Giants non-tender Yusmeiro Petit and Hector Sanchez

Yusmeiro Petit, postseason hero and useful spot starter, is a free agent. The Giants declined to offer arbitration to the right-hander, who was caught up in a crowded bullpen situation. They've also let go Hector Sanchez, long-time backup and oddly used young catcher, rather than pay him to hang out in Triple-A.

Well, dang.

Petit was caught up in a numbers game, with the Giants looking to add two starting pitchers and Chris Heston primed for a long-relief spot and Clayton Blackburn and Ty Blach behind him. Petit was projected to make an estimated one-year salary of $2.4 million, which will all go into the Greinke slush fund now.

Petit had talent, and possibly could have done more for the Giants, but they seemed content to use him as an announcement that the game was a blowout. Over the last two years, the Giants were 23-58 when he pitched, usually not because of something he did wrong. He'll hopefully help another team that isn't the NL West, even though you know the Padres alarm just went off in the Padres cave.

We'll always have this:

Sanchez was quite possibly the most bizarre story of the Sabean-Bochy era, coming up to the majors before he learned how to catch or hit, and sitting on the bench where he couldn't learn how to catch or hit. There's potential in there -- we're talking Gregg Zaun potential, so don't think I'm getting goofy -- but the Giants didn't want to pay a million or so to find out. Sanchez's repeated concussions also put his career behind the plate in jeopardy, which would have nuked his value.

We'll always have this:

Both moves are defensible, though I would have preferred the Giants keep Petit as an insurance policy. It's still a bummer to see longtime Giants go away, even if they drove you crazy at times. We'll see if the money saved goes toward Zack Greinke or Ian Kennedy.