Oh, the winter doldrums!!!

This .gif more than adequately illustrates why baseball is the greatest, fairest game in the world.

Because the minute you allow your concentration to be split between the task at hand of helping your base-runner and your spring training dream of a post-game hook-up with the ceremonial Hooters ball girl tanning her legs down the third base line....Well, shucks I don't care how many people yell "Ball, Ball, Ball!!" or how how loud they yell it, your package is going to get lit up.

And deservedly so.

It's OK, dear. They can't see you now. The focus is on the glove.

Keep your head in the game fellas.

We could see the first right turn by a base-runner rounding third-base in the history of baseball next spring training if this keeps up.

Pitchers and Catchers Report in a mere 46 days ( Rays P&C's report Feb 14, 2014).
http://www.springtrainingonline.com/reporting-dates/

When it's consistently below zero in Chicago -- and has been for what seems like the last month -- this is the kind of blog post you're likely to get.

A bunch of players were claimed off waivers today | HardballTalk

Soooo.....we lose Surkamp to make room on the roster for Morse, when we still have Brett Pill on the roster, even though we've sold his contract to a Korean team? It's good to be the Giants GM!! The White Sox seem to be more enamored with Giants spare parts than the Giants have been of late. Surkamp joins Conor Gillaspie at the Second Chance Saloon that is the South Side of Chicago. It beats getting shipped off to Korea......maybe.....Do they have a Hawk Harrelson equivalent in Korea? That would be sweet.

from Hardball Talk:
A bunch of players were claimed off waivers today | HardballTalk:

The White Sox claimed left-hander Eric Surkamp off waivers from the Giants

Surkamp was hit hard in his lone start with the Giants this season, but he had a 2.80 ERA and 71/23 K/BB ratio in 86 2/3 innings over 16 starts between High-A San Jose and Triple-A Fresno. This was his first year back from Tommy John surgery. He’s not a hard-thrower, usually sitting in the 85-89 mph range, but has averaged 10.0 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in the minors.

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Giants DFA Surkamp, officially add Morse and Vogelsong to 40-man roster | Giants Extra

Giants are taking a risk exposing Surkamp like this, maybe they wrangle some spare balls and bats for him in trade, but......It seems like the Giants rushed him back a bit from Tommy John surgery, but who knows? He's worth the risk from the left side as a starter, but at the bottom half of the rotation at best.

Giants DFA Surkamp, officially add Morse and Vogelsong to 40-man roster | Giants Extra:

The 40-man roster is back at 40. The Giants added Michael Morse and Ryan Vogelsong to the 40-man roster yesterday, and left-hander Eric Surkamp was designated for assignment. Surkamp, 26, spent most of the past two seasons recovering from Tommy John surgery. He was roughed up in one big league appearance last season, but pitched well in the minors. Surkamp had a 2.93 ERA in five starts for the San Jose Giants and a 2.78 ERA in 11 starts for Triple-A Fresno.

Given Surkamp’s recent injury history and the fact that most big league rosters are just about full this time of year, the odds would seem to be pretty good that Surkamp will be back with the organization. If not, the Giants are counting on Yusmeiro Petit and Edwin Escobar to be the next guys up if they need rotation help.

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Giants find their left fielder, agree to terms with Morse | Giants Extra

He's not going to be Choo-Choo or Granderson, but they were a tad pricey. He might not have been what Giants fans wanted in Cory Hart, but I like our chances if the benches clear by adding Morse at 6-5, 245. If he hits in the 5-6 area most of the season, it's a success, if he drops to 7th or 8th.....

from Giants Extra:
Giants find their left fielder, agree to terms with Morse | Giants Extra:

While Morse brings significant pop, there’s also a strong injury risk; he has played more than 102 games just once and dealt with a strained quad last season. In October, Morse had surgery on his left wrist. Still, one industry insider said Wednesday that he felt Morse should be the guy for the Giants, saying the club needed to swing for the fences.

         “He’ll either miss most the season or hit 28 homers,” the source said. “But he’s definitely worth the                  risk.”

The Giants have now spent $171 million to bring back Hunter Pence, Tim Lincecum, Javier Lopez and Ryan Vogelsong, and add Morse and Tim Hudson.

...

Morse, 31, is coming off a down year with the Baltimore Orioles and Seattle Mariners. He hit just .215 in 88 games, with a .270 on-base percentage and 13 homers. The Giants are hopeful that Morse can find the 31-homer form he showed for the Washington Nationals in 2011 and the power that the lineup is sorely missing. The Giants finished 29th in the majors with just 107 homers a year ago, and had been looking at a platoon of Gregor Blanco and Juan Perez, two hitters known more for their defense.

In parts of nine big league seasons, Morse is hitting .281 with 83 homers and a .334 OBP.

Morse, who hits from the right side, is listed at 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, and will fit the Pat Burrell mold the Giants used so successfully in 2010. While the Giants prefer sound defensive players, manager Bruce Bochy often pointed out last season that the club had for years gotten by with poor defenders in left field. In close games, he’ll have the option of removing Morse early, with both Gregor Blanco and Juan Perez expected to be on the bench.

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David Ortiz says New York Yankees lost 'face of ballclub' in Robinson Cano - ESPN Boston

How can Cano be the "face of the team" when according to this survey to determine the face of baseball:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/photos/gallery/_/id/9663156/image/1/1-alex-rodriguez-yankees-22-percent-face-baseball Cano doesn't even make an appearance, and finishes behind fellow Yankees Derek Jeter and Alex Rdoriguez?

He would probably be in the mix somewhere with Curtis Granderson and Mark Texeira however. And we're not even considering recently retired Mariano Rivera for today's "face of the team" purposes.

from ESPN Boston:
David Ortiz says New York Yankees lost 'face of ballclub' in Robinson Cano - ESPN Boston:

David Ortiz says he thinks his Boston Red Sox will benefit from Robinson Cano joining the Seattle Mariners, calling it "great news for us" but a blow to the rival New York Yankees.

Ortiz, speaking in an interview with WEEI Radio in Boston, said the Yankees lost "the face" of the team when they failed to re-sign the free agent second baseman, who has reportedly agreed to a 10-year, $240 million contract with Seattle.

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Great player? Yes.
Key asset lost? Yes.
Face of the team? No.

Unless Jeter retires and Rodriguez is somehow dismissed from the ball club, Cano would not be considered for the face of the Yankees. Even then, there would probably have to be some sort of DWTS type competition among the talk-show pundits for about a week or so to determine the "new" face of the Yankees.

Maybe now we know why Cano left the Yankees. He will now become the face of the Mariners and be paid quite handsomely for the burden / privilege. They Yankees certainly lost "a face" of the team, but hardly "the face" of the team.

Orioles Sign Francisco Peguero: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com

The Orioles showed interest earlier and just waited for the Giants to make a move so they could get him without losing a potential prospect of equal or lesser value. Agree with Orioles GM Dan Duquette that Francisco needs more of an opportunity than the Giants seemed to be willing to give him. But given the lack of plate discipline -- combined with the absence of similar power numbers that Panda produces -- it is really hard to fault the Giants for giving up on Pegeuro.

from MLBTradeRumors.com:
Orioles Sign Francisco Peguero: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com:

Rosquete and Vallin did a nice job securing a Major League deal for their client given his scant MLB experience.  The Orioles have been aggressive in securing players of this nature, having also given MLB deals to Kelvin De La Cruz and Edgmer Escalona. Indeed, Baltimore could be a nice landing spot for Peguero. As Kubatko reports, executive vice president Dan Duquette said that Peguero has big league talent. "He just needs an opportunity," said Duquette. "I'm glad we could add him to the organization."

Prior to the 2013 season, Baseball America ranked Peguero eighth among Giants prospects, noting that he had perhaps the best combination of power and speed in the Giants' system. BA called Peguero a "hyper-aggressive" hitter, likening his approach to that of his now-former teammate, Pablo Sandoval. BA also noted that he has the tools to profile as a regular in the Majors if he can improve his recognition of the strike zone.

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 Except that.......hmmm let's think about this for a moment.

Pegeuro could develop into a 50+ SB guy, but he doesn't seem like he will develop into anything more than a 15-20 HR guy under a best case scenario. The low-OBA, high K numbers that his lack of plate discipline produces will actually inhibit him from developing his top tool, which is speed.  It will also tend to keep him away from the top of the lineup, further retarding the development of his key asset. Pegeuro seems trapped between deciding whether he wants to be a power guy or a speed guy. Once he decides where his bread is buttered, he should speed up his developmental process.

This is something the Giants organizational developmental staff -- if they even have any on the hitting side -- should have been working with him on. Maybe much like Belt's knuckles, this was missed as well. I'm beginning to believe that there may not be an organization in baseball that does as good a job at developing quality pitchers, while simultaneously doing such an inept job of developing major league ready, quality hitters.

I mean, we let Belt go about his business with his knuckles blissfully out of alignment until he hits a speed bump that almost runs him out of SF. These hitting prospects must go through the organization thinking this is the Giants theme song or organizational philosophy or IDK what?

U2 - I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For

It's a really good tune, but it's a really bad organizational philosophy. It projects a certain feeling of lost-ness or helplessness or something. See what I mean, I can't even think straight to write about it?

I mean, we let Pegeuro wander through the minor league chain contemplating his navel like some sort of Buddhist monk of a  prospect wondering "what am I, who am I, what is my purpose here in this organization?" Until he finally gets run out of said organization, after never finding the answers he so desperately and fervently seeks in order to find his place in said organization.

Isn't that the job of a player development staff, to develop a player? It seems like our staff just winds 'em up, tosses 'em out there and lets 'em try to figure things out for themselves. Which kind of begs the question, "Why do we need a player development staff in the first place?"  

Holy Hot Hanna!!!  Get Sabs back on the line!!!

Hello, Slav? Didn't you just tell me I was doing  a good job?

Hey, Sabs. Lemme ask you something. Exactly what kind of  a slipshod organization are we running here? Letting these prospects like Pegeuro wander through the wilderness without any guidance? Can we get some hitting coaches that can teach hitting better so we can develop hitter into something more than 5-25-.235 type hitters before they get released and go onto other organizations?

Please, just once? Maybe you can ask Santa to put some hitting coaches under the Christmas tree for the organization? That would be nice. Thanks, Sabs. And hey, I'm not asking for me, it's for these kids who you guys keep grinding through the organization like some really bad meat processor. You know how that turns out.  A lot of crushed dreams and some really, really bad meat.

Anyway, Thanks Sabs. I don't want to take up anymore of your time, I'll let you get back to your Christmas shopping and family and junk. Happy Holidays, Sabs.

Giants shopping spree leaves angst under fans Christmas tree

If this is the extent of the Giants free-agent / roster re-shuffling then I'm going on record right now saying Sabean has done a pretty good job. Some fans and bloggers are bemoaning the lack of a quality hitter in LF to replace the ghost of Barry Bonds. Some fans and bloggers feel that the Gians have virtually resigned themselves to also-ran status before the season even begins.

I am not one of them. This team will compete.

from SF Giant Rumors:
San Francisco Giants Baseball (SF Giants Rumors) | All the latest San Francisco Giants Rumors!:

"John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle shares some insights that he gathered from a conference call with Sabean. You know that deep dark hole in left field? Well, it doesn’t seem like it will be filled anytime soon.

“We’re open-minded, but I’m not optimistic it’s going to be a big piece or anything earth-shattering,” said Sabean.

They’ve ruled out outfielders Shin-Soo Choo and Carlos Beltran since they’ve spent substantially on their own free agents this offseason.

Hunter Pence (5 yrs, $90 million)
Tim Lincecum (2 yrs, $35 million)
Javier Lopez (3 yrs, $13 million)
Ryan Vogelsong (1 yr, $5 million/plus incentives)

Free Agent Signing
Tim Hudson (2 yrs, $23 million)

Sabean also closed the door on moving Brandon Belt to left field. That’s a good call, because Belt could be a future Gold Glove winner at first base. Let’s hope 2014 is the year he brings that hardware home!

“He’s not going to play another position other than first base,” said Sabean."

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Good job Sabs!!!

Mike Trout at any age - Beyond the Box Score

Trout is taking out chunks of the early part of the "best player by age" list shown below. As a young phenom, this should place him slightly ahead of the more highly touted "Chosen One" of baseball, Bryce Harper.

Let's see how both players negotiate the middle and top end of this list.

Mike Trout at any age - Beyond the Box Score:

This is an impressive list for two reasons. First, no one on this list other than Appling and Fisk at the very end are anything short of inner circle Hall of Famers. This is a list of some of the best position players in baseball history. Even if Trout isn't going to catch Ruth on the all-time list, he's already made his mark. Second, Babe Ruth is on this list seven times. That seemed worthy of recognition.

Trout should have a few chances to add to his two "best at age" seasons, especially with the Williams seasons in the 11-12 WAR range coming up next. But even if he doesn't, he's already in great company.

'via Blog this'

Age	Player	fWAR
20	Trout	10.0
21	Trout	10.4
22	Williams	11.0
23	Williams	11.6
24	Gehrig	12.5
25	Ruth	13.3
26	Ruth	13.9
27	Williams	11.8
28	Ruth	15.0
29	Ruth	12.5
30	Cobb	11.5
31	Ruth	12.0
32	Ruth	13.0
33	Hornsby	11.1
34	Wagner	11.8
35	Ruth	10.5
36	Bonds	12.5
37	Bonds	12.4
38	Bonds	10.1
39	Bonds	11.7
40	Mays	5.9
41	Wagner	5.5
42	Appling	5.2
43	Fisk	2.2