Giantsblog

It took a couple of months, but the Giants now have a formal agreement that brings Barry Bonds back for 2007.  The physical is done and Bonds will be paid just south of $16 million for 2007.  If Bonds plays in 130 games and gets 493 plate appearances, then the deal becomes a $20 million one.

I don’t care what people say, but as Bonds gets closer to passing Aaron, people are going to show up at the ballpark.  And as far as the money, the gate for those games late in the season should help pay Bonds salary as people show up to witness a piece of history when Bonds finally passes Hank Aaron on the all time homerun list.  Of course the utlimate tribute would be for the team to help him win a championship.  That would make for a great season.

If the Giants are going to compete in 2007, they need to get this Barry Bonds contract out of the way.  In the story, Brian Sabean talks about how he’s already thinking of contingency plans. It looks like the informal deadline is for something to happen by spring training.

The Giants signed Russ Ortiz to a one year, $380,000 deal yesterday and have all but named him their fifth starter despite two horrendous seasons in a row.  Last year he was 0-8 with an ERA above 8.00 between Arizona and the Orioles.

At least they got him for a bargain.  Last year he made just under $8 million and this year, the Giants will only have to pick up $380,000 of his contract.  The Diamondbacks will be on the hook for the rest.  This would be one of those nice comeback stories that never seem to happen to the Giants.

Minor league guru Kevin Goldstein recently unveiled his top ten Giants prospects in his latest Future Shock.  He list only one Giant as an excellent prospect and that’s right handed pitcher Tim Lincecum.  Lincecum was very dominating in his stint at High A and with nothing left to prove there, he’ll probably start the season at Double A.

The Giants also have two “very good” prospects in Angel Villalona and Jonathon Sanchez.  Villalona probably won’t be seen for a while because he’s only 16 years old.  Sanchez showed some problems with command when he got his cup of coffee but there’s a solid chance he could be the Giants fifth starter in 2007.  He’s got nothing left to prove in the minors as he looked very good in stops at Double A and Triple A last year.

Rounding out the top five are Emmanual Burriss, a shortstop who’s still several years away, and Eddy Martinez-Esteve, who will probably start the season at Triple A.

Overall, Goldstein says the Giants system isn’t very good.  No big surprise there and this gets back to my discussion in the Barry Zito post about the Giants not having a plan.