The rest of the free agents out there .... Fehhh!

"Pittsburgh is looking for left-handed power and has Rockies RF Brad Hawpe on its wish list. The Pirates, however, are hesitant to give up any young starting pitcher other than Paul Maholm, and the Rockies would want a quality starting pitcher, and maybe a bit more, to trade Hawpe's power potential."

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/sports_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_83_5166733,00.html

1. Sabean has been making noises for a while about how "speed" is going to be much more important in the game. This is dumb, but it helps explain why he's actually interested in players like Pierre and Matthews. Instead, he'll sign Dave Roberts to a bad-but-not-ridiculous contract. Once that itch is scratched, he'll come to his senses and work on locating actual baseball players.
2. Sabean is arrogant enough, and has enough job security, that he probably doesn't care much about what the fans think.
3. If there is pressure on him to land a marketable star, the failure to do so thus far means it's more likely that BLB will be back.
4. If BLB departs, and maybe even if he doesn't, the obvious marketing approach for next year's team would be to focus on the young guns. So he's not going to trade Sanchez.
5. If he does trade Sanchez, then Sanchez probably isn't going to pan out. Despite the exception that leaps immediately to all of our minds, Sabean has a very good track record when it comes to trading young pitchers.
6. It may just be dumb luck, but most of the real disastro free agent mistakes have now been made by other teams. The only ones left are Zito, Schmidt, and maybe Gil Meche, and the Giants are giving no signs of pursuing a pitcher.
7. Tim Lincecum! Angel Villalona! We're not dumping draft picks! The Giants have apparently hit upon the crazed strategy of developing young players!! Who woulda thunk?

THIS IS A WEAK FREE-AGENT MARKET.
There will be many "Type B" Free Agents, i.e. TROT NIXON, RICH AURILIA, PRESTON WILSON, JOSE GUILLEN, GREG ZAUN, TED LILLY, GIL MECHE and several others who will perform better than many "Type A" Free Agents

The GIANTS have a UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY this year to build up their farm system quickly.  Here's a brief primer on FREE AGENCY 101:

Teams that lose a Type A free agent are compensated with two draft picks. Teams that lose a Type B free agent get one pick in return.
It's interesting because it's an exploitable area.  If you're a low-budget team looking to build your organization through the draft and player development, losing the right guys (overvalued, Type A free agents) can pay dividends.  Similarly, signing the right low-level (Type-B/No-Comp) undervalued FAs, (you lose one pick for signing a Type B, is certainly low-risk, and might be high-return if you're lucky.

Keep in mind, nearly all these comped picks are within the first two rounds,(with the exception of the FIRST 15 PICKS being protected).  That's before solid-looking prospects like Jonathan Papelbon, Elijah Dukes, or Ricky Nolasco are getting picked...they are slots where you're essentially getting instant top-20 prospects within your organization.

The GIANTS FREE AGENTS are as follows:

BONDS Type A
DURHAM Type A
ALOU Type A
SCHMIDT Type A
FELIZ Type B
HILLENBRAND Type B
STANTON Type B
STEVE FINLEY N/C
TODD GREENE N/C
STEVE KLINE N/C
JAMEY WRIGHT N/C

For a small investment, the GIANTS could field the following team in 2007:

ROBERTS CF
VIZQUEL SS
BONDS LF
BURRELL (via TRADE)
AURILIA 3B
LINDEN RF
ZAUN/ALFONSO C
FRANDSEN 2B

SIGN LILLY OR MECHE

THIS WOULD BE A DECENT LINEUP, and let's not forget that we're playing in the worst division in Baseball, where playing .500 ball actually gives you a shot at winning.

We would LOSE 6 PICKS for ROBERTS, AURILIA, ZAUN
LILLY/MECHE

and GAIN 9 PICKS for ALOU,DURHAM,SCHMIDT,FELIZ,HILLENBRAND,STANTON
for A NET GAIN OF 3 PICKS IN THE FIRST TWO ROUNDS OF THE DRAFT.

By taking this approach, we would SAVE MONEY, still have all of our good young pitching and an additional 3 HIGH DRAFT PICKS, all of which could be used for trades and/or THE BETTER FREE AGENT GROUP NEXT YEAR.

IT'S TIME TO BUILD FOR THE FUTURE, not get caught up in spending ridiculous amounts of money for mediocre, over-prices players.

I think the team as previously constituted could have done that, though, with the natural young pitching improvement.  I sure didn't anticipate the Great 2006 Pitching Meltdown (non-Mando division), did you?