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Per Baggs:  Giants add Jesse English, three others to 40-man roster

The Giants added four players to the 40-man roster, which tells us the organization thinks highly of their potential. All are pitchers: LHP Jesse English and RHPs Joey Martinez, Henry Sosa and Waldis Joaquin.

Their roster now stands at 37. (Random thought: Is it like buying seats in coach? Do they need to keep two spaces clear for CC Sabathia?)

If you’re a prospect hound, you’re familiar with all four new additions. Joaquin is a power arm with a plus slider who could be a factor in late relief. Sosa is another power pitcher who had the biggest fastball in the system last year and earned a trip to the Futures Game. But this year, it took him a long time to rebound from knee surgery and he didn’t flash the same consistently good stuff this past season. Martinez is a control pitcher who is coming off an ERA title in the Double-A Eastern League. There’s nothing to make scouts drool, but he keeps the ball down and has plus command with four pitches.

I was a bit surprised to see the announcement today that Mussina is hanging up the rosen bag.  I was less surprised when I realized that he turns 40 next month...wow.  Anyhow, he is a solid guy and was dominant for stretches.  I wonder what you all think of his chances at Cooperstown.

Quick Statistical Highlights:

270 wins (vs. 153 losses), a fairly remarkable Win PCT of .638

2,813 K

57 complete games

23 shutouts

So...

Today is the last day to vote, and for some reason we're allowed to vote again:

http://www.collegescholarships.org/blog/2008/11/06/vote-for-the-winner-of-the-2008-blogging-scholarship/

Copying and pasting what slamcactus wrote earlier:

Many of the people on this site are familiar with David Cameron, one of the guys behind the USSMariner blog.  During the 2007 season, Dave wrote an open letter to then-Mariners pitching coach Rafael Chaves about Felix Hernandez's ridiculously predictable pitch selection early in games.  This led to a concerted effort by Chaves and Hernandez to mix pitches, and both men gave interviews to the local media saying that they realized that if an average fan who writes on the internet can figure out what Felix was about to throw, the hitter probably could, too.  It was a pretty damn cool instance of a blogger actually effecting the way baseball was played. 

This letter got Dave nominated for a $10,000 college blogging scholarship based on an internet vote. 

If the powers that be at McCovey Chronicles don't want promotion-type fanposts on the site, I understand and will take it down. A few other SBNation sites have thrown their support behind Dave (and I've posted call to action fanposts elsewhere), and I thought some in the community might want to help out a damn good baseball blogger in need.

I can’t believe this guy is going to be into us for $6.5 million this year! Someone please tell me this guy has some sort of upside. Most people are concerned about Zito. He will improve. Roberts … not so much. Omar Vizquel hit better than this guy last season and cost less! How in the world can we cut this guy loose? The Giants have trim some of the fat this off season. Another way of going about that would be to trade away Winn. He’s been valuable so far, but we have other big bats to fill that role, i.e. Schierholtz. Once the cuts have been made the Giants can finally shop for a legitimate back up outfielder.

I forgot to mention originally, this poll will end at 5 PM on Friday.

1. SP Madison Bumgarner
2. "C" Buster Posey
3. SP Tim Alderson
4. 1B Angel Villalona
5. 2B Nick Noonan
6. 3B Conor Gillaspie
7. SP Henry Sosa
8. OF Rafael Rodriguez
9. OF Roger Kieschnick

Ehire Adrianza, SS, 19 - Hit .241/.351/.325 in 2007 over 249 AB in the DSL with 41 BB and 37 K.  Hit .288/.382/.409 in 2008 over 66 AB, mostly in Rookie Ball with 9 BB and 6 K.  He is an excellent defensive SS and scouts love him.

Scott Barnes, LHP, 21 - Pitched 90.1 innings at St. John's in 2008 with 90 K, 45 BB, 3 HR, 1.26 WHIP, and 3.69 ERA as a junior.  Pitched 43.2 innings in the minors in 2008, mostly at A-Ball Augusta, with 63 K, 12 BB, 0 HR, 0.67 WHIP, 1.38 ERA, and ~40% groundball rate.  He throws a high 80's, low 90's fastball, a slider, and a change.

Brandon Crawford, SS, 21 - Drafted 2008, #117 overall.  Hit .335/.404/.504 over 248 AB with 25 BB and 58 K his sophmore year of college at UCLA in 2007.  Hit .302/.394/.491 over 232 AB with 31 BB and 59 K his junior year.  He is another toolsy player considered to have not broken out yet.

Travis Ishikawa, 1B, 25 - Drafted 2002, #637 overall.  Hit .260/.355/.454 over ~2500 AB in the minors across all levels.  Broke out in 2008 with a .291/.382/.462 line in AA and a .310/.370/.737 line in AAA before hitting .274/.337/.432 in the majors.  He is also a great defensive firstbaseman.

Wendell Fairley, OF, 20 - Drafted 2007, #29 overall.  Hit .259/.388/.337 over 193 AB in Rookie Ball in 2008 with 26 BB and 37 K.  He has incredible tools with plus raw power and great speed.

Joseph Martinez, SP, 25 - Drafted 2005, #372 overall.  Has thrown 547.2 innings in his 4 years of pro ball with an ERA of 3.40 and 1.17 WHIP.  Last season in AA he threw 148 innings with 131 H, 6 HR 37 BB 112 K for an ERA of 2.49 and 1.14 WHIP with a 57% groundball rate.  More of a finesse pitcher than anything, but has continued to post good stats as he moves up in levels.

Osiris Matos, RP, 24 - Signed as an undrafted free agent in 2002.  Started his career as a starter and was converted to a reliever in 2006.  Last year in the majors his threw 20.2 innings and had a 4.79 ERA with a 1.69 WHIP, but in 36.2 innings in AA this year had a 1.23 ERA and a 0.98 WHIP.

Kevin Pucetas, RHP, 23 - Drafted 2006, #506 overall.  Over three seasons has thrown 342.2 IP, 300 H, 267 K, 69 BB, 17 HR, 1.08 WHIP, 2.47 ERA, and ~53% groundball rate across the three levels of A-ball.  In 2008 threw 125.1 IP, 115 H, 102 K, 27 BB, 6 HR, 1.13 WHIP, 3.02 ERA, and a 51% groundball rate in High-A.  He throws a high 80's, low 90's fastball, a fantastic change, a curve, and an in-progress slider.

Ryan Rohlinger, 3B/2B?, 25 - Drafted 2006, #176 overall.  Has played 3B in the minors but is being considered for 2B it seems.  Hit .235/.332/.415 in his first full season with 18 HR in the SAL league.  Hit for a better average last year in San Jose at .285/.368/.419 and posted a .855 OPS in a short AA trial before being called up to the big leagues to sit on the bench.  He's got good patience but probably not the power to stick at third.

Clayton Tanner, LHP, 20 - Drafted 2006, #89 overall.  Over three seasons has thrown 278.1 IP, 288 H, 213 K, 91 BB, 7 HR, 1.36 WHIP, 3.62 ERA, and ~56% groundball rate across the three levels of A-ball.  In 2008 threw 117.0 IP, 124 H, 84 K, 39 BB, 1 HR, 1.39 WHIP, 3.69 ERA, and a 55% groundball rate in High-A.  He throws a fastball, breaking ball, and change.

Testers: Justin Hedrick, Brian Anderson, Thomas Neal, EME, Matt Downs, Aaron King, Ben Snyder, Ben Copeland

Am I correct in thinking that since Pablo was over the 130AB limit last year with 145AB's that he will not be considered a rookie next season?  Anyone know for sure?

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting.

Everybody wang chung tonight.

I can feel it comin' in the air tonight.

I got my first real 6 string, bought it at the 5 and dime.

Oh here she comes, watch out boy she'll chew you up.

http://www.nj.com/yankees/index.ssf/2008/11/giants_to_enter_sabathia_sweep.html

According to some New Jersey sports writer. It won't top the Yankees offer, but it's higher than the brewers offer and the idea is that CC might be willing to take less to play in the Bay and stay in the NL, where he can both hit and have inferior competition.

What'd ou say? A fanshot? What is that anyway? Don't know if I've ever seen one of those.

Maybe this isn't that big of a surprise to many, but I don't know, I didn't really expect them to be so aggressive. I'd rather have Teixeira personally, but I think there's a good chance Texieira wouldn't even consider SF, where CC obviously might

in post season flurry of stats, lots of love for Beltre.  In a top 50 list, and rated 4th best 3B overall at our sibling "beyond the box score"

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/10/31/649202/best-third-basemen-of-2008

Somebody on the Cincy Reds site says Adrian "doesn't want to play for a team in rebuilding mode" like the Mariners. 

http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/10/31/649202/best-third-basemen-of-2008 But trade wise, that is not his decision, is it?  In contract year, the guy is gonna give the best performance he can.

so for my $.02, I'd rather pursue Beltre than all those shortstops who, especially in 2nd and 3rd year of contract likely no better than Manny B.   Burriss looks to have an upside with the bat, especially since he covers shortstop decently.  Put him at second, the value declines a lot

Meanwhile Jayson Stark says Astros are trying to move Tejada to drop payroll.  Maybe something could be worked out there.  I realize his hitting has been declining for 4 years, gradually lost 100 in the slugging column.

The Redsox just traded Coco Crisp to the Royals for relief pitcher Ramon Ramirez.  Crisp is like a younger, slightly worse Randy Winn.  He is due <$6M next year with a small ($500K) buyout for 2010.

Marcel projects Crisp with a .321 wOBA and Winn with a .329 (both.8+ reliability).  I think Winn is probably the better defender, but it's hard to say because Crisp usually plays more CF.  Still, he's certainly cheaper and younger than Winn.

Ramirez is a solidly average bullpen arm.