Mailbag!

I've been getting a TON of imaginary emails lately from a lot of you I Bleed Orange readers who I just made up, and 100% of you are demanding the same thing: to make some sense of the Giants moves (and non-moves) so far in the off-season. The real off-season, I mean. The one that is actually happening; not the imaginary one.

Thanks to everyone for your emails that didn't actually exist.

The Giants signed Aubrey Huff, which I like, but wasn't it for a bit too much (2 years/$22 mil)? I agree with ESPN's Keith Law that this is contract the biggest mistake a GM can make. I mean, what did this guy do besides put up the best offensive numbers for the World Series Champions?

-Walter,
Portland, OR

Dear Walter,

Yes, it would have been nice for the Giants to have locked down Huff for something more in the 2/18, but World Series. Critics may call this a mistake if they are so inclined. It's easy to come to that conclusion when you look at Huff's career arc, which has been consistently inconsistent. But this arc's ups and downs were forged in Baltimore and Tampa Bay (before they were good). Let's see how Huff responds to finally being a champion before we assume he's due for a downturn.


Can I boo Juan Uribe now? It will feel really good, plus casual fans already thought I was booing anyway.

- Riley
Perham, MN

Dear Riley,

I must admit I'm torn on this one. The difficulty is, how do we show him we appreciate what he's done yet at the same time voice our disapproval for his becoming a dirty Dodger? At the same time, are any of us really surprised that players don't care about the rivalries as much as the fans, and follow the money around? I'm probably going to have a hard time finding the energy to boo him, directly. I will boo the Dodger brand as I normally do and whatever boos trickle their way down to Juan, so be it.


I am hopping mad about the Miguel Tejada signing! Not only is he really old, but hits into double plays, and he's really old! $6.5 million? 1 year? We could have had 1/20 of Jayson Werth for that!

-Marty
Joplin, MO

Dear Marty,

Look, if we learned anything from last year, it's that players can be past their prime and still contribute. I'm not saying that the Giants are going to strike gold like they did last year with Huff and Burrell, but let's keep the signing in perspective: An aging double play machine is what we had at shortstop last year. This one is a lot better at getting on base, one of the most durable guys in baseball, and comes at the third of the cost. And it's only one year. And World Series. Quit complaining.


Pablo Sandoval is fat.

-Salvador
Siloam Springs, AK

Dear Salvador,

The Giants agree with your eloquent assessment that this is Panda's key issue. They've committed a lot of resources and press time to his diet and conditioning. Lose weight, and everything else will be cream cheese. I am in agreement too; I even wrote an entire blog entry about it last month. I'd like to add one more piece of evidence to this theory, and that is that weight is the key issue for anyone, including you, Salvador.

Think about it: You feel a little off, things aren't going right at work, school or personal life, you start to get a little lazy, watching too much TV, eating poorly, etc. What's the first thing you do to get back on track? Stop eating the junk food and start moving around a little more. And it usually works. Before you know it you're a star.

I'm betting the same thing can happen for Pablo.

The Unthinkable

You'll hear it from the Bay Bridge to the Pacific Ocean. From Mendocino to Monterey. Within seconds of hearing the news, I heard it twice on Facebook.

"BOO!"

"Ree-bay!"

Our World Series hero (one of them, at least), with the image of his postseason heroics still fresh in our minds, has fled the glorious land of black and orange for the seedy back-alley of Dodger blue. The sting is not at fierce as it would have been had a homegrown talent who spent his whole career in San Francisco defected to the other side, but given his superhuman feats in the postseason, and this, it stings a little.

That being said, Ned Coletti is paying Uribe $21 million over three years. The Giants would have been foolish if they had given him more or even had matched that offer. The home run in Game 6 in the NLCS and his vacuum-like defense in the World Series will stay with me forever. His .248/.310/.440 line in 2010 will not. Which is a worse line than when the Giants offered him two years at $18 million in 2009. I think it shows much more savvy move to slightly overpay for Aubrey Huff, who was consistent and the Giants leading hitter over the regular season, and let Uribe - with his sparkling post-season - loose, than it would have been to have done the reverse. Bravo, Sabean.

We still do have a shortstop deficiency to address. Just please please please please please don't pursue Derek Jeter.

The Panda in the Room

Before we talk about any off-season free-agent acquisitions, we need to talk about the giant Panda in the room.

The Giants have hinted that their priorities right now are keeping Huff and Uribe. If those two are retained, and I think they should be (The SS free agent class is pretty meh right now, and they need Huff's bat next year), the only thing standing in the way of the Giants having a solid infield defensively and a solid lineup appears to be 40 lbs. of flesh off of Pablo Sandoval's body.

Seriously. I can't remember another time in baseball when the future of the team so heavily depended on whether or not one guy could successfully go on a diet.

Of course, this is assuming that the weight gain was the key to his sophomore slump. There were other problems, of course, like his inability to square up on a ball, plate discipline, the off-field distractions in Venezuela, and general motivation.

But I'm betting that the Giants are banking on the theory that Pablo's weight was the initial nudge that caused his momentum into those other problems. The first thing I heard about Pablo after the World Series ended was that he was going straight to off-season conditioning in San Diego, so it looks like the Giants moving forward with this theory.

This seems to me a bit like putting Panda on NBC's The Biggest Loser. Everything is heading toward one dramatic moment where he steps on the scale sometime during spring training. And if he can't hit that magic number, he returns his chocolate sundae martini into his favorite food case, wipes a tear from his eye, and hops on a bus to Fresno. It's putting too much stock in one part of the problem.

We all love Pablo Sandoval, and based on his 2009, know that can be great. If the Giants turn out to be right about what can make him great again, we will have the infield of Huff, Sanchez, Uribe and the non-2010 Pablo to work with, with phenom Brandon Belt in line to inherit the 1B job and Brandon Crawford waiting in the wings at short. And this is an arrangement I'd be okay with.

Rookie of the Year ...and Beyond!

I know it's late in coming, but before we start delving into pressing off season issues like free-agency, Pablo Sandoval's nutritionist, and the new alternate road uniforms (and we will cover all of this), my first order of business is to offer congratulations to Buster Posey for snagging Rookie of the Year honors earlier this week.

This year, for some reason, the individual awards just didn't hold as much of my attention as they have in earlier years. In the past, I might have felt that Andres Torres was robbed of a Gold Glove after a performance in the field like the one he turned in this season, but this year I couldn't care less that he didn't win it. In November of 2008 and 2009, I was locked in to Tim Lincecum and the Cy Young Award race. 2010? Not on my radar at all. And although I didn't feel like Tim deserved it this year, they could have given the 2010 Cy Young to Jonathan Broxton and it wouldn't have mattered to me. So what is the reason for this season's indifference to the individual trophies?


Oh yeah. It must be that this trophy is a lot shinier.

Buster being the ROY, though, is a little different. I holds a little more significance, because after meeting and in some cases exceeding our very high expectations for him, Buster Posey has now stepped into a future in which the San Francisco Giants are his team. We all know that Buster will be an All-Star level or possibly elite catcher for the next ten or so years. But he is poised to become the leader of the Giants for those ten years. Rookie of the year, and World Series champion. Last guy to do that? Derek Jeter. He became the face of the franchise for a very successful decade.

I can see Buster in the Jeter mold - Calm, poised, and really hated by the people who hate him. Currently, Dodger fan friends down here claim to admire him. One friend, while discussing the World Series, even shook his head, smiled, and said, "Man, I wish the Dodgers had that guy." Three seasons from now, though, especially if the Giants continue to experience success, you can bet on Buster Posey being Public Enemy no. 1 in L.A. the same way that Jeter is hated in Boston. In fact I'm looking forward to hearing the boos grow increasingly louder in Chavez Ravine next season when his name is announced.

Cheers, Buster!

Withdrawl

It's been almost two weeks, and I still wish there was a baseball game on tonight. And why can't there be one? Everyone's still around. You're telling me they can't get together to play just one more game? Invite the Rangers. Heck, you can even invite Buck and McCarver. Throw in a Due Date commercial every fifteen seconds if that sweetens the deal. I don't care, as long as the Giants are there.

Disappointingly, the natural laws of the Major League Baseball season and off-season dictate that the season must end and the off season must begin. It's a necessary natural cycle, as there cannot be excitement and buildup for 2011 unless 2010 ends.

But for those who want the 2010 party to go on a little longer, there are a few measures you can take to relive the magic, and the torture:

Video and Audio Clips

The best place to go is the video archive on the Giants official website. Be sure to click on one of the "Must C" links because they not only play the clip as it is seen on FOX, but then replay it with the KNBR radio call. The best one is Dave Fleming's voice cracking during his call of Renteria's three-run homer in Game 5.

Speaking of the KNBR crew, their site is rife with podcasts, and if you want to open up the floodgates for some happy world series memories, listen to any of the Post-Game Wraps. These guys are the biggest Giants fans in the world and the wraps give them a chance to unobjectively and shamelessly gush about their team.

Also, you have to check out this tribute by San Francisco's own DJ Tom Thump. It brings us from the despair of 2002 to the glory of last weekend.

Make a Pilgrimage

Why not make a trek to the spot where all the magic happened and the home of the 2010 World Series Champions: AT&T Park? The area behind the outfield seats (where the Coke bottle, mitt, and cable car are) is open to the public, free of charge. You can also visit the nearby Giants dugout store for some gear, and don't forget to stop by City Hall where they still have the Giants banners up from the parade. I'm sure if you leave now you can still get random strangers to participate in a "Let's go Giants" chant.

Think about the Off Season

When - and only when you are absolutely sure - you have exhausted these measures, it might be time to start thinking about the moves to be made in the off season, and the Giants chances to repeat in 2011. But do so very carefully. The road from giddy fan to resentful pessimist is a steep one. If you must, don't dive right into free-agency or Panda's diet right away. You'll make yourself crazy. Ease into it by thinking about Buster Posey's Rookie of the Year chances, and how furious you'll be if Jayson Heyward wins it.

Pause... For Reflection

Since last night, I've watched the clip of the Brian Wilson's last strikeout of Nelson Cruz maybe 25 times. It was a gorgeous swinging strikeout on a cutter inside, which was nice to see after the called strike three at the knees to Ryan Howard to end the NLCS, and the close call at first base to end the NLDS in Atlanta. It was a no-doubter. And it also hit the perfect dramatic note of being thrown on a 3-2 pitch. It's my favorite moving image of all time.

But I did something strange the last couple of times I watched it. I paused the clip. But not after the strikeout. Not on Wilson's gesture to the sky or Posey running out to greet him or the whole team celebrating. I hit pause on the moment right before he throws the pitch.

It's the last moment for this franchise, in this city, as a team that has never won the World Series. The last moment where a Giants fan is a long-suffering fan. The last moment where we are like the Cubs and the Indians and not like the Red Sox and the White Sox. The last moment where we can't think about 2002 or 1989 or 1962 because we don't know whether or not it will all turn out okay. The last moment where Dodger fans could email the picture of the San Francisco Giants empty trophy case to each other and laugh.

Do I just enjoy lingering on painful memories? No! Get your mind out of the gutter, sicko.

But all of the realities that that last moment represents - right before being wiped away with Nelson Cruz' swing and miss - were a huge part of the identity of the San Francisco Giants. And their identity is changed now. Our identity is changed now.

What is this the start of? Will this turn into a dynasty, or will this be a one-time thing? Does this team stay intact with a strong core of players or are we the 1997 Marlins? Will we become like Yankee fans that everyone resents? Or will we be like Royals fans still waiting for that second title 25 years later?

We're headed somewhere, and no one knows how many championships, or years without one lay ahead. So savor this one, fans. Enjoy it. There will never be one like the first one.

Speechless

The Giants won the World Series. The Giants are world champions. The Giants won the World Series. The Giants are world champions. The Giants won the World Series. The Giants are world champions. The Giants won the World Series. The Giants are world champions.

Just say it over and over until you feel good.

But those are just words, and words will not do this feeling justice. More to come later.