Some of the reports from the Carney Lansford press conference, to announce his hiring, notes comments by Sabean about the Giants efforts to re-sign both Vizquel and Feliz. Apparently Vizquel was not shamed by his pretty lousy offensive year in 2007, and is trying to get 2 years, whereas the Giants appear willing to give him one year and an option year that he can earn.
The Giants appear to be holding firm to that, and I think that's good because Vizquel's 2007 makes it look like the end is here for Omar, and while we could use him for another year, two years just don't make any sense. I would rather start Ivan Ochoa instead, he's pretty good defensively, in AAA, and had a nice offensive year in 2007, though that's his first time he has done it in the high minors, so his performance is suspect since he missed a chunk of the season to the DL list.
Just Say No
But the horrifying news is that the Giants are trying to talk with Pedro Feliz about a contract, but, fortunately for some of us, has been unable to connect because Feliz is in the middle of changing agents. I'll bet Feliz is changing agents because of what happened last year and he thinks that changing agents is going to make him that much more attractive and get him the multi-year contract that he thinks he deserves. Not.
Just say "No" to Feliz, Sabean! Let Aurilia and Frandsen fight it out to start at 3B, as well as Durham and Frandsen at 2B, unless, that is, you are able to trade Durham, in which case you start Frandsen at 2B and Aurilia at 3B. If you thought that Aurilia was acceptable offensively at 1B, then he has to be even better at 3B, where there are less offensive-minded guys. I don't care if Feliz is pretty good defensively at 3B, frankly, with a pitching rotation of fly-ball guys, chances at 3B are going to be rarer than ever.
I can live with another year of Feliz, but he clearly stated that he wants a multi-year contract and he does not deserve one. He is a very poor hitter, can't hit for average, can't get on base on walks, he can only muscle the ball out for a home run occassionally. I don't want to be stuck next year with him at 3B if there is a better option available.
Agreed!
ReplyDeleteI think if Feliz is brought back, then it truly shows that Sabean has no idea about what he's doing. And that he clearly over-values poor attributes in players. Feliz's power is really overrated (an ISO of .165 in '07)
He's going to turn 33 next April, and is never going to get better, only worse.
I would be tempted to offer him arb for 1-year but thats as far as I would take it. If he rejects it then we'll get a sandwich pick. If he accepts, no big deal, keep him for 1-year in a utility role (the last role in which he was actually good at) and start whoever you need to.
It's time to cut ties with Feliz.
My starting point is I would like to see them keep all/most of the current OFs, not bring in any FA OFs (Jones, Hunter, et al), and play Frandsen where he belongs, at 2b. Secondly I would like to see them resign neither Omar nor Feliz as they are both too weak offensively (how many #9 hitters can one team have?).
ReplyDeleteBut, if they are not brought back, who the hell is there? At least at SS, we have both figueroa and Ochoa and I think Figueroa, in the few games I saw him play, is actually better defensively than Omar. In our system we really have nothing. In FA, there is nothing worth the money. So, if not Feliz, who?
I agree that Frandsen belongs at 2B, but I would rather that Frandsen start at 3B than sit behind Durham at 2B and waste a year playing utility player.
ReplyDeleteAs badly as Omar and Feliz hit last year, neither are as bad as a #9 hitter, at least not in the NL. Vizquel or Feliz is tolerable batting 8th, but neither are viable at 7th anymore.
At SS, I think the Giants should just go with Ivan Ochoa. He's a slick fielding prospect who we picked up from Indians because he couldn't figure out how to hit, but then he figured something out in 2007 or just had a heck of a lucky streak before injury took him out.
But in 2006, he couldn't luck into a good streak at any point in the season, in AA. And in 2005, he was horrible for 4 months before going on fire suddenly. But that was at AA, so his good month didn't lead to better hitter when he repeated AA in 2006.
So in two years, 2005 and 2006, he could not luck into two consecutive months of 700+ OPS hitting, but in three months in AAA Fresno, he had two months in a row over 700 OPS, the last two months before his season ending injury.
And his offense was so bad in his career, that his defense has to be great. So insert him at SS if Omar plays hard to get. And if we sign Omar, as it appears we will, start Frandsen at 3B and use Ochoa as the utility MI, he could play SS or 2B.
Who plays 3B? We have Frandsen and Aurilia. Feliz had a .708 OPS, while Aurilia had a slightly better OPS when you take out the ABs he got when he was having his neck problems and trying to come back. I think he would easily match Feliz's performance. And Frandsen hit basically that for the season, without the power involved, meaning his OBP is good. At worse, pull the Mayor Of Norwich from wherever he went and put him at 3B, just for the publicity.
Feliz on arb no big deal? He's going to get $6-10M from the arbitrator, depending on how bad his assigned arbitrator is. That's a lot of dough for a utility guy.
ReplyDeleteJust say "No" and hopefully some idiot team decides to sign him and give us a pick in return.
Just say "No" and hopefully some idiot team decides to sign him and give us a pick in return.
ReplyDeleteWe have to offer him arb to be eligible for compensation. If he's offered nothing, and then signs with a team, we do not get any compensation.
A sandwich pick isn't great but I would trade it for Feliz any day of the week.
That's why I assumed that the Giants could offer him arb, he'll would be likely to turn it down because
1) He wants a multi-year deal
2) He could probably do better on the FA market than a 1 year $6-8M deal with the Giants.
If he accepts, it's not great, but you could push him back to the utility role and move him at the trading deadline.
Does anyone have any good arbitration links? I've heard that the salary can only increase by 20% but I haven't been able to find any numbers on the 'net.
On the topic of Ochoa or any of the other AAA SS guys. I'm not sold on any of them. Ochoa is the youngest and could probably play utility on a team without a utility option, but I think don't think he'll be able to field like Omar and won't be able to hit like Omar, even after his terrible season.
The Fielding Bible had Omar at +20 and even though Ochoa may or may not be slick defensively, I don't think he's going to be that good.