Giants give Rowand 5 years, $60M, keep Lincecum, no Rios: Safe and sane
(Geez, at Warriors-Spurs last night and down here on the Mike Nolan Island right now, but I’ve gotta blog about the Giants!)
** 4:18 p.m. update: I’m such a numbskull! There would’ve been one giant bonus to trading Lincecum for Rios–you could’ve ALSO signed Rowand, so then you have Rowand, Rios and Winn in the lineup and in the 3-4-5 slots for not a lot of extra money. Plus you have more future. You lose Lincecum, but you get TWO bats instead of one.
Sorry I missed that, got distracted. An NFL person plus a 49ers spokesperson called me this afternoon to dispute/discuss my last stadium-in-trouble blog entry. Geez, if Jed York is that mad about it he should just talk to me himself–save us all a lot of time.
End result: I stand by the blog item, completely, utterly, and even more so now than before. I’ll live with the heat. Hell, I actually sort of enjoy it–proves I hit on something good.
…
Aaron Rowand as a market-rate OF free agent, instead of Alex Rios for Tim Lincecum.
Yes, that’s not bad for the Giants, though you wouldn’t want to start printing up those playoff tickets yet. (Shhh: He’s 30. And he has hit in very friendly offensive parks his whole career.)
As several commenters pointed out when I first argued that the Giants should trade Tim Lincecum to Toronto for OF Alex Rios, getting Rowand without giving up a great young pitcher is the much better deal.
I don’t disagree with that. I have a reputation as Mr. Negative, rightly earned, but I can see the other side: Adding a decent bat without sacrificing Lincecum is not bad at all.
With Rowand in CF, Randy Winn in RF and a platoon of Dave Roberts and the Youngsters in LF… that’s a representative major league outfield.
Rowand is a tough guy–Bruce Bochy’s kind of guy, and I do think that’s a nice way to liven up that clubhouse in the post-Bonds era. Rolen is an OK power guy (right there with Rios so far, I must admit), and he fills 1/2 of the Giants’ void at the 3/4 slots in the line-up.
And keeping Lincecum alongside Matt Cain, Barry Zito and Noah Lowry is fine. I have no beef with that. It’s such a very, very Giants sort of thing–safe and sane, go with the known over the unknown, don’t risk much.
Again: No beef. This could be a 77-win team now instead of a 72-win team.
Of course, I don’t know what the hell’s going on with 1B, 2B and 3B, but oh well, that’s for another Brian Sabean conference call. Maybe Scott Rolen. Maybe somebody else.
If you stay safe and sane, you really can’t make yourself that much better. That’s just the way it goes when you have no prospects to restock your line-up or trade for good young veterans. (Hello Detroit.)
Aw well, you knew it was coming, so here’s the slight negative:
* This is exactly how the Giants have always done it–add the veteran, keep things status quo on the roster, hope for the best. Hasn’t worked too well so far.
* The Giants gave Rowand $12M a year and that’s definitely over-paying in a desperation situation–the Giants had zero other significant options, especially after losing out Kosuke Fukudome to the Cubs.
Fukudome, 30, also got $12M a year, but only for four years.
I don’t know if Rowand will be better than Fukudome or vice-versa, but I’m pretty sure that neither was the one guy who will fix the Giants.
I didn’t think Rios was that guy either, but, as I said, you do need to add one guy before you can add the two or three necessary to get the Giants’ offense into the middle of the pack–up from the bottom.
* Again, Rios isn’t Manny Ramirez or Ryan Howard. But Rios will be 27 during the season, is already a little better than Rowand and could top out much better.
There was a lot of talk about Rios being arbitration eligible and the possibility of losing him as a free agent after the 2010 season.
But Rios won’t make more than $12M in arbitration for the next three seasons… and by the end of the 2010 season, he’s still going to be only 30… and Rowand will be turning 34, surely on the downside of his career.
I like to get guys on their way up, not the way down. I would’ve sacrificed Lincecum to get Rios, who might still be good at the end of the Giants’ four-year rebuilding program, instead of paying all that money to Rowand, who probably won’t be good when/if the Giants get good.
But still, I understand it. This is not a bad move or deal. For Sabean, it actually was about what you’d expect–a slight over-pay, but with a nice possible pay-off.
Now let’s see if Lincecum was worth the precaution and if the Giants finally were smart to stay safe and sane.
Geez Tim, you’re really earning your curmudgen stripes today. This is way better than swapping Rios for Lincecum.
We will NEVER get young with Sabean. Then again, 30 is young for him.
Tim’s right in that Rowand is maybe a poor man’s Rios in terms of skill and upside, but I am pretty relieved that we didn’t trade Cain or Lincecum.
The Giants need an identity! And right now - their identity is their starting pitching. They HAVE to keep that intact. If they got rid of Lincecum, then there’s a huge hole with your 3rd pitcher. With Zito, Cain, Lincecum, and Lowry - I think they have a pretty good starting four! Getting Rios wouldn’t have made a difference this year anyway. Rowland is a gold glove CF. He’s pretty young and you didn’t give up anything. If people feel he’s over paid - that’s the price of having a last place club - you have to over pay to attract the FA’s (just look at KC with Gillen)
Giants keep Lincecum. Sign Rowland to market rate (see Fukudome and Guillen). Based on seeing Rowland play for about a half dozen games or so and Philly fans reaction to losing him, seems to be the best Giants OF by a long way. Still fans are not happy. I guess Sabean needs to convince Phillies to take Sanchez and Lewis for Ryan Howard and Hennessey and Ortmeir for Albert Pujols before Sabean gets any kudos. Maybe Sabean can trade Vinny Chulk straight up for Jonathan Papplebon while he is at it.
Bob, you are a funny guy. Go Gigantes!!!!!!!!!!
It was a nice move, Tim. What’s the problem? He’s not done yet. Spring training isn’t starting tomorrow. Criticizing Sabean for what he hasn’t done when he isn’t done yet seems kind of myopic.
Tim, it is very interesting that you didn’t even both to “gloss over” Rowand’s Gold Glove! You never even bothered to mention it. Seem to me you are discounting the fact the he is great both offensively and defensively!
According to you and other media/baseball personnel, Lincecum’s unusual mechanics are a cause of concern for his future. So wouldn’t the Giants be taking a risky and bold route by keeping him? I am ecstatic that he is finally officially off the market, because I prefer rare, outstanding talent, however risky, over safe and impressive but relatively replaceable talent. Thank God Cain is finally off the market too.
I think Sabean hurt the team a bit by dangling Cain/Lincecum during winter meetings for too long. First, if any GM knows that one or both of those pitchers are available, then all other trade possibilities are closed off. It’s funny how we haven’t heard a peep for Lowry, despite his scary K:BB ratio and declining peripherals. He’s still a serviceable lefty for the back end of a rotation, and yet no offers during the winter meetings. Funny, isn’t it? Second, by entertaining the idea of Lincecum for Rios, Sabean essentially made Lincecum = Rios. Not even Lincecum = Miguel Cabrera, but Lincecum = Rios. Lincecum = Rios = lowball trade proposals by other GMs and the Giants won’t receive matching talent.
On another note, “I did my job.” Sound familiar?
This is just another typical non-imaginative signing by Sabean. A 30 year old, average player who had a career year on a hitters park. Which Sabean surely over-paid and Rowand cannot and will never duplicate at AT&T park. Smells like another Durham, Aurilla, roberts type of signing. Sabean does not a clue and the guts to pull the trigger to make this team competitive. A-Jones for 2 yr-36 mil and Rios for Lincecum looks pretty damn good for 3rd and 4th hitters compared to Rowand and Molina. Lincecum is not a proven dominant player and so is Rios yet but at least Rios plays everyday and showed that he has the power to hit the ball out of the park at AT&T.
Just proves again that Sabean has no blueprint for success and can no longer use Bonds as an excuse!!
4:18 update. Tim, stick to Warrior issues, you’re much better on basketball. Baseball GM??? Again, Rios is not Kevin Garnett. Why do you think Toronto is so willing to do this deal.
Giants park dictates a pitching/speed/defense team, like the old St. Louis Cards (Herzog) or 1970’s A’s.
I think Rowand is type of player Giants need in one sense = good glove. But he wont hit much in AT&T.
Still need corner infielders to be competitive.
A different perspective, living in Toronto a die hard Jays fan, listening to all the radio and tv here, everyone here is relieved we did not swap Rios for Lincecum. We have names teams around the league know better then Rios (Vernon Wells, Troy Glaus, Frank Thomas, etc) but truth was that last year and arguably the year before, no one was better all around then Rios. He doesn’t get the press outside Toronto which is fine by us, but truth is while I respect what a great young pitcher Tim Lincecum is, I would not have moved Rios for Dontrelle Willis (earlier dealt by Florida) and Willis is someone that would have made more sense for the Jays because he is already a proven top arm with a World Series Ring. Will Lincecum be better then him in his career? Quite likely (though no one can ever be certain til a young career pans out) but the Jays at the money they are spending now and pressure in Toronto need to win now, and need a pitcher who can win 20 this year, rather then wait on a budding star for a couple years who will be great this year, but will not be at his peak for a few years yet.