The corners are tricky.

Travis Ishikawa’s career minor league numbers against southpaws are .256/.341/.435/.776. I think we could live with that at the major league level, but stats almost always come down when a player reaches the majors. And last season Travis’ minor league numbers against lefties in 111 at bats were just .206/.333/.308/.641.

The good news is that Travis draws walks against lefties. The bad news is that he doesn’t hit them particularly well

Pablo Sandoval hasn’t hit lefties well over his career. He briefly had an OPS over 1.000 against southpaws this winter, but I see that he has dropped back to .799. Hey, we could live with THAT, too, but Pablo’s career minor league OPS against southpaws is only .691, and while he had a breakout season against right-handers last season (1.110!), his minor league OPS against southpaws in 2008 was only .694, right at his deficient career average.

There is little question the Giants are overly left-handed as hitters. Ishikawa and Sandoval are but two. So the natural direction to go would seem to be Ty Wigginton, who had a career year in 2008, posting an impressive .876 OPS. But he put up most of that in the friendly confines of a cozy home park and seems destined for a large fall-off in 2009. At the stated $12 million for two years and with a questionable glove, I’d probably pass.

Joe Crede is intriguing, since has a history of both some good hitting and some good fielding. But it sounds as if his back issues have really hurt his fielding and naturally not helped his hitting. He has never been a high BABIP guy (.262 career), and the past two seasons his line drive percentage has been only 14.6% and 14.3%, respectively. Crede would hold interest only if his health is good and he could be signed to a short-term contract for little money.

Rich Aurilia wants to return to the Giants. But although he improved over a poor 2007 season, his .745 OPS was only OK. His line drive percentage (17.9) dipped below 20 for only the second time in the past seven seasons. At 41.0%, his ground ball percentage was the highest of his recorded career. He can play both corners and even the middle infield in a real pinch, and his glove is decent, although only that. He might return rather cheaply and perhaps on a one-year contract given that he is now 37.

Josh Phelps would make a mediocre-but-inexpensive option, but he plays only first base and not third.

Wigginton seems to have the best risk/reward ratio among this group, but he also would be the most expensive. Crede could be a sleeper, but only if his health is greatly improved. Aurilia would be the safe bet, but with very limited upside. Phelps would be the least expensive option and actually would probably be my choice if he could play third base as well as first.

Based on the direction the Giants seem to be heading, I would probably try to sign Wigginton. But I certainly wouldn’t go beyond two years, and $12 million seems almost too high as a cap, too.

Ideally, the Giants could trade Randy Winn for a decent, inexpensive right-hand hitting third baseman. But that seems unlikely, so Wigginton would be my first choice and Phelps my fall-back position, with Phelps being merely a spot player. And if Aurilia’s price were low enough and he would take a one-year contract, I could even see having both Josh and Richie and going with only two catchers instead of three.

Richie could be the emergency catcher. Or Phelps, who has actually played there. Or perhaps the Giants could get a one-game waiver to bring back Pedro Feliz. Winn is proven at the hot corner. :)

His fielding percentage at 3B was a miserable .930. Wigginton on the other hand had only 6 errors in 82 games for a .969 (the rest of his games were in LF). As for being a better bat, Crede has been hurt each of the last two seasons, while Wigginton has averaged 23 HRs and a .280 average from 2006-2008.

Sanchez back to the bullpen is that it destroys his trade value. Why Sabean would even say or infer anything like that, other than to pump up Lowry’s value, is beyond me.