Giants fill infield hole with Tejada

Chris Haft
SFGiants.com
The Giants appeared poised to fill their shortstop vacancy by signing free agent Miguel Tejada, the 2002 American League Most Valuable Player and a six-time All-Star, to a one-year contract.

Giants officials declined comment, but an industry source familiar with the negotiations indicated a deal would be announced pending a physical.

Tejada told The Associated Press in the Dominican Republic that he had agreed to the deal worth $6.5 million.

"I'm very happy and satisfied to reach an agreement with the San Francisco Giants," Tejada told the AP in Spanish. "I take pride in having the opportunity to compete for that team."

Tejada, 36, primarily would replace Juan Uribe, whose three-year, $21 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers became official Tuesday. But Tejada would fit the Giants' needs in more than one realm. The 14-year-veteran played 97 games at third base last season with Baltimore and San Diego, a spot where he could be needed if Pablo Sandoval doesn't heed management's mandate to improve his physical conditioning.

A two-time Silver Slugger recipient with Baltimore in 2004-05, Tejada owns a .287 career batting average and a .462 lifetime slugging percentage. But he endured one of his least productive seasons in 2010, hitting .269 with 15 home runs and 71 RBIs. His .381 slugging percentage, which declined 74 points from 2009, was his lowest since his 1997 rookie season with Oakland.

But Major League scouts contacted by MLB.com remained mostly upbeat about Tejada's existing skills.

"He has outperformed what I thought he was going to be," one scout said. "He does a very good job of positioning himself. Offensively, you're not going to see quite the pop that you've seen in the past."

Said another, "He's not as strong as Uribe. His range is below average. But he has good hands and an accurate arm. He's still a dependable player."

Having earned $6 million last season, Tejada also is expected to be relatively affordable -- another significant factor, since the club payroll for the World Series-winning Giants almost surely will soar past $100 million.

The Giants had been rumored to be actively pursuing trade possibilities for shortstops, including Tampa Bay's Jason Bartlett and Minnesota's J.J. Hardy.

SF Giants sign Huff, as so-called misfit becomes cornerstone of title team

Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

Aubrey Huff, one of the mercenaries and misfits who helped carry the Giants to the 2010 World Series championship, will have a much different role in 2011 as a highly paid cornerstone of a team that that will try to win another.

Last winter, Huff was out of job until January. Now, he will celebrate Thanksgiving with a two-year contract to return to the Giants, who opened their coffers wide in their first significant move to retain the core of an offense that hoisted them to the title.

The deal for the first baseman and outfielder, finalized Tuesday, will pay him $10 million each in 2011 and 2012 and includes a $10 million team option or a $2 million buyout for 2013, making the guaranteed value $22 million.

That is a lot of dough for a player who turns 34 in December, but Huff gave the Giants a lot for $3 million during his first season in San Francisco. He finished seventh in the National League Most Valuable Player voting and, just as important, helped foster a loose and happy clubhouse by letting his oddball personality all hang out.

It's a shame that one of Huff's spikes, and not his rally thong, is part of the Giants championship exhibit on display in Cooperstown.

General manager Brian Sabean said Huff's signing was "critical for the lineup, being our third hitter, left-handed, his profile and his versatility being able to play first base and the outfield."

Besides hitting .290, he led the Giants in all the big categories: homers, RBIs, hits, walks, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. His .891 OPS (on base plus slugging) ranked 10th in the league.

Beyond that, Huff's ability to play first base or either corner position in the outfield gives Sabean significant flexibility going into an offseason in which two potential starters, Pablo Sandoval because of his weight and offensive decline, and Mark DeRosa coming off a second wrist operation, will not be able to prove themselves until spring training.

If Sabean chooses to sign or trade for another corner outfielder or infielder, he knows he can shift Huff to make it work.

"He was such an important piece of the puzzle this year with what he brought to us hitting in the three spot for the most part, and his versatility," manager Bruce Bochy said.

"You don't have many players who can do what Aubrey did, play first and the outfield plus a left-handed bat who can hit the way he does, and what he brought with the overall dynamic for the club, the presence on the field and off the field in the clubhouse."

Sabean said talks with Huff accelerated because another team was hot on his trail. Huff agreed to return when the Giants matched the other club's offer.

"He certainly did his part and got his just reward because of it," Sabean said.

In other news:

-- Sabean said talks with free-agent infielder Juan Uribe are not going as quickly because there are more teams going after him.

"I think both sides were willing to do something faster, but we're not talking the same language yet as far as the ballpark figures," Sabean said.

-- At the same time, Sabean continues to discuss potential trades for shortstop, saying he had one conversation today. Two shortstops rumored to be available are Jason Bartlett of Tampa Bay and Marco Scutaro of Boston.

-- Bochy said Sandoval has chosen to live and train in Arizona this offseason, not San Diego. That is critical because the Giants' trainers live and work in Arizona during the winter and can monitor him more closely.

-- First base and outfield prospect Brandon Belt will have a chance to win a job out of spring training.

"I think this kid is going to make some noise out of spring training," Bochy said.

-- Sabean said he might not tender contracts to all eight arbitration-eligible players, but that outfielder Cody Ross will be offered a contract and play in the Giants outfield in 2011.

Giants catcher Buster Posey wins NL Rookie of the Year award

Andrew Baggarly Mercury News

Buster Posey has a trophy to go along with his World Series ring.

The Giants' young catcher showed the leadership of a veteran as he guided a talented pitching staff all the way to the first championship in the franchise's 53 seasons in San Francisco. His acumen also made him the clear choice as the NL Rookie of the Year, as announced by the Baseball Writers Association of America on Monday.

Posey easily outpointed another kid from Georgia, Atlanta Braves right fielder Jason Heyward, drawing 20 of 32 first-place votes to become the Giants' first recipient of the award since pitcher John Montefusco in 1975.

Posey joined an exclusive club of Giants to win the award -- a Hall of Fame-studded group that includes Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Orlando Cepeda and Gary Matthews.

"It gives me chills to be mentioned with those names "... and to be one of few Giants to win the award," Posey said on a conference call. "Those guys were unbelievable players and great ambassadors to the game and they still are. I'm extremely humbled to be mentioned in same category as them."

Votes were due before the playoffs began, so the Giants' run to the World Series wasn't a consideration. It was expected to be a close vote between Posey and Heyward, each of whom was named on 31 of 32 ballots.

But Heyward received just nine first-place votes along with 20 second-place votes and two thirds to finish with 107 points. Posey had nine second-place votes and two thirds to finish with 129 points.

"I knew he would win this, with the year he had," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Here's a guy that hit in the heart of our order, handling our pitching staff. We threw a lot at him, but what a great job he did. No question in my mind, I'm very happy for him, and what a storybook season. The kid is an incredible talent as we know, and his tremendous makeup makes him even more of a special player."

Posey, 23, said it was "surreal" to win the award, adding that he didn't think about it until after the season.

"I was just trying to make an impact with the team and get some wins," he said.

Posey's impact was undeniable. The Giants promoted him May 29, after he tore up Triple-A pitching, and he played mostly first base before the club traded catcher Bengie Molina on July 1.

Posey responded by hitting .417 with seven home runs in July to earn NL Player of the Month honors. During the month, he also put together a 21-game hitting streak -- the longest by any NL player in 2010 and one short of matching the Giants' rookie mark set by McCovey in 1959.

The Giants were 40-38 at the time of the trade; they went 52-32 after that, and Posey guided a pitching staff that held opponents to three runs or fewer in 23 of their last 26 regular-season games.

"I haven't had a player in his first year make the kind of impact that Buster made on this club," Bochy said. "You look where we were when he joined us. Then you look where we finished up. You've got to credit the guy behind the plate.

"Once he caught a couple games, I could see how comfortable he was, and I was convinced right off the bat that he was ready."

Posey's award also represents a victory for scouting director John Barr, who made Posey the fifth overall pick shortly after the Giants hired him to coordinate the 2008 draft. Barr deflected credit, but acknowledged the organization felt Posey could win this award when they drafted him.

"Definitely, we did," said Barr, reached by phone in the Dominican Republic. "We felt he could be a difference maker because he could help both offensively and be an asset with his work behind the plate. That was the main reason we were so excited about getting him.

"There's a lot of people involved, all the people who helped to bring him in the organization and refine him. But this is all about him. It's about the player and his ability and makeup. My hat's off to him.

"This is just one step in his career and in our organization."

St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jaime Garcia was named on 18 ballots, receiving 16 third-place votes, to finish third. Florida Marlins first baseman Gaby Sanchez received two first-place votes but was named on just eight ballots.

The only voter to omit Posey from his ballot was Los Angeles-based Yasushi Kikuchi of Kyodo News. He listed Sanchez, Heyward and Garcia.

Posey might have cemented the award Sept. 21 at Chicago's Wrigley Field, when he hit a home run, caught four pitchers in a combined two-hitter and threw out an attempted base stealer in a 1-0 victory that kept the Giants in first place.

Posey became the first catcher to win a Rookie of the Year award and a World Series ring in the same season. And he repeated his podium-slapping message from the Giants' victory parade, saying he's readying himself for another title run next season.

He plans to work on strength training and improving flexibility, especially in his hips, when he resumes workouts in another week. For now, he and his wife are vacationing in the Florida Keys.

Posey received a standing ovation in Tallahassee on Saturday when he was recognized on the field during a first-quarter timeout in the Florida State-Clemson football game.

"There's been a lot of stuff going on," he said. "I don't feel I've got the chance to catch up yet."

With Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz winning the AL award, it marks just the third time that both prizewinning rookies met in the World Series. Current Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1981, when his Yankees lost to the Dodgers and Fernando Valenzuela. In 1951, Mays and his New York Giants lost to the Yankees and San Francisco native Gil McDougald.

For more on the Giants, see Andrew Baggarly's Extra Baggs blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs.

EXCLUSIVE CLUB

Buster Posey became the sixth Giants player -- and the first in 35 years -- to win the Rookie of the Year award. The award was first given in 1947.

1951: Willie Mays, outfielder

1958: Orlando Cepeda, first baseman

1959: Willie McCovey, first baseman

1973: Gary Matthews, outfielder

1975: John Montefusco, pitcher

2010: Buster Posey, catcher

Carl Steward: For San Francisco Giants fans, the past melts away

Carl Steward
MercuryNews

The local television stations keep showing footage of the overflowing bars and the clogged streets, filled mostly with jubilant 20-something Giants fans who think they have seen torture and survived it.

Go ahead and celebrate, kids. Savor that parade. No doubt, you have seen a certain kind of torture this year, and you have earned the right to rage.

But trust those of us who have weathered the real torture of the past half-century. And be mindful that a moment like this might come along just once in a lifetime, proof of that being the many among us who have spent our lifetime waiting for the moment that has finally arrived.

It is unlikely any of the 2010 Giants can comprehend the massive exorcism they have performed for their older fans: The release from 52 years of mixed baseball memories in San Francisco, some of them good, a lot of them frustrating, but all of them ending without the ultimate prize -- a World Series title.

As a 57-year-old who latched onto the Giants at age 10 in the early 1960s, the shackles of lifelong disillusionment and disappointment are finally unbound. I got to see one. A Giants World Series win in San Francisco. One is all that was needed. I can die happy now.

As I think about that, I mourn for people I have known in my business who didn't get to see it, among them Hall of Fame longtime Giants beat writer Bob Stevens and Sports Illustrated writer Ron Fimrite. I think of former Giants broadcasters Lon Simmons and Hank Greenwald -- long-timers and great people -- who did. I can only imagine how they are feeling.

And then there is Mike Murphy. The Giants' clubhouse man since they first arrived in San Francisco in 1958 will get a World Series ring on opening day next year. Murphy has seen it all -- every broken bat, every broken dream, every broken heart. I'm just guessing that when his name is announced to accept his ring next April, he might get the loudest ovation. After all, for real longtime Giants fans, there is a little part of Murph in all of us.

We don't have to forget the trip down misery lane, but we can read it now and view it as history cleansed from our heretofore ghost-ridden subconscious:

Willie McCovey's line drive to Bobby Richardson. The failed bunt attempt by Felipe Alou. Ralph Terry. Four straight second-place finishes under Herman Franks and one more under Clyde King. The late-September swoons of 1965 and 1969. The disallowed Dick Dietz hit by pitch that would have ruined Don Drysdale's scoreless streak. The regrettable Juan Marichal-John Roseboro incident. Braves pitcher Tony Cloninger's two grand slams in one game.

Orlando Cepeda for Ray Sadecki. Willie Mays for Charlie Williams and $50,000. Gaylord Perry for Sam McDowell. George Foster for Frank Duffy and Vern Geishert.

Bob Robertson's three-homer game in the '71 NLCS. Bob Johnson outdueling the fading Marichal in the same series. Dave Kingman, sold to the Mets for $150,000. All those brutally cold Candlestick nights. All those Ron Cey home runs. All those Darrell Evans foul home runs. Tommy Lasorda blowing kisses. Smilin' Steve Garvey. Beer and battery nights with Reggie Smith.

The mostly lifeless Spec Richardson/Joe Altobelli years. A crowd of 851 against the Braves in '75. The rise and fall of Mike Ivie. Jack Clark for David Green, Dave LaPoint, Gary Rajsich, and, well, Jose Uribe. Rick Monday's Oct. 1 eighth-inning slam off Fred Breining in 1982. Johnnie LeMaster and his "BOO" uniform. The Frank Robinson/Jim Barr square-off. Jim Davenport's 100-loss managerial season in 1985. Andy McGaffigan, any time he faced Dale Murphy. Mike Scott, eliminating the Giants with a no-hitter in '86. Candy Maldonado's sliding NLCS Game 6 misplay in '87. Jose Oquendo, for crying out loud, going deep off Atlee Hammaker in Game 7. One Flap Down, Jeffrey Leonard, NLCS MVP "... for the losing team.

Dave Dravecky's horrifying breakdown in Montreal and his subsequent arm amputation because of cancer. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake only minutes before Candlestick's first World Series game in 27 years. Mike Moore's double over Brett Butler's head. The four-game bludgeoning by the A's (Madison Bumgarner was just 2 months old). The 103 wins and no playoffs, in '93. Salomon Torres in Game 162. Will "the Thrill" Clark's too-quiet departure in 1994. A young Edgar Renteria's walk-off hit in Game 1 that sparked Florida's sweep of the 1997 NLDS. The one-game playoff loss at Chicago in 1998, Rod Beck saving it against his old team. The three straight losses to the Mets, including a one-hit shutout by unheralded Bobby Jones, to lose the NLDS in 2000.

Five outs to go in 2002. Dusty Baker giving the ball to Russ Ortiz. Scott Spiezio going yard off Felix Rodriguez. The mind-numbing Rally Monkey thump in Games 6 and 7. J.T. Snow getting gunned down at home against Florida in the 2003 NLDS. Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano for A.J. Pierzynski. Two-and-a-half years of the most reviled Giant ever, Armando Benitez.

Horace Stoneham's near-sale to Toronto. Bob Lurie announcing he was moving to Oakland without telling Oakland. The failure of Sixth and Townsend. The failure in San Jose. Lurie's near-sale to St. Petersburg.

The Croix de Candlestick. Crazy Crab. Hang In There. You Gotta Like These Kids. Real Grass, Real Sunshine, Real Baseball. Humm Baby. Team Of Dustiny.

The sad, premature deaths of three Giants stalwarts: Bobby Bonds, Tom Haller, Rod "Shooter" Beck.

The $126 million to Barry Zito, which could have ruined all of this.

Finally, the performance-enhancement cloud hanging over the many wondrous performances and achievements of one Barry Lamar Bonds.

None of these memories will go away, of course, and they shouldn't. But in the wake of this remarkable, mystical, somewhat torturous but ultimately rapturous 2010 Giants season, they won't haunt and torment anymore. They'll just give it richer perspective.

Today, it's as if McCovey's line drive finally went through. And the earthquake didn't happen. And Spiezio struck out. And Snow was safe. Giants fans finally are free and fulfilled, liberated from 52 years of titleless infamy in San Francisco.

Giants Release World Series MVP Renteria

Mike Lovell
Talkin' Giants Baseball
The Giants released World Series MVP Edgar Renteria.

Renteria was 2011 team option was not picked up. Renteria will receive a $500,000 buy out. San Francisco Giants General Manager Brian Sabean stated that Renteria plans on playing in 2011 and did not rule out a return to the Giants as a back-up player.

Renteria shined for the 2010 World Champion Giants in the World Series and playoffs.

Giants on top of the world

Henry Schulman SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle

The Giants serenaded their thirsty fans with the perfect anthem before the first pitch of the 2010 World Series. The song they piped through AT&T Park was U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For."

The search lasted more than half a century and seemed so futile at times. Finally, the team and its long-pained fans have found what they were looking for. For the first time since the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958, they are the champions of baseball.

The Giants won the 2010 World Series against the Texas Rangers four games to one, ending it with a 3-1 victory on a slightly chilly Monday evening at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

The unlikely hero for a Series winner that few predicted was Edgar Renteria, an injury-plagued shortstop from Colombia who declared he expected to retire after the season and whose two-year $18.5 million contract was ridiculed because the Giants gave it to a player thought to be washed up.

Renteria joined the pantheon of World Series greats when he hit a three-run homer against Cliff Lee with two outs in the seventh inning to break a 0-0 tie.

Actually, Renteria already had a seat in the temple. In 1997, then 21 years old and a big-leaguer for less than two seasons, he won a World Series for Florida with an 11th-inning single in Game 7 against Cleveland.

Tim Lincecum, the two-time Cy Young Award winner whose photo adorned the cover of the Giants' 2010 media guide, allowed three hits and struck out 10 in eight innings in the most important win of his 26-year-old life.

The Series ended with closer Brian Wilson on the mound, as usual, retiring the final hitter. He struck out Nelson Cruz swinging to set off a celebration sure to rock the Bay Area for long time. After all, everyone had generations to plan it.

With the first toast, revelers could bid good riddance to the ghosts of failures past.

Willie McCovey's line drive to Bobby Richardson in 1962, the earthquake sweep in 1989 and the Game 6 collapse in 2002 - their power to spook the faithful is gone, defused by an accomplishment that few in baseball thought the Giants could achieve in a season in which they did not even secure a division title until the 162nd game of the regular season.

The Giants leaped atop one another in celebration of the final out was a sight that many Northern Californians feared they would not see before they themselves became ghosts.

The championship is the sixth in franchise history and first since 1954, when Willie Mays roamed center field of the Polo Grounds in New York and led the team to a four-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians.

Lincecum and Lee gave viewers the great pitching duel they were expected to provide in Game 1, when Lincecum was shaky and Lee was worse. The Giants stung him for seven runs in an 11-7 win.

Game 5 was a bare-knuckle pitching brawl with neither man giving any quarter until Cody Ross and Juan Uribe opened the seventh inning with singles.

In a perfect symbol of the team concept that defined these champions, Aubrey Huff, the Giants' biggest power hitter all season, advanced the runners with his first career sacrifice bunt.

Pat Burrell struck out for the 10th time in 12 at-bats in the Series for the second out before Renteria built the count against Lee to 2-0 and drove a cut fastball into the bleachers in left-center field for his second homer of the Series and the biggest of his life.

Cruz cut into the lead in the bottom half with a solo homer to left, which ended a string of 18 scoreless innings by Giants pitchers. Lincecum then walked Ian Kinsler, but he struck out David Murphy and former Giant Bengie Molina to preserve the two-run lead.

Both pitchers shot out of the chute better than they did in Game 1. Lincecum was particularly sharp, inducing weaker outs.

He did not have a strikeout until the third inning then struck out the side. He did not allow a hit until Michael Young's leadoff single in the fourth, a groundball through the middle, and struck out two of the next three Rangers to keep him at first base.

Against Lee, the Giants stuck with their same schematic from the first game, when they attacked him early in the count. In Game 1, the left-hander left a lot of pitches over the plate and was roughed up. He did a better job locating in Game 5, though the Giants hit some bolts for outs.

With Andres Torres at first base and two outs, Lee raised his glove to spear a Freddy Sanchez line drive to steal a hit and end the top of the third.

Buster Posey worked Lee for 10 pitches in the fourth inning before grounding out on the 11th.

Next time Posey batted, with Freddy Sanchez on base and two outs in the sixth, it looked for a moment as though the rookie had given the Giants a 2-0 lead with a high drive to right. But Cruz tracked it down at the wall to preserve the scoreless tie.

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