Kuzul

The offseason for the Florida Marlins has been quite a whirlwind and it a surprise twist blew the Marlins way when Dan Uggla stunned the front office be rejecting a four year, $48 million extension. This past season, Uggla had career highs in batting average (.287), home runs (33) and RBIs (105) with a steady salary of $7.8 million. 

Why would Dan Uggla reject the Marlins offer? For starters, Dan Uggla has essentially raised the bar on power hitting second basemen by hitting 30 home runs in four consecutive seasons, no second baseman has done that in the history of baseball, not even Chase Utley or Jeff Kent have accomplished that feat. 

The Florida Marlins are also hesitant to offer a long-term deal to a player whose production might begin to decline. Dan Uggla will be 31 by Opening Day and if he gets his way will be 36 by the end of the five year deal, something the Marlins want to avoid considering Uggla isn’t great with the glove at second. Uggla is expected to earn $10 million + in 2011 and gradually rise for the next few seasons of his contract. 

While these contract talks are akin to the Josh Johnson fiasco of the last offseason, Johnson is four years younger than Uggla at 26 and the Marlins are tend to shy away from offering long-term deals to players who are over 30. 

At the end of the day, I expect the Marlins to get a deal done with Dan Uggla just because this is the last thing the front office needs a season prior to the opening of their new stadium, bad publicity and another infamous jettison of a cornerstone player, Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis are prime examples. 

 If a deal gets done, expect for the fifth-year to include somewhere in the neighborhood of a mutual option or a vesting option which would give Uggla his dough if he achieves certain seasonal milestones. 

But what if nothing gets done? Here are five possible trade destinations for Dan Uggla if the Marlins deem Uggla out of their range..

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Pablo Sandoval is on the verge of eating his way out of baseball, and the San Francisco Giants and their Panda marketing blitz are as much to blame as Sandoval’s apparent inability to push back from the dinner table.    

Regardless of whoever first came up with the “Kung Fu Panda” nickname, there is no doubt that the San Francisco Giants and their marketing machine seized upon it almost immediately to pump money into the team.  The Giants worked feverishly on converting an image of a happy-go-portly Sandoval into massive dollars in the form of ticket sales and fuzzy panda hats (available in two colors) at the ballpark. 

There were MLB-licensed panda shirts and signs, and a gigantic advertisement poster of Sandoval with the tag line “There’s Panda Inside” slapped on the side of AT&T Park.  When he hit a homer, they cued not only the requisite hype-music, but also a giant “Panda-monium” which flashed in multi-colors on the scoreboard.  

They were essentially making fun of the fat guy in the room who didn’t mind being made fun of.  

It would be easy to jump all over Sandoval as exclusively responsible for his predicament, because most of us make tough diet decisions all the time, and without a spot in a Major League lineup hanging in the balance.  We give up the extra piece of cake, begrudgingly go salad versus fries, drink almost undrinkable diet soda and avoid the dessert bacchanal at the Mandalay Bay’s buffet extravaganza.  

Most of us make these so-called healthy choices for our own well-being and vanity.  Moreover, we often cast judgment on those who don’t make these same healthy decisions as we do, because deep down, we’d probably all love to be saddling up to the all-you-can-eat chicken wing pile versus going the rabbit food route.  Misery loves company.  

We remove the imagery of the overweight and unhealthy from the chronicles of our popular culture, and then add “Guess the Celebrity Fatty” pictures to the covers of our supermarket checkout rags.  We put ridiculously skinny and attractive news reporters in fat suits, and then watch as hidden cameras expose the cold public scorn and blatant discrimination our reporter-come-actress faces as she tries to get a job or an apartment.  

We eat our carrot sticks, we hit the gym, we judge and we shake our heads…and we’re doing it right now to Pablo Sandoval.  More important to the professional livelihood and future of Sandoval, so are the Giants.  Problem is, they started it.  

As widely reported, San Francisco Giants GM Brian Sabean has thrown down an ultimatum to Sandoval—commit to a smaller waistline this offseason or have fun in the minor leagues.  Team dinners at Morton’s steakhouse next summer in Chicago while in town to play the Cubs…or ones at a Bennigan’s in Fresno with the Grizzlies AAA club.  

Your choice, buddy…but not that simple.  

Turns out, Sandoval might not be as good as the Giants initially thought or perhaps not mentally strong enough to withstand the amount of pressure the Giants and their “Panda” marketing blitz threw on his back.  Arguably, it would be a lot of pressure for anyone to withstand, much less a young player with one good year under his belt.     

It is hard to imagine now, in the wake of a World Series championship and Brian Wilson and “The Machine” appearing on Jay Leno, but “The Panda” and Tim Lincecum were about all the Giants had to market a year ago.    

Now, the very obese theme of this extensive, MLB endorsed, check-out-our-jolly-panda-bodied-player campaign is being flogged by the Giants as evidence of Sandoval’s apathy.  No longer used to endear and market to the fan base, Sandoval’s roomy frame is now being criticized and used to threaten his career.  

Apparently, the panda t-shirts and hats aren’t selling like they did when he hit .330.  

In the end, if Pablo Sandoval doesn’t shape up this offseason and squanders his once-in-10-lifetimes opportunity in the Majors, it will be mostly on his shoulders. 

That said, simply ignoring the role the Giants have played in this situation is just being intellectually ignorant.  It casts the blame all upon Sandoval, while ignoring the fact that his overweight body might be the physical response to a man not being able to live up to lofty expectations.  It omits the San Francisco Giants’ involvement in the creation of the entire “Panda” phenomenon, the money they made off this image, and the subsequent pressures on Pablo Sandoval to live up to this impossible marketing cartoon.  

The Giants may indeed be shaking their head in disgust come next year at an out-of-shape Pablo Sandoval, but will bear a large responsibility if that outcome comes to pass.   

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It is almost time for the baseball awards to be announced. Many fans overlook the value of a good manager. You can look to teams like the Mets and the Marlins that have had turmoil with their managers and see why it is important to have someone who can take control of what is going on. There have been a few managers that have stood out this year.

The candidates include Padres manager Bud Black, Reds manager Dusty Baker, Giants manager Bruce Bochy and Braves manager Bobby Cox who will likely get some votes based on his lifetime achievements.

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With the announcement of the National League Rookie of the Year due on Monday, baseball fans find themselves in a place they did not expect to be.

In spring training, prior to the 2010 season, two rookies commanded the attention of the baseball world. One was a 20-year-old man-child in Atlanta, the next Ken Griffey Jr. or perhaps even Frank Robinson, whose five tools were already self-evident and whose place in the starting lineup on opening day was all but guaranteed.

The other rookie phenom was slated to be, perhaps, the greatest pitching prospect we’ve ever seen, and while he was not due to make his team out of spring training, there were those who thought that once he did join his team, he would be the best pitcher in the National League.

Remarkably, surprisingly, unbelievably, neither Jason Heyward nor Stephen Strasburg will be announced as the National League Rookie of the Year tomorrow. While they both enjoyed very good seasons, and both matched the hype surrounding their emergence, the best rookie in the National League was nevertheless a World Series winning catcher from San Francisco named Buster.

Buster Posey, that is.

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Life for the last two World Series MVPs has been overrated.  Winning the trophy has been like a mini-Madden jinx for these players.    

MVP Edgar Renteria helped the San Francisco Giants earn their first World Series title since 1958.

Without his tiebreaking homer in the last game, the Giants may not have won.  It was the second World Series-winning hit of his career.

To thank him, the Giants let him go.

The Cardinals should go try to entice him back to St. Louis before the Cincinnati Reds sign him.  The Reds own a patent on scooping up ex-Cardinals.

A two-time World Series champion, Edgar Renteria had his 2011 contract option rejected by the Giants on Nov. 4.  For the Barranquilla, Colombia, native, the option was worth a reported $9.5-10.5 million.

San Francisco bought the veteran major leaguer out for $500,000, according to reports.

No longer a million dollar baby, Renteria turns 36 years old next Aug. 7.  He’s no spring chicken, but he is still a million dollar ballplayer—ask Cliff Lee. 

Renteria has been missed in St. Louis since 2004.  The Redbirds got horrific production and youth-type mistakes from their shortstops most of last season.

He is a clubhouse leader who is batting .287 for his career and is still more clutch than many younger players.  In fact, he’s probably forgotten more of his clutch hits than the current Cardinals shortstops have made.  In 1997, he hit a walk-off single in the seventh game of the World Series—in extra innings in his sophomore season—with two outs.

A 15-year veteran this season, he was on the disabled list for much of 2010.  He played in the fewest games he ever has.  The Giants almost left him off the playoff roster, but they’re glad they didn’t.

Now he has a big decision to ponder.  The temptation to walk away on top of his game —like many pro athletes wish to—may be too much to allow any team to sign him.     

“It’s always hard to think about retiring,” he said after the Giants’ World Series victory parade.

Not many teams are in the market for aging ballplayers.  Derek Jeter is 35 years old, and his contract negotiations with the Yankees could get messy, according to Hal Steinbrenner.

Hideki Matsui was let go by the Yankees after he won the 2009 World Series MVP.  He was 35 years old.  Matsui signed with the Angels, and they didn’t make the playoffs. 

It wasn’t his fault; in 2010, he batted .274 with 21 home runs and 84 RBI.

Q: Will what happened to the Yankees befall the Giants in 2011? 

A: Most likely.  The Yankees let Johnny Damon walk, too.  Now the Giants are looking at the same scenario: losing a World Series MVP and another important cog in the offense.  

Both organizations put the squeeze play on the money for their World Series MVPs.  That’s a big reason why no one should be expecting the Giants to repeat.

While they may have strong pitching, they could be losing two of their best bats.

Giants shortstop Juan Uribe will turn 32 in January—allegedly.  He has a $3.25 million contract, but free agency is pending. 

The Cardinals need a big-time bat to replace Ryan Ludwick’s. 

Uribe is probably more of a slugger than any middle infielder the Cardinals ever had.  Listed at 6’0″ and a generous 230 pounds, he is built like a running back.  He hit .248 with career highs of 24 home runs and 85 RBI in 2010. 

He lost his starting job with the White Sox to Alexei Ramirez in 2008.  Nobody else wanted to sign him until the Giants gave him a minor-league deal. 

He earned his current contract after batting .289 with 15 home runs in 122 games for the Giants.   

Albert Pujols’s contract is the team’s first priority, and it should be.  Pujols is possibly the best player baseball has seen in the last 15 years.  He wants to win, but he needs help.

The Cardinals opening day starting infield, other than Pujols, hit a grand total of 11 home runs last season.  11.

Pujols re-upping with the Cardinals could hinge on who else the Redbirds sign. 

I hope Tony LaRussa finally learns (1) to feature Brendan Ryan in a reserve utility role, and (2) that Skip Schumaker isn’t a championship-caliber leadoff man.

Under hitting instructor Mark McGwire, last season, Schumaker batted .265 with five home runs and five stolen bases.  He fanned more than he walked. 

Ryan batted .221—a big drop from the .295 he hit in 2009.

Uribe could possibly play third, shortstop or second base, and Colby Rasmus could be groomed for leading off.  If the Cardinals were to sign Renteria and Uribe, they would be adding much needed offensive punch.

By signing Renteria, who hit .330 in 2003 for the Redbirds, the Cardinals would add clutch hitting off the bench.  His veteran leadership skills and winning ways would bring the Cardinals’ quiet swagger back.

Besides swag, both Uribe and Renteria would add solid defense at third—something the Redbirds sorely lacked nearly all of last season.

I want to hear what you all—my seasoned readers—want to comment about.  What do you think about Renteria/Uribe wearing the birds on a bat in 2011?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It is still unbelievable. Leading up to the parade on Wednesday I was not entirely sure I was not dreaming.

Did the San Francisco Giants, my San Francisco Giants, really win the World Series? Did they just exorcise all the demons from playoffs past?

They did and did it in dominating fashion.

No more are the Giants in the same conversation with the Indians and Cubs. No more are the Giants a team that can never seal the deal. All the blunders and torture that have occurred throughout the storied history of the San Francisco Giants have been alleviated.

The 2002 World Series? Forgiven. Winning 103 games in 1993 only to be left out of the playoffs? Never happened.

The 1989 Series? Forgotten.

This team has brought more unequivocal joy to the San Francisco Bay Area; the only word for it has to be ecstasy. In no way is this article to rub dirt in any Texas wounds. It is to express the unbridled joy felt by a fanbase that has waited 52 years for this.

No more are people asking for Bruce Bochy’s enormous head. No more are Brian Sabean’s moves crazy and stupid. They are geniuses and we did not even realize. Baseball people who know what they are doing?

Never.

We now know how the Red Sox fans felt. We now know what long-suffering White Sox fans went through.

The past 10 World Series have taken the proverbial monkey off the backs of many baseball cities. The Diamondbacks, Angels, Marlins, Red Sox twice, White Sox, Cardinals, Phillies, Yankees and Giants have all been champion in the past decade.

Let’s take a deeper look at this.

The Angels and Diamondbacks had never won a championship. The White Sox and Red Sox waited for more than 80 years for another.

The Phillies had not won a championship since 1980. Cardinals? Not since 1982.

San Francisco had never won a baseball championship. The Giants franchise had not won since 1954.

And they won it the way every baseball person knows is the formula: pitching and defense. They embraced the “team” mentality. Every player pulling for each other, doing what is best for the team.

Think about how long it had been for Aubrey Huff and Freddy Sanchez. They both had never been in the playoffs. Neither had played for a winning team before joining the Giants.

It meant so much to Huff that he dropped down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners over in Game 5. Huff had not laid down a sacrifice bunt ever in his 10-year Major League career but he did it in the World Series.

The Giants players checked their egos at the door and did what they had to do.

Aaron Rowand could have made a big deal about his playing time. He didn’t. Barry Zito could have complained about being left off the playoff roster but didn’t.

Every person played their part and now they celebrate together as world champions.

The Giants are World Series Champions. Maybe now it can set in.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The San Francisco Giants were the underdogs all of 2010, and nobody ever thought that they would be World Series champions.

The Giants not only won and came out on top as World Series champions and the best team in baseball, they dominated throughout the season and postseason as well.

There are many reasons why the Giants won everything this year, but the main reason why they came out as the best was because they had something that they haven’t had in years, dating back to the last time they played in the World Series in 2002 against the Angels.

Brian Sabean has been known to make some really boneheaded and terrible moves, but Sabean finally did an excellent job reeling in some key guys in key moves. Our Opening Day lineup to the World Series lineup had a completely different look, talent and threat.

We went out and got great clubhouse guys and leaders (not Jose Guillen) who helped make the Giants a way better rounded team. Who would’ve thought that Huff Daddy, Pat the Bat, Andres Torres and Brian Wilson would have had the years they had?

The Giants in the offseason signed Aubrey Huff, Santiago Casilla, Bengie Molina, Guillermo Mota, Mark DeRosa, Todd Wellemeyer and Juan Uribe.

The Giants during the season decided to give Torres a chance from within the organization to play over struggling Aaron Rowand, called up Buster Posey and Madison Bumgarner and then acquired Javier Lopez, Ramon Ramirez, Guillen, Pat Burrell, Mike Fontenot, Cody Ross and Chris Ray throughout the season.

They finally had team chemistry. The 2010 Giants were all about having fun but also getting down to business. They never gave up and played till the end every single game. They had teamwork and a lot of mixed players that came together and played great baseball together.

The Barry Bonds era is over, as the Giants have moved on and no longer have the team based all on one player. The Giants have a TEAM, and they all work hard, play hard, work together, have fun and do what is best for the team and not themselves.

The Giants also had some of the best pitching in all of baseball, and that combination along with great team chemistry led the Giants to dominate all season and postseason, bring the first World Series title ever to San Francisco. We all knew that the pitching would do a great job and be dominant, but the offense was always a surprise, as there would always be a different hero every single game.

Every single San Francisco Giant was a contributor to make the Giants World Series champions, from Barry Zito’s nine wins, Guillen’s three-run home run to beat the Phillies and Fontenot’s game-winning hit against the Padres to Uribe’s game-winning sac fly.

Zito was left off the active playoff roster, but even though he had a down year, he still helped us win a championship. When Pablo Sandoval and Edgar Renteria got benched this season, they didn’t keep their heads down; they kept working hard and took advantage of the playing time that they got.

This list of players could go on and on, but the point is that every single player played a role on the team to help the San Francisco Giants win a World Series.

The Giants are loaded with stud pitchers this season: Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Wilson, Lopez, Sergio Romo, Jonathan Sanchez, Bumgarner and Casilla. All came through huge during the season, but more importantly, they came up even bigger in the playoffs and World Series and were nothing but dominant and nasty.

The Giants need to keep this team chemistry, teamwork, attitude and hard work along with a wise offseason in order for them to be one of the top teams every year for the next couple of seasons and possibly win a couple more championships.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The MLB season is over and the offseason has officially begun. Some teams will look to improve, while others simply hope to keep the talent they have.

Many player will be on the move this offseason, perhaps a Hall of Fame shortstop, a notable pitching ace, or maybe one of the league’s best sluggers.

Regardless, always remember that these are bold predictions, and in honor of the title that they shall be.

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Every year, managers, coaches and writers from around Major League Baseball award honors and trophies to the players—and every year, they screw up.

So Bleacher Report’s featured columnists decided to do it ourselves. Instead of just complaining about the awards as they were announced as we would normally do on our own, we teamed up to hold our own mock awards vote.

This week, we looked at the Comeback Players of the Year in the AL and NL before naming the AL Rolaids Relief Man of the Year. Today, we end Week 2 of our four-week series with the best relievers in the National League.

The top five vote-getters are featured here with commentary from people who chose them. The full list of votes is at the end.

So read on, see how we did and be sure to let us know what we got wrong!

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The San Francisco Giants just won their first World Series since 1954.

Their previous championship seasons had left various memories, such as John McGraw refusing to play the Boston Americans in 1904 and presiding over their next three championships until handing over the reins to Bill Terry in the 1933 championship expedition.

And of course, who could forget the underdog Giants in the 1954 World Series and Willie Mays’ dramatic over-the-shoulder catch leading to a sweep of the Indians?

This World Series, however, will have a different legacy.

No, it’s not that it is the first title to come to San Fransisco since the team arrived in 1952. It’s not even that it’s two-time Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum’s first ring.

No, this one will have a much more profound meaning in history.

The legacy of this series will be, of course, Brian Wilson’s beard.

This is a great moment in baseball facial hair history, of which there have been many in its storied past.

The annals of Cooperstown are littered with Grizzly Adams-style full beards, Fu Manchus, handlebars, mutton chops, chinstraps, soul patches, goatees, pencil-thins, Marios and an endless array of five o’clock shadows.

Here are the top 10 facial-hair-having champions in baseball’s storied past.

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