According to Jonah Keri at Grantland, the Pagan/Scutaro signings could sacrifice resigning Buster Posey. How credible do you find this?

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/44414/many-unanswered-questions-as-the-winter-meetings-wind-down

So what's the medical report on Freddy Sanchez?

With the Yankees needing help it was best for the Giants to get this done and if reports were accurate Cardinals offered 2 yrs at $16mil so to get 3 at $20mil was worthwhile. By 3rd year he should at least be able to be a solid utility or mentor to whomever Giants can get there in 2015.

Why was this better than trading for a younger player with about the same potential?  Wasn't that possible and cheaper and no less risky?  Right now, Arias and maybe Theriot are the backup plan for when father time touches Scutero.   Does that give anyone else pause?

How long before someone figures out that they can play two right fielders, one long, one short and take away the Scutaro opposite field strategy? Watching Scutaro, and never seeing him swing at a single first pitch, I'll be he's got a strategy for that.

Here's some perspective: the Rays shipped a prospect just to acquire Yunel Escobar from the Marlins, who is owed $5 mil/year for the next 3 years. I'm pretty sure he falls into the "ick" category.

The market price seems to be a game of chicken between the teams and the agents.  It is really just in the ether, or as it might be stated today,  the market value is decided somewhere in the cloud.

a look at this deal like Pagan's deal: deals that have expected throwaway years.  the Giants are paying close to Market price and getting and extra year that if that player miraculously keeps playing at their current level is a free bonus (free because that year's salary is essentially extra payment for the previous years).  Or if the Giants notice that player slipping a year or two into their contract and they spot it quickly enough maybe they can quickly trade them for some prospects.  

Scutaro got a 2 year deal worth $20M with an extra probable throw away year and some differed compensation.  Which essentially makes Scutaro a $10M a year player.  That's extremely steep but the free agent market for middle infielders is pretty thin and the Giants don't really have a better short term solution.   Pagan's deal to me is a 3 year $40M deal which is essentially $13.3M per year with an extra throwaway year and some differed compensation.  Again, if you look at what Upton and Victorino got, it's not that far out of line with the Market.

Actually, you're correct -- this is what I get for doing math halfway asleep -- his wWAR should be 2.6, which looks even better.

A second place hitter that puts the ball in play-----a great commodity.  No WS ring without Scuturo this year.

The third year isn't great, but drop off is a bigger worry for the slug-for-the-fences type players, not for pure contact hitters like Scutaro, who swung and missed at twelve pitches for the giants in the regular season and only twice in the postseason (both ridiculous #s).

Overall, reigning champs coming back with their 1-6 hitters (not to mention full starting rotation and bullpen) is surely something to look forward to.

I don't believe in excess capacity. I think that if teams are operating below their maximum payroll, they're not using their resources to the fullest. Money should be saved only in the expectation of unforeseen future opportunity...or in anticipation of an opportunity arising.

Since the Giants ownership sets payroll, this doesn't necessarily apply. Sabean has a budget, but could ask for more money if the need be. So...if Sabean was told payroll had to be in the neighborhood of $140M, I don't hate this deal. Scutaro represents the most known quantity and the best return for the Giants' investment, and any excess dollars compared to a similar player (Hiroyuki Nakajima?) becomes the premium paid for certainty. With arbitration raises, the 2013 Giants payroll will fall somewhere in that ballpark.

But if signing Scutaro directly precluded the Giants signing Swisher (or, the Giants would have signed Swisher had they failed to net Scutaro) I dislike this deal. We'd be paying Swisher to be a 4-win player annually, but there's less intuitive risk in signing a younger player, and one at an arguably less demanding position. And those extra 2 wins really mean a lot in a tight campaign race.

I can just hope the young guys improve and the platoons stay strong.

The math baffles me, I must say: how does one get a weighting of 2.4, 2.8, and 2.5 that is lower than any of the three, 2.2?  What Scutaro has been over the last five years is a consistent player, so that there's a reasonable likelihood that he will justify his salary before he gets to the "kind of scary" third year.  I don't see this as any indication that baseball has lost its damned mind--that's the conclusion one might reach from someone's throwing $75M at B.J. Upton or whatever it will be for Josh Hamilton--but rather a contract that's at worst fair market value and at best an ample bargain.