SF Giants The Guardsmen Sports Auction

post from Love My Team on 31 January 2012 10:00:17 PM. © Love My Team

The San Fransico Gaints Guardsmen Celebrity Dinner and Sports Auction has been a signature[...]

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Cashman, Epstein now able to make deals (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 31 January 2012 09:37:44 PM. © MLB News Blog

Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein say after years of being on opposite sides of baseball’s most bitter rivalry, they are looking forward to being able to make deals with one another. The Yankees general manager and the former general manager of the Red Sox appeared together at a forum Tuesday at Sacred Heart University.

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Arizona settles with Montero, Roberts (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 31 January 2012 08:59:43 PM. © MLB News Blog

The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a pair of one-year contracts that settled arbitration cases, giving catcher Miguel Montero $5.9 million and infielder Ryan Roberts $2,012,500. Montero’s agreement Tuesday came just ahead of the scheduled start of what would have been the first salary arbitration hearing of the year.

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Padres, RHP Moseley agree on 1-year deal (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 31 January 2012 08:57:41 PM. © MLB News Blog

Right-hander Dustin Moseley has agreed to a one-year contract with the San Diego Padres on Tuesday, avoiding arbitration. Moseley will make $2,012,500 this year, $12,500 below the midpoint of what he requested and the Padres offered. Moseley had asked for $2.55 million, San Diego offered $1.5 million.

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Astros sign RHP Livan Hernandez (AP)

post from MLB News Blog on 31 January 2012 07:14:49 PM. © MLB News Blog

The Houston Astros have agreed to a minor league contract with former World Series MVP Livan Hernandez. The 36-year-old pitcher was invited to major league spring training. Hernandez was the opening day starter for Washington last season and started 29 games for the Nationals, going 8-13 with a 4.47 ERA.

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Help 30-YOC Contributor PSUGator02 Make His Way
To The MLB Fan Cave!!!

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 31 January 2012 07:06:30 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

Help ’30-YOC’ Contributor ‘PSUGator02′ Make His Way To The MLB Fan Cave!!! Hey everyone, time to support a fan to the hobby and an autograph hunter as our very own Mark Cooper, aka ‘PSUGator02′, tries to earn a spot on the … Continue reading →

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Tony Gwynn 1984 Topps

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 31 January 2012 06:44:15 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

Tony Gwynn 1984 Topps I was able to scoop up this second-year card of Tony Gwynn for a bargain price of just $0.50. As a young collector, I had a nice stack of these as my philosophy was that second-year … Continue reading →

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Astros Sign Livan Hernandez To A Minor League
Deal

post from The Crawfish Boxes on 31 January 2012 06:01:46 PM. © The Crawfish Boxes

Astros Sign Livan Hernandez To A Minor League Deal

Ken Rosenthal has reported that the Astros have signed Livan Hernandez to a minor league contract.

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Yankees hire ex-Cubs GM Hendry as scout (AP)

Former Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry has been hired by the New York Yankees as a special assignment scout. Hendry spent 17 seasons with the Cubs and was GM from July 2002 until he was fired on Aug. 18, unable to help the team win the World Series for the first time since 1908. [...]

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Giants Banking on 2010 Recipe for 2012

post from The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website on 31 January 2012 05:01:00 PM. © The Giants Baseball Blog- A San Francisco Giants Blog and Fan Website

When I look up and down at the Giants roster as is right now, it really reminds me a lot of the roster they had entering the 2010 season, but instead of Buster Posey pushing for Bengie Molina's job, this year it will be Brandon Belt in the hunt for Aubrey Huff's first base job.

Now, being that the Giants failed to add any real legitimate power to their lineup, and haven't added a bunch of new personnel to their 25-man roster, so in order for their offense to turn around in 2012, they need guys like Aubrey Huff, who were miserable in 2011, to get back on track. If he doesn't or if either Brandon Belt or Brett Pill outperform him through spring and the early part of the season, I hope the Giants won't hesitate to make the switch to the younger, more valuable player, much like they did when they shipped Bengie Molina out of town to make room for Buster Posey in 2010, a move that helped catapult them into the playoffs and eventually to the top of the baseball world. Like the 2010 team, this team coming in may still be a player or two away from being legit World Series contenders, depending on how guys like Freddy Sanchez (coming off brutal injury), Posey and Huff all perform. If all of them are at the 2010 levels, than this team probably has enough offense as is to be factor in the National League. The Giants' brass must have entered this offseason with that strategy all along, because not only did they fail to re-sign Cody Ross and Carlos Beltran who each got very reasonable deals, they ruled out those two players almost immediately after free agency began, and it appeared like they just never really wanted either of them back.

Instead, in enters the two newest additions to the starting lineup, Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera, who aren't bad players by any stretch, but pretty similar players and neither is considered a middle of the order power bat that the Giants really needed. Both are more top of the order type hitters that don't get on base at very high levels, so neither player is a perfect fit in the leadoff spot, though I'm assuming that Pagan will get that assignment come opening day. And Pagan is very much another player, like Posey, like Sanchez, like Huff, who the Giants are really hoping reverts back to 2010 form. Pagan had a very up and down season in 2011, which saw him start out miserably, then have spurts of good play, but not enough of them to overcome the bad start and ended up with a pedestrian .262 average and .322 on-base percentage, neither of which would be adequate for a leadoff hitter. The one area which he'll undoubtedly help out though is on the base paths, where he's got the ability to steal 40-50 bags a season if he stays healthy and gets on base. That's an element at the leadoff spot that this team hasn't really had since the days of Darren Lewis and Darrell Hamilton. Torres was as fast as they come, but didn't really translate into a great base-stealer like Pagan is, and that should be an asset to a team that will need to manufacture a lot of their runs the hard way.

So, in some ways this team differs form the 2010 squad with the young shortstop being handed the starting job and new and improved team speed, but some parallels are uncanny. They have Huff coming off a bad season like he was after 2009. They have the young guy pushing the veteran at first base instead of catcher this time around, and they have an outfield that's still very much up in the air in terms of where guys will play and who ends up in center. That outfield could also get another addition or two before opening day or early on in the year, much like the 2010 team went after Pat Burrell then later, Cody Ross.

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