High on the Giants’ list of off-season priorities is fixing the infield, and Brian Sabean appears to be trying to do that. Pablo Sandoval will play more at catcher and probably some at the infield corners (giving the team a latter-day Brenly vibe); Travis Ishikawa will get his shot at first, with perhaps Josh Phelps platooning; Emmanuel Burriss and Kevin Frandsen will get their shots at second. Barring trading Rowand, Molina, and/or Winn — options that Sabean should entertain, even if he really means it when he says he intends to contend in a weak NL West — the real problem area is the left side of the infield.
Bringing Edgar Renteria back to the National League — not cheaply, however — has its chances of working out reasonably well. Adding a few points of OBP and SLG by moving to the weaker league, and adding Denver and Phoenix to his frequently-visited opponents’ parks, it isn’t hard to envision July headlines touting some sort of resurgence from a player whose skill set wouldn’t really change fundamentally. Add in that he ought to be thoroughly adequate at the plate where the Giants got nothing of the sort last season, and I can see how this ends up being a slight improvement to the team. (The Giants will give back some of their gains from Renteria’s offense due to his declining defense.)
This still leaves third base to stock somehow. A full season of Sandoval at third would be a bit brutal defensively, so perhaps Sabean isn’t done. Among the aforementioned veterans, dealing Winn remains the move I’d most like to see made, in part because I’d rather see the Giants add a rightfielder with some power, whether that’s taking another spin with strong-armed Nate Shierholtz or taking a low-end risk via free agency. Counting on Sandoval, Ishikawa and Renteria, too, that adds up to an offense that might actually be average.
Putting the Big Unit in China Basin is yet another indication that the Giants take themselves seriously. While one year ago I would have found that laughable, I’m just maybe starting to see things from Sabean’s point of view. The Dodgers and D’backs haven’t made the sorts of moves that convincingly elevate them past 85 wins, and while so much of the Giants’ limited success last season depended on happy accidents in their record in one-run ballgames (going 31-21), there’s some reason to take them just abuot as seriously. They’re not the team that fielded an almost entirely putrid lineup last April, they’re the one we saw in September, the one that had a few interesting prospects on the field. The team needed help in the bullpen, and Sabean’s tried to scare some up. The team needed a plausible regular at short, and whatever else you may say about him, Edgar Renteria is exactly that. The team still needs some power in the lineup, which is why we keep hearing Manny Ramirez rumors, though the shame of that would be how it might suck playing time away from Fred Lewis, one of their better hitters, but if Lewis in turn reduces Randy Winn to a less-regular starter, even that could turn out well. I admit, I’d be a little more enthusiastic if they came up with a power-hitting third baseman who lets them relegate Pablo Sandoval to sharing playing time at first with Travis Ishikawa and behind the plate with Benjie Moliina, but we’ll see if Joe Crede proves himself healthy enough to engender any interest in his coming workout.
So, put Randy Johnson onto that sort of team in this sort of division, and yeah, I like it well enough. He’ll get his 300th win as a Giant. (He’s just five away.) He should be effective enough, he saves Team Sabean from having to count too heavily on Noah Lowry to round out the rotation, and I guess there’s something sort of amusing about having someone who reduces Barry Zito to not merely an expensive mistake, but the most expensive fifth starter ever in human history.
