According to Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the San Francisco Giants are looking to break up their stellar bullpen and move a couple of their more expensive pieces such as Jeremy Affeldt of Ramon Ramirez to another team this offseason.
The Giants do have a lot of cash tied up in their bullpen, so clearing some space on the payroll is vital if they want to improve in other areas. The team already exercised Affeldt's $5 million club option back in October, while Ramirez is primed to earn over $2 million in his final year of arbitration with the Giants. Ramirez, 30, is coming off a great season with the Black and Orange and likely would be the easiest to deal, finishing his 2011 campaign with 66 appearances 2.62 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, and a 26/66 BB/K ratio.
The Giants bullpen is leaps and bounds more stable then their offense right now, so trading out of the bullpen to improve it makes a lot of sense. Hopefully there will be something worth while to trade for.
For more on the Giants offseason, head over to McCovey Chronicles.