San Francisco Giants: Making the Case for Jimmy Rollins

The San Francisco Giants are in need of consistent offensive production from the shortstop position as well as a leadoff hitter.  There is one free agent who fits both of those needs and happens to play at or around gold glove caliber defense: his name is Jimmy Rollins.

Rollins will be 33 in November and probably looking at signing his last significant contract this offseason. He hit .268/.338/.399/.736 this year, which is about as consistent to his career stats as you can get. 

As a matter of a fact, if you exclude his injury riddled 2010 season, his whole career is a lesson in consistency. The Giants could use some stability for a few years at the top of their order and at the black hole that is the short stop position.

I am in no way a Brandon Crawford opponent, quite the contrary.  Crawford has a legitimate golden glove and he does have some power and a good swing but that swing is painfully not ready for the big leagues.

The Giants knew that going in to 2011 as they attempted to acquire both JJ Hardy and Jason Bartlett settling finally on the ill-advised signing of Miguel Tejada.

In a perfect world Crawford would have never seen San Francisco last year, especially after starting the year with a broken hand. I believe Crawford will hit at the big league level and that he will benefit significantly from a full year at AAA maybe more. 

Jimmy Rollins will probably sign a three year deal for a total of about 30 million dollars. If that is the case, the Giants would be crazy to not be the team whose logo is on the top of the signed contract. Rollins will get on base, he will steal bases, he will score runs in front of Pablo Sandoval, Buster Posey, Brett Pill and Brandon Belt and he could be the reason that Carlos Beltran comes back to the Giants.

The wild card here is that Rollins grew up in the Bay Area. I never put much into these angles unless I hear the player say specifically that he wants to play close to where he grew up. I haven't heard Rollins say that specifically, maybe he has. I know that I haven't heard him say he doesn't want play on the West Coast.

Perhaps he'll talk to his old teammate and fellow Bay Area native Pat Burrell to find out how he felt about coming home. Burrell has said that he will wait a month or so to see how his foot heals before deciding on his future.

Whether he is an inexpensive bench player or in some other capacity I feel like Burrell will be in a Giants uniform next year. That can only help push someone like Rollins in the direction of the Giants if he is inclined to do so at all.

The money wouldn’t be prohibitive, it is a contract that they could take on while still spending on their pitchers and maybe a Beltran but certainly a Coco Crisp. 

From the outside looking in, this appears to be one of those circumstances that is a perfect match and that once free agency starts in November there will be a lot of stories written that tie Jimmy Rollins to the San Francisco Giants.

Both parties would be wise to at least entertain the idea and see where a mutual courtship could take them.