December 13th, 2007
The San Francisco Chronicle
"The Giants, in their first significant move to shape a team without Barry Bonds, signed free-agent center fielder Aaron Rowand to a five-year, $60 million contract on Wednesday.
For that significant investment, in both years and dollars, the Giants have secured a fifth-place hitter, an All-Star, a Gold Glove center fielder and, equally important, a personable and emotional leader who will be asked to infuse the clubhouse with the "warrior mentality" that manager Bruce Bochy complained it lacked last season."
What's everyone thoughts about the signing and about what else the Giants should do to improve the team for next season. I for one feel that given the market, and what Rowand was expected to get from other teams ($70-$80 for 5 years), $12 mil a year isn't too bad. I've liked the guy since he was on the White Sox and his full speed collision with the center field wall in Philadelphia is still fresh in my memory and is one of my favorite catches. of all time The Giants obviously need a lot of work after finishing in last place, but at least with the Rowand signing, Sabean is refusing to listening to anymore trade proposals for our two studs, Lincecum and Cain. I feel that they should try to fill the 3B hole through trade or a non-tender player (take a chance on someone cheap), sign another veteran for the bullpen and let most of the kids play and learn as they go. I think with our core of pitching we will bev ery, very good in a few years. We can always supply the offense with a bat or two through free agency next year and the year after when the market is different. I have patience and I except the Giants to suck for a while, but if we let the kids play and build over the next few years instead of trading away our young talent, then we can be competitive, and possibly win a championship. Pitching wins championships, not a super offense (ie Yankees). Anyways, enough of my ranting, what are your guys thoughts???
7 comments:
I definitely think it makes the Giants better, but that wouldn't take much considering what they got from Roberts & company in CF last year. I like Rowand a lot, but I think he's more of a complimentary guy, not an impact guy. I mean, yeah great we have a #5 hitter, but the #4 hitter is Benjie Molina.
I think its a good move and it should allow them to hold onto the Triumvirate (Cain, Lince, Lowery), but there are still a lot of holes to plug. They will probably suck next year, but at least this is a piece, a fairly large piece, in the rebuilding process.
Anyone know who likely free agents are for next year?
Here's a link to the free agents after the 2008 season...in my opinion, a pretty good group of players.Names that stand out to me...Bobby Abreu, Carl Crawford, Vladimir Guerrero, Orlando Hudson, K-Rod, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and Rafael Soriano and Brandon Lyon were both good in relief last year.
http://www.mlb4u.com/freeagency08.php
Oooh, I'm liking Carl Crawford in LF. Or maybe try to woo CC back home to the Bay. Probably would have to be an either/or with those two. Too much moola to get them both thanks to Zito's albatross. Not a lot at the corners though, which is too bad.
Here's a cool link for you Andy. This is what we have cooking in the minors. Angel is supposed to be the next Miguel Cabrera and he's only 17 (I think).
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/265340.html
Rowand is good, but are you picking him up on a high note? Meaning, what's his upside... I feel like its more of a downside.
He looks more like your #3 hitter to me. Talk about protection..........
That said, you couldn't have had a worse OF before him, so you have definitely improved.
That is something I thought about. Is he going to hit 27 HR again? At ATT? Probably not. He's hit a fair amount of doubles and supposedly is a gap hitter which would play well at ATT, but I'm guessing he tops out around 20 HR's. Which is why, going back to my early comment, I see him as more a complementary player.
Here's an easier to read collection of the 2009 free agents, broken up by position and age at time of free agency:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/
Post a Comment