Giants Sign Rowand

The Giants made their first big move of the offseason Wednesday, signing Aaron Rowand to a 5 year, 60 million dollar contract to be the teams new center fielder. If you've followed the Giants closely this offseason, you could see this one coming. Rowand had a career year last season (.309, 27, 89, 105) and was a major part in the Phillies winning the NL East. I thought that Rowand was set to be overpaid this winter due to the way he played last year and to the fact that he was one of the top 3 outfielders available on a weak free agent market this winter. I really didn't want to see the Giants pursue him whatsoever. However, after seeing the terms of the deal, and comparing that to what Andruw Jones and Torii Hunter got, the Giants actually got themselves a real solid player for a decent deal. In comparison, Rowand is 2 years younger than Hunter, possesses a better career average and OPS, and he's signed at 2/3 of the price. The 5 years is a little too long, but 12 million annually for an all-star, gold glove center fielder who can hit and has just entered his prime isn't a bad deal. One of Rowand's best attributes is his all-around hustle and hard-nosed approach to the game. That is something that Giants' fans are going to notice about him right off the bat, and they're going to enjoy watching him play. There are some people who are concerned that his production was a byproduct of playing 1/2 his games Citizens Bank Park, but his home/road splits where actually very similar to each other. It's not likely that he's going to hit 27 home runs a year playing at AT&T Park(probably more around 20-25) but don't expect his production to see much of a drop-off besides that.

I have done my fair share of Sabean bashing this offseason, but I can't rip him to hard for this move. He did add another center fielder to a team full of young outfield options who should get a shot to play, but it goes a little beyond that. This offseason was working itself in a direction where the Giants were beginning to put themselves in a corner. They need offense in a bad way, probably more than any other team in baseball. Aaron Rowand was the last "impact bat" on the free agent market, and if the Giants had missed out on him they would have had to part with a Cain or Lincecum to get someone of his caliber through a trade. For those reasons, Rowand had a ton of leverage in negotiations with Giants, and they still got him for a relatively good deal. This by no means is a move that will save this team or reshape this offense, but they had to start somewhere and signing Rowand is not a bad start. The Giants did already have depth in the outfield but quantity doesn't equal quality. No Giant outfielder has the credentials or the offensive ability that Rowand brings. I also wouldn't be surprised to see the logjam in the outfield break up a little with a trade or two. There is still a lot of work to do before the team breaks for camp in February, but the team is better than it was yesterday and they now get to hang onto their 2 young studs.