Giants Sign DeRosa; Awful Lineup now Slightly Less Awful

Stop me if you’ve heard this one: in an effort to improve their offense, the Giants have signed an aging hitter on the decline to a multi-year contract. I’m in!

Following in the footsteps of Edgardo Alfonzo, Michael Tucker, Moises Alou, Ray Durham (the second time around), Dave Roberts, Rich Aurilia, Aaron Rowand, Edgar Renteria, and probably a few others I’m forgetting, the Giants have signed Mark DeRosa to a two-year, $12 million contract. DeRosa, who turns 35 before Spring Training, is coming off of a terrible half-season in St. Louis, as well as off-season surgery to repair a tendon injury in his wrist. It just keeps sounding better and better.

In fairness to DeRosa, he’s been a productive hitter throughout his career, and the wrist injury probably contributed to his awful stats in St. Louis (.228/10/28 with a .696 OPS). The Giants, though, will be counting on him to produce in the middle of the order, and DeRosa is not that kind of hitter. He’s a complementary player, and last I checked, the Giants don’t have a whole lot of hitters in their lineup to complement. He’s also not a power hitter, so he’ll fit in nicely with the Giants’ recent history of corner infielders not named Pablo Sandoval. He’s a health risk, since wrist injuries have a nasty habit of lingering, and the Giants already have one huge health risk too many in their infield (Freddy Sanchez). Plus, he’s on the wrong side of his 30’s, but as we’ve seen, that hasn’t stopped the Giants from handing out multi-year deals in the past. $6 million per year doesn’t seem like a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a risky deal to hand to a utility man being counted on to solidify the middle of the order.

So where does this leave the Giants’ lineup? DeRosa’s bat is comparable to Bengie Molina’s, and his career averages (somewhere around .275/16/75) basically replace Molina’s production. Molina, though, has proven he can hit for some power in the Giants’ ballpark, and it remains to be seen whether or not DeRosa’s power numbers (67 HR’s over the last 4 seasons combined) can translate from more hitter-friendly parks in Texas, Chicago, and St. Louis to AT&T Park. He’s had some success in the Giants’ ballpark, hitting .279 (right around his career average) with 3 HR’s and 17 RBI’s in 79 career AB’s, but the sample size is too small to draw any conclusions. As it stands now, DeRosa will probably bat 5th, meaning the Giants’ lineup currently shakes out like this:

1. Velez/Torres, LF

2. Renteria, SS

3. Sanchez, 2B

4. Sandoval, 1B

5. DeRosa, 3B

6. Schierholtz/Bowker, RF

7. Rowand, terrible

8. Posey/Whiteside/Holm/Brenly/Sadek/Manwaring/Santiago, C

“Imposing” is not the word I’d use for that group. It’s arguably a weaker lineup than last season, and outside of Sandoval, there’s no real power threat to be found. With Jason Bay set to sign with the Mets next week, Matt Holliday apparently out of their price range, and a Dan Uggla trade highly unlikely, the Giants don’t have many options left to further improve the lineup. They’ve discussed Jermaine Dye, but he’s coming off a putrid second half of ’09 and can barely play the outfield anymore. Xavier Nady, Rick Ankiel, Marlon Byrd, Adam LaRoche, and Johnny Damon are all still out there, but aside from possibly Nady, none of them are going significantly improve the middle of the order.

So the Giants, for now, are left with the same weak lineup they had last season, and with it comes the same problem: not nearly enough run support for the best pitching staff in baseball. It cost them the playoffs last year; will they fix it in time for the 2010 season? Don’t hold your breath. Instead, Brian Sabean and the rest of the usual suspects will come on the radio; they’ll tell us they did their due diligence and kicked all the tires they could; they’ll tell us the best bats were out of their price range and DeRosa was the best option; they’ll tell us their financial hardships prevent them from raising the payroll any further; and they’ll tell us we should shut up, be happy with a nice ballpark by the water, and to order more garlic fries. Substitute “Renteria,” “Tucker,” or a host of other names for “DeRosa” in that last statement, and I’d swear I’d heard that same thing before.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, a great holiday season, and I hope the New Year treats you well. Until next time.

Tags: Free Agents, Giants, Mark DeRosa, Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants, San Francisco Giants Blog