I’m a Figgins booster, in part because he can play anywhere. That’s a valuable skill for a team that needs help everywhere.

But it cannot be said often enough: Jermaine Dye is terrible. Not terrible in the sense that he’s not worth the money — terrible in the sense that he would make the team worse than it is now.

Figgins without Dye is an option too. That would save quite a bit of money as well.

I view Dye as a 1 year stopgap player until a player like Carl Crawford is available. Dye will not be the savior of this team, but his power bat would be more useful than Velez’s in LF.

Does any current major league team actually field an infield that is as awful defensively as Sandoval-Renteria-Uggla-Garko? Combined with Bradley and Dye in the OF corners you would have an epically bad defense.

Granted he would be an upgrade over Rowand, but that is if he doesn’t flip out and miss a good part of the season injured or suspended or pouting. Maybe most other teams could make up for his loss but on the Giants he, along with Pablo, would be the heart of the order. Do we really want to take on that kind of risk.

I’d pass on Dye – the time to have gotten him was when he left the A’s and instead Sabean got Moises Alou. Dye has local ties so I thought it made sense. Of course, I thought Ted Lilley made sense but we got Zito. Then again, I thought Web Van would be a good stock to buy. I’d also pass on Figgins and don’t think he can be had for $8.5M. Not sure why Dye gets more – I don’t think that will happen.

I think if the Giants get Holliday and utilize platoon splits as much as possible, they can improve within their budget. Of course, getting Holliday likely means saying no to Molina coming back and also no to F. Sanchez. Posey is obviously the easy choice at catcher, and most teams would choose not to bring Molina back, but the Giants seem to love this guy. Second base is tougher, but I just don’t think Sanchez is worth his option of even something a little less since it likely would mean two years. Velez is an option, but his defense is pretty bad. Still, he’s cheap and we’d need to also bring back Uribe as a platoon split for second and a back-up for other spots. So my 1-8 line-up is as follows: Velez/Uribe – 2B, Posey – C, Sandoval – 3B, Holliday – LF, Garko/Ishikawa – 1B, Schierholtz – RF, Rowand – CF, Renteria – SS.

Of course, Uribe isn’t a lead-off guy, and neither is Velez based on his OBP. But Sanchez isn’t either, and he’s so much more expensive. They would pitch around Holliday though, but maybe you could flip-flop him with Sandoval, who might be harder to pitch around.

This is based on getting out of the Rowand contract for 2/3 the cost. But if Rowand can play decent center for 2 more years, he might be the better choice. It pains me to say that.

Also, not sure what happens to Lewis. A new GM/Manager team might have kept him and upgraded elsewhere, but he’s on the outs with Sabean/Bochy. He just doesn’t drive in enough runs for them. What a joke. These guys probably still use baseball cards from the 70s to evaluate players.

Not a single mention of Fred Lewis. Fred Lewis is better than Jermaine Dye. Fred Lewis is better than Nate Schierholtz. Fred Lewis is probably better than Milton Bradley. Fred Lewis is better than Aaron Rowand. All of your options involved some combination of those players playing COF with no mention of Fred Lewis. I vote no. Also, overpaying mediocre veterans (Dye + Figgins combo, for instance) rather than spending the money on one good, youngish but legit player (think Holliday) is exactly what failed us in the past. No thanks.

Figgins would upgrade the Giants. Is he the answer? I’ll wait until the market is establishing what he’s worth before determining that. He’s a good signing for the right amount of money. I think he’ll cost more than that, but I don’t know at the moment. Jermaine Dye, simply put, should not be signed.

yet, none of your options have him playing 3b. I definitely want Figgens at third. Am I the only one here who believes that Pablo shouldn’t be playing 3b?

How about Marlon Byrd? I think he’d be a good pick up. He’s not Jermaine Dye and he probably wouldn’t be that expensive. By WAR, he’s actually been a pretty solid player the last few years. He’s a decent .800-ish OPS hitter and he’s been an above average fielder by UZR every year before this year (he was slightly below average at -1.6). He also can play CF, so he should provide decent range at a corner OF position.

I also really like the idea of signing Figgins, at the right price at least. His speed and ability to walk would give us an excellent leadoff man. His versatility and excellent defense make him even more valuable. If we could pony up the money for both Byrd and Figgins, we’d be filling two major holes in the lineup with at least average production, which could go a long way for our offense.

Reading the tea leafs it is pretty clear to me that Sabean wants the new guys he adds this offseason to add a different perosnality (not free swinging) then the guys that are leaving added.

As will his team mate Bobby Abreu. Vlad however (like Dye) with his free swinging personality will not.

That said, I think it would be a mistake as the Giants neither have DH PAs to help keep Milton healthy nor a Frank Thomas to help keep Bradley’s volitile personality in check.

But it would disapoint me as I believe we do not have the starting pitching depth to make suck a trade and would only be hurting ourselves financially by trading Sanchez’s three arbitration years for some veteran starting pitchers’ free agent contract and Uggla’s final two years of arbitration.

if he is a bust. But so will a bunch of Aaron Rowands and Edgar Renterias. The problem with Brian Sabean is he doesn’t seem to realize that he should have been able to fill at least a few line-up spots with minimum salary position players. You would have hoped guys like Lewis, Bowker, Schieholtz, Velez, Frandsen, etc. would make it unnecessary to go out and sign mediocre veterans. Instead, the Giants just weren’t convinced, so they paid for Aaron Rowand and then Edgar Renteria, and now likely Freddy Sanchez. These guys are at a level where you should be able to produce a few and maybe use one or two to fill out your team. But the Giants need to fill out their whole line-up with these guys and with their budget and Barry Zito’s contract, it can’t work. Of course Sabean is to blame, but the Giants just signed him to a new deal.

I still feel like you have to use some of the home grown guys – at least one or two, and then go after a big improvement like Holliday. And at some point you may need to say that a budget of $90 million with Barry Zito’s contract is not possible, unless you don’t care about winning.

Just getting into the spirit of the season. Here’s my offseason wishlist.

1. We need to lose Molina, Winn, Sanchez, and Penny. Molina has been a good player during his years in SF, but his time is up. Resigning players on sentiment and on past accomplishments is exactly what got us into this salary cap issue in the first place. Similarly, resigning Freddie Sanchez does nothing but extend the mistake of trading for him in the first place. Tim Alderson is gone, and resigning an overpriced, injury risk second baseman will not change that. I loved Penny’s fire, but I see no need to spend 4-5mm on a #5 starter when we have infinitely more pressing needs on the offensive side of the ball. Let some combination of Noah Lowry, Joe Martinez, Madison Bumgarner, and Ryan Sadowski compete for the #5 slot. I’m sure one of them can put up semi respectable numbers. Oh yea and Randy Winn…don’t even get me started. Ditch this noodle wielder.

2. Resign Juan Uribe to play SS and sit Edgar Renteria. I know it’s a bit of a stretch with Bochy and Sabean at the helm, but there’s no doubt that Uribe put up better offensive numbers. Again, it’s pretty terrible to pay 9mm for a backup infielder…but the money has been spent either way…why not put the best field on the team?

3. Sign Chone Figgins and Yorvit Torrelba. Figgins is everything the giants are not, and everything they desperately need. Speed, OBP, defense, and positional flexibility make him a fair purchase at even 8-10mm (as long as the contract can be kept at 3 years or shorter). Torrelba will serve as a respectable backup/platoon player and tutor for Posey, and should take a lot of the pressure off of the rookie.

4. Trade prospects for Dan Uggla. He’s been a model of offensive consistency in a comprably pitcher friendly ballpark, and his power and OBP should be enough to push our offense into the realm of respectability.

Here’s the opening 2010 lineup as I see it:

Chone Figgins RF

Buster Posey C

Pablo Sandoval 3B

Dan Uggla 2B

Juan Uribe SS

Travis Ishikawa/Ryan Garko 1B

John Bowker/Eugenio Velez/Nate Schierholtz/Freddie Lewis LF

Aaron Rowand CF

Bench:

Yorvit Torrelba

Edger Renteria

John Bowker/Eugenio Velez/Nate Schierholtz/Freddie Lewis

Andres Torres/Kevin Fransden/Emmanual Burriss

I think that Ishikawa will continue to improve into a gold glove calibur, 20 hr 80 rbi kind of player, and Garko has to be better than he was last year, right? And if he can somehow manage to return to his 2007 form, we’ll have an offense that might not make every team’s #4 starter feel like Tom Seaver.

I also feel like Aaron Rowand might have a bit of a bad rap. I’m sure I’ll get hazed for this one, but I think 15 HRs and 70 rbis a year for a guy who plays strong defense at a high profile defensive position is still respectable. Is he worth his contract? Absolutely not, but it’s not fair to judge a player based on Sabean’s contractual mistakes or the offense’s ineptness. If he was getting paid 5mm a year and batting out of the number 7 slot for a high powered offense (like Chicago or Philadelphia previously) would anyone really complain about his performance? I think the offensive additions of the offseason wil ltake some pressure off of Rowand and allow him to do what he does best, be a strong complementary player.

And lastly, I like the idea of going into training camp with LF totally wide open and let the players compete for the slot. Make Bowker prove he can hit like he hit in minor league ball. Make Velez prove he can play ball like he did in August. Make Schierholtz prove he’s worth more than his defense. Make Lewis prove that he’s his 2008 self, not his 2009. Same thing with the bench. Can Burriss play like 2008? Can Fransden live up to his potential? Can Torres hit enough to keep him on the field? These “young guys” are getting older, and they need to decide once and for all whether they’re big league players or not.

 I see this offense being a huge imrpovement over last year, and should fit comfortably within our salary cap. I’d love to see Jason Bay or Matt Holiday in the orange and black as much as any of you, but I think anyone looking at the financials know that that’s just not realistic. We missed the playoffs by 4 games this year, and I don’t think that anyone can argue that replacing Renteria and Winn with Uggla and Figgins (that’s an improvement of 83 hits, 29 home runs, 45 rbis, 107 walks, and 21 stolen bases) wouldn’t be enough to push us over the edge.

Anyway, those are my rants. I’m sure you guys will tear me a part for them. Looking forward to it.

I would only take Dye on a super cheap deal as a bench bat/platoon vs. lefties. His time in the OF would have to be incredibly limited though.

Only problem with that is when Bochy sees someone on the roster capable of hitting 25 HR’s, he’ll have him in the lineup every day. I’d take all the Giants OF’s over Dye next year. Except maybe Velez because it’s going to be painful to see him leading off everyday.

I wouldn’t oppose adding Figgins as a 3B. Ishikawa might have some improvement left in him, but I think he and Garko are both ~ 1 WAR players going forward. Figgins has been consistently worth 2.5-3, or more, he’s been very good defensively as a 3B, and Sandoval could probably improve on his career -3.7 UZR/150 at 3B by moving over to first.

The infield defense starts looking pretty bad if you take Ishikawa out for Garko and don’t improve somewhere else. Renteria is old and could get worse. Sanchez is going to be a 32-year old second baseman coming off of knee surgery plus shoulder and back problems. Figgins doesn’t work as the only improvement to this team though. And he doesn’t work my with signing Nick Johnson wish, since the Giants won’t let Sandoval catch.

Man, what we could do with $111 mill…