Article:SF Giants: Lose Vizquel, Add Phelps

With the dead time between the end of the world series and the beginning of the off season among us, rumors of all kinds are starting to be thrown out. The Giants did make an actual move Monday, signing Travis Phelps to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. They also officially parted ways with Omar Vizquel as the the veteran shortstop filed for free agency and is not expected to resign with the team. The Vizquel move is not surprising as nobody expected him to be back with the club next year, now it should be interesting to see if he can find a starting job somewhere. The Phelps signing is a low-risk move that could end up giving the Giants a back-up first basemen, or just another player to be dumped during the spring. Phelps hasn't really done much since his early seasons in Toronto, but he just turned 30 years old so he is not completely washed up yet. The Giants already have Pablo Sandoval, Travis Ishikawa and Jon Bowker all ahead of Phelps on the depth chart right now so I wouldn't look for him to make much noise unless one or two of those guys ahead of him get hurt.

There have also been some articles out out in the chronicle recently talking about the possibility of the Giants pursuing Mark Teixeira. First off, with Zito and Aaron Rowand in the middle of fat contracts, I doubt the Giants will give out another one so soon, especially because the last 2 haven't gone so great thus far. The Giants do probably have the available funds to make take a legit run at Teixiera, but they have holes in this team beyond first base. As a matter of fact, with Sandoval and Ishikawa's emergence, first base looks to be a spot possibly filled with in house talent. Now, not saying I would take Sandoval over Teixiera, but all things considered, Teixiera won't make them a playoff team, and tying a majority of the payroll up in him Rowand and Zito over the next 1/2 decade doesn't sound like the best plan in the world. If this were the 2000-2002 Giants when he could have solidified a lineup and pushed them over the top, then it would make some sense, but not so much with this squad.

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