As I was watching the MLB Network yesterday after the Matt Cain signing, former ESPN and now current MLB Network analyst quietly praised the Cain signing but questioned it in his final thoughts, saying it was “impossible” for the Giants to sign both Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum to long term deals.

Impossible, huh?

Reynolds isn’t the only one though. Many media personalities across the country, columnists and apparently want-to-be financial experts continue to preach the same – the Giants simply can’t afford both Cain and Lincecum. I’d like to assume that those said “experts” checked the Giants’ books, but I have a feeling they didn’t so I guess Public Enemy had it right – don’t believe the hype.

This isn’t a situation on if the Giants should sign Tim Lincecum long term as you’ll have a variety of opinions on that matter, it’s just a case of can they afford it? Simple answer – yes.

Tiny Tim is currently banking a very lucrative $22 million dollar contract for this season. One could safely assume that the initial year of his new contract would easily break $25 million, but let’s just stay on the short side of that and say his opening year would start at $25 to keep it simple. It’s a three million dollar increase from the ’12 year – not exactly the things that make or break franchises with the type of finances the Giants have.

Let us not forget, this is a franchise who invested heavily in the ballpark development area (real estate) when AT&T Park was built. This is a franchise that owns 30% of their television network – not just Giant games, the network. That means money from Warrior broadcasts. Money from the Shark broadcasts. No, we’re not talking Yankee YES money or NESN, Red Sox money but it’s certainly no chump change either. Yes, there are still stadium debts but those are quickly evaporating.

But back to the actual on field talent. Reynolds, among others, clearly choose to ignore the fact that money from albatross like contracts will soon be clearing themselves from the books. Barry Zito? Yes, there is a $7 million dollar buyout going into the ’14 season, but that’s $18 million dollars off the books alone (and who knows, maybe they come to a buyout situation long before that). In addition to the vomit worthy Zito contractual situation, you have $12 million on the books that the Giants are currently paying Aaron Rowand who’s sitting home after failing to make the Miami Marlins roster.

Aubrey Huff, who’s entering the final season of his contract, will remove $10 million dollars from the Giants payroll ($2 million buyout) for the ’13 season. Brian Wilson and his $8.5 million will depart (though if Sabean has his wish, he’ll return). Freddy Sanchez? His $6 million is off the books. Melky Cabrera? Who knows what will happen after this year, but he and his $6 million is off the books if the Giants so desire. In addition to all the above, Jeremy Affeldt and his $5 million dollar option will run out as will the $5 million dollar contract of Angel Pagan.

Pablo Sandoval is signed through the ’14 season at a very reasonable $5.5 annual (give or take) rate as is Ryan Vogelsong who has a $6.5 million dollar option for 2014.

Granted, yes, there will be players like Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner who will have salary increases via arbitration or their contracts extended, but at such youthful points in their career, the MLB contractual structure will play heavily into the franchises favor over the players. In addition, you’ll see raises for players like Matt Cain who’ll jump from $15 million this season to more or less $20 million in ’13.

And yes, it’s difficult to look into the crystal ball and see exactly what Brian Sabean will do in terms of bringing back players like Brian Wilson, but it’s safe to say financially the Giants are well equipped to bring back Tim Lincecum if they so desire.

So next time somebody on TV or in print says the Giants can’t afford it? Tell them to do their job, because yes, they can. They might opt not to, but as former Padres play-by-play man (who’s still well in-tune with the NL West) who’s now the lead host of MLB Network told Reynolds yesterday, “they’re printing money up in San Francisco”.

Financially, Tim Lincecum can and will be a San Francisco Giant if the Giants want to invest in him.

San Francisco Giants Have No Money For Tim Lincecum & Matt Cain? Says Who? – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Tick. Tick. Tick. No, that’s not the newest animal (or in this case, nasty insect) hat created by the Giants’ marketing team but rather the clock on the self imposed deadline for contract negotiations set by Matt Cain and his representatives. As Spring Training has all but wound down with the Giants bringing their talent north before their season opening Arizona return, the front office and Cain’s agents have intensified their extension talks, this according to CSN’s Andrew Baggarly:

The Giants did more than pack their lockers as they broke camp Sunday. The front office also tried to wrap up right-hander Matt Cain.

Sources tell me that the volume of dialogue has increased between the Giants and Cain’s representatives as Friday’s soft deadline edges near. Cain reiterated on Saturday that he sees the start of the season as a “cutoff” to ensure he stays focused on baseball.

As Baggs makes mention, the deadline really is soft – though obviously both sides would prefer to put this scenario behind them quickly as possible, but even if it extends into the regular season (which seems plausible) you’d assume that would be good news as both sides attempt to iron out their financial differences.

Either way, it looks like both sides are trying their best to get something done before the Giants return to Arizona.

Are Giants And Matt Cain Close To Reaching Contract Extension? – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Barry Zito started out the spring looking stellar. Yes, Zito was. He looked like he could be solid in the San Francisco Giants’ rotation. However, his last two starts have completely gotten out of hand. In his last one against San Diego, he barely made it into the fourth inning. His spring ERA has now bloated to 7.91 in only 19.1 innings. Add that to his 12 walks, there have been a lot of baserunners this spring.

While the rest of his team heads up to northern California to play in the Bay Bridge exhibition series, Zito will remain in Arizona to try and figure out a way to make it work. He has little time remaining to do that, one start and two side sessions. So, he’ll compete against minor leaguers while in Arizona.

He is scheduled to start April 9th againts the Rockies at Coors Field. The Giants have no other options with Ryan Vogelsong and Eric Surkamp(strained flexor tendon) on the disabled list. Vogelsong is scheduled to join the team on April 15th.

Zito spent much of Saturday throwing on flat ground under the supervision of bullpen coach Mark Gardner. Hopefully the former ace can find a way to just compete in the big leagues.

Last spring, Zito was a tremendous pitcher ion the Cactus league with a 2.30 ERA in 27.1 innings and 16 strikeouts. This spring training has gone much differently for the southpaw, and perhaps the extra time spent in the desert sun will help his delivery and performance.

Side note: When I was in Scottsdale, I paid $60 for a signed mystery ball. I got Barry Zito.

Zito To Stay In Arizona – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

When your “top prospect” (if you will) comes into Spring Training and rips it apart, it’s a pretty usual occurrence that he breaks camp with the big boys and their toys. When your “top prospect” slugs his way to a .407 average through 20 games and plays solid defense (one of his strengths), chances are, he breaks camp with the big boys. And when his said competition is a 35 year old, coming off a career low year, broken swing having questionable defensive playing first baseman, well, you get the picture.

Granted, this isn’t an Aubrey Huff bashing piece – Huff is notorious for his on again, off again seasons. The Giants are clearly hoping (more wishing/praying) this upcoming one will be of the “on” variety but it’s also the future versus a player in the final year of his contract. But alas, it’s politics as usual for the Giants front office, even though Brandon Belt, who can all but feel his impending demotion to AAA Fresno isn’t exactly feeling the same vibe as the Giants’ brass.

Per Baggs, via Belt:

“My personal opinion? If you want to reach a certain level, you have to play at that level,” he said. “If I need to get better against big league pitching, I need to face big league pitching.”

Well at least somebody gets it. Belt has little else to prove at the AAA level, holding a career .343 minor league average to go with his sparkling .990 fielding percentage at first base. He played Winter Ball to be a “company man”, as Sabean would so politely refer to it. Yet, it’s still not enough, or at least, that’s what we’re being told.

So, uh, here, Brandon. Take this pointy hat and go sit in the corner! GO! And write on the chalkboard!

“I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean. I will not question Brian Sabean.

Did he do enough now, Sabes?

Giants’ Brandon Belt Hits Baseballs Well – Also Throws Verbal Daggers – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Depending on who you believe, it’s been said that the impending sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers to a few high rollers and some ex-basketball player (a bench player or something) may have forced the Giants to speed up their contractual talks with soon to be free agent Matt Cain.

Originally, the two sides (mostly imposed by Cain and his representatives) had hoped to iron out a new deal before the Spring came to an end (and there’s still time), but a report from Ken Rosenthal a week or so back implied that both sides had broken off talks (which was really never the case, later confirmed by both sides – yay Kenny).

Anyway, per Baggs and MLB Trade Rumors, it appears the soon to be loosey goosey, free spending Dodgers are on the prowl for some big name talent and the Giants want to make sure Cainer doesn’t go all Jason Schmidt on them:

The Giants and Matt Cain, perhaps newly motivated by the Dodgers’ $2.15 billion sale, have picked up extension talks again, writes Andrew Baggarly of CSNBayArea.com.  The negotiations are being watched carefully by the Players’ Association as the pitcher signed what was viewed as a pair of club-friendly extensions earlier in his career.

If Cain and the Giants weren’t able to get an extension done and he eventually did fall into free agency, he, along with Cole Hamels would certainly be the most attractive pieces on the market from a starting pitching standpoint. And while the Dodgers would love nothing more than to stick it to the Giants, Cain might not be even their top priority given Hamels’ strong Southern California ties (San Diego boy).

Either way, do I think the sale of the Dodgers did anything realistically to the Cain talks? No, not really. The self-imposed deadline of Spring or bust is/was nothing more than agent talk as is the majority of whats come out of the rumor mill. It’s two sides posturing, trying to get the most beneficial deal to them – wasting loads of valuable time instead of just meeting in the middle which I believe they’ll eventually do. It’s an elongated, much more valuable arbitration without the arbitrators, for a lack of better terms.

So um, I guess I should end this with suck it Dodgers or something?

Here. This works.

Have The Dodgers Caused Giants To Increase Matt Cain Contract Talks? – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Spring Training has nearly come to an end for the Giants. With four more games left, the powers that be have a lot of decisions to make. Decisions like who will be the back up catcher and will Buster Posey be the full-time catcher or split time at first base? Speaking for first base, will it be Aubrey Huff, Brett Pill or Brandon Belt (I think we all know the answer to that one). What do the Giants do at second base? Is Freddy Sanchez ever going to play again? Can Brandon Crawford handle full-time short-stop? Can we just cut Zito already? How do we make room for Gregor Blanco?

That’s a lot of things to think about, but for now, let’s focus on what they have done so far in Spring Training. The Giants finished 5th in the Cactus League (15-11). Among players with a decent number of games and at-bats, Hector Sanchez (catcher) finished on top at .405. Next was Brandon Belt at .382. Sadly enough, I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t see either of those names on the opening day roster. I’m holding out hope for H. Sanchez, but I’m pretty sure the Giants will continue to play puppetmaster with Belt. Other highlights are Gregor Blanco’s  .344, Melky Cabrera’s .365 and Brandon Crawford’s .333. 

In the not so great column (for those that thing Spring actually matters) is Nate Scheirholz and his .220 batting average, along with Pablo Sandoval’s .241 and Angel Pagan’s .186.

Leading the crew in home runs is H. Sanchez with 4, followed by Belt, Cabrera, Pill and Sandoval with 3 each. In RBI’s, it’s Pill and Sandoval leading the way with 11 each and Crawford and H. Sanchez with 10 a piece.

And just for fair measure here are Buster Posey’s stats. He had limited playing time, but his stats came in fairly average at .310 BA, 4 RBIs and 1 home run (which I was privileged to see. It was his first hit of spring too).

And, to be even more fair, since it seems Belt and Pill’s name came up a lot, here are Aubrey Huff’s stats: BA .273, RBI 4, HR 2. Nothing to complain too much about (it is still spring), but nothing to write home about either.

Spring Training Wrap – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

To say the Giants handling of “top prospect” Brandon Belt has been unique would be quite the understatement. The roller coaster of a ride continued today with Andrew Baggarly’s most recent piece in which the Giants’ brass continued their somewhat flabbergasting ways, again blaming Belt for what will be an obvious demotion to Fresno.

Per Baggs:

Giants officials chewed over every aspect of their roster Monday night. They’ll continue to digest the Brandon Belt decision.

But there is skepticism about Belt’s readiness to succeed at the big league level.

As it pertains to Belt, while I’m no fan of it, I understand the business side of having Belt open in Fresno. They’re committed to Aubrey Huff and Bochy is a veteran enabler – I get it. I don’t agree with it, but I get it. It also makes little sense to have Belt on the roster and not playing nearly every day, so knowing what we know of Bochy’s love of all things 35 years plus, it’s probably best given the veteran love that Belt get daily playing time Fresno – however – the Giants simply continue to just drop the ball on how they’ve dealt with the Belt situation, the latest goof coming from the above quote.

Belt, not ready for the big leagues? Seriously? Will Belt have his struggles? No doubt – young guys do. But Belt’s one of the best offensive players on the team, struggles or not. Outside of Melky Cabrera, no Giant has had a better Spring with the stick (though honorable mentions go to Gregor Blanco and Hector Sanchez). Do Spring stats matter? Most times, no, but Belt’s done all he’s been asked of and succeeded at a high level in doing so. More than that, the Giants are a pitching and defensive oriented squad. Brett Pill and Aubrey Huff are not even close to the defender that Belt is at first which is another blunder in the Giants’ reasoning for sending Belt back to Fresno.

This isn’t an anti-Huff piece. Again, I understand what Bochy is doing. I’ve seen him do it in San Diego, we’ve all seen him do it in San Francisco. Remember when Buster Posey “wasn’t ready”? Sure, he wasn’t. Molina was just killing it…blocking Posey was the obvious and correct decision. Har. Har.

Belt’s done more than enough to be a member of the big boy club, and while I get the Giants feeling a commitment to Huff, their reasoning is as hogwash as ever. Fact of the matter is, Belt’s a better defender than Huff and more importantly, he’s the future while Huff is all but in his final year with the black and orange. This is an NFL team leaving their young, talented, future of the franchise QB on the bench for the bigger name veteran who’ll be moving on with hopes of a few more victories in the end. It may or may not work in that regard, but it’s not the way you handle your future cornerstone type players.

Just call it like it is – don’t belittle the player and beat around the bushes. You’re committed to Huff, for right or wrong – that’s not Brandon’s fault, so don’t blame him for your poor decisions.

Giants Management Continue To Botch Brandon Belt Situation – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Few players have had a more impressive Spring for the Giants outside of backstop Hector Sanchez. The soon to be 22 year old catcher has ran roughshot on the competition, blasting a team leading 4 HR’s to go with .452 average in 13 games. However, despite the gaudy numbers Sanchez sits blocked by Buster Posey, but that’s not stopping many from clamoring for the Venezuelan product to make the Giants’ opening day roster – especially with the equally sub-par Spring’s from both backup catcher candidates in Eli Whiteside and Chris Stewart.

Unfortunately for Sanchez, despite the impressive offensive numbers, he has a few things going against his campaign to make the big show – the two biggest being the Giants skipper and the lack of playing time. With former catcher and notorious veteran loving skipper Bochy at the helm, it seems highly questionable to assume that Bochy would feel comfortable handing backup duties over to a young catcher with almost no Major League experience. Hell, the Giants had to essentially trade Bengie Molina away just to get Buster Posey on the field.

Secondly for Sanchez, you have to wonder what type of stunting you’d do to him as a player by taking him out of an every day role. Some players can adapt easily and learn the game from watching while others are more hands on learners. Granted, Buster Posey will take a few days off a week from catching so Sanchez would find a bit more playing time than normal situations, but is it enough to keep him fresh? Pretty debatable, especially when he has essentially free reign in Fresno to play daily.

Another factor that could play into Sanchez’s role would be that comfortability or lack of when it comes to the Giants’ pitching staff. For a team built around pitching, the last thing you want to do is upset that scenario. That’s not to say the staff wouldn’t adapt to Sanchez quickly, but with Stewart and Whiteside already having established seasons under the staff, there is no need for any meshing time.

There’s no doubt that Sanchez has played his way to the Giants’ opening day roster this Spring, but there are also a lot of roadblocks sitting in his way. The Giants have quite a predicament at backup catcher – do they bring three catcher’s (Posey, Sanchez and a Whiteside/Stewart) north to start the season? Do they promote Sanchez in favor of Whiteside and Stewart? Or do they wait until a roster move/injury further in the season and bring Sanchez up then after some more minor league seasoning? If I had to guess, I’d say the latter.

On another team in another scenario with another manager, Sanchez makes the big boy club pretty easily but with the veteran loving Bochy in addition to the road block and Whiteside/Stewart roster crunch, I think Sanchez is going to spend a bit more time in Fresno before becoming a mainstay at AT&T – but stranger things have happened.

Is There Room For Giants’ Hector Sanchez On The Opening Day Roster? – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

This probably won’t come to a shock to anyone, but Andrew Baggarly reported tonight what seems to be inevitable: Freddy Sanchez is all but confirmed to begin the season on the disabled list.

After injuring his shoulder on June 10 against the Cincinnati Reds, Freddy Sanchez was hopeful he would be more than ready for Spring Training, not to mention Opening Day. Sanchez still hasn’t taken infield practice and hasn’t been able to do much more than be a DH in Spring Games.

Bochy confirmed that Sanchez wouldn’t make the opening-day roster if all he can do is pinch hit.

“That’s fair to say, sure,” Bochy said. “Now, a lot depends on how close he is. But if he can’t go out there and play defense, the best thing to do is let him start on the DL and let him get ready to play second base. It’s a lot easier to do that by sending him (on rehab assignment) to (Triple-A) Fresno.”

Read more: Sanchez likely to start season on DL

In the meantime, Joe Panik was pulled back up to big league camp from the minor league camp  as a backup infielder, which is looking like slim pickings at this point.

BAGGS: Freddy Sanchez Likely To Start Season On DL – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More

Spring Training is a beautiful thing. It’s baseball taking place when we have been tortured with months of other games of $-ball that involve pigskin, baskets, and maybe even a net but not all in the same sports. A lot of cities that have professional clubs have weather in February or March that would make for insufficient preparation time, so they head to Arizona. If you’re OK with the occasional weather storm and want to keep your fans close, you go to Florida.

I went to Arizona this past weekend and went to a couple games, however I didn’t get to see Mr. Amazing (pictured above) because it was a day off for him. Sad face. Seeing the Dodgers lose one game on a big walkoff homer to Rockies prospect Tim Wheeler, and then tie one off of mostly the offensive efforts from Brandon Belt sure made the weekend just a touch sweeter, but I think some people have the wrong idea. The idea that Spring Training is about winning and losing. That it’s about being the best hitter/pitcher in the Cactus or the Grapefruit. This is not College Basketball where your non-conference “pre-season” games count towards your rankings (but your season can sure take shape with some injuries and trades), so my plea to fans is this: stop treating these games like the regular season games we go crazy over.

Winning in the Pre-Season means we’ll win in the Regular Season!

False. Want to guess which teams led the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues respectively in 2011? That would be the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins. The Yankees were 13-15 while the Diamondbacks were last in the Cactus at 12-25. And that was just last year. Sure, Tampa Bay was 20-8 and the Giants were 23-12, but 3 teams weren’t even .500 when the pre-season ended. Don’t tell me they had a “bad month.” If you’ve watched a Spring Training game you know that players are working on mechanics, different strategies, different pitches, different methods, and that’s not even getting into who plays in the game. Take a look at the dugout and you’ll see it’s packed for most of the February and March months. A lot of those guys get put into a game, too, with the starters only playing a portion of the game as long it’s not a Split Squad (SS). That’s from both benches, not just from your San Francisco Giants. If they wanted to win the pre-season games so bad (which thank goodness, they don’t), don’t you think they’d use their position players more? Or even their pitchers? Spring Training is for some to fine tune things, for others to audition for a spot, and for more of them, to give management a reason not to forget them for later in the season (or beyond).

OK, Smart-Alleck, but Stats are Pretty Important, Ya DoinkHead.

A heavy, disgusted, and annoyed sigh is released. Melky Cabrera led the Spring Training in 2011 with a .468/.471/.742 line, and did end up getting 200 hits, but wouldn’t you be disappointed if he couldn’t hit Minor League pitching? Here’s a good one: Kevin Kouzmanoff hit .413/.449/.571 in ST 2011. In 46 games he went .221/.262/.353 with Oakland. That was so bad even Aaron Rowand was like, “Dude, come on.” Oh, here’s a favorite of mine from last year: Brewers OF Erick Almonte (if you’re saying “who?” — exactly) in ST 2011 hit .416/.438/.636. He got 29 plate appearances in his age 33 season, going .103/.103/.207 with an OPS+ of -18. He had the fourth highest batting average that year in ST. Oh, you want homers? Ok, Jake Fox who was with the Orioles hit 10 in ST 2011, and only 2 in the regular season. John Bowker was T-2nd in 2010 with 6 (Houston Astros catcher Chris Johnson led that year, and actually got one more homer in the regular season than he did in ST: 11/10), and we know how that worked out. By the way, Ryan Raburn is leading the Spring Training world with 6 HR right now, and Lorenzo Cain has a .500/.556/.906 line going. No projection system on Fangraphs has Cain going higher than a .284 batting average, and Ryan Raburn having 18 HR.

Oh, and by the way, Albert Pujols and Jose Bautista both have 3 HR.

So temper that excitement you might have for a certain player, or turn down the volume of panic or sadness you have for your team because of their record, that they didn’t win today, or lack of RBI, because really, there are so many other things in Spring Training to worry about.

Caring About Spring Training for the Wrong Reasons – Around the Foghorn – Around the Foghorn – A San Francisco Giants Fan Site – News, Blogs, Opinion and More