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Randy Johnson Signs with Giants

Friday, December 26th, 2008
Randy Johnson has agreed to a one-year deal with the San Francisco Giants, FOXSports.com has learned.

Johnson, 45, needs just five wins to reach 300. He’s also chasing 5,000 strikeouts, entering the season with 4,789.

After an injury-plagued 2007, Johnson bounced back last season to throw 184 innings with a 3.91 ERA for the Diamondbacks.

Johnson joins a San Francisco rotation that already includes 2008 Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Barry Zito.

The Dodgers were also interested in Johnson, who preferred to stay on the West Coast while playing for a team that holds spring training in Arizona.

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Giants, Renteria reach 2-year, $18.5M deal

Thursday, December 4th, 2008
The Giants have reached agreement with free-agent shortstop Edgar Renteria on a two-year, $18.5 million contract, according to a major-league source.

The deal will be announced Thursday afternoon.

Renteria, 33, will take over for Omar Vizquel at shortstop, with Emmanuel Burris likely moving to second base. The Cardinals also had been interested in Renteria, but reportedly have traded for Padres shortstop Khalil Greene. The Dodgers also had shown interest in Renteria as a possible replacement for Rafael Furcal.

The Tigers declined to offer Renteria salary arbitration after he batted .270 for them last season with a .317 on-base percentage, 10 homers and 55 RBIs.

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Edgar Renteria close to deal with Giants

Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008

SS Edgar Renteria said Wednesday that he’s making significant progress toward a deal that would bring the five-time All-Star to the San Francisco Giants. A source told ESPN.com that Renteria is looking at a contract in the two-year, $18 million range with San Francisco. WFAN radio in New York reported 10 days ago that Renteria had agreed to a deal with the Giants. But Meister had characterized that initial report as untrue.

Renteria, 33, is a .290 hitter in 13 big league seasons with the Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers. He’s won two Gold Gloves and three Silver Slugger Awards in his career and produced the winning hit off Charles Nagy in Game 7 of Florida’s 1997 World Series victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Renteria hit a disappointing .270 with a .317 on-base percentage for the Tigers this season, and Detroit declined to offer him salary arbitration earlier this week. As a result, the Giants will not owe the Tigers any draft pick compensation in return for signing Renteria.

Last year Omar Vizquel, Emmanuel Burriss, Ivan Ochoa and Brian Bocock all spent time at shortstop for manager Bruce Bochy. San Francisco’s shortstop contingent ranked 29th among the 30 major league teams with a .576 on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS). Only the Baltimore Orioles’ shortstops were worse.

The Giants and Oakland Athletics have been mentioned as leading contenders for Rafael Furcal, widely regarded as the top shortstop on the free-agent market this winter. But Furcal’s agent, Paul Kinzer, told ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark earlier this week that he doesn’t expect Furcal to sign with a club before the winter meetings, which begin Monday in Las Vegas.

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Rowand leaves Phillies for Giants

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

Aaron Rowand agreed to a five-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, giving the club the starting center fielder it sought this winter. The 30-year-old Rowand is expected to bat fifth for San Francisco after spending the last two seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies. He is coming off his best season yet, earning his first Gold Glove award and All-Star selection while helping the Phillies to the NL East title. He batted .309 with 27 home runs and career bests of 89 RBIs, 105 runs, 189 hits, 45 doubles in 161 games.

While manager Bruce Bochy had said Rajai Davis would get a chance to earn the job come spring training, Rowand was brought in to start in center. That means Dave Roberts likely will shift from center to left field to replace departed home run king Barry Bonds, Randy Winn will stay put in right while Davis and some of the other young outfielders share time in a reserve role.

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Jays, Giants talking big names

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

The proposed trade of outfielder Alex Rios for either San Francisco’s Matt Cain or Tim Lincecum rests with the Giants’ decision-makers, according to major-league sources.

The Jays are not optimistic a deal will occur; the Giants seem highly reluctant to move either pitcher. They turned down Delmon Young for Lincecum before the Rays sent Young to the Twins, one source said, and they could have kept Young for five years, while they would control Rios for only three.

The Jays will not add major-league pitching to their offer, sources say, and they also are unlikely to move right-hander A.J. Burnett in a separate deal.

Burnett, who can opt out of his contract at the end of the season, made 32 starts and pitched 209 innings the last time he was entering a free-agent year, in 2005. The Jays expect him to be similarly motivated next season. He’s coming off a 10-8 season with a 3.75 ERA in 165 2/3 innings.
Cain was 7-16 in 32 starts for the Giants in 2007 and had a 3.65 ERA in 200 innings. Linecum was 7-5 in 24 starts and a 4.00 ERA in 146 1/3 innings.

Rios, three years away from free agency, plays right field for the Jays. The Giants view him as a franchise-type center fielder. He is coming off a season in which he hit .297 with 24 home runs and 85 RBI. He also stole 21 bases and drew 55 walks against 103 strikeouts.

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Giants won’t invite Bonds back in ’08

Monday, September 24th, 2007

The Giants told Bonds they will not bring him back next season, ending an era in which he became all-time home run champion and a lightning rod for the steroids debate in baseball. Shadowed by steroid speculation for the past few years, Bonds has hit 28 homers this season, raising his career total to 762. The seven-time NL MVP is batting .279 with 66 RBIs.

Bonds needs 65 hits to reach the 3,000-hit plateau.

After parting ways with Bonds, San Francisco will be free to scrap a win-now philosophy in which Sabean surrounded the slugger with aging veterans every year to maximize Bonds’ chances to win his first championship. San Francisco reached the World Series in 2002, but hasn’t been back to the postseason since 2003.

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Giants deal Morris, big contract to Pirates

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired pitcher Matt Morris from San Francisco on Tuesday, an uncommon deal for a high-priced player by an out-of-contention team at the trading deadline.
Pittsburgh sent rookie outfielder Rajai Davis and a player to be named to the Giants, who began shedding salary as they look to rebuild one of the majors’ oldest teams.

The right-handed Morris, who will be 33 on Aug. 9, was a 22-game winner for St. Louis in 2002 who is 7-7 with a 4.35 ERA this season. He was rocked for 13 hits and six earned runs in seven innings in his last start, an 8-5 loss to Florida on Sunday. He is 0-4 in his last eight starts since June 11.

Morris is 118-84 with a 3.83 ERA in a career that began in 1997 with St. Louis. He also won 17 games in 2002 and 15 games in 2004. He joined the Giants after signing a $27 million, three-year deal in December 2005.

The 26-year-old Davis, a 38th-round draft pick in 2001, is hitting .271 with no homers and two RBIs in 24 games. He was a spare outfielder with Pittsburgh who didn’t figure to play much in the future.

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Giants trade Benitez to Marlins

Friday, June 1st, 2007

The Giants have traded closer Armando Benitez and cash to the Marlins for right-hander Randy Messenger. Benitez, 34, saved 47 games in 51 chances for the Marlins in 2004 before signing a three-year, $21.5 million free-agent contract with the Giants. His tenure with the Giants was marked by injuries and questions about his attitude.

For the season, Benitez is 0-3 with a 4.67 ERA, with nine saves in 11 opportunities. He has struck out 18 and walked nine in 171/3 innings.

Messenger, 26, is 1-1 with a 2.66 ERA in 23 relief appearances with the Marlins.

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Giants undecided on Benitez

Tuesday, March 20th, 2007

The San Francisco Giants remain split over whether to trade Armando Benitez or allow him to open the season as their closer. It’s by far the biggest issue the club faces with two weeks until opening day.

Because Benitez has appeared healthy and pitched well this spring, his trade value has risen. But it also becomes more difficult for the Giants to justify shipping him out, since they have no experienced candidates to replace him.

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Zito signs with Giants

Thursday, December 28th, 2006

Barry Zito is staying in the Bay Area with the San Francisco Giants. Sources told ESPN’s Peter Gammons that the former Oakland A’s pitcher has agreed to a seven-year, $126 million contract with the Giants. The deal includes an $18 million option for 2014 and a complete no-trade clause, a source told ESPN.com’s Jerry Crasnick. Zito’s deal ties for the sixth largest overall.

If Zito pitches 600 innings over the last three years of the agreement, 400 innings over the last two or 200 in the final year of the deal, he can either exercise a player option or opt out of the contract.

Texas, Seattle and the New York Mets also pursued Zito, the top available pitcher on the free-agent market. New York’s initial offer was for about $75 million over five years, and the Mets were prepared to go somewhat higher in average salary but were wary of offering a longer deal. Texas had told Zito’s agent, Scott Boras, that it would withdraw its proposal — valued at six years, $87 million, a source told Crasnick — if it wasn’t accepted by the end of the week.

Zito is 102-63 in 222 career starts, including a 16-10 mark with a 3.83 ERA in 34 starts last season before becoming a free agent. The 6-foot-4, 205-pound 28-year-old was drafted in the first round, ninth overall, by the A’s in 1999 and made his debut the following season. By 2002 he was a star, making his first All-Star team and winning the American League Cy Young award. His 23-5 record led the league and he also boasted a 2.75 ERA. Zito was also an All-Star in 2003 and last season.

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