The Giants can't hit. The most expensive guy on the free-agent market can hit. The Giants aren't shy about spending money. Conclusion: Here come the Mark-Teixeira-to-the-Giants?-articles. With Barry Zito only having five more years and $92M left on his contract, a Teixeira contract would basically pay for itself, so it makes a lot of sense.
The pros:
- Teixeira can hit.
- Teixeira can field.
- Teixeira is young enough (28) to justify the first few years of a long-term deal, at least.
The cons:
- OMG EXPENSIVe. Like, seven years, $126M-expensive. And that worked so well last time.
- It's hard to justify long-term deals to first basemen, as that should be the easiest position on the diamond to fill.
- It seems like there are one or two superfluous vowels in Teixeira's name, and that's always bugged me.
- The Giants aren't one hitter away from contention.
- The Giants aren't one hitter away from contention.
- The Giants aren't one hitter away from contention.
Another point that I left out: The Giants aren't one hitter away from contention. It's easy to see the Giants signing Teixeira, unfurling a "Mission Accomplished"-banner at the press conference, and moving from 640 runs scored in 2008 to 670 runs scored in 2009.
So it makes little sense for the Giants to sign Mark Teixeira as long as they have offensive black holes at second base, third base, and shortstop. But is it possible that moaning about a hopeless offense is a pre-8/14 mindset? If the Giants were to sign Teixeira, they'd almost certainly start Pablo Sandoval at third. Sandoval didn't swallow his glove during his limited trials at third, and even though I don't trust Sabean or Bochy to commit fully to youth, there is no way that Sandoval gets fewer than 400 at-bats next year.
Suddenly, John Bowker, Rich Aurilia, and Jose Castillo turn into Teixeira and Sandoval, which leads us to the first mock lineup of the offseason (collect all 1,459):
Lewis - LF
Winn - RF
Teixeira - 1B
Sandoval - 3B
Molina - C
Rowand - CF
Burriss - SS
Established Second Baseman - 2B
First Law of McCovey Chronicles Rosterbation in 2009: I'm almost okay with the Giants signing Mark Teixeira, provided that they also acquire an established second baseman. Pick your poison with the acquisition. Orlando Hudson to a Durhamesque free-agent contract? A big trade for Dan Uggla? If the Giants invest in Teixeira, they can't just cross their fingers and hope for Eugenio Velez or Kevin Frandsen to be above-average players. That'd be a good way to waste one of the more productive years of Teixeira's ridiculous contract.
Eh. Just thinking out loud more than advocating. Agree or disagree? For bonus unrealistic and optimistic silliness, plug Uggla into that lineup. Who hits seventh? It's a much better question than "Which seventh-place hitter should hit cleanup?" Just ignore that the Giants would have to give up Tim Alderson and Nate Schierholtz, at minimum, to get Uggla.