The Giants Cove is about to officially open the 2013 season with a series of posts about the National League, the Giants' strengths and weaknesses, and the possibilities for a San Francisco return to the 2013 postseason.

Giants Cove researchers, scouts, and experts (who work out of a secluded complex not far from the CIA building in Langley, Virginia) are predicting a rocking MLB year all around. Their advice: load up with Cheetos and other basic survival supplies, upgrade to a liquid crystal surround-sound 80" 3D television, and prepare for seven months of baseball ecstasy.  

But first a word from our future sponsors: the Giants' starting line-up on Opening Day 2016 at AT&T Park

It has only been four years or so since the San Francisco Giants really began to straighten out their fractured minor league system. A decade of neglect and trading away the few promising draft picks they accidently stumbled on led to a minor league organization in permanent decline.

The main strategy was to draft pitchers in the assumption that they made the best trade bait-- every team always wants pitchers, right? The plan was to then pick up cheap, slightly over the hill veterans, find a couple of under valued positions players, and hope to slap it all together around Barry Bonds each year.

Given that Bonds is one of the top players in the history of the game, that's not the worst course of action. No, the worst course of action was not being able to multi-task by conducting an effective draft each year and insuring the ongoing development of home-grown position players.

But that's all in the distant past (and the more distant, the happier the Giants front office will be). Give CEO and Team President Larry Baer and GM Brian Sabean credit for taking stock, identifying the problems, and doing what was needed to turn this massive supertanker around.

San Francisco's minor league system is still rated in the bottom third of all MLB organizations but they won't be there for long.

Which brings us to Opening Day 2016. This is an artificial line-up featuring players drafted and developed by the Giants from their new era minor league template. Reality will be quite different from this group of prospects: over the next three years San Francisco will sign some number of free agent position players, they will make trades, and they will accelerate the development of certain minor league players ready to move up.

The following position players are high profile prospects (and several current stars) well-known among Giants devotees. It's intriguing to think about their potential but it is unlikely these players will ever all be on the same field together:

Opening Day 2016 - Batting Line-up

1. Gary Brown CF
It seems that Gary Brown has lost a little momentum since he started in the Arizona Rookie League and Salem-Keizer in 2010. A+ ball at San Jose in 2011 brought an eye-catching .925 OPS in 638 plate appearances (PA), but Brown hit a bump at Double A Richmond last season with a .731 OPS in 610 PA. Not uncommon when you move up the MLB food chain.

Gary Brown is still a high end prospect. For Brown the glove and speed are there, so this is all about handling the bat. Oddly, he was hit by pitches 42 times over the last 2 seasons.
 
2. Joe Panik 2B
Panik played shortstop in 191 of his 199 games in 2010-11 at Salem-Keizer and San Jose. I still think he'll move to 2B sooner or later. Panik has a nice .803 OPS in two years, and more walks (58) than strikeouts (54) last year at A+ San Jose. 2013 will be a pivotal development year for Panik who needs to break out and show what a hitting machine he can be.   

3. Pablo Sandoval 1B
Hard to imagine that Sandoval will remain at third base in the long term. The weight issue looks more and more like a Prince Fielder deal. Figure Pablo Sandoval to increase his power numbers as he gets older, which might move him to 4th or 5th in the 2016 batting order.

4. Buster Posey C
For all those holding their breath since 2010 in anticipation of Posey moving to 2B or 1B, please exhale now. Not only will Posey be the starting catcher for the next 8 years, the Giants will have more and more options each season to rest him.

As MLB inter-league games increase and expand, sooner or later the National League will adopt the DH for inter-league home games as well as away games in American League parks. Whether that will be the slippery slope that leads the NL to fully adopt the DH is a question for another time.

The important point here is that the expansion of inter-league games gives San Francisco increased opportunities to play Posey at DH and rest his body.

And the result could be a restructuring of the NL's traditional 25-man roster. Any NL team whose starting catcher is key to their offense, like Buster Posey or Brian McCann of the Braves, will want to DH their starting catcher whenever they can. In order to do that, those teams will now need a second high end catcher on the 25 man roster because that "back-up" catcher, who filled in once or twice a week in the past, will now see significantly more at bats throughout the season.  

5. Johnathan "Mac" Williamson RF
My under the radar pick is Mac Williamson, one of the most promising power hitters in the Giants farm system. Sure, he's 22 and has a very long way to go in his development but that .596 slugging percentage in 29 games last season at Salem-Keizer is tantalizing. And I get it-- that's a ridiculously small sample, but the fact that the Red Sox drafted Williamson in 2011 (he decided to stay in school) speaks volumes about his potential.

6. Brandon Belt / Francisco Peguero LF
Francisco Peguero's window to make his move up the chain is beginning to narrow. He is 24 this year and has been affiliated with the Giants organization since he was 18. In 105 games with the 2012 Fresno Grizzlies he put up a .691 OPS, then was brought up to San Francisco  where he only got 16 at-bats and did not impress. Peguero brings real speed on the bases and a very good glove.

Belt is also 24 and has two partial seasons with the Giants, including the 2012 World Series. His total at bats in 2011-12 (598) roughly constitute a starter's full season. His 3.5 WAR is starting quality+ and his XBH (56 in 598 AB) compare well with players like Andre Ethier (57 XBH in 556 AB), Marco Scutaro (43 XBH in 620 AB) and Hunter Pence (54 XBH in 617 AB).

Brandon Belt should be a starter in the Giants line-up in 2013 and well past the 2016 season. 

7. Chris Dominguez 3B
Dominguez at third is all about power and run production potential. There are two problems here: first, Chris Dominguez is already 26 years old (29 in 2016) and it could be that this ship has sailed.

Add to that, after four minor league seasons his power and run production have been going down year after year.  In 92 games at Double A Richmond and Triple A Fresno last year, his OPS was .590. His 97 strikeouts project to 167 SO in 625 at bats.

Dominguez is one of the long shots in this line-up. Unless he steps up quickly and unless Sandoval's conditioning goes way south (and east, and west, and north) the Giants will stick with Pablo long term at third base.

8. Brandon Crawford SS
In assessing Crawford, it's a little like Brandon Belt-- whatever you say about his 209 total Major League games, and 631 AB over the 2011-12 seasons, Brandon Crawford was the starting shortstop for the 2012 World Champion Giants.

Brandon Crawford has shown progress in his time at the Major League level, and he has yet to reach his full potential. Crawford's two year .632 OPS is not acceptable, but it has gone up each year (.584 in 2011, .653 2012), as has his BA (.204 in 2011, .248 in 2012).

We know Crawford may be one of the two or three best defensive shortstops in the game, but he can also hit. How much production he needs to create at the plate in order to justify that outstanding defense will always be the question here. I argue that a team built around pitching in maybe the best pitchers' ballpark in the Majors needs the best defense it can get to fully succeed.

Here's what we can expect from Brandon Crawford between 2013 and 2016: gold glove defense, a range factor that Giants starters and relievers will celebrate, and timely hitting with surprising power-- he whacked 43 XBH in those 631 at bats.

Twenty-three year old prospect Ehire Adrianza brings a great glove but just looks like he won't be productive enough at the plate to break through.

Next: Opening Day 2016 - Starting Staff and Closer

All at once the San Francisco Giants front office took care of two critical player arbitration signings in preparation for the 2013 season opener.

San Francisco announced today they have avoided arbitration with MVP catcher Buster Posey and right fielder Hunter Pence.

Posey signed a one year $8 million contract for 2013, leaving the status of his three remaining years of arbitration and team control to be determined. It is obvious the Giants should be thinking seriously about signing Posey to a long-term deal along the lines that Tampa Bay recently worked out with Evan Longoria or the Mets completed with David Wright.

An excellent overview of a Buster Posey extension was done here by Steve Adams of MLB TradeRumors. The essential question is how many of Posey's free agent years beyond 2016 do the Giants want to purchase?

Even a six year deal would easily pass the $100 million point, but that shouldn't be a problem for a big market top 10 payroll team like the Giants. The smart play here would be to lock up Posey for 6-8 years before Brian Sabean finds himself paying for a series of year-to-year arbitration settlements, and then have to deal with Posey's impending free agency at 2016 prices.

The other big move this week was the team's arbitration settlement with Hunter Pence.

Pence signed a one year $13.8 million deal to remain San Francisco's starting right fielder. Pence will become a free agent at the end of the season and speculation about a deal extension obviously depends on what Pence does the first half of this season as well as the ongoing development of several potentially outstanding Giant outfield prospects.

The big name left on the arbitration tote board is Sergio Romo who made $1.575 million last season and is looking at free agency in 2015.

Romo is an excellent candidate for a multi-year extension that would eat up his last two arbitration years and maybe two free agent years. Even though the Giants' payroll may be nearing its 2013 ceiling, locking up key players for a period of years now will create significant cost savings in payrolls for years to come.

Joaquin Arias, Clay Hensley and Gregor Blanco are also standing in the arbitration line but there's little doubt the San Francisco front office will work out contract deals with all three before they come close to sitting down in front of an arbitrator.

Of course the signing (or not) of closer Brian Wilson will end up being the biggest story between now and Spring Training. I can't wait to see him standing next to Mr. Met in that parking lot centerpiece known as Citi Field.

"Welcome back to GiantsTalk on KOMG, the Bay Area's All Sports Leader-- we know sports so you don't have to.

"I'm your host Denny Stone and we talk San Francisco Giants 8 hours a night every Monday through Friday from 7:30PM to 3:30AM in the morning on sports talk KOMG.

"Let's take our first call this evening, and it's Norm from Hayward-- go ahead Norm."

"Denny... ."

"This is Denny Stone, go ahead Norm... ".

"Denny! This is Norm."

"Hey Norm, whatcha got for us?"

"Denny!"

"Go Norm, you got the bridge buddy, where you takin' us?"

"Denny! It's Norm from Hayward."

"What's up Normy, do you want to weigh in on that Bonds and Hall of Fame voting thing...?"

"Denny!"

"All right Norm I'm gonna have to take another call here, whatta ya got for our listeners... ."

"Hey Denny I live in Hayward and I am the greatest San Francisco Giants fan ever. My dad took me to the first game at Seals Stadium when the Giants came out from New York. I got an autographed bat from Willie Mays, I was at the Stick before any of these new fans were even born... ."

"Fantastic, Norm. How do you think the Giants are looking for the 2013 season buddy?"

"All these other so-called fans are so full of it. I was at Opening Day when Candlestick Park first opened and I have a complete collection of... ."

"Sounds great Norm. What about these 2013 Giants-- can they take the World Series again?"

" ...Denny!"

"OK, let's move on to our next caller. Hey there, you are on GiantsTalk on the big KOMG, let's hear from Ed over in Albany. Ed, what's on your mind?"

"Hey Denny, Ed from Albany. Hey, how are ya?"

"I'm fine Ed. Now what's on your mind tonight?"

"I attended every Giants home game since 1976, when I was 8 years old. There isn't anyone who's a better Giants fan than me. All these guys who jumped on board when we went to the World Series, they don't know crap...  they all suck. Am I right? Denny, they're all posers not real fans like me."

"You have been there and done that Ed my man. Now what the heck's going on with that Hall of Fame vote and Mr. Bonds?"

"Denny, let me tell you a few things about the San Francisco Giants. That team when they had J.T. Snow and Will Clark, that was the best. I think they were on the team together like for one season but that was the best. My family and I were out there every night unlike these other so-called fans-- I saw it all."

"Thanks Ed, good stuff, good stuff. You know it's great to see the fans pass this great passion for the game and for the Giants down to their kids over the years, it's just wonderful."

"Hey, we got Tom on line 3 out of San Francisco. You're on Denny Stone's GiantsTalk, what's goin on big Tom... ."

"Hey Norm, I mean Denny. How are you?"

"I'm fine Tom."

"OK, so these callers all talk about being great Giants fans but you know what... ? Denny, you know what... ?"

"What's that Tom."

"I know I'm the greatest Giants fan in the world and I can prove it. I got this T-shirt with big letters across the front that says 'World's Greatest Giants Fan'. So I have the actual proof Denny, although I think my cousin might have got this shirt in New Jersey last NFL season. I was going to games way before the Giants got good and we used to... ."

"Thank you big Ed from Albany. I love it when Ed calls in, you just never know what he's going to say."

"Let's take one more call here before I play my two hour interview with Ralph Thompson who's the great uncle of former Giant's batboy Rusty Simmons. Ralph and I talked a lot of baseball and I think you'll get a big kick out of our conversation."

"Hey this is Denny Stone and you're on KOMG GiantsTalk."

"Denny ...!"

"Hello again Norm. Let's go to... how about  we go to Bob from Pacifica. Bob's upset by a trade."

"Hi Denny how are you?"

"I'm fine Bob, what's on your mind tonight?"

"I can't believe how incompetent Brian Sabean is. He is the worst GM in the history of baseball, Denny. He overpays for Barry Zito, what, a couple hundred million, then he trades away the one guy who would have definitely been a big home run guy for us. John Bowker. Those idiots in the Giants front office let John Bowker go for nothing."

"That was in 2010 Bob. And the Giants got Javier Lopez for Bowker. Lopez helped them win two World Series. Why did you like Bowker so much?"

"Cause he could really hit the ball, Denny. I mean boom! that guy had real power and he was a great hitter. I still can't believe the Giants let him go. It's absolutely crazy."

"Well you know Bob, Bowker hit in the .230s, had a terrible on-base percentage, and really didn't hit for much power."

"But Denny, when Bowker hit the ball it was like boom! You know? Boom!"

"And Bob, I believe Bowker's almost out of baseball because there wasn't much interest by any other teams to go after him... ."

"Boom!, Denny, boom!"

"Thank you Bob. Bob's a long-time caller who always brings a lot to the table when we are talking World Champion GiantsTalk on KOMG."

"What, one more call before the break? OK how about Andy down in Palo Alto. What's going on Andy... ."

"How are you tonight Denny?"

"I'm fine Andy what's on your mind?"

"Hey Denny I am the true world's #1 Giants fan ever, but first I got a trade we need to make before Spring Training 2013. And could you call Brian Sabean for me and tell him about this trade so we could get it done. What about sending a package of Joaquin Arias, George Kantos, and Brett Pill to the Yanks for Robinson Cano. I think they'd go for it."

"Andy, why would the Yankees trade Robinson Cano to the Giants for those players. It just doesn't make any sense."

"Yes it does, it does Denny! See the Yankees need a power hitting first baseman and Brett Pill is that guy; and they can replace Cano with Arias and then Kantos is just an extra throw-in."

"All due respect Andy, I'm not seein' New York pull the trigger on that trade. Even if glaciers sink below the ground and land in hell. Have you got anything else for us Andy?"

"Boom, Denny!  Boom... ."

Baseball Hall of Fame voters just made one of the most absurd decisions in the history of Hall eligibility today, and one that will be seen as petty and outrageous years from now: one of the top 10 players in the history of Major League Baseball was just denied placement in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In his first year of eligibility former Giants' slugger Barry Bonds was refused acceptance in the hallowed and sacred halls of Cooperstown because the baseball writers who decide who gets in and who is left out felt that a little vigilante justice was in order.

Because, although Bonds was never proven to take performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) we all know he's as guilty as hell and if the law won't bring him to justice, why we'll just round up some of the boys and get the job done ourselves.

How insufferably righteous of the baseball writers who decided to leave Bonds off their 2013 ballots-- he received only 36.2% of the votes cast. They believe that Barry just doesn't have the necessities to be included in a shrine to the great game that currently includes any number of drug abusers, cheaters, racists, serial alcoholics, felons, and world class assholes.

Sorry Mr. Bonds, you don't make the cut to be with those guys. But you be sure and try next year and we might consider you. You know, after you've served your "wrist-slapping" sentence for using PEDs and not getting caught.

So the Baseball establishment has decided the Hall of Fame is not merely a grand museum celebrating the great achievements of those who played the game at the highest level. Now this exhibition hall of plaques, bats, gloves, baseballs, and various other inanimate objects is going to be used as a moral litmus test, a sonogram of righteousness to determine if eligible players were also good people who played the game fair.

Maybe the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown should take the next logical step in this thought process.

Visitors seeking admission to the Hall should first be background checked for any negative personal history, followed by drug, alcohol, and PED testing before being allowed through those hallowed doors.

And if anyone we deem unfit tries to enter our sacred MLB house of worship? We'll take care of that... get a rope.

It's True: Major League Baseball Has Been Revolutionized Under Selig's Tenure
Say what you want about the highs and lows of Bud Selig's 20 year tenure as the 9th Commissioner of Major League Baseball, but be sure to include the following:

    > he took an economically moribund professional sport and generated a series of monster revenue
       engines that have created financial empires for virtually every MLB team owner;
    > he instituted Wild Card and Divisional play and helped create the World Baseball Classic;
    > he merged the National and American Leagues under the Commissioner's Office and created
       revenue sharing among franchises.  

There have also been missteps, blunders, and negative outcomes during his tenure-- like his slow response to the use of performance enhancing drugs by players in the 1990s and 2000s. But stuff is bound to happen in any 20 year reign.

Commissioner Bud Selig has two more seasons left on his contract before he retires after the 2014 baseball season. Having enhanced the economic side of the game, Selig has just enough time to add a real field of dreams to his professional resume: a new stadium for the Oakland Athletic's in the city of Oakland.

Bud Selig and the Chamber of Secrets Relocation Committee
When Lew Wolff's group purchased the A's in 2005, Wolff became Managing Partner. From the start, Wolff's primary business goal was to move the team to a more economically viable location. A bigger market = higher TV revenues, a new stadium = higher attendance and luxury boxes.

Lew Wolff wanted to move the team from Oakland to...  well, just about anywhere else.

At one point Wolff tried to use his superpowers and somehow will the team to move to the city of Fremont, of all places. He actually proposed a $1.8 billion complex, had the plans drawn up and spent $24 million before discovering Fremont didn't want the A's.

Turns out one of Wolff's superpowers is to piss people off, and he's really good at it. 

Other relocation possibilities have been tossed around in recent years, including Las Vegas and Sacramento. Even New York City was suggested as the most economically logical destination for the wayward A's. Ultimately the city of San Jose became Wolff's primary move-to target. 

But Lew Wolff ran into two brick walls: the San Francisco Giants and Bud Selig.

The area around San Jose is surrounded by San Francisco Giant fortifications, entrenchments and land mines since the Giants consider the South Bay Area as part of their territorial empire.

To solve the problem, Bud Selig assigned his personal Justice League to study the problem and come up with a solution. They held their first meeting in an underground bunker about five years ago. The process has gone on so long a number of the committee members have either passed away or left for more promising positions in the aluminum siding industry.

So here's the deal: the Oakland A's will not be moving to San Jose. Or any place else. So take that one off the big tote board and toss it in the trash.

Over 25 years ago Major League Baseball (in a move that will never happen again) granted the Giants in writing "territorial rights" from San Francisco down through San Jose. And there is no amount of money the Oakland A's can come up with that could possibly compensate the Giants for the permanent loss of the San Jose, Santa Clara, and Silicon Valley markets.

But there's hope. This hope comes despite the fact that Oakland's city government is about as competent as North Korea's rocket program.

The Solution to the Oakland A's Stadium Issue Will Take Commitment and Vision

A's owner Lew Wolff is an accomplished businessman and actually a really good guy. He has worked hard to improve things for the team and for A's fans. But if there is no commitment to stay in Oakland, it might just be time to sell to new owners and move on.

Either way, the city of Oakland and Major League Baseball should partner up with A's ownership and build a baseball-only stadium at the north end of Jack London Square in the Howard tract area. Right next to the water.

A Jack London Square stadium will create the same economic super-jolt that rocked the empty, desolate landscape of the Mission Bay neighborhood when AT&T Park was built in San Francisco 14 years ago.

There is already a healthy business and residential footprint in the Square-- a baseball-only stadium would pop the fiscal cork in ways that Oakland cannot imagine.  

BART would construct a new Jack London Station at 4th Street and MLK Way. Freeway access, rail and ferry service are already in place. Initial tax revenue generated by the resulting business and residential boom would jumpstart a rejuvenated city of Oakland. The subsequent long-term ongoing public and private revenue streams will absolutely change the city forever.

Bud Selig's Dream
Bud Selig knows all about the emotional and spiritual yearning to keep your home team at home.

When he was a minority owner in the Milwaukee Braves in the 1960s, he fought hard to prevent the Braves from moving away. But move they did to Atlanta in 1966 simply to get more television revenue from a bigger market.

Heartbroken, Selig was determined to keep baseball alive in Milwaukee. He made that happen in 1970 when he purchased the bankrupt Seattle Pilots and brought them to Milwaukee as the Brewers.

Commissioner Selig should direct his blue ribbon committee to shift its focus and immediately work with ownership and the city of Oakland to keep the A's in Oakland and build a dynamic downtown baseball stadium.

Bud Selig's legacy would then have a beautiful, field-of-dreams coda and the Oakland A's would finally have a venue that matches their remarkable and stellar 112 year MLB history-- 45 years of that in the city of Oakland.

Since John Hodgeman of "The Daily Show" apparently doesn't have the time to fix Major League Baseball's myriad problems and controversial issues, I supposed I'll have to step in and get it done.

Contrary to what you may imagine, I'm pretty busy myself. I could list all the stuff I have to deal with on a daily basis but I just can't lose any more readership at this point. So even though it's a big pain to have to deal with baseball's problems, which, I might add, other people are paid large bucks to fix, for the sake of the game I'll step up.

[A simple statue, maybe on the outskirts of Cooperstown, is sufficient recognition for my contributions. I mean, let's not get ridiculous about it. If there could also be some type of amusement ride for the kids there, maybe a "Pablo Sandoval Unlimited Buffet Superslide", that would be nice.]

So let's permanently fix a MLB problem that is rooted in baseball's longstanding aversion, mistrust, and utter lack of understanding of new technology. 

Major League Baseball's Long, Rich History of Dropping the New Technology Ball
(With Lengthy But Valuable Historic Bonus Material)
A great man once said, "When in doubt, look to history". Actually, I think this might be the first time I've actually said that. Well, no matter...

The issue of MLB instant replay and the reticence of the baseball establishment to adapt to new technology is hardly a new phenomenon. It reminds me of two other Big Changes that baseball owners were terrified of and resisted, thinking it would harm their product (i.e., cost them money).

That would be, 1) the advent of radio broadcasts in the 1920s and 1930s; and, 2) the arrival of television in the 1940s and 1950s.

Baseball's monied establishment was smugly adamant that only an idiot would give the game away free on radio or TV. In fact, all three New York teams banned radio broadcasts in 1932 and even prevented visiting teams from "recreating" games on the radio.

It took a while for the owners to get smart about radio's potential. It was the visionary Larry MacPhail who changed all that when he made baseball's first radio deal in 1933, as the GM of the Cincinnati Reds, and then again in 1935 as the GM of the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Eventually light bulbs went off over every MLB owner's head and radio became a ubiquitous cash cow for every franchise.

Currently every MLB team makes huge profits on the local radio broadcast of their games. The Boston Red Sox, for example, make $18 million a year on their local radio broadcast contract alone.

Not learning their lesson, baseball's owners resisted televising ballgames even more. Imagine showing a game for free on TV when what you really want is for fans to come to the ballpark, pay to get in and buy your hot dogs.

It took decades before they got this one right. Even up to the 1970s, the San Francisco Giants were broadcasting only about a dozen games per year on TV.

Today, each MLB team makes tens of millions of dollars every year in television broadcast revenue. First are the three huge national TV contracts which get split up among the 30 teams and the Commissioner's Office:
> a $500 million a year contract with Fox Sports for Saturday and post season games, and the All Star game;
> a $700 million a year deal with ESPN for Sunday games and specific post season games;
> and, a $300 million per year contract with Turner Sports (TBS) for specific post season broadcasts.

And when these contracts run out and get renewed baseball owners make even more money.

Add to that, each MLB team also has a separate multi-million dollar contract with Fox Sports television (or a team-owned network like the Yankees' $3 billion YES Network) to show all their local broadcasts and other sports programing. The Texas Rangers, for example, make an additional $150 million a year just for those local TV rights.

Adding up all the radio, national TV, and local TV media revenue numbers will give you an idea of why owning an MLB franchise is as close to legally printing money as you can possibly get. And to think the owners resisted all of it at first.

Back to Instant Replay
So here we go again with more new technology available to improve the game and its value and once again the MLB establishment simply doesn't get it.

Baseball currently allows one kind of instant replay-- on borderline home runs. That's it. Further extention of instant replay is currently being discussed but, as usual, the baseball ruling class is dithering on yet another critical issue.

So here's what dedicated fans and the national audience are supposed to believe: it's acceptable when umpires make incorrect calls-- hey, that's part of the charm and cultural history of the great American game.

Baseball is telling us that it's OK when a runner beats the throw to first base and is called "out". Everything's good when trapped balls are called "fair" and caught balls are called "trapped". Did you see that super-clear slowmo TV replay showing the runner safe at home plate? Hey, that ties the score! Oh, sorry fans, the umpire mistakenly called him "out". So that makes him out.

Everyone cool with that?

Two things going into this issue I do agree with: 1) Baseball's rich history should never be casually messed with; and, 2) umpires are critical to the essence of the game. Professional baseball can only be played with the skill and expertise umpires bring to it.

So instant replay isn't a substitution for umpires, and it isn't a way to correct umpire mistakes. It should be a tool that umpires use to make the right calls. Many have suggested this solution before: a fifth umpire in a special TV replay booth that would allow that umpire to quickly see the deciding angle of a close play and wirelessly relay that information to the umps on the field.

Would that unnecessarily delay games and make them longer? You can answer that yourself by, a) recalling there are relatively few "too close to call" plays in an average game; then, b) ask yourself what takes longer, a 30 second replay call from the ump in the booth or five minutes of managers ranting and raving, players getting thrown out of games, and fans throwing crap on the field?

The Baseball Commissioner and MLB owners should not limit instant replay to specific plays or situations-- let's have instant replay decisions on any "too close to call" play whatever it is and whenever it happens. A team manager can call for an umpire replay review, but the umps must approve that request-- so they still retain complete control of the game. 

It's time for the Commissioner and the owners to get this done. The smart use of universal TV instant replay will ensure the continued integrity of America's pastime in an era when the game can be "made right" through modern high definition television technology.

Let me write two things on the blackboard before class starts. That way we might avoid the inevitable grumbling, spitwad throwing, and angry mob forming so often associated with Giant fans whenever a San Francisco player is criticized.*

First, newly signed and former San Francisco Giants outfielder Andres Torres is known as a dedicated athlete, a wonderful teammate and is apparently just a really nice guy. Second, Gregor Blanco is an excellent defensive outfielder who made a number of outstanding plays during the 2012 season and playoffs. And I'll stipulate that he's also a nice guy.

Now, back to the reality of scoring runs, winning baseball games, and getting to the 2013 post season.

San Francisco just signed the soon-to-be 35 year-old Torres to a one year $2m deal to either, a) split left field with Blanco in 2013; or, b) be the 4th outfielder for this team. In doing so, the Giants front office just threw a large bucket of cold water on their offense. And it's old, previously used cold water.

For the record, the Giants cut Torres loose after the 2011 season, when he hit .221 with a .312 OBP in 112 games. He ended up with the Mets in 2012, quickly losing his starting job in center field and ending up with a .230 BA and a .327 OBP in 132 games.

Although he hit .286 from the right side of the plate, Torres will soon be on the wrong side of 35 and his weak arm and lack of power make him a poor candidate for the 4th outfield spot.      

The troubling thing here is that for the first time in a decade the Giants have actually been assembling a legitimate offense, one that doesn't have to depend on the team's outstanding pitching to win ball games. The re-signing of free agents Angel Pagan and Marco Scutaro, and the impending arbitration settlement with Hunter Pence, are all signals that the 2012 World Championship team's potent offense was being kept intact.

The single missing piece in the everyday line-up is a run-producing left fielder who can patch the gap between the 1-5 hitters and the 7 & 8 spots in the batting order. And neither Gregor Blanco and/or Andres Torres is that guy. (And when Brandon Belt hit 6th last year, the 7th/8th/9th spots became an offensive black hole.)

I noted before that free agent Nick Swisher was the perfect prototype. Last season with the Yankees Swisher had  60 XBH, 93 RBI, a .364 OBP. a .837 OPS, and was a hustling fielder who made only 3 errors in 107 outfield starts.

Swisher's $10m+ pricetag was apparently too much for Giants GM Brian Sabean after re-signing Pagan, Scutaro, and Jeremy Affeldt for a combined $78m (with additional paydays pending for a number of arbitration-eligible players).

Despite San Francisco's emergence in the past three years as a big market, big payroll team, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest they might know best when it comes to spending their own money. (Fans and writer/bloggers often view their favorite team's payroll ceiling as being located just beyond the international space station.)

Having said that, the news that the Giants apparently offered Ichiro Suzuki a 2 year $15 million deal seems to indicate additional resources are available in the vault at 3rd and King Streets. Suzuki ended up re-signing with the Yankees for $13 million over two years but he would have added a fascinating piece to the Giants' 2013 puzzle.

The best alternative to signing an everyday starter in left field is not an Andres Torres/Gregor Blanco platoon. There was a great missed opportunity to bring up a promising young bat from the Giants' farm system: outfielder Francisco Peguero.

Peguero is a right-handed 24 year-old extra-base hitter who has speed and center field abilities. A Peguero/Blanco platoon in left would have allowed the team to give Peguero enough big league at-bats to justify bringing him up. The potential payoff could be discovering that run-producer missing from the 2012 line-up (with little impact on the payroll).

I know the argument against this: the San Francisco Giants are a serious organization that has won the World Series two of the last three years and will likely be perennial post-season participants for years to come. They would rather go with veteran experience in left rather than experiment with an untested young player like Peguero.

The counters to that are that, 1) reliance on veteran players in key roles is a costly model that has not worked out well for the Giants organization the past ten years; and, 2) Brian Sabean has been known to be overly cautious in bringing minor league position players up to the big team. The delay in promoting Buster Posey at the start of the 2010 season is an example of the organization not recognizing when a player is ready to move up.

Despite that, San Francisco has been on a roll producing valuable home-grown position players like Posey, Pablo Sandoval, Brandon Belt, and Brandon Crawford. Let's hope Francisco Peguero's 2013 spring training makes it impossible for the Giants to send him back to Fresno.

*When John Bowker (lifetime .232 BA) was traded to Pittsburgh in 2010, and Nate Schierholtz (lifetime .727 OPS) was sent to Philadelphia in 2012, each time local sportstalk radio callers were frantic-- you would have thought the world ended and the Giants front office foolishly traded away quality hitters.

Even during the craziest of Major League Baseball's annual off-season free agent grab and trading frenzy it is rare to see a team trade a young potential superstar to another organization. For any reason. 

Astoundingly, this year we've just seen it happen twice in two days.

On December 9th the Kansas City Royals dealt the best prospect in all of baseball, 22 year-old outfielder Wil Myers, to the Tampa Bay Rays. Then on December 11th the Arizona Diamondbacks got involved in a messy three-way with Cleveland and the Cincinnati Reds. When they looked in the mirror the next morning they had sent 21 year-old super prospect right-handed starter Trevor Bauer to the Indians.

Since it turns out there are no locks in life, it follows there are no sure-things in Major League Baseball. How many can't-miss minor league stars fizzle and flame out; how many young players put up one or two good years then can't make the required adjustments after the pitchers or hitters have adjusted to him?

Having provided the above global disclaimer, I am predicting that both the Kansas City Royals and the Arizona Diamondbacks will absolutely regret these trades in the next several years. Both Myers and Bauer were traded for the wrong reasons and for returns that have serious negative value assessments.

Wil Myers was named the 2012 Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year, which is a serious achievement. Recent past winners of that award are the Angels' Mike Trout (2011), Tampa's Jeremy Hellickson (2010), the Braves' Jason Heyward (2009), Baltimore's All Star catcher Matt Weiters (2008), and Cincy's Jay Bruce (2007). 

Myers will join Evan Longoria, one of the best starting staffs in baseball, and any number of Rays outstanding organizational prospects to legitimately challenge in the American League East for years to come.

Trevor Bauer is the kind of pitcher who can bring building block legitimacy to Cleveland, a team at the nasty bottom of the MLB barrel but whose low-ranking farm system should finally start to blossom in 2013.

So why did Kansas City and Arizona make these poorly strategized trades?

The Kansas City Royals appear to be an organization on the upswing despite finishing above .500 only once in the past 18 years (2003: 83-79). With their minor league organization top-rated and the team eager to spend money in the draft, a three or four year targeted rebuild seemed reachable.

But by pulling the trigger on the Wil Myers trade, GM Drayton Moore looks like he was too impatient to wait for a real Kansas City renaissance; instead he opted for the appearance of short-term competency. Trading Myers for Tampa starting pitchers James Shields and Wade Davis will no doubt allow Moore to clamp a lock on third place (or second place) in the AL Central for the next several years. Wow, I'll alert the media.

Add to that, in the trade Tampa also got 22 year-old RH reliever Jake Odorizzi from Kansas City who could end up turning a great trade for the Rays into a spectacular trade.

The Diamondbacks trade of pitching phenom Trevor Bauer to Cleveland is almost more perplexing. MLB Trade Rumors has a wide array of reaction to this mega-deal, but the question remains: how can the Snakes take Bauer 3rd overall in the 2011 draft and then a mere 18 months later send him packing?

The biggest knocks on Bauer are that, 1) he did poorly in his first four Major League games in 2012 when he went 1-2 6.06; and, 2) he has a quirky set of pre-game preparation routines (like long-throwing from one foul pole to another). And if those are the reasons he was dumped, then I picked the wrong time to stop snorting black licorice shavings.

This could be the worst trade in Arizona's history.

On the other side of the ledger, FanGraphs noted Bauer was not just the best college pitcher in the nation in 2011, he was the best college player in the nation. Arizona received several players in the deal, specifically Didi Gregorius from Cincinnati who will be given a shot to take over at shortstop, and 29 year-old lefty reliever Tony Sipp from Cleveland.

If Arizona had kept Bauer, the starting rotation of Wade Miley, Ian Kennedy, Brandon McCarthy, Trevor Cahill, and Bauer had the potential to be one of the most dominating starting staffs in baseball for years to come. And while there's no question the Snakes' pitching still looks solid, several thousand wise baseball men and women have noted over the years that you can never have enough pitching.

Looking back on this week, the question "what if?" may haunt the front office and fans of both the Kansas City Royals and the Arizona Diamondbacks for a very long time as they watch the careers of Wil Myers and Trevor Bauer really take off.

The San Francisco Giants locked up the remaining big piece of their 2012 Championship team by signing second baseman Marco Scutaro to a three year $20 million deal.

Scutaro joins two other free agents, center fielder Angel Pagan (four years $40m) and relief pitcher Jeremy Affeldt (three years $18m), in re-signing with the team they helped lead to a World Series sweep against the Detroit Tigers.

Scutaro will be 40 years old in the final year of his new contract but the Giants' front office expressed confidence that Scutaro's conditioning and his amazing 2012 .366 BABIP (Batting Average on Balls in Play) demonstrate value despite his age.        

Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports reported the St Louis Cardinals aggressively went after Scutaro, making a two year offer for more money per year ($8m) with a third year option. The Giants did not want to go beyond two guaranteed years but had to make a move as the bidding war with the Cardinals began to heat up.

Apparently the New York Yankees were also expressing interest in Scutaro as they looked to replace third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who will miss at least half the 2013 season after hip surgery.

The Pagan, Scutaro, and Affeldt signings are evidence the Giants are deadly serious about becoming a perennial playoff team and are willing to increase their payroll to get that done. The signings also provide a nice bridge to reach the organization's three top minor league players, center fielder Gary Brown, second baseman Joe Panik, and closer Heath Hembree.

Look at the second or third years of Pagan, Scutaro and Affeldt's contracts as a potential mentoring years for Brown, Panik, and Hembree. Pagan's third and fourth years also offers the Giants a potential left field candidate or a potent bat off the bench.

The remaining questions for the 2013 Giants are the addition of a right hander in the bullpen and the not insignificant question of what to do in left field. Gregor Blanco was an electrifying defensive player but the ongoing need for offense requires both corner outfield positions to be run-producing spots in the San Francisco line-up.

Simply signing a right handed bat to platoon with Blanco will likely not get the job done. Although it appears the Giants' payroll limit may have been reached this off-season, hopefully the front office will bite the bullet on on this one and go out and get a Nick Swisher-type full time starter in left.

Swisher, who had a .364 OBP and knocked in 93 RBI with the Yankees in 2012, was paid $10.25 million in a club option year. His bat would fit in nicely in the 6th spot of the Giant's batting order between Hunter Pence and Brandon Belt. In 2012 Swisher's highest number of at-bats in the Yankee line-up were 56 times in the 6th slot and 52 times hitting 2nd.

MLB Trade Rumors has the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners hot on Swisher's trail, so we'll see.

The San Francisco Giants took a huge step in solidifying their 2013 team by signing center field free agent Angel Pagan to a four year $40 million deal. Pagan was a team leader and an effective lead-off hitter in the Giants' drive to win the 2012 World Series.

No doubt General Manager Brian Sabean paid for at least one more year than he wanted to with Pagan, who will be 32 this July. San Francisco had other options to fill the center field/lead-off spot but former Atlanta Brave Michael Bourn and ex-Dodger/Philly Shane Victorino will certainly cost more for the same number of years.

And while San Francisco has the budget to fully compete with the MLB's top 2%, they have yet to sign second baseman Marco Scutaro (or someone else), left field is a problem looking for a solution, and a number of relief pitchers are scheduled for serious salary upgrades. So the Giants may have money to spend but they're about to spent a lot of it before Spring Training opens.

Michael Bourn is a high end lead-off hitter with excellent range and an outfield glove considered among the best in the game; he should command a significant contract from some team in the next few months.

Bourn's 2012 .348 OBP beat Pagan (.338) and his 42-3 SB record is flashier than Pagan's 29-7 record. But Angel Pagan put up a .777 OPS that was considerably better than Bourn's (.739). And Pagan had a whopping 61 extra base hits-- more than St. Louis slugger Carlos Beltran (59) or Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez (58).     
 
The deciding factor here may well be the fact that Pagan's game is a known commodity to the Giants front office and that played big into the decision to bring him back. The new life he found in San Francisco after leaving the New York Mets is real and he demonstrated he brings the Giants the one thing they need more than anything else going into 2013: run production up and down the line-up.        
 
Giants management has demonstrated they finally understand that the old model of signing one or two big name run producers (e.g., Barry Bonds/Jeff Kent) then filling in the rest of the line-up with previously talented veterans is a dead end. This is a big market team with big revenues and the ability to bring together an offense that produces runs 1-8 in the batting order.

To even think about making the post season an annual October destination, this franchise needs an offense that is capable of, 1) scoring an average of 4.5 runs per game; and, 2) winning games even when the starting or bullpen pitching fails.

In 2012 San Francisco came in at #12 of 30 MLB teams, scoring 718 runs which was good for 4.43 runs per game. Right in front of the Giants at #11 were the Detriot Tigers with 726 runs (4.48 per game). The Washington Nationals were #10 overall with 731 runs scored (4.51 per game). These are all teams likely to make the post season for at least the next several years.

Understand that the biggest downside San Francisco experienced by wasting 10-12 years trying to build one team after another around Barry Bonds was not simply a series of costly and very bad contracts with unproductive veteran players. The Giants paid a bigger price by gutting their minor league system whose overall lack of productivity still haunts San Francisco into the 2013 season. Player drafting and development was sacrificed for years to sustain the Bonds model.

Brian Sabean finally began to turn it around with a commitment to signing high end pitching prospects, and over the past several years paid belated attention to drafting promising position players. But San Francisco's minor league system and its player prospects are still rated in the bottom third of Major League Baseball by Baseball America and a number of other respected sites.

The good news is that there is currently no better MLB organization in the game. The four components an MLB franchise needs to be successful on the field and finacially are solidly in place in San Francisco: 1) a forward-looking organization that also understands its history; 2) a smart front office and world class field management; 3) significant revenue streams; and, 4) a (soon to be) deep and productive minor league system.

Which brings us back to Angel Pagan. Pagan gets the multi-year contract he's earned and the Giants make a reasonable $40 million investment to fill both their lead-off spot and center field, which will look more and more like a great bargain over the next two years.

If the Giants sign another center fielder, or bring sweet-hitting minor league propsect Gary Brown up in 2014, Pagan can effortlessly slide over to left field.

Now where's that number for Marco Scutaro's agent...