So with the pace the Giants front office is moving the biggest move we could possibly hope for was a long term deal for either Matt Cain or Tim Lincecum.
What we got was a 2 year deal worth $40.5 Million for Timmy that only buys out his last 2 arbitration years leaving him his first free agent year untouched. The good news is that we have locked up Timmy for 2 years. The bad news is that it's the bare minimum that the Giants could've done since we have Timmy under control for arbitration for 2 years anyway...
The problem here is that Timmy wanted an 8 year deal and the Giants wanted a 5-6 year deal. The knee jerk reaction is... what is a couple years!? just give Timmy his money! But the problem is that the Giants have no reason to be locking themselves into another gigantic contract for 8 years when Timmy is arguably at the peak of his career.
The risk you take is that Timmy will have 2 back to back Cy Young seasons starting this year and you end up having to pay through the nose for a 7+ year contract in 2014. But the likelihood of that happening is slim to none. I honestly don't think its a great idea to commit to a pitcher for more than 5-6 years knowing that pitchers almost always decline in performance over that type of time period. You might think its fair to pay a 27 year old Tim Lincecum $20 million a year, but you might disagree with paying him the same amount when he's a shadow of his former self at 35.
There may still be news on the Matt Cain front regarding a long term contract buying out some of his free agent years, but as it stands the team has basically finished all transactions and signings for the 2011-2012 offseason.
Lets Recap:
Traded to get Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez for Angel Pagan and traded Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera.
re-signed Javier Lopez, picked up option on Jeremy Affeldt
gave deals to arbitration eligible players such as Panda, Timmy, Romo and Vogelsong
Said goodbye to Cody Ross, Pat Burrel, Carlos Beltran and Jeff Keppinger
Clung hope to the returning Freddy Sanchez and Buster Posey as major "additions" for the 2012 squad...
As it stands this is what the Opening Day lineup and rotation will look like:
Starters:
Angel Pagan CF
Freddy Sanchez 2B
Pablo Sandoval 3B
Buster Posey C
Aubrey Huff 1B
Melky Cabrera LF
Nate Schierholtz RF
Brandon Crawford SS
Starting Rotation:
Tim Lincecum
Matt Cain
Madison Bumgarner
Ryan Vogelsong
Barry Zito
Bullpen:
Jeremy Affeldt
Santiago Casilla
Sergio Romo
Guillermo Mota
Javier Lopez
Dan Runzler
Brian Wilson
Bench:
Mike Fontenot
Brandon Belt
Eli Whiteside
Emmanuel Burriss
Justin Christian
Laws of the Day
Pitchers and catchers report on February 18th
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