So far the ‘Hot Stove’ has been rather mild for the Giants. Which isn’t too surprising since Brian Sabean apparently is very stealthy when wheeling and dealing. Kind of like the Predators’ invisibility cloak suit thing that it can turn on and off. Did I just make a Predator reference? I think I did.
In other good news, the Yanks are “Eyeing Shea Hillenbrand” which is music to my ears. One of my biggest fears of the off season is that Sabean will try and bring back Shea for 2-3 years. Sometimes at night I wake up with a cold sweat after envisioning Shea hitting into a double play. Watching him hit so high up in the order last year was discomforting to say the least. He’s a 7-9th hitter at best and I am sure the Giants would stick him somewhere in the 3-5 range.
In the aforementioned article, the best part is this gem.
Shea Hillenbrand’s rickety reputation isn’t scaring the Yankees away in their search for a right-handed hitting first baseman.
Good for us that they aren’t scared away by his offense. I still can’t believe how many people think that Hillenbrand is a good hitter. Hitting for an empty .300 average will do that I guess.
This off season is a particularly weird one. There are options out in the market that would definitely improve the Giants but they all come with mile long strings attached. Would Carlos Lee be a nice pickup? Sure. But inking him to a 5 year deal really scares me. And for me that is the biggest hurdle to get over this off season. Players like Carlos Lee and Alfonso Soriano might be productive for 50-60% of their contract at best. The 5th year of a Carlos Lee deal after he’s gained 30 pounds and has the mobility of a rock, looks to be positively frightening.
And if that doesn’t bother you enough the word is that the Giants have offered a 3/30 contract to Juan Pierre and Gary Matthews Jr.. The first to accept gets the contract and the CF job. Juan Pierre making 10 million dollars a year is pure insanity. He may be the most overrated player in Major League Baseball. He’s a leadoff hitter that doesn’t take walks, has an arm that makes Johnny Damon’s arm look like Willie Mays, and was the leading out maker in the National League last year. Let me repeat, he made more outs than anyone else in the NL. Hitting is simple in baseball, don’t make outs and Pierre made more outs than anyone else. He is an 8 or 9th place hitter miscast as a lead off hitter. But he sure is fast!
Gary Matthews Jr. is even more risky. At least with Pierre you can somewhat guess what he’s going to give you but Matthews Jr. is a total mystery. He was basically a journeyman who had a career year at age 31 and you want to sign him for 3/30? Are you kidding me? Someone should enroll Brian Sabean into a stats class. The first thing they should teach him is to get rid of outliers (Why Hello 2006 Gary Matthews Jr.) when doing analysis. It reminds me of Sesame Street which one of these things doesn’t belong? Gary Matthews Jr. has also been claimed off of waivers three times in his career! And just to stick the knife in a little further, his number #1 similar player through age 31 is…drum roll please…Michael Tucker. Someone get me off this ride.
