It’s a good time to take a break from the Emmy-nominated, Peabody-winning Top 30 Prospects series because there’s actual, honest-to-goodness news.
Just click on the picture, and you’ll be directed to the MLB.com shop. Hurry, before they run out.
I don’t mind taking a flyer on an innings-eater like Wellemeyer for the fifth spot in the rotation. It’s a low-risk, low-reward proposition. It was a fantastic offseason to look for fifth starter options. In isolation, I can make an argument for Wellemeyer. But I’m underwhelmed.
I don’t mind taking a chance on a player like Aubrey Huff, even if he was awful last year. It’s a medium-reward, medium-risk proposition. In isolation, I can make an argument for Wellemeyer. But I’m underwhelmed.
I could do this with every roster move of the offseason, but you get the point. Underwhelmed. After I look at the collection of moves made by the Giants this offseason, I think, really? Was this the plan? I can’t picture anybody gathering a front office staff together in early November and saying, "Pounce on Sanchez before anyone tries to swoop him up. Sign Huff, DeRosa, Uribe, a NRI fifth-starter option or two, and call it a day."
Was the problem that other players rebuffed the Giants? Yeah, that’s a big part. Nick Johnson wanted to play for the best team in baseball, and Adam LaRoche saw Mark Texieria when he looked in the mirror.
Was the problem that other players were overpriced or undesirable? Yep. Matt Holliday now owns the Gateway Arch, underneath which is a place where he can park his gold-plated, robot-driven Rolls. It was a good deal for him. It wouldn’t have been for the Giants. That’s Zito money, fer cryin’ out loud. I’m not even sure if Holliday plays guitar.
Was the problem that in order to trade for good players, the Giants would have had to part with good prospects? Of course. And there weren’t really any appealing trade options, either.
I just can’t imagine that this roster is the result of a plan. Maybe the Giants had a board with pictures and strings going hither and thither, like the FBI guys from "The Sopranos", calculating every permutation and option. If that were the case, I don’t even think I’d want to know. I’d feel better believing that this is just the way things happened.
Underwhelmed.
Meh. I’m not angry like some of you. I’m a little sleepy, if anything.
In retrospect, signing Freddy Sanchez so early was the silliest – and most limiting – move of the offseason. There were second basemen falling out of agent’s pockets like tribbles at the Winter Meetings. Waiting just a little bit longer might have changed the whole offseason. It might have moved the needle from "underwhelmed" to "slightly whelmed." And I’d really go for a cup of that right now.