Two things just happened. The Giants signed Aaron Rowand to a five year deal worth $60 million, and Brian Sabean just said that Cain and Lincecum are off the table. I say, Hoo-fucking-ray to both. Rowand ain’t great, but all he cost us was money, (pretty much anybody is getting $10 million per these days), and given how little was out there to get, and how little we had to offer, he was the best of a bad situation.
Rowand is three years older than Rios and arguably the same player, (albeit, another “veteran”). A close look suggests that they are almost identical, really. 40-plus doubles last season, 20-something home runs, 100-plus runs scored, less than 100 RBI…. I mean, if you had to have a centerfielder who could do the things these guys do, and you could either trade for one or sign one as a free agent, it’s pretty obvious which is the better choice.
Is Rowand likely to play 155 games a year for five years? No. Is he likely to be pretty good for a couple, three seasons? Probably. The only thing I worry about is that he looks a teeny weeny bit like he could be the second coming of Randy Winn, as in, a mediocre everything. But, if you ask the question as to whether we are better with him in the lineup, the answer is yes. Do we need more? You betcha.
But this is a decent step in a positive direction. Rowand ain’t 38, he wasn’t just released by somebody, we didn’t have to trade young pitching to get him, and he’s better than what we got. If I had to complain, I’d complain about the fact that an outfield of Bonds, Rowand and Winn (with Roberts and Davis as backups) wouldn’t be the worst in the NL, but we don’t seem to want Bonds anymore. Too bad.
8 Backtalkers
One good thing about Rowand: If he puts together 1.5 seasons like the last one, he’s decent trade bait in 2009 if the Giants still suck. Now if we could just reconcile with Bonds and magically find a way to sign/trade for a decent 3B OR 1B I might think we’ve got an outside chance at a playoff spot!
I’m excited about Rowand specifically because it takes Cain and Lincecum off the table. Sabean seemed to think that he didn’t have any outfield, that he needed a new bat.
So OK, there’s the bat. Now we don’t trade the true future of the Giants, we can make some room towards competeing again in 2009 or 2010.
That said, now we have too many outfielders who deserve to be in the majors. I’d like to keep Davis, but that makes Lewis extraneous. I’d LOVE to trade Roberts (who wouldn’t?) and keep Nate as the 5th outfield next to Winn.
Maybe a Sanchez/Lewis combo to get us a decent 3B?
In any case, Lincecum is Giant in 2008. Let the bells ring.
I think the best thing about this is that unlike in recent years, Sabean is actually doing the right thing and NOT making moves out of fear. Given what was available and the Giants’ current position, I love this signing. There’s also a lot to be said about having a guy like that in your club house.
In other news, it looks like the best news all year for Barry Bonds will be the Mitchell Report: http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/7556534
Supposedly the report is quite harsh towards the owners and league office for creating the environment and allowing the steroid culture to develop. Talk about a surprise – can’t say I was expecting this. Although, I’m not surprised to see Roger Clemens name come out… given there was as much reason to doubt him as there was Bonds.
More names are leaking out, and if true, holy crap this was some investigation (I take back any previous doubts I had about Senator Mitchell)…
http://www.wnbc.com/sports/14845845/detail.html
They pulled down the list to revise it after MLB contacted them, but here’s what they had up there originally (I put a few in bold for my own emphasis)…
Brady Anderson, Manny Alexander, Rick Ankiel, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Rafael Betancourt, Bret Boone, Milton Bradley, David Bell, Dante Bichette, Albert Belle, Paul Byrd, Wil Cordero, Ken Caminiti, Mike Cameron, Ramon Castro, Jose Canseco, Ozzie Canseco, Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Wilson Delgado, Lenny Dykstra, Johnny Damon…
…Carl Everett, Kyle Farnsworth, Ryan Franklin, Troy Glaus, Rich Garces, Jason Grimsley, Juan Gonzalez, Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Jose Guillen, Jay Gibbons, Juan Gonzalez, Clay Hensley, Jerry Hairston, Felix Heredia, Jr., Darren Holmes, Wally Joyner, Darryl Kile, Matt Lawton, Raul Mondesi, Mark McGwire, Guillermo Mota, Robert Machado, Damian Moss, Abraham Nunez…
…Trot Nixon, Jose Offerman, Andy Pettitte, Mark Prior, Neifi Perez (REALLY?), Rafael Palmiero, Albert Pujols, Brian Roberts, Juan Rincon, John Rocker, Pudge Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Scott Schoenweiss, David Segui, Alex Sanchez, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Tejada, Julian Tavarez, Fernando Tatis, Maurice Vaughn, Jason Varitek, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams, Kerry Wood.
Again, this list is not confirmed… but wow!
I don’t think this is a good signing at all. We already had a bunch of outfielders and since we are trying to promote a youth movement it is better to let young guys play. Now we have yet another CF, and this one is only marginally better than Winn. This was an unneeded waste of money that was focused in the wrong direction. We need a 1b and a 3b. Other than that we basically have a set roster. Perhaps there are no trades out there for Sextons or whatever but those areas should be addressed first.
I think this goes part way to solidifying this outfield. .300 with 25-30 HR’s is a far cry from Roberts. It at least means this team doesn’t have to be embarrassed by an outfield of Winn/Roland/pick one of Davis or the kids. My fear is giving roberts too many at bats. Left needs power, assuming Rowand plays center. But at least the outfield will be respectable, not a fiasco.
Its the infield that is a disaster. I don’t see a way of fixing that before the season starts. Platoon/stopgap/injury prone/no offense will round out the infield from third to first in 2008.
Rowand played in a big time hitters park and still has never hit 30 HR, unless my memory is off his top is 27.
Rowand is the only real outfielder we have. Winn is decent probably a fourth outfielder on a playoff team (but oddly enough his contract is looking smaller and smaller every free agent year). Lewis, Davis, Scheirholtz don’t make it past Double AA on a serious contender.
It sorta says something when the lowly Pirates jettisoned Davis and he steps in as one of our better outfielders. And that was last year with Bonds.