably would be better than Stewart, but I like Chris, hope we can keep him.
ReplyDeleteGiants were after Miller last year I believe. Speaking of Boston, they are talking about starting Bard in 2012. He was the consensus that the experts thought the Giants would select instead of Lincecum.
I've had Hermida on a number of my fantasy teams as well...
I would not expect Williams to be non-tendered, do they even have a better pitcher for that last spot in the rotation? Especially after how well he did last season plus currently in a winter league right now. And even if he were, he should be able to get signed for a starting spot somewhere.
All the pitchers look very interesting, wouldn't mind a flier with any of them. Only Paulino is interesting to me among the position players, though Schumaker could be interesting, horrible at 2B though defensively, but he plays OF too and was OK there, and his hitting would be pretty nice off the bench. I once was looking to draft Flores for my keeper league; he hasn't done much past two seasons after great 2009 season, but the potential was there once.
travis got signed by the crue...good for him
ReplyDeleteGood for Ishi for sure. Best walk in franchise history.
ReplyDeleteThe now Puka-shell-less Williams is re-upped by the Angels. Schumaker back for 2 years with the Cards.
Ooops, posted on the wrong thread... Shankbone beat me to Williams news.
ReplyDeleteI would note here that his stats were not that great in 2011, at least not as great as his results, so I would expect him to regress some in 2012. Still, good for him, good story of comeback, and with less pressure of #5 spot, hopefully he can keep the comeback going.
Vogelsong is much more likely to keep the good times going; Williams not so much. Jerome stills walks a little too much, don't strike out enough, but as the #5 starter, he's probably an advantage in that spot.
Maybe I'll beat you to... The Fish save us 445K this year by signing Squatting Warrior Spirit! A bad Giant joins one of the least favorite orgs in the majors. I bet Ozzie begged them on this one. Next up, a trade for AJ.
ReplyDeleteShankbone,
ReplyDeleteCmon. If you couldn't sign Pujols to a 10 year deal, wouldn't your next move be to sign Rowand to a minor league deal. Lol. They are right on top of things.
If I lost out in the Albert Pujols running, my natural reaction would be to quickly snatch up Rowand too. Good for him, maybe he'll get in a fight with Scott Cousins and be an ironic favor for all of us?
ReplyDeletea 1 year deal to jwill makes sense...halos arent gonna spend an arm and a leg on a 5 guy...and he will give them innings...dont think he can win with 5 runs per game for support?
ReplyDeletegood luck to gamer...lay good odds he gets cut during st
except for decker changing gigs, looks like every farm club is bringing back their entire staffs....consistency is good for development
i would like to see baer keep his promise about investing in all the farm clubs
want this org to prove that its not just about blocking the a's moving to sj and that they really want to invest in the future
saunders to get non tendered...interesting
ReplyDeleteContinuing the ex-Giant farmhand theme, Jason Grilli tendered by the Pirates, still playing at 35. Didn't have bad ratios last year actually, 1.1MM.
ReplyDeleteClay Hensley-non tendered
ReplyDeletefont wins the tender war
ReplyDeletekepp out
gl mr keppinger
Whiteside as well. Murph, if you could hold off on handing out #22 until somebody good comes along, I'd appreciate that...
ReplyDeleteBacci,
ReplyDeleteI talked to a friend who is an endocrinologist today. He said:
1. Nothing he knows of that would produce a false positive test for synthetic testosterone.
2. No connection between thyroid disease and synthetic testosterone.
3. Testosterone can cause exopthalmos!!
Thought you'd find that interesting.
wow doc...thats pretty damning stuff
ReplyDeleteseems that not one outlet has bothered speaking to an endocrinologist....you have scooped them all
im just seriously bothered by the reaction of the press
want braun stripped of mvp (i thought kemp deserved it more anyway) mlb will never be clean (like it really ever was, or like pro athletes wont always look for that edge)
looks like braun will be starting his season at home for a couple of months
oh well
Baseball prospectus has a pretty interesting running summary up on Braun.
ReplyDeletewill check that out
ReplyDeleteno surprises from giants....terms of vogie's contract not released yet...nor has timmy's
How would Brandon Webb be as a reclamation project?
ReplyDeleteWebb and Scott Kazmir both seem like they are too far gone with injury issues to be good reclamation projects. 2nd Rotator Cuff surgery for Webb, shoulder and nagging injuries for Kazmir due to bad mechanics. I'd say they are both big time longshots.
ReplyDeleteThe Phils just signed Dontrelle Willis. If he cut his ambition to the LOOGY roll, he could be pretty fantastic, great stats against lefties.
Reds sign Andrew Brackman. I don't see any information on Volstad yet, the Marlins are on deep cover, but I guess they offered him arb because there was no non-tender. Any opinions on Joel Pineiro? Might be expensive I guess.
ReplyDeleteI'd love for the Giants to go full boat contrarian and grab Paul Maholm. This Zito PR stuff is going to be very played out. If they really want to work on winning, grabbing a relatively cheap LH would be a great move. He'd be about what Sanchez cost, so its dip in the RDF time, which won't happen.
A soft tossing lefty project: Zach Duke. Not very enthused. Given the 3 RHs, it'd be nice to have a 2nd lefty to pair with MadBum.
I still think Zito will win the #5 starter's job, though I would want somebody in to compete for the job against him.
ReplyDeleteIn any case, the #5 starter's position has not been the cause for them not making the playoffs in two of the past three years, it has been the offense not producing enough runs. I would rather any rainy day fund money be used on a hitter, say if another team wants to dump some salary. But I really like the lineup as it is now, think we can win the division with it, or at least make the playoffs, as long as Posey returns to his 2010 form and no other huge injury hits any of our key/core players.
Beltran is reportedly being pursued by Rockies, as well as Cards and Red Sox.
ReplyDelete