The San Francisco Giants have already gone out and gotten themselves a new bat for their roster next year, but the elephant in the room remains whether or not slugger Carlos Beltran will be wearing Black and Orange in 2012.
The Giants have a litany of contracts to tie-up or tie-off, which I have listed below, though there is no bigger target for the Giants right now than Beltran. The addition of another outfielder could signal that the Giants are already trying to replace him in the lineup, or they could be trying to load the outfield with sluggers and make another World Series run next season. Either way this move is correlated to Beltran in some regard.
Beltran is undoubtedly looking for that last big contract, which he feels his new agent Dan Lozano will bring him. He also wants to play for a contender, which the Giants most certainly are, the question will be if the numbers will line up.
Hopefully they can bring him back, and still have enough to pay guys like Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain down the line as well. It’s going to be a squeeze though, let’s see what Brian Sabean has up his sleeve.
Free agents: Carlos Beltran, Cody Ross, Pat Burrell, Orlando Cabrera, Guillermo Mota, Mark De Rosa
Eligible for arbitration: Tim Lincecum, Ryan Vogelsong, Ramon Ramirez, Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla, Nate Schierholtz, Andres Torres, Jeff Keppinger, Emmanuel Burriss, Mike Fontenot, Pablo Sandoval, Eli Whiteside.
Non-tender possibilities: Torres, Burriss, Fontenot, Whiteside.
For more on the Giants, head over to McCovey Chronicles.