San Francisco Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly has been busy at the 2011 Winter Meetings down in Dallas, pumping out news and information faster that you can say J.P. Arencibia.
According to Baggs, the Giants are tapped out on making any more moves, as they've essentially reached the end of the line with their budget. Guillermo Mota has two guaranteed one-year offers to chose from the Giants, and will likely sign soon. They also never even attempted an offer to Carlos Beltran or Cody Ross, much to the chagrin of the Boss:
"The Giants were definitely my No.1 choice, I was looking at any possible scenario, any way, anyhow. Give them a hometown discount, whatever to help their payroll. But they would not commit to more than a year. It's sad because I really wanted to come back. They never made me an offer."
Cody, like Andres Torres, will forever be held with great esteem with the fanbase, but it was time to make a change.
Speaking of making a change, the Giants have to make a decision between tendering a contract to Mike Fontenot of Jeff Keppinger by Monday's deadline, and the choice won't be easy:
"Being brutally honest, we pretty much got to the top of the budget, it's down to Keppinger or Fontenot as the extra man." said Sabean.
Either would do well as an extra utility infielder, Fontenot's range is a bit better in the field but Keppinger puts the ball in play a lot more than Fontenot at the plate, so it's going to be a tough choice and will likely come down to splitting hairs on who will cost less money.
Finally, backup catcher Eli Whiteside had an arthroscopic procedure done recently in which he had enriched blood injected into his right elbow. Whiteside injured the elbow way back in the spring and dealt with it all year, likely affecting his throwing throughout the season. Tough guy that Eli is.
For more on the Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles.