Free Agents File, Rumors Begin

Some of baseball's biggest names wasted no time putting themselves on the free agent market this week. Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Torii Hunter where among dozens of players to file for free agency as soon as they possibly could. This is going to be a very interesting offseason for the Giants as they will be building a team without Barry Bonds for the first time in 15 years and already the rumors are flying about a possible Bonds' replacement. The San Jose Mercury News ran an article today discussing the possibility of Alex Rodriguez joining the Giants which all the sudden has become a popular thought. The normally discrete Brian Sabean dropped a hint that he would "kick the tires" on any potential Arod deal, something he didn't even say about Barry Zito while in negotiations last winter. Even the New York papers and baseball writers seem to think the Giants have a legit shot at landing the best player in the game. However, once the negotiations start, I have a hard time believing that Brian Sabean and Peter Magowan are going to get into another bidding war like they did last year for Zito. ARod is going to get 30 million a year from somebody and the Giants aren't in a position to be that team. Yes, it's certainly an interesting thought and I would love to see ARod dawn the Orange and Black, but it's a longshot and one that wouldn't be worth taking for the Giants.

Brian Sabean also dropped some news regarding potential free-agent shortstop Omar Vizquel saying that they were close on reaching a deal that would keep Vizquel around for at least one more season. I've said all along that bringing back Vizquel for a year makes a lot of sense. The free agent shortstop class is very weak this year, and Vizquel could probably get a decent deal from someone if he hits the open market. Even at age 40, Vizquel is still a top defensive shortstop and I expect to see him bounce back offensively next season. The potential Vizquel signing also makes it less likely that Pedro Feliz (free agent) would return next season. Vizquel and Feliz make a fine left sided infield, but having both of their bat's in the same lineup can get ugly.