Giants are front-runners for another Cuban prospect? Do tell......

Obligatory Yasmany Tomas highlight

The Giants are always listed as front runners for these Cuban ex-pats but have been bridesmaids on virtually all of them (Cespedes, Puig, Abreu,  et al) so take this report for what it's worth.

from Bleacher Report:
http://bleacherreport.com/tb/ddZc3?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=san-francisco-giants

• Gammons thinks that Pablo Sandoval‘s days as a member of the Giants are numbered. Sandoval will be one of baseball’s most sought-after free agents this offseason, and the Marlins and Red Sox are both “very interested,” according to Gammons. “The Giants, I don’t think have any chance of re-signing him,” he adds.

• At least two dozen teams will be on hand to see Yasmani Tomas‘ showcase in the Dominican Republic this weekend, and Gammons hears that the early front-runners to sign him are the Giants, Phillies, Padres, Rangers and Tigers. All of that, of course, could change quickly following his showcase. The Padres might seem a curious fit there, given the team’s typically tight payroll, but I’d imagine that the international focus of new GM A.J. Preller might be a factor.

The report about Sandoval is probably closer to reality. The thinking has always been that if the Giants let him go to market, somebody will overpay for him. If you were totally certain that Scutaro would be back and healthy for a full season you already have him signed for $6M+ and could slide him over to 3B. Duvall is a possibility. I still think Posey could transition there a lot easier than Bochy/Sabean seems to believe.

Losing Sandoval drops $8.25M from the payroll and the savings could be used to sign Morse, depending on what he feels he is worth after this season. Maybe he's tired of bouncing around and is more reasonable than Sandoval / and Mr. Market can be. Sergio Romo $6.3M is also a FA, so is Vogelsong @ $5.0M as well as our new hero Jake Peavy $14.5M. That's a lot of money that may or may not find a new home, $40M by my count.

After 2015, Tim Lincecum $18M, Tim Hudson $12M, Marco Scutaro $6.7M, Jeremy Affeldt $6M, Joaquin Arais $1.15M and Juan Gutierrez $0.85 are Free Agents, but Gutierrez could be lost to arbitration in 2014 (hint, hint). That's $44M, so half of the payroll is being rolled over or reinvested in the next two off-seasons. Enjoy these Giants while you can, because in just a short while they will not look the same as they do now.