Shortstop-I know everyone loves Omar but quite frankly he was league average as a defender last year and went back to hitting like second year in the league Omar. Clearly Furcal was the best player at that position available but the Giants were out of that discussion early on. They signed the next best option on the market in Renteria. There really weren’t any trade options available. Renteria looks likely to provide league average defense at this stage in his career and should provide a significant upgrade offensively. This position is an upgrade from 2008.

Second-Anyone other than Durham is an upgrade. He is probably the worst defensive second baseman I’ve seen in my life time. His reasonable offensive skills can’t mask his defensive debacles. His insistance to play second was the reason the A’s didn’t even bother talking to him after his half season with them. Had he agreed to be an outfielder they would have looked at him. The options here are not great but at the very least the defense will get better there. I do agree that based on what Hudson signed for they should have taken a look. He’s an injury risk but he is also such an upgrade over the internal options if they didn’t take a look that would be pretty bad management.

Third-This is a wild card depending on what Sandoval provides defensively but he should provide some of the only power in the lineup. The reports that he has reported to camp overweight should be of concern that he didn’t adjust his training regime from his time as a catcher. This one is too early to tell if it is an improvement or not. Crede at this point in his career is a wild card and I think the Giants were very prudent in their pursuit of him. If they signed him it was going to be on their terms. One thing I think they should have looked into when he got sent down was the Indians Andy Marte. He’s inexpensive and probably wouldn’t have cost the Giants much and he is the kind of low risk / high reward guy that rebuilding teams need to take shots at. At worst Sandoval outduels him and Marte plays at triple A. At best he plays up to his talent, the whole “change of scenery” BS that you hear from scouts and management all the time.

First-Probably a downgrade either way although any expectation that Aurilia performs much better and can play everyday at his age is asking quite a bit. You also have to find out about these young guys, either to find that they have what it takes or part ways with them. I think it is way too early to write off either of these guys. I know the Giants do not have a history of developing young players but as an A’s fan you simply have to take your lumps and put them out there. Sometimes it can take more than a season to find out about a guy. Bowker should improve defensively. Contrary to popular opinion, coming from a lifelong first baseman and outfielder, playing first is not as easy as some would lead you to believe. You have to understand where you need to be depending on where the ball is, etc and that isn’t something you pick up overnight. Ortmeier looked completely lost in his conversion attempt. Bowker seemed to hold his own. Ishiwaka is already a good defensive player.

Catcher-No change there except Bengie is a year older and a year fatter. Personally the Giants have been sleeping with angels with this pickup because he really should be declining faster than he has. More power to him. He isn’t much of a defensive catcher anymore, at least compared to when he came up with the Angels, but you could do far worse. The Giants also seem to have capable backups.

Outfield-Should be better simply because they have more experience and if Bochy can restrain himself from putting Dave Roberts on the field as a starter. The guys they have are talented and they will be fun to watch and get better. This is an organizational strength for the Giants.

Starting Pitching-The Giants might have the best starting pitching in baseball. When you’re weakest links are Noah Lowry and Jonathan Sanchez you’re sitting pretty. Hopefully the offense can be just good enough for these guys to all win 12+ games.

Relief Pitching-I don’t really know a lot of about the final 6/7 other than Wilson. He’s a bit of an adventure at the end of the game but results are results and he has them.

All in all, I would say the 2009 Giants are an upgrade over the 2008 team. Additionally, the rest of the division got worse so they should have a legitimate shot at taking down the division. When you can do that while you are rebuilding you should be very happy as a fan.

You make all valid points, and that’s why I can’t stand Sabean. I would have been happy seeing how Burriss and Ochoa handled the MI positions, but we decided to bring in Renteria. I understand we can’t have youth at every position and having some veteran leadership in there helps as well, but unless we’re dramatically improving the team (ala ManRam) then I say let’s see what we got. I think Sabean needs to understand that while we do have a good shot to win the NL West because the division is weak, I’m still not sure if we’re quite ready to make a run at a World Series. Let’s take one more year, let our guys get some more experience, see what we got, and make a run in 2010. But hey, that’s just me.

I understand that point to a certain degree, but wouldn’t that line of thinking have precluded them from spending over $18 million on Renteria? They also tried to sign Crede, are kicking the tires on ManRam (allegedly), spent $8 million on Randy Johnson and invested in some veteran help for their bullpen. The sum of these moves doesn’t tell the fan base that the Giants are in a rebuilding year, they appear to think that they’ve got a chance this year to make a run at the playoffs in a weak division. If this is true, and all accounts/moves thus far lead me to believe it is, what harm could have been done by making an effort to get either or both Hudson/Abreu? They’re both proven players, wouldn’t kill the short or long-term plans of the Giants and would keep the likes of Frandsen and Ishicrapa out of the lineup.