Melky Cabrera for Jonathan Sanchez

The first major off-season trade has happened... and it involved the Giants.  Melky Cabrera for Jonathan Sanchez and Ryan Verdugo, a Double-A pitcher.  As a Giants fan, I'm very wary of any moves by the Giants during the offseason.  GM Brian Sabean has been at the head of some suspect trades and acquisitions in that past and his name is notorious in the Giants community.  Both these players are high risk, high reward players.  Sanchez can be very very good, but also very bad... in 2010, he went 13-9 with a 3.07 ERA.  However, in 2011, an injury plagued emotional struggle, he posted a 4.26 ERA, going 4-7.  Bottom line is that he a wild pitcher, one that gets strikeouts and has swing-and-miss stuff, but he also gives an obscene amount of walks.  Even in his best season, he had a league leading 96 walks, and was on pace to beat that in 2011.

Melky Cabrera's value, on the other hand, is at an all time high.  The long time Yankee and current Royal had the best season of his career, posting a .305 average with 18 HRs and 87 RBIs, along with a nice complement of 20 SBs.  The worries of Melky are his low OBP at .339 and his high strikeout total at 94.  Cabrera, 27, has a middle of the road career average at .275 and the Giants are hoping that Cabrera goes along with the 2011 numbers instead of the numbers earlier in his career.  I've been checking Twitter ever so often to see people's reactions to the trade and the consensus seems to be that the Giants sold low and bought high.  Obviously, with this mindset, the risk is astronomical.  In 2010, the Giants could have traded Jonathan Sanchez for the world, and obviously this year is different.  This shows that Giants have given up hope on Jonathan Sanchez and assume that he will never return to his former prowess.

Now, rather than comparing the two players, I'll look to future and explain what effect this has on the Giants team as  a whole.  It looks to be that Cabrera will play centerfield, a spot that is open for the Giants.  His defense is supposedly subpar, which could mean that Andres Torres could remain on the Giants as a defensive replacement.  Andres Torres, though, will not get quite the contract extension he is hoping for because Cabrera will mostly likely be his replacement.  This trade also shows that Coco Crisp will not be a target for them this winter.  As for the spots that are left, shortstop and left field are still problem areas for the Giants.  Their two current solutions for those problems could be Brandon Crawford for shortstop and Brandon Belt for left.  Neither are developed, and neither have suitable offense.

My recommendations for what the Giants should do is go after Carlos Beltran and Jimmy Rollins like none other.  These are two seasoned veterans that could GREATLY improve the Giants offense and make them a serious World Series contender.  A great plan B for left field could be Michael Cuddyer, an outfielder with power for the Twins.  Unfortunately, the player that I thought was the most underrated player of free agency this year, Jamey Carrol, a veteran shortstop, has been snatched up by the Twins for 2 years and 7.5M.  If the Giants get any of these options during the Winter, I will be very satisfied and confident with our lineup this coming year.  Getting Carlos Beltran and Jimmy Rollins, though, which will cost about 25M for the pair of them would make their offense one of the best in the National League. The bottom line is that you need to spend money to win in this league, I mean look at the Yankees, Cardinals, and Phillies.  If that means the owners take a paycut, then so be it.

Getting Melky Cabrera was a step in the right direction, but the question is whether they can follow it up with some moves that solidify the lineup even more.