Category Archives: Giants

Welcome Back Cody Ross!

Cody Ross

Today begins many of the negotiations for arbitration-eligible players, including several of the Giants’ stars: Santiago Casilla, Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Cody Ross, Jonathon Sanchez and Andres Torres. Mike Fontenot was on the list previously as well, but signed early with the Giants for $1.05 million.

Good news came right away, luckily, as the news broke that Cody Ross and the Giants avoided arbitration by signing a one-year deal worth $6.3 million, assuring fans that we have another year of the goofy, smiley right-fielder and his crazy luck.

Ross is one of the more unpredictable players, as he batted just .265/.316/.405 in 2010 on the Marlins before becoming the Giants starting right fielder and post-season hero. He was arguably the most energizing player in the Giants offense, getting the offense started against the best pitchers in the game -including a home run against Derek Lowe, two homers against Roy “I just won the Cy Young” Halladay – and leading the “inept” Giants offense to a stunning World Series victory!

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On Shortstops and Longshots

Now, I’m not saying that I “called” it or anything, but here’s a post I wrote back in January which seems to be pretty relevant right now. Just substitute “Shortstop” for “infielder,” and ignore the part where I describe Tejada as a decent hitter. I’ll just leave this here until a) we get a new shortstop, b) I get it together enough to write a new post. No word on which will happen first.

 

After what can only be described as a long, emotional, and ultimately fruitless negotiating session, Edgar Renteria has signed a contract with one of the 29 non-Giants baseball teams, the Cincinnati Reds. He’ll be earning 3 million for one year, and will probably start a good amount of the time, as Reds (and former-Giants) coach Dusty Baker has said that he’ll let Renteria and Paul Janish (.260/.339/.385) compete for playing time.

Congrats, Edgar, and more power to you. I appreciate the huge role you played in winning the World Series, and, well… not much else. Renteria was paid (note, I didn’t say “earned”) $10 million for a 2010 in which he was mostly injured, and $8 million for a 2009 in which he played like he was. If you’re an adherent to the “Perfect Storm” approach to the Giants 2010 championship season, in which every little thing added up to a World Series win and therefore must have contributed in some way, then sure, Renteria’s 7 hits in the World Series made up for his expensive contract and bad playing of the past two years. Never mind that he went 1-for-16 in the NLCS, but I digress. To me, Renteria falls into the same category as Bengie Molina. I appreciate his service, but we’re both better off since we parted ways.

Thanks, Edgar, but don’t call us. We’ll call you.

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Another Look at Guillermo Mota’s 2010 Season

We recently talked on the podcast about the Giants resigning Guillermo Mota to a minor league contract: a move that we both liked considering its decent upside (a decent season from a pretty-good-not-great relief pitcher), and its very low downside. He earned $750,000 in 2010, and will probably earn even less than that this year, particularly if he spends the season in the minors.

Guillermo Mota

Guillermo Mota

I was having lunch with my dad and we were talking about it, and we were a little surprised that he would sign in the minors, considering that he was a big part of the stellar bullpen on the world championship team. He certainly had the swagger of an All-Star, and the game face to give the impression that he was a necessary part of any bullpen. His season numbers told something of a different story.

Still, how could we get such different impressions? The whole notion of statistics is to make evaluations clearer, not muddle things up even more. So let’s take a look.

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