Since the offseason started, seemed like Jimmy Rollins was a bit of pipe dream. If my memory serves me right, he was looking for 5 year/75m, which would have been ridiculous and obviously out of the giants price range. I am curious for the community's opinion, though, on the 3 yr/33m contract Rollins just signed with Philadelphia. If you were Brian Sabean, would you have pulled the trigger on this more user friendly (at least partially) Rollins deal?

Hidden bonus questions:

Would you have signed Rafael Furcal @ 2yr/14m?

Nick Punto @ 2yr/3m?

Or traded for Jed Lowrie for a comparable relief pitcher, call it maybe Casilla?

I woke up to a whole of bunch of mlbtraderumors goodies this morning.  Thought we could have a good ole time making fun of teams misfortunes, licking our wounds for (potentially) losing Wheeler, and stroking our egos on (potentially) Beltran.  Below is a poll for the best deal (as of noon) of the day, though I assume we will just wind up talking about the team that got fleeced the worst out of the bunch.

With the price for Jose Reyes and JJ Hardy seeming to skyrocket, I thought I'd propose a thread for slightly more affordable SS options.

I'm a fan of the cost/production value of Jeff Keppinger and of Jason Bartlett.  Seems like the Astros will be shopping Keppinger and could be had for a mid level prospect.  Bartlett might not be realistic since he plays within the division and because of the lack of IF depth for SD, but I still wouldn't mind seeing it.

Infante seems to be underachieving in FLA, but the guy's proven to be a gamer in ATL, and if the price is right, could be just the type of player SF needs.

Note: I included Hanley Ramirez in this for the sake of prompting conversation on him.  Obviously his value is at an all time low.  Is it just low enough for the Marlins to seriously consider moving him?  It'd most likely still take a king's ransom, but would it be worth it for a potential Ramirez rebound?  

Just read this:

http://cubsbillygoatblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/is-geovany-soto-on-block.html

and was intrigued.  What are everyone's thoughts about acquiring Soto as our everyday backstop for the year, and what do you think he can be had for?

This is just me amusing myself here, but every year we seem to discuss a Zito for Soriano deal.  Could this be accomodated?  Maybe a Zito + Casilla + prospect + prospect for Soriano and Soto?

And I couldn't be happier.  Anyone as pumped as I am that David DeJesus, Ryan Braun, Miguel Tejada, Scott Podsednik, Jorge Cantu, Prince Fielder, Jhonny Peralta, Jayson Werth, and Corey Hart are all off the market?  I feel like I am Chuck Norris having dodged all of these bullets...that and I have another fist underneath my beard.

This post is a prayer that we keep "missing out" on all of these epic "upgrades."

Hey all, couldn't help myself, had to get in on the rosterbation. 

Someone else mentioned an Aaron Rowand for Carlos Zambrano and cash deal, and I can't help but love it, especially if we can get enough financials in the deal to offset Zambrano's contract.  Can never have too much pitching, and Zambrano's attitude might be exactly what the team needs to light a fire under their ass.  I know, I know clubhouse presence.  Zambrano is the spawn of the devil, and his clubhouse presence will be SO negative the Giants will never win another game.  Come on, give me a break, if you were on a team as bad as the Cubs you'd prolly wanna throw a fit on national television, too.  And besides, Zambrano has been a part of very good Cubs teams in the past.  Worst case scenario, we swap useless part for useless part.  But I have to think Zambrano will kill it in our pitcher friendly park, and that rotation would just be unfair. 

Is anyone else anti trading Jonathan Sanchez for anyone short of a Megan Fox sundae?  I really feel like the guy is starting to come into his own, and I'd hate to see him become a 20 winner for another team.  I'd rather sit on him, and deal with a mediocre/bad offense for another year, than trade him and prospects for a marginal, short sighted upgrade.  I'm sure we can find an offensive upgrade without mortgaging our future (Sanchez, Cain, Neal, Bumgarner) to do it. 

Guess that brings the question of who we're looking to acquire, and what it would take to do so.  Seems like the trading block isn't as strong as it's been in previous years.  I tried to put together a list of names that people have been kicking around.  It's pretty convenient that the Giants have so many moving parts, with the exception of second base and possibly left field, we can take on a player at any position and make the neccessary adjustments to accomodate. 

Happy rosterbating:

Not much to say on this one, would just love to hear everyone's bench rosterbations as we head towards opening day.  Keep in mind Uribe need not be included, for now, with the Sanchez injury.  I also made the assumption Nate's got the job in RF.  Here are our candidates:

Eli Whiteside

Buster Posey

Travis Ishikawa

Emmanual Burriss

Kevin Fransden

Andres Torres

Eugenio Velez

Freddie Lewis

John Bowker

Here are my picks.  Based it off a 6 man bench crew.  Does anyone care that I left Ishikawa off?  Fransden wins over Burriss on default because of the injury.  When Sanchez comes back, Fransden gets the Boot.

Eli Whiteside C

John Bowker 1B/LF

Eugenio Velez 2B/LF

Freddie Lewis OF

Kevin Fransden IF

Andres Torres OF