Jamey Carroll signs with Twins (and infield market musings)

Published by on November 11, 2011 | 8 Responses

Why is this Giants news? Well, mostly for the fact that for a brief time today, Carroll was rumored to have been courted by a “mystery team”, and it turns out it was probably the Twins. Lefty had a nice post earlier on the merits of Carroll with some included caveats. Carroll, even at 38-years-old next year, is a pretty useful guy to have; he gets on base (.356 career OBP) and he can play several infield positions. He’s close to being a two win player in 2012, and he would have served as a nice stopgap at shortstop, as well as Freddy Sanchez insurance at second.

I had also hoped that the Giants would bring in Carroll just for the chance to share this with you:

There’s something about Carroll that I’ve always enjoyed. And it probably has a lot to do with his MLB head shots. Seriously, do a quick Google Image Search on Carroll, and you’ll see what I’m talking about. It’s pure joy.

Carroll’s departure from the free agent market has an impact on the Giants: the team is still presumably looking for infield help, and now that Carroll is gone, pickings are slim. It’s clear that the Giants will not sign Jose Reyes. And I would be shocked if the team made a bid for Rollins. The Willie Bloomquist deal-that-wasn’t tells me two things: 1) the Giants want to spend cheaply, and 2) the Giants are somewhat insane. As mentioned in the previous post, Clint Barmes has been linked to the Giants; he seems like a good possibility right now.

The scariest thing about Carroll now being a Twin is the lack of depth on the market for help at SS or 2B. A quick peak at FanGraph’s leaderboard for free agents and you get the picture pretty quick.

2B FA from 2009-2011 ranked by WAR: Kelly Johnson (8.8), Jamey Carroll (6.3), Aaron Hill (6.1), Mark Ellis (5.9), Clint Barmes (5.5), Nick Punto (4.9)

SS FA from 2009-2011 ranked by WAR: Jose Reyes (9.9), Jimmy Rollins (9.3), Rafael Furcal (8.2), Jamey Carroll (6.3), Clint Barmes (5.5), Alex Gonzalez (5), Nick Punto (4.9)

I made the cut at Nick Punto, but you can browse the leaderboards for yourself, it’s not pretty. Once you get past Nick Punto you hit players like: Ramon Santiago, Craig Counsell, Felipe Lopez, Jose Lopez, Orlando Cabrera (!), Aaron Miles, and Jack Wilson.

There’s a good chance that the Giants were never “in” on Carroll, but that doesn’t change the fact the the infield market is really starting to get thin. If the Giants decide to go into 2012 with Brandon Crawford as their starting shortstop, I can’t help but wonder if it’s based on a huge leap of faith, an awesome internal evaluation, or the cold hard truth that the team is being cheap. Like most things, it’s probably a combination of all three, but short was a big problem in 2011 and it’s looking like it has the potential to be sore spot next season.

Man, Clint Barmes is really starting to look good right about now.

Article written by

8 comments
  Livefyre
Newest | Oldest
Robert Haymond
Robert Haymond

The Giants are "cheap"; that's a forgone conclusion. It's not as if they are lacking in attendance but the Giants management refuses to put out accordingly. After all, it's not as if the fans will stop coming to these baseball "events" if the product is inferior.

@CurseOfBenitez
@CurseOfBenitez

Does BCB retain the rights to all creepy GIFs, whether they end up landing in SF or not? I have some bad intentions for Mr. Carroll.

marc
marc

Ermmm... couldn't the SS conclusion just be that the Giants' already have the best available logical option in Crawford? That's probably a good place to be in. I am hardly swayed by the game-changing presence of Cliff Barmes - nothing against the man, but that's $$ for very marginal improvement.

Ryan
Ryan

The security Barmes would provide is appealing. Back up/platoon with the young Crawford and provide insurance for Sanchez. In the second of a two year deal he would provide a bridge to Joe Panik at 2B. Let's say they go the Barmes route. Who would the other utility infielder be ? Would they go with Burriss? See if Gillaspie can handle second base ? Bring back Fontenot ?

Ryan
Ryan

If the Giants are serious about bringing Beltran back, they probably should be cheap at SS and UI. Barmes makes a lot of sense because of the glove and the experience at both MI positions. Barmes or Crawford would be perfectly adequate in the 8 spot if there was one more bat in the middle of the lineup. And there's a big roster spot waiting to be filled in the OF given the only OF's on the roster are Schierholtz, Cabrera, and Belt with the arb eligible Torres and Ross who may very well be non-tenders. The minor league options are not serious threats for the roster either. I just feel (hope) they've got their 125 million payroll with one allowance for Beltran and the 12-15 AV contract the market creates for him. Then again, maybe they are going to be cheap and firm on that 125 million dollar ceiling which requires a lot of faith on not only healthy returns from the big injuries but also banking on guys like Huff and Schierholtz to be run producers.

obsessivegiantscompulsive
obsessivegiantscompulsive

Ross is a FA, no need to non-tender him. I would also add Pill in the mix for LF. I also suspect that the Giants are still searching for OF. I think they are still pursuing Beltran but is waiting to see where the market goes, or rather Beltran wants to see where the market goes. Sabean normally does not kowtow to people in the press but he said Beltran was smart to say what he did. He also would say when he is not pursuing someone, yet instead when asked about Beltran he coyly said we will see how the numbers work. They have said they will pursue and he gave very specific requirements on what it would take to return, something he would not bother to do unless he had some interest. But if Boston does come in and give more years, which is what I suspect is what they are looking for, he will be gone and then I think the Giants will get a cheap option to battle for a spot, which is why I think they mentioned the possibility of bringing Ross back, but would not commit to it.

Ryan
Ryan

You're right. I got confused with the notion the Giants could still offer Ross arb with him actually being a FA. And Pill better get shagging flyballs in the OF and hang up the middle infield mitt. Why on earth was he playing innings at 2B for the Grizzlies. That was a bad call. What's Ross going to demand on the market? 1/4mil ? That's a lot of money for a guy throwing his bat into the front row as many times as he did. It certainly is possible if Beltran signs in Boston or elsewhere. Boston might be more comfortable bringing back Ortiz as the DH and giving RF to Reddick and a Sizemore/DeJesus type acquisition. If the Giants want to keep Pill and his nice little league minimum salary on the Roster, I would think they would lean towards Torres over Ross and save money with better defense in CF.

marcellosfg
marcellosfg

"The Willie Bloomquist deal-that-wasn’t tells me two things: 1) the Giants want to spend cheaply, and 2) the Giants are somewhat insane." Haha, funny and true.