Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The 40 man roster dilema

Really, if you look at the 25 man roster, the way things are shaping up, to field the best team possible it should look like this. Winn, Rowand, Lewis, Ishikawa, Burriss, Renteria, Sandoval, Molina as the starters, and Holm, Frandsen, Schierholtz, Torres, Guzman, Aurilia as the reserves. The problem here is 3 people get bumped from the 40 man roster. Given Velez and Aurilia can be interchangeable but the veteran leadership gives him the nod, especially since Torres can be the pinch runner extraordinaire. Combine that with the two relievers Justin Miller and Brandon Medders who should make the team, and the Giants have a huge, 5 person problem, with the 40 man roster. Usually teams can find a player or two out of spring who are injured to use on non-roster invitees for a while, but I can't recall 5 before. The only way around this is to either expose a player to other teams or make a trade. This is where all these recent trade rumors are coming from.

The front office must really be scrambling right now, trying to find trade partners. Jack Taschner's name has been floated out there, as well as Eugenio Velez, Luis Perdomo and Merkin Valdez. I understand Taschner, as even though he has struggled this spring had trouble since last spring since being called up, he still has trade value. Velez makes sense considering the spring he has put together as well as how he finished last season. Velez still has youth on his side and can play infield and outfield. Perdomo & Valdez, not so much. Good young arms are what the Giants need for the bullpen and both will be used this year. The problem with Perdomo is the rule 5 draft status. He shouldn't make the squad out of camp, so technically he needs to be offered back to the Cardinals. However, he has showed enough this spring to warrant the opportunity for a mid season call up so I see no reason why the Giants won't try to work out a way to keep him.. That would assume the Cardinals to agree to some sort of arrangement, which given the facct that his name has been mentioned in trade rumors make it likely the Cardinals are playing hard ball. Valdez, on the otherhand, should NOT be traded. He is what they need...he is what they are looking for, a hard throwing young right handed pitcher who gets guy out. With the injury history he has, combined with the promise he has already shown at the major league level, the Giants need to hold onto him and wait it out.

So then what are the options. Clearing 5 spots is tough. The Giants will be looking to stock the farm system with some mid range talent that ideally could be called upon mid season. Taschner, & Velez would clear two spots. I can see them dangling Aurilia & Uribe to see what they can get, & keeping the other one. Although this still doesn't help the 40 man roster dilemma, it could still bring in a decent minor leaguer. Other's I expect them to shop, Pat Misch, Waldis Joaquin, and Brian Bocock, but none of them are likely to bring much back, or find a trade partner at this point. A team like San Diego, financially in ruins and in dire need of pitching, may give us a bag of balls and a few In & Out burgers for Misch. A team like the Blue Jays, who are short on SS's, may want try to grab Bocock, but if they offer cash in Canadian dollars, were in trouble because I'm not sure Sabean knows the exchange rate.

Yesterday's news on minor league pitcher Kelvin Pichardo and his suspension for PED's couldn't have come at a better time. Now the Giants have 50 games to learn what they need to about one of these guys.

Noah Lowry should end up on another 60 day injury list, so there is another spot.

As of this morning, the Giants are at 37 players on the 40 man roster, so they are looking good. I expect a few minor trades are coming, but nothing exciting most likely. In addition to above, I expect them to acquire a long reliever, probably some teams 5th starter who have a number of minor leaguers pushing the major league roster. The Marlins fit this bill and Sabean likes to deal with them. Tampa too.

One interesting team is Detroit. They have both Nate Robertson & Dontrelle Willis looking like relievers opening day, and they need a lefty in the pen. Given, both of those two are lefties and have large contracts, but if they take on enough money,one of them could possibly fit here.

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