Giants spend $9M on two left-handed relievers for 2012

Horrible article man. Frisco wanted both these guys back and got them.

Given Affeldt's relatively weak season and self-mutilation (Bob Ojeda, anyone) at the end, that part is most surprising to me. It would make more sense to tie Romo up for a few years to trade against future arbitration rights.

In a vacuum stat analysis I agree with you that bringing these guys back is a slight overpay. But in the real world of MLB GMs, you have nine lefty relievers left on the market, 2 of them Arthur Rhodes and Darren Oliver. All 8 playoff teams and the Red Sox should improve their bullpens, especially the Yankees with just Boone Logan as their sole lefty in the pen, and Texas might want to check it out as well after that debacle. Atlanta is the only team (besides us) with multiple lefties who put up good numbers. So my question to you is this: who are 3 cheap good lefties you can acquire through trade right now? On the minor league front, losing Joe Paterson to Arizona was short sighted, but having both of these guys back actually maintains a strength, and I think that Sabean came in below market (in the real world) on this one. And the kicker is the Giants can now trade if they do find another cheap LOOGY, which is something they are halfway good at. If budget is used as an excuse later on to not improve the hitting, I agree Affeldt might be questionable, but as an isolated move, I like getting both of them back. If we can get back to the playoffs, we need a deep pen.

To: Chris Quick: I think you got it completely opposite. Outside of Sergio Romo, Javy Lopez has been the Giants best reliever, by far. Locking him up at 4.25M for 2 seasons was a pretty smart move - before he goes out and tests free agency, and his price goes even higher. Signing Affeldt was the questionable call. He hasn't been very good for 2 years now - and paying him 5M is too much. The Giants should have declined his contract, and payed him about half as much. I think they are paying him more for his presence in the clubhouse than for his pitching quality (which is not even comparable to what Lopez has brought to the Giants).

A couple dashes of sriracha dramatically improves ramen's Value Over Replacement Foodstuff for a relative pittance. Perhaps there is some super-affordable thing we can analogously slather on our bullpen lefties for similar improvements?

I love shrimp flavor!

I don't find this surprising. Both Affeldt and Lopez have been excellent for the Giants this year, and the risk of losing them and potentially opening a hole in the bullpen's armour justified overpaying them. The Giants could have saved some money renegotiating with Affeldt, but the opportunity cost of him leaving was pretty steep. The Giants immediate internal option to replace Affeldt would have been Runzler. 2010 Runzler? Maybe. But not the 2011 edition.