Article:Giants Trade Top Prospect Alderson for Freddy Sanchez

Well, I am on vacation, and didn't plan on making another post until the weekend, but anytime the team makes a big-time trade, that always calls for immediate posting.

I'm sure most of you baseball fans are aware by now that the Giants have traded one of their top pitching prospects in Tim Alderson to the Pittsburgh Pirates for oft-injured all-star second basemen Freddy Sanchez. The first I hear about this move was actually on line, as I was scrolling through Yahoo Sports and saw the headline "Giants acquire Sanchez from Pirates". I read said article, but that article only had information about the player the Giants attained and didn't give any info about who they gave up. At that point, I figured they may have gotten him without dealing anyone too significant, otherwise the Yahoo writers would have included it in their article. However, that couldn't be any less the case. The Giants had to part with their number 2 pitching prospect, and a guy who a lot of scouts see as a future ace in Tim Alderson, to get a hold of the steady-hitting second basemen.

Now, I'm not going to sit here all post and beat this subject to death, I just want to say it once and leave it at that; I would not have made this deal if I were Sabean. Not because I don't think Sanchez will help, but because I would have rather seen a bigger deal go down if it had to involve Alderson. I can't help but think that the Giants could have gotten someone a lot better than Sanchez for a package with Alderson and a few other guys. Now, I'm on vacation and trying to keep the mood good, so I'm not going to spend my day dwelling about this because there are some positive sides to this move. Sanchez is an all-star caliber second basemen, and although he doesn't posses the pop that the Giants lack, he's a career .300 hitter who will come in and stabilize a position of need for the orange and black. He's also under contract through the 2010 season, so he's not just going to be a one-and-done type player over the last 2 months.

Freddy had somewhat of an off year in 2008, but in '06-'07, he hit .344 and .304 respectively, and had over 80 RBI in each of those seasons. He is a guy who can hit with runners in scoring position and immediately becomes the teams best all-around right-handed bat. He's also more than capable defensively at second base, which should strengthen the Giants up the middle. Again though, he's battling a bum knee right now that could keep him out another couple of days, which is fine, as long as this thing doesn't linger all season. With the news of Edgar Renteria ailing and needing offseason surgery, it was pretty immanent that the Giants added another infielder, and Sanchez had been on their radar for much of the past month. He's a good player, and he along with Ryan Garko may be enough to jump start this offense and bring them to a respectable level, but giving up Alderson was too much if you ask me!

Note: Again, I'm in Southern California until Monday, so unless something big goes down between now and then (like a deal for a starter?), we probably won't have another post here until Monday, August 2nd! Thanks for checking us out, and be sure to check on Monday!

Trevor Cole

http://giantsbaseballblog.blogspot.com