I don’t mind the Francoeur comp to Nate. Obviously, Francoeur can be considered the stronger played because he’s already got 2.5 seasons in the majors at the same age as Schierholtz. Frenchy saw some plate discipline improvement this year, he walked 42 times and posted his highest OBP in the majors at .338, so there is hope for Nate. I was encouraged to see him talk about his plate discipline on the AFL Giants video, at least he knows.

I hope he’s a starter next year, too. I think he’s earned the chance to start and with the team in transition there isn’t any good reason he shouldn’t be starting.

My reasoning with Feliz is that I think he would turn down a 1-year arb deal because even though he’s a bad player, I’m sure a team would offer him 2-3 years on the free agent market. Heck, I’m sure the Phillies would love to sign him if they can’t get A-Rod or Lowell. Feliz and his agent have to know this as well, there are teams with 3B needs.

If he accepts, use him as a utility player and then move him at the deadline. Hopefully, if the Giants do take it to arbitration they can make a strong case for why he doesn’t deserve a raise but as you mentioned, it’s anyones guess what will happen during arbitration.

Dave,

I agree, I don’t think it’s terrible to offer Feliz and Vizquel arb. I’d rather see Vizquel come back but if the Giants decide to sign Feliz to multi-year deal I couldn’t hack that, get it, hack!?

As for a catcher, I think the Giants will probably pick from either G-Rod or Alfonzo, neither are great but both should be suitable backups. Much like the rest of the FA market, the catching depth is shallow.

Courtesy of Cots Contracts, here’s free agent catchers:

http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2000/04/2007-free-agents.html

Sandy Alomar Jr. NYM
Paul Bako BAL
Rod Barajas * PHI
Michael Barrett SD
Gary Bennett * STL
Raul Casanova TB
Alberto Castillo BAL
Ramon Castro NYM
Mike DiFelice NYM
Sal Fasano TOR
Wiki Gonzalez WAS
Jason Kendall CHC
Jason LaRue KC
Mike Lieberthal * LAD
Paul Lo Duca NYM
Damian Miller MIL
Doug Mirabelli BOS
Chad Moeller LAD
Jose Molina NYY
Josh Paul TB
Mike Piazza OAK
Jorge Posada * NYY
Kelly Stinnett STL
Yorvit Torrealba COL
Javier Valentin * CIN

Not a lot to pick from. Barret is interesting, but he had a down year and his big drop in power isn’t something you like to see from a all-hit no-field type player. His value has always been in his bat. Playing in Petco didn’t do him any favors either, he hit just .213/.238/.275 at his new park. I might be interested in him at the price of a 1-year cheap deal but other than that I would avoid him. He’ll be 31 next year and he’s getting to the age where a lot of catchers fall apart.

What the Giants plan to do with Molinia is interesting. His game dropped markedly as he played more so would be Sabean actively looking at the free agent catchers to have has a platoon mate? If a solid second catcher was acquired/ developed this would open up a lot more trading options. Any thoughts to who you would approve of? I can see the arguments for a traditional defense heavy core up the middle or more a Barrett type signing?

The good news is that in limited, and yet a good amount of ABs (112 AB), he hit .304/.316/.402/.718. He does this at every level, he starts out hitting but without his trademark power, but then suddenly he figures things out and he’s hitting bombs everywhere. And the AFL is, I think, a level above AAA, because many of the best prospect, particularly ones teams think are ready to take the leap next season, play there.

I am hoping that he gets the starting nod in RF in 2008. Let Rajai be the platoon buddy of Roberts in LF, and if we have Randy Winn in CF, let Fred Lewis be the 5th OF, but keep the trade fires burning to trade Winn for a good prospect or two, particularly to any team suddenly in great need for a CF or RF due to a season ending injury, but also see if we can entice any team to shell out two prospects for us during the off-season.

Do not offer Feliz arbitration. No team is giving him a multi-year contract, he is delusional, unless he accepts the same $5M he stole, er, got from us last season but over two years (he just said he wanted a multi-year contract, he didn’t mention the salary had to go up :^). If we give him arb, he’ll jump on it and suddenly we’ll be paying him $6-10M for him, there are a bunch of idiots hired to be arbitrators, I’m an analyst and have an econ degree and an MBA, and I cannot understand some of the decisions made by the arbitrators in the past.