Hot Stove

The Giants must sign Headley. Glad they avoided Tomas largely because it leaves money on table for Headley

How is Headley's back? He always seemed to be injured when he was a Padre. He played through a lot of things such as bad shoulder, sore back (herniated disk), sore wrist, and a bad knee. It seemed to never end. I'm kind of glad he's no longer a Padre. He made me feel old(er)! ha

As a Dodger fan, I would love to see the Giants sign Headley

As a Giants fan I'm glad I'm not a Dodger fan.

How is Headley's back? He always seemed to be injured when he was a Padre. He played through a lot of things such as bad shoulder, sore back (herniated disk), sore wrist, and a bad knee. It seemed to never end. I'm kind of glad he's no longer a Padre. He made me feel old(er)! ha

As a Dodger fan, I would love to see the Giants sign Headley

As a Giants fan I'm glad I'm not a Dodger fan.

All three of the above posts are astute and funny. As a Giants fan, myself, I had to particularly laugh at Teamnasty's

From what I've read about Headley's back, it's still an enigma, making Headley an enigma himself, and arguably the biggest free agent risk of the market. He showed no significant back or health problems in his 43 fairly productive games with the Yankees. However, as everybody knows, back problems never entirely go away. Considering Headley's declining performance the last two years, as well as the health problems Fred mentioned, somebody is going to really need Headley to meet his pricey demands.

That team could very well be the Giants. Posey has made it clear he will not play 3b, they have no decent hitters in the high minors, and they will want to do everything possible to repeat. Considering the only other free agent option at 3b is Freese (ugh), they just might have to take the leap of faith. Although I agree with Steve it could end up costing the Giants, they could score a solid switch-hitting bat at 3b if he's healthy.

Finally, to the Nelson Cruz signing. I am sincerely on the fence on this one. On the good side, the Mariners are getting an outstanding power hitter who could legitimately hit 30 hrs a year for the M's, despite Safeco, for only 14 mil a year. On the bad side, they signed a 34-year old defensive liability in the outfield for four years. As I said, I'm on the fence on this one; so, I'm willing to be convinced either way.

I have a hunch the next third baseman will be Joaquin Arias!...or Adam Duvall.

I'll chime in on Cruz, as the Mariners are my 2nd favorite team. I still have a bad taste in my mouth of how Safeco robbed Beltre of a lot of his offense. I think lefties can play here, but Safeco is where righty power goes to die. I hope Cruz can "muscle up" and prove this to be wrong, but I am not optimistic

As a Giants fan I'm glad I'm not a Dodger fan.

This hit me as one of the funnier posts in quite a while.

Regarding Cruz in safeco. His HRs typicially are not of the scrape the fence variety. When he connects it travels a while. I don't think the stadium will limit him like it has others in the past. Plus when your team plays in an extreme park you have to think relative. Is he giving you more HRs than the opponents big bat is giving them? While Cruz probably will not hit 40 HRs I think he can do that. Now whether he can do it for 4 years or not will have to wait and see.

Regardless, I think you have to say the Mariners are making a good effort to build a winner. As a fan that is usually all I ask.

Regardless, I think you have to say the Mariners are making a good effort to build a winner. As a fan that is usually all I ask.

I, myself ask that my team make a good, wise effort to build a winner. Lord knows, many GM's have made many unsuccessful "good efforts" before. Maybe all these years with Sabean at the helm have spoiled me...

I have a hunch the next third baseman will be Joaquin Arias!...or Adam Duvall.

I truly hope the Giants' next third baseman isn't Arias or Duvall. With Arias, we're talking about a guy with a career .269/.298(ugh)/.354(ugh) line and only six career hrs in 994 career ABs. That would make him both an offensive liability at 3b and easily the worst-hitting 3b in the league. Duvall has some nice right-handed pop, but he's a true-first baseman who is just brutal at third. At AT&T, that would be a significant liability. Even Kelly Johnson as a one-year stopgap would be a better option.

I still think Headley and the Giants are made for each other, despite the possible pitfalls. Larry Baer is notorious for lusting after the repeat, the horrid Wheeler-for-Beltran trade is a perfect example. i would be surprised if he or Sabean would feel ok with Arias or Duvall at third.

Headley is the best 3b option left in baseball for the Giants. I really wanted them to win the Sandoval sweepstakes but it sounds like he just wanted to move on. More power to him.

The Giants internal options include Adam Duvall and Matt Duffy. Let's be honest, they can only be projected to be about .5 wins above replacement. Headley, even with back issues that sap his power, is an outstanding defender who draws walks. He's worth 2-3 wins in the standings more than what you can get with Duvall and Duffy. And given that the Giants are in that critical mid 80's (wins) talent level, that can be the difference between earning a postseason wild card spot at all, or in winning the division. So if I'm Sabean I'd be willing to overpay for Headley given the lack of feasible options.

Headley is said to be asking for a 5 year offer but the Yankees reportedly will only offer 3. 4 years at 15/16M per would be worth it for the Giants.

And if not Headley then you need to make up for the huge positional downgrade at 3b by upgrading massively elsewhere. The only real place to do that in this market is at starting pitching, and really only through Scherzer or Lester. Maybe Shields. I suspect Headley will come much cheaper than all of those guys while leaving money on the table for the Giants to maybe "get lucky" with a Justin Masterson or Brandon Mccarthy signing on the cheap.