You know, so they can count on Emmanuel Burriss for all of those utility innings. The rumor comes from Baggs by way of Jayson Stark if you'd like to read the whole story.
I guess if the Giants are thinking long-term, Burriss is a low-cost utility option for the next three years, whereas Ryan Theriot and Mike Fontenot are low-cost options for just this year. So if Burriss is out of options, his loss would hurt more when the Giants are trying to save money next year, and it's not like there's a two-win difference between Burriss and the other options.
But Theriot has a career OBP of .344 and Mike Fontenot can field shortstop and hit for a modicum of power. I don't trust Burriss to do any of that in the short term.
It's worth noting that Theriot had Burriss-like power in the minors at roughly the same age, and Theriot's defense gives me the jibblies, so I can almost get behind taking Burriss over Theriot, and hope that Burriss develops enough power to keep pitchers honest. There's a fair chance that Burriss develops to have the kind of years that Theriot had at his best, but with a tick more defense.
I'm pretty sure that with the exception of raw speed, though, I'd take every aspect of Fontenot's game over Burriss'. That can't be the swap.
Not a huge deal, no matter which permutation you use ... until you realize that the winning utility players will soak up all of the at-bats left behind by an injured Freddy Sanchez. So this is essentially the starting second baseman we're talking about. If that's the case, a Fontenot/Theriot platoon makes all sorts of sense. Plus, I think they fight crime together when they aren't playing baseball. So adorable. You can't break that up.