There has already been a lot of fallout at the simple mentioning of Los Gigantes signing veterans Roberts and Aurilia.
In rebuttal to the popular opinion I claim that these signees mark the shift in organizational philosophy that Giants GM Brian Sabean pledged at the end of the summer.
Now you may ask, “How can the signing of 2 aging veteran players change the face of an already old franchise?”
The answer lies in the big picture, the Giants beyond the 2007 season. By signing cheap replacement level players to relatively short term contracts (2 years; Aurilia, 3 years; Roberts) it affords the time and money for the Giants to put more focus into the draft and produce strong postion players who will be ready to take the major league field in a few years time. Not to mention that Roberts is the most underated player on the FA market with a better batting average, OBP. and steal percentage than Juan Pierre. Sure he’s older, injury proned and in need of a platoon partner but his potential contract makes a lot more sense than Pierre’s 5 year $45 million dollar contract. Just because Colletti has flashed more dollars in the market this year doesn’t make him a good GM, anyone who claims so has no idea what they are talking about. Plus, between Roberts and Bonds (if he resigns) Linden will probably see a similar amount of at bats that Finley saw last year.
We all know the Rotation is set and its only going to get stronger, with a little bit of luck in three or four years time the next (and first in a great while) wave of young position players will be ready.
Mark my words, in 4 years the Giants will have a new, young, cheap core of great position players resembling the likes of Wright and Reyes in New York or Sizemore and Victor Martinez in Cleveland right about the same time Chicago and Houston begin to regret the Soriano and Lee contracts.
Plus if Richie comes back to the Giants I can bust out my old bobblehead from the closet…everybody wins.
