The San Francisco Giants have signed outfielder Aaron Rowand, previously with the Phillies, to a 5-year, $60 million deal. He’ll take over in center field for Dave Roberts, whom the Giants inked to a long-term contract last winter to play the position despite the fact that he wasn’t really a center fielder.
Rowand isn’t a bad ballplayer, but it seems to me that San Francisco is buying high. Rowand hit .309/.374/.515 in ‘07 while playing half his games in a bandbox. (His line was a brilliant .319/.380/.557 at home, and a merely respectable .299/.368/.475 on the road.)
The main problem I have …read more

Over at Hardball Times (full disclosure, I contribute to THT), Josh Kalk analyzes San Francisco Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum using PITCHf/x data. Josh likes the movement on Lincecum’s fastball, and compares the youngster to Milwaukee’s Ben Sheets (hopefully without the injuries).
I find the discussion of Lincecum’s offspeed stuff particularly interesting:
Lincecum appears to locate his change well while hiding the pitch and offering a huge speed difference from his fastball. Sounds like a plus plus pitch to me. So why isn’t he throwing it more often? He still must not feel completely comfortable with it or he might be leaning on …read more

The San Francisco Giants will not bring back Barry Bonds back in 2008. Now that he’s passed Hank Aaron as the all-time home run leader, and given that the Giants desperately need to rebuild, this can’t come as much of a surprise to anyone.

The San Francisco Giants have extended GM Brian Sabean’s contract through the 2010 season. As a fan of one of the Giants’ division rivals, I’m very pleased with this. I look forward to seeing more aging defensive specialists and #3 starters sign for too much in the near future…

Barry Bonds hit the 747th home run of his career on Monday night to help the San Francisco Giants defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 4-3. Bonds’ two-run shot off Josh Towers came in the fourth inning and landed beyond the fence in right-center, some 438 feet from home plate.
The Giants, meanwhile, improved their record to 29-34 and pulled to within two games of the Colorado Rockies for fourth place in the National League West. In related news, a Dallas-based auction house has removed the $1 million bounty it had placed on Bonds’ 756th home run ball.
Trying to muster the energy …read more

Citing extreme thirstiness, the San Francisco Giants traded right-hander Armando Benitez on Thursday to the Florida Marlins for right-hander Randy Messenger and a glass of water to be named later. What’s in it for the Marlins? Quoth skipper Fredi Gonzalez: “We’re getting a guy that has that experience and our people think he can still do it.”
(Careful readers will note that Gonzalez didn’t specify what “it” is.)
If there’s anyone who can make Marlins fans forget Jorge Julio, it’s Benitez. As for folks in the Bay Area, no doubt they’re ecstatic over the departure of Benitez. At the very least, we …read more

Wow. After all those great pitching matchups on Monday, the season’s second day is kind of a letdown. Your best bet is probably the Padres vs Giants, and I’m not just saying that because my Padres are one of the teams. Here’s what I’ll be watching:
National League

Padres at Giants, 1:35 p.m. PT – Jake Peavy vs Barry Zito? Barry Bonds’ pursuit of history? Manager Bruce Bochy facing his old team? Tons of story lines in this one. If teams are smart, they’ll hit balls to left-center field all year against the Giants. Dave Roberts can’t play center, and you know …read more