Rejoice! Benitez Traded!

I heard the news from KNBR 680: Armando Benitez has been traded to the Florida Marlins for Randy Messenger (AP report). So long, don't let the door hit your fat butt!

Don't Kill the Messenger

At least the Giants got a player who can help us out now, in the bullpen, and perhaps be a fixture there for a while. It was orginally Yusimeiro Petit we were suppose to get for Benitez, in spring training, but he ended up being traded to Arizona for their ex-closer and he's still a work in progress and a finesse type starter when we are full up on starters anyway. Messenger, a right-hander reliever, is the one of the main setup men in the Marlin's bullpen this season. He is 25 years old, 26 later this season. This is his second full major league season (he came up for a cup of coffee in 2005).

This season, he has a 2.66 ERA (good) but 1.52 WHIP (bad), 1.33 K/BB (badder), 4.6 K/9 (baddest). He has 6 holds this season, thus far. Stats from sfgiants.com announcement: "The newest Giants has been unscored upon in 19 of his 23 appearances this season... the 6-6, 240-pound hurler owns a 3-8 lifetime ledger with a 4.98 ERA ... over 111 big-league relief appearances..." He is a Sparks, Nevada, native, so his family can come down and see him every once in a while, since there is never any guarantee he will pitch in any particular game.

His stats last year was not that good either but he had nice stats in the uppper minors, so there is some hope there as he's still young and show spurts of goodness. For instance, last year he had a great first half, 3.19 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 2.2 BB/9, 7.3 K/9, 3.3 K/BB, which was almost closer good, but he was totally blown away in the second half, though a large part of that was bad luck with the long ball, over 13% HR/FB when 10% is the mean pitchers regress to normally. His command comes and goes, but he showed a lot of skill in the minors so hopefully he will figure things out, particularly throwing strikes.

He is described in my prospect book from last season as having a good fastball - "dominates with a lively FB" - that he can run it up to the mid-90's, and that he can contrast with his "slurvy-type" slider in the low 80's. He shows a "resilient arm." His main problem is his control. (Descriptions from my 2006 Minor League Baseball Analyst)

Closer-Go-Round?

So who is the closer now? Brian Wilson hasn't been that great this season, though getting better, but if I recall correctly, he just came back from some injury. So I assume we are going with someone within our bullpen right now. I think Hennessey will probably get a shot at doing it but I'm hoping that Bochy will be trying out everyone in this role, including Ortiz.

I'm hoping that Hennessey and Taschner can eventually become a duo-closer much like the Giants had in the early 70's with Gary Lavelle and Randy Moffitt (trivia: brother to Billy Jean King), but it might be too early to rely on them exclusively as closers. Messenger looks like he can fill the setup role OK when he is on, but I'm hoping that Correia will get a chance to do that also. But I don't think either can be closers. Same for Chulk and Kline.

Ortiz is probably still the long man out of the bullpen as I think it is too soon to start him doing short work - from what I've read, it takes a while to adjust to relief work. But I hope that eventually he works his way up to main closer as both Hennessey and Taschner are still young and relatively inexperienced, and will have their ups and downs. And I think the two of them have done very well in the setup role this month, so it would be nice to continue that.

Giants in June

As the Chinese proverb (really more of a curse) sort of goes, "we live in interesting times." I still like the team as is - of course a better reliever and hitter would be great, as Lefty Malo is agitating for, but I'm realistic enough to know that getting one will cost us a good prospect and I would rather hold onto what we got right now.

he offense will be better once we get back Durham and if Klesko can play regularly against RHP. They are important parts of our offense, else there is only really Winn, Bonds, and Molina to count on, that's why the offense has been sputtering (oh yeah, plus Aurilia's struggles). That's why I think we should have a good month of June, Durham and Klesko will return to the lineup and we should start winning games like today when Cain struggled but then held the fort at 4 runs for 7 total innings. He should have gotten at least a no-decision.

It is still as I noted before the season, enjoy how well our pitching rotation pitches, and hope for the offense to deliver enough runs to win the well pitched games. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt to pray for our position prospects to show something this season so that we can maybe use them next season.

Larry Baer on KNBR This Morning: On Benitez

KNBR's morning show talked with Larry Baer this morning and while most of it was fluffy, Brian Murphy got some interesting info from Baer, or rather in what was not said.

Brian asked Baer about the closer situation and how it was going with that. Baer was loud in his silence about Benitez. He was noncommittal to Benitez, talking about going with the best player for the job. He did note that Benitez was throwing better and well, but basically dodged any question by Murphy to pin him on an opinion about Benitez and the closer position. When asked if Benitez might be trade, he then went on about how that's true for any player in spring, we'll know better when it gets closer to opening day.

He did also note that we have a nice crop of young relievers coming up and that is part of the equation as well.

My guess is that Benitez is traded as soon as any team offers the Giants something that they want, else they are going to go with him as closer. History being what it is, there are always teams eager to trade for even an overpriced experienced closer during mid-season when they are having a closer emergency - and at least 10 teams have that annually, even teams that thought they had everything settled, like the Dodgers, A's, Brewers, Rangers, White Sox, Reds, etc. in the 2006 season when injury and ineffectiveness meant that they needed closer help.

By then, it will be only half of Benitez's bloated salary and if he's really doing as well as HE thinks he will, then it should be relatively easy to trade him PLUS get a good prospect in return, whereas if he's not doing well, they could just put him back in the bullpen and promote Wilson, Sadler, Anderson or whoever is doing well at that time and has closer experience (and seemingly a lot of guys have gotten that experience with the Giants over the past few years in their minor leagues, including Taschner to the group above) or even Lincecum if they want to see how the wunderkind takes to the majors, but don't have a starting spot to give him.

And no, the Giants don't view Lincecum as anything other than a starter, but if they have an immediate need for a closer, they will feel comfortable doing that temporarily, like the Red Sox did with Papelbon last season. Just like Sanchez.

Interest in Benitez: Seattle Comes By

That's what I get for posting late night: I miss the newest of news. In the Merc today, the crowd of scouts checking out Benitez increased to three teams with Seattle joining the scouts from Boston that I noted earlier today and apparently the Marlins are still interested as well, sending their scouts to yesterday's game too - unfortunately, they didn't know that Benitez was going to pitch on Sunday and thus they missed that performance. (Ya know, there's this thing called, like, the Internet, and, ya know, there's lots of info there, like Benitez pitching on certain days, like if ya really interested, ya know?)

Apparently the Marlins and Mariners are REALLY interested because they sent TWO scouts to check out Benitez (or at least that is how I interpret "they sent double coverage, while the Boston Red Sox also sent a representative"). According to the Merc's account, Benitez "snapped off several sharp sliders and his fastball sat at a consistent 93 MPH."

Why They Want Benitez

What do our potential trade buddies want with Benitez? Obviously, he's a closer/reliever, so that's the major thing. Here is what each team is thinking, according to the Merc (plus other stuff I remember from past accounts):

• Florida is still looking for a closer and many in the organization believe they have the right environment for Benitez to repeat his 2004 season. From what I have been reading, they have a bunch of young guys - Tankersley being the most accomplished (I had him on my fantasy team last year, I wouldn't mind getting him in trade for Benitez!) - who have no closing experience. However, they being cheap, they want the Giants to pay Armando's full freight (and that's some load), so I would want someone very good from them, a top position prospect perhaps, or someone like Tankersley, who I think would be a good to great reliever, not someone like Petit, who had been mentioned, who is more a guile pitcher than a heat pitcher that you want out of relief. Taking him on would be taking on a failed prospect, as he struggle last season, so we better get more than just him for Armando. Especially since the Marlins TWICE beat us in the playoffs, and then went on to win the World Series both times.
• Boston, as noted in the post earlier today, is also interested. According to the Merc today, they are hunting for a closer (No! Do tell, ya mean Papelbon isn't going to start AND close as well, except, of course, his own games?) and would be able to take on more of the $7.6M owed Benitez. Well, of course they could take on more, this is the Marlins and Red Sox we are talking about, that's like comparing me with Bill Gates, Gates probably wastes more money building his techno-home than I'll ever see in my lifetime. Even so, I would like Benitez to pitch well enough to get a good prospect out of the Red Sox, they gave up a lot to the Marlins for Beckett and Lowell, and both had their problem areas and good performance history. Too bad Hanley isn't still available. :^)
• Seattle are the new comers to the observation station (which apparently is so small that the five scouts there was too much and one of them had to, gasp, sit in the aisle) and while they have J.J. Putz as their closer, they had traded away Rafael Soriano during the offseason, so they are looking for someone to set up. Plus, I would think that any team today would want to have a closer and ex-closer in their pen since most closers seem to have the shelf life of bread. Plus maybe an ex-closer in the minors - Dustin Hermanson, bad back and all, which cost him his 2006 season, got a minor league contract - with the Reds if I remember right. That could explain why the Giants re-signed Tyler Walker after the D-Rays dropped him after his Tommy John surgery - he's going to rehab in the minors, and, according to the Merc, he thinks he can return to rehab in June and be ready to return to the active roster near the All-Star Break. Better than bringing up Lincecum to close, I would rather keep Lincecum as a starter to maximize the time we control him as a starter, he seems to be a special one.

Giants News Updates

According to the same article in the Merc, Bochy is pretty much set at the #3 spot in the lineup but haven't settled yet on a #8. Oh well, like our offense isn't average enough, we put our best hitter in a spot that historically wastes a hitter's performance.

However, according to an account, which I can remember the source for right now, Bochy is set on Molina for the 7th because, batting 8th, since Molina has slow wheels, then pitchers would not be able to move him up with a sacrifice due to his lack of a second gear (or even a first from reports I've read - he might even lose a foot race with a snail, even after the snail spots him 30 feet).

I think that's better because Molina has been effective batting in the 7th spot, as he has some power. However, what I'm worried about is whether that means Feliz is batting 8th or batting 6th. At 8th, he has a lot of offensive value, because most 8 hitters are crappy anyhow, so his OPS would be the big fish in the small pond. But at 6th, oy, he would probably waste all the RBI opportunities there plus Bochy had impressed me earlier by saying almost from the get-go that Feliz, being a low OBP hitter, should hit in the bottom of the order - you can't go more bottom than 8th.

In addition, I forgot to mention Lincecum's nice pitching turn the other day, as chronicled in the Chron. While it is great news that he went 3 scoreless innings with 4 K's and 2 singles given up ("mostly baffling the Mariners with his 95-mph fastball, curve and splitter...") and that he's probably going to start the season in AAA starting, the more interesting, to me, was this quote from Matt Cain. He said, "I want to do nothing but help him. We're all in this together." Man, I love that kind of stuff, can we vote Cain for "Giants for Life"? I was very impressed with his comments after his contract signing and it just gets better. In contrast, recall Bonds's statement that he has never helped anyone because he didn't know whether they will be teammates next season.

Speaking of contract, I should have wrote on that yesterday, but since Lefty Malo had a nice account of it already, I'll just direct you all to his site for the 411, particularly since he got some of it wrong initially and got bitch slapped - OK, gentlely corrected - by Andrew Baggarly on some of the details (I love Baggarly's work but I'm still a bit miffed when he dropped a rumor about Vlad and the Giants a few years back so I e-mailed him with a question about it and he never returned my e-mail, not even a courtesy e-mail, like I've gotten from other sportswriters. Of course, it could be that I'm still bitter over the Vlad non-signing and want someone convenient to get mad at too. :^). Lefty always has good stuff to read and good thoughts too.

Not too shabby a deal (and good reporting by Baggarly, apparently he scooped everyone else and usually it is AP who gets the good contract stuff) for Cain, he can almost double the contract by performing well and triggering all the options and escalators. Hopefully he will, because one of the clauses has to do with him winning the Cy Young award. But it is so complicated that it is like patting your head and rubbing your tummy WHILE hopping on one foot AND reciting the Gettysburg Address, all at the same time. Hopefully that is something Cain's agents can worry about and Cain can just think, "take ball, throw strikes".

Interest in Benitez Percolating

The SF Chronicle reported that the Boston Red Sox is the latest team to kick the tires on Armando Benitez (insert joke here :^). The Florida Marlins reportedly was very interested previously - the talk was that they would send Petit in exchange for Benitez plus money covering most of Benitez's salary for 2007. Perhaps that is why the trade never got done, maybe the Giants think that Benitez is going to be healthy and worth a lot more in trade if he can show that he is ready in the spring. Meanwhile, they have closer in training Brian Wilson around.

Boston have some interesting prospects, according to Baseball Prospectus, and they are looking for a closer since Papelbon is moving into the rotation from his closer stint of 2006. I would think a fully functional closer should be worth a good prospect or two, though none of the position prospects are that interesting out of the top 10.

Quickee Giants News

Found some facts in this article at the Contra Costa Times. Why it wasn't carried in the Merc, which is a sister publication to the Times and they appear to be sharing writers too, I don't know, just a pain since I subscribe to the Merc. I had to find this via a rumor site on Fox Sports.

Marcopolo had it basically right, Bonds will have $5.8M deferred to 2008, and any incentives he hits will be deferred to 2009 (up to $4.2M). So take another $0.8M off the 2008 available budget (though I assumed $500K per young player so it might all even out).

Also, the article noted that the Giants that their budget will stay at "$95M for the foreseeable future." And, nice to get confirmation of this, but Magowan said "increased revenues from MLB Advanced Media, the new television deal and the sale of the Montreal Expos allowed the club to boost its budget." MLBAM is their name for their internet operations, covering their TV and other media products via the internet plus the on-line store. I had read about the new TV deal but only from other posters and not from one of the well-known baseball sites I frequent (not that I read each and every post, so perhaps they did post it, but I just haven't read it anywhere until today), so I didn't want to count that in unless I heard a credible source for this news. I probably missed the news at The Hardball Times, they run a regular column on the Business of Baseball by a member of SABR's Business of Baseball Committee.

Lastly, the article noted that Benitez wants a trade and, if he is healthy in spring training, could rejoin the Marlins, with the Marlins giving us $1-2M PLUS, amazingly enough, Yusmeiro Petit, who is a very promising young pitcher that they got, I think, from the Red Sox in their big trade. That would be a SUPER trade for us, getting rid of a cancer, getting some money back, plus a top prospect who would probably be at or near the top of our prospect list (though I'm not sure if his IP makes him not a rookie anymore, but he's still unproven, though very, very promising; I had him on my fantasy league last season and he was a good reliever for the Marlins, over all). He would definitely be worth paying most of Benitez's salary, better than signing any prospect for that much bonus money.

OK, this is the last item. Looking at the article, Zito was quoted saying, "Oakland fans, if you guys are bored while the A's are out of town, come on over," Zito said Wednesday. "I think we've got some seats for you." Why just the days the A's are out of town? True, usually when the A's are out of town, the Giants are playing at home, and vice-versa, but why not have the A's fans come to SF when they are both at home? :^)