Don’t count out Giants in NL West
Posted: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 1:40 PM
The New Year approaches and I can't help but think that Randy Johnson has been the best free agent signing of this winter.
How can a 45-year-old pitcher earn that distinction?
Johnson signed a one-year, $8 million deal with the Giants. His fastball remains in the low-90-mph range and he pitched well in the quality categories over the second half of 2008, both indicators that he still has productive innings to offer.
And his presence with San Francisco could significantly alter the balance of power in the NL West. It’s a weak division and it will be a wide open one if Manny Ramirez does not return to the Dodgers. Los Angeles has lost Derek Lowe, Jeff Kent, Takashi Saito, Brad Penny, Nomar Garciaparra and Joe Beimel. They have re-signed Rafael Furcal and Casey Blake with Ramirez in limbo. That’s more loss than gain, even if it's quantity over quality.
Without Ramirez the Dodgers look closer to the .500 team they were pre-Ramirez than the NLCS team he anchored. Arizona has scaled back, allowing Orlando Hudson and Johnson to walk. It has no proven closer and it’s reliant on a rebound year from Eric Byrnes (a good bet since Byrnes has thrived as an "underdog"). Colorado traded Matt Holliday and will lean on Manny Corpas to close with the loss of Brian Fuentes. San Diego is irrelevant, except for the eventual trade of Jake Peavy (would a division foe enter the mix for Peavy?).
Then there is San Francisco, playing its home games in a pitcher-friendly ballpark with a rotation that features the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, Johnson who has won five Cy Young Awards, the last of those coming in 2002, Barry Zito, the 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner and Matt Cain, who in the eyes of many is bound to win at least one Cy Young Award in his career. With more starters in the pipeline, the Giants could afford to move Jonathan Sanchez or Noah Lowry, if he’s healthy, for offense.
The gap from the middle of the pack to the top of the NL West is a small one. And the Giants may finally get some offensive boost from their farm system. Pablo Sandoval can flat out hit and spring training will determine whether he plays at first base or third base. Last year's top pick in the June draft, catcher Buster Posey, will get every chance to be another Lincecum and leap to the big leagues after very little time in the minors.
While the Giants are young and may add one of the veteran corner outfield bats on the market, the Dodgers are dealing with the older players who surround their young core. Andruw Jones has been as horrid in Dominican winter ball as he was in Los Angeles last season. Could the Dodgers pawn him on the Mets? Could the Dodgers tell Scott Boras, the agent for both Jones and Ramirez, that they’ll offer Ramirez a third year on a new deal if Boras, whose sales book last winter compared Jones to Willie Mays, can find anyone to take Jones? That would be one heck of an incentive/commission.
There are still nine weeks to spring training, plenty of time for the Dodgers to formally shape the team to repeat their division title and retain the electricity that filled Dodger Stadium. If they don't sign Ramirez or find a suitable Plan B (does one exist?), then San Francisco or Arizona (with the stud top-of-the-rotation combination of Brandon Webb and Dan Haren (although they were less effective in the second half of last season) could easily surge into contention.
