Orlando Hudson is a to be FA this offseason, after playing the last 3 seasons for the D'Backs. I realize that the organization has made a statement of not signing big free agents, but who are we kidding, this is the Giants, and they sign Free Agents readily. Orlando Hudson is the best 2B on the FA market, having a reputation  for excellent defense (2 consecutive Gold Gloves at 2B) and sporting a career line of .282/.346/.779. However, that does not reflect his offensive performance since he joined the D'Backs in '06. From '06 to '08, Hudson has posted an avg of over .285, OBP of over .350 and OPS of over .800. He has battled some injuries, including playing in only 107 games this season. Let's examine the pros and cons of signing O. Hudson:

Pros:

• Fills a position of need for the Giants.
• Plays excellent defense, which would strengthen a bad defensive infield for the Giants.
• Is certainly no slouch with the bat. While not a game changer, his presence in the lineup would definitely help an anemic offense.
  
• Hudson's presence would allow Kevin Frandsen to play 3B, which while not ideal, would keep the Giants from spending money or trading for a big name 3B.
• Although Hudson has been injury prone, the Giants are one team that could handle him going down for a month, with Velez, Denker and Franny available to pick up time in the event of an injury.

Cons:

• His presence on the Giants would most certainly stunt the growth of at least 1 of 3 players: Kevin Frandsen, Travis Ishikawa or Eugenio Velez. If Frandsen and Sandoval see the majority of the time at the corner infield spots, Ishikawa would see next to no time, unless Sandoval splits time between 1B and 3B and ishikawa gets 2 starts a week. Velez will see next to no time at 2B and would be limited to 1 start a week and pinch hitting, pinch running duties.
• He certainly would not come cheap. Hudson made ~6 mil this year and is the best 2B in a fairly weak 2B class, so he will get paid well, and the Giants recent track record of FA deals is not in their favor.
• Injury prone.
  

 I believe that Hudson would be a great addition to the Giants, but only at the right price. The Giants would be best served to over pay for a shorter term deal, like a 3 year deal, and abandon the ideal if Hudson rejects it.

What do you think, Orlando Hudson for 2009 2B?

I was kicking this around for the past few days, and with as many good nicknames as have been kicked around this year, why not vote on them? I mainly stuck with more recent names, and I'm sure 7 options isn't nearly enough, but let me know if there is a big one I am missing. I have cracked up over the various nicknames for Velez this season, so I'm not making it a secret which one i'm picking.

EDIT: Big Panda and The Freak added by popular demand.

The fantasy team at ESPN.com broke down lineup changes for the remainder of interleague play. Here is what was written about the Giants:

And the extra lineup slot goes to … does anybody care? OK, we'll say Rich Aurilia or Emmanuel Burriss.

So I pose this: Do the McCoven care who is the DH?

Personally, I'm all for starting the Hebrew Hammer.

Filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, filler, done.

If this doesn't feed fuel to the fire on all of the thighler jokes on gameday threads, i don't know what will.

From the SJ Mercury News and Andrew Baggarly:

The fire brigade wasn't done for the night, because struggling setup man Tyler Walker pitched himself into trouble again in the eighth.

"It looked like he got tired there," Bochy said. "A polar bear doesn't do well in the heat."

There you go, let the thighler jokes fly.

Tuesday's game @ the rockies is looming and the giants website still has Misch penciled  in as the starter even though he has been pitching out of the bullpen recently.  With the Fresno starters getting knocked around lately, this is certainly an interesting decision. So i pose to the McCoven, who should take the hill tomorrow night? Personally, i'm hoping to be sipping on some Hennessey.

P.S. this is my first time working with a poll, hopefully it works.

I'm sure some of you have read this, but i thought i would post this for the benefit of all. Keith Law ranked the Giants first day draft as the top first day draft this year. His thoughts:

1. San Francisco Giants

Buster Posey falling to them at No. 5 was part luck, but the Giants also had the guts to take him. Posey reportedly is asking for $12 million. Sandwich pick Conor Gillaspie should have gone in the first round, and Roger Kieschnick has first-round potential despite mediocre performances. Keep an eye on fifth-rounder Edwin Quirarte, a reliever from Cal State Northridge with big-time sink on his fastball and an improving splitter.

It's nice to hear something tangible about Quirate, he sounds like an interesting pick for the Giants at the very least. Rounding out the top 5 (2-5) were the Red Sox, Royals, Cardinals and Tigers.

Thoughts?

Ok, hear me out, but Zito has actually been markedly better since his "time off." On just thinking about his starts without any numbers, I thought he had done marginally better, but the numbers tell a bit of another tale:

5 G, 5GS, (1-2) W-L, 28.1 IP, 3.49 ERA, 1.59 WHIP, .284 BAA, 21 K's, 16 BB's

Now the WHIP is still alarmingly high, but Zito has drastically improved all of his stats from April to May. I think the Real Zito may be somewhere in the middle, closer to a 4.2-4.3 range ERA.

Comment Starter: Was Zito's month a fluke, or is he becoming a serviceable starter for the Giants?

Ok, so here it goes: i am going to go point by point, then accept the ridicule after words.

Assumptions:

    1. The SS Situation remains the same. I am not going to touch the quagmire that is SS. I am assuming that Bocock remains the SS and Burriss is his backup. I am assuming that Vizquel is out for the year. Plus, Bocock's defense is the key to my plan.

    2. Rajai Davis clears waivers and heads to AAA Fresno.

    3. Erick Threets comes off the DL healthy and pitches well.

Moves:

    Trade: Randy Winn and Erick Threets to SD for 3B Kevin Kouzmanoff

    Trade: Ray Durham and Cash to CHW for a PTBNL

    Move: Rich Aurilia is DFA'd

    Move: Nate Schierholtz and Rajai Davis are recalled from AAA Fresno

Giving up Threets would be hard, but Kouzmanoff would bring a key offensive presence to the lineup and could bat cleanup. Bocock's defensive presence would help mask Kouzmanoff's defensive inadequacies.

Thus the lineup would look like this:

1. Fred Lewis, LF

2. Eugenio Velez, 2B

3. Nate Schierholtz, RF

4. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B

5. Aaron Rowand, CF

6. Bengie Molina, C

7. John Bowker / Dan Ortmeier, 1B

8. Brian Bocock, SS

Bench:

Jose Castillo, 3B/2B

Dan Ortmeier 1B/lF

Steve Holm, C

Emmanuel Burriss, SS/2B

Rajai Davis, CF/LF

Thoughts? Ridicule?