So it is both larger than Tim Beckham's bonus and Matt Weiter's bonus, plus, per Baggarly's comment here about how both Alvarez and Posey wanted to have the highest bonus this year, apparently Posey won that battle, as BA reported that Alvarez signed for a straight $6M bonus. It is also higher than any bonus paid over the past four drafts, beating out Weiter's $6M in 2007, Justin Upton's $6.1M in 2005.
I guess Baggarly's source has egg on his or her face, as this was not close to the $7.5M figure he reported. It ended up being pretty close to what I was hoping it would be, I was thinking $5-6M. I'm happy it is only $200K more than that. And I guess Allfrank will be happy too. :^)
All in all, I did sweat some bullets after 9PM passed and there was no news, but it made too much sense for both sides not to make a deal that both sides would be happy with. I heard some yahoo on KNBR suck up to Damon Bruce and scream at the Giants for signing Zito and not overpaying Posey a few millions to get him signed "three months ago (sic)" [not quite right, it was 2.5 months ago], while Bruce yells at the Giants for that as well. (CLICK
Well, duh, unlike what many think, Sabean has been pretty smart over the years, certainly it was unquestioned early in his tenure, but given the excellent state of the pitching rotation, I'll forgive any of the trespasses that bothers others. When all is said and done, the Giants now look set at catcher for many years, both offensively and defensively, with Posey, as well as in the pitching rotation and closer spot. Hinshaw looks good thus far for one of the two key setup positions (don't forget how Munter flamed out after one good season though...) and there are a lot of candidates for the other spot, though Walker is starting to look done (however, people forget that he recovered from TJS just at the end of last season, so his arm strength is probably not built up yet, and still forgot how good he was at the beginning of this season, so I have some hope for him next season).
Go Giants!
Giants post signing: http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20080816&content_id=3317212&vkey=pr_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf
ReplyDeleteNotes his accomplishments (natch!) there:
* 2008 Golden Spikes Award (third Giant, Lincecum and Will Clark before)
* Dick Howser Trophy
* Brooks Wallace Award
* Johnny Bench Award for nation's top collegiate catcher
* Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball, Baseball America, and Rivals.com
Loving the defense: earned Rawlings Gold Glove Award, posting .983 fielding percentage, threw our 40.7 percent of base steal attempts, had six pickoffs.
Oh, and shame on me: welcome to the Giants Buster!
Yes, Martin, I am really opleased. I think the Giants did a really excellent job on this one. First, 4 other teams passed on the guy based on his $12 mil demand. Second, they negotiated a contract that should please the player, but not rob the club or upset other players too much. Third, compared to what Weiters got, I don't see how they could have realistically done any better. There was a time I thought they could come in lower, but Weiters pretty much establsihed the market, so $5 mil or lower was unrealistic (on my part). But to go over Weiters' number by a mere $200,000, are you kidding me, extremely well done. I also like seeing that they pay it now, it is over and done with and doesn't impact any budgets in teh future.
ReplyDeleteIs this too much money? Yes, but teams cannot single handedly change the reality of the world. This is what all the teams are paying to get these premium players. Given that, I do not see how, realistically, the Giants could have done any better, short of collusion. So I think they performed excellently. Anyone who is going to quibble over $200 or $300,000 is being silly. I also think they (should) have made the player happy with this contract - unlike the situation with Alonso, possibly Alvarez, and one or two other guys.
Oh, yes, Tyler Walker. Almost forgot. First of all I think it is really chicken shit for fans to boo the guy. I wish I could quote from Bags blog, but he is right on. The family has - and has had since the Candlestick days, season tickets, Tyler is playing for his dream team.
ReplyDeleteAnd Walker has been very good at times. Every pitcher goes thru this at some point (altho it may be that Walker has more of these periods or they are longer than other pitchers). Taschner in the last game in Houston faced 4 hitters without retiring even one. remember Yabu's strange period when he faced, I think it was 10 hitters over 3 games without retiring one.
It is certainly true that Walker has been highlyinconsistent lately. In that he does not differ from the rest of the bullpen, excluding Wilson. Picking on Walker is stupid.
Asking what has gone wrong with the bullpen this year is a legitimate question. LOTS of guys lost it - Hennessey, Chulk, Munter. And the hope of teh future has really performed below expectations. It certainly is not the time to DFA guys like Sadl;er, Threets, Misch, Romo, and a few others. They have all disappointed this year. The larger question is why? And then identifying who/if among them is going to be above average MLB RPs. Of the group, Walker has, probably, a better chance than most. Does make ya miss Dan Geise, though.
I agree. Giants did an excellent job signing Posey and their other top picks. A couple of questions. Does anyone think Posey will become the Giant's top prospect next year? And what is going on with Merkin Valdez? He was really solid in the bullpen this year until he got hurt.
ReplyDeleteHe is still hurt. He was just placed on the 60 day DL to create a roster spot for Palmer.
ReplyDelete