Hot Stove Update: Winter Meetings Wrap

As expected, the Giants didn't do much at the Winter Meetings in Florida. That is a good thing! Brian Sabean was like a man who got all his Christmas shopping done before Black Friday and could avoid the crowds of people trampling each other. Sabes and Bochy were able to spend their time basking in the warm sunshine of a World Series championship while everybody else shivered in the cold Florida air.

The Giants will go into next season with their championship team virtually intact. There are still some complaining that this was a team that barely won the NL West. What they forget is the Giants team that finished the season was a much better team than the one that started the season. The team that finished the season is the one coming back next year.

The Giants lost Joe Paterson in the Rule 5 draft to the division rival D'Backs. Paterson pitched well in the very tough AAA PCL last year as well as the Arizona Fall League. The D'Backs' bullpen is a shambles. Paterson will likely stick on their 25 man roster and be lost to the Giants. Personally, I would have droppped Alex Hinshaw from the 40 man roster to protect Paterson, but with Affeldt, Lopez and Runzler all coming back, it's probably no great loss.

The Giants lost Jake Blackwood to the Padres in the AAA phase. Blackwood is the indy league star who signed with the Giants late in the season. He never played a game as a member of the Giants organization. So long, Jake. We hardly knew ye! Don't be shocked if Blackwood is the Padres starting 2B next spring.

The Giants made 3 picks in the AAA phase of the Rule 5 Draft. I like this approach because there is no return rule in the minor league phases which allows the Giants time to evaluate these players over the course of a full season. The most interesting pick was catcher Dashenko Ricardo out of the Baltimore organization. This one was a bit of a head scratcher, Ricardo hit just .187 in 32 games last year, but then it came out that the Giants like his arm and are going to try converting him to pitching! I like that! Other picks in the AAA phase were Justin Dowdy from the Rays' organization. He's a LHP with a low ERA in limited action last year. The Giants also took Matthew Sartor who was just 4-9 with a 4.30 ERA at two levels last year, but had 71 K's in 58.2 IP.

Some thoughts on non-Giants activity at the Winter Meetings:

I've already commented on the Jayson Werth signing by the Nationals and the Adrian Gonzalez trade to Boston.

Boston brought along of Brink's Truck full of cash to the meetings and outmuscled the Angels for Carl Crawford. Boston now has a lineup that rivals any in baseball, including the Yankees. It leans heavily lefthanded though. Boston also did not upgrade their starting pitching and did nothing to address a very shaky bullpen. I've been musing about how the Giants might fare against Boston in a hypothetical, but quite possible 2011 World Series. I think the Giants would win, especially if they had the home field advantage. AT&T is tough on lefthanded sluggers, especially if they are not familiar with it, and we've all seen the magic of how Bruce Bochy can manipulate a pitching staff to neutralize a lineup that leans too heavily either way.

Angels fans have to be disappointed in their team's performance at the Winter Meetings. The Angels let it be known they were willing to spend and went in as favorites to land Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano and possibly Adrian Beltre. They came away with lefty setup man Scott Downs. They are now competing to overpay Beltre and are apparently out of the running for Soriano. Once the Werth signing went down, the Angels had to know their 6 year/$108 M offer to Crawford wouldn't get it done. Either they gave up at that point, or were delusional about what it would take to sign him.

The Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays made an interesting trade, RHP Shaun Marcum for 2B prospect Brett Lawrie. The Brewers desperately needed to upgrade their pitching rotation and got a real quality starter in Marcum. Alex Anthopoulos, who has made several quirky trades, apparently thought Marcum was expendable as he has Kyle Drabek, Deck McGuire and Asher Wociechowski lined up behind him. Lawrie has been a highly regarded hitting prospect, but is not a lock to stick at 2B and seems to have developed some attitude problems of late. He refused to play in the Arizona Fall League and some unflattering photos were posted on his Facebook page. Let's just say he doesn't appear to be the kind of guy you'd want your daughter dating. We'll call this trade a win for the BrewCrew.

The Dodgers continued to add depth to their starting pitching re-signing Vicente Padilla who can be stashed as a long reliever until he is needed in the rotation. One website speculated that the Dodgers may be thinking of trading Chad Billingsley for an elite hitter. One rumor at the Winter Meetings that go shot down quickly was James Loney and Jonathan Broxton to the Brewers for Prince Fielder. The Dodgers still need major upgrades at first base and LF, as well as better seasons out of Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. Replacing Theriot with Uribe and Russell Martin with Barajas upgraded their power, but added an awful lot of outs to their lineup.

What are your thoughts on the Winter Meetings?