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November 27, 2012

Rumor Roundup

Tuesday, November 27

by Daniel Rathman

Evan Longoria was already locked up through the 2016 season, but the Rays decided on Monday to make sure that the third overall pick in the 2006 draft would stay in the organization for essentially his whole career. You can find R.J. Anderson’s analysis of the six-year, $100 million extension here. For a sampling of yesterday’s other developments, just keep reading:

Brian Wilson likely to be non-tendered
When Giants manager Bruce Bochy learned, two weeks into the regular season, that Wilson would require Tommy John surgery to repair structural damage in his elbow, he expressed sympathy for the bearded closer’s plight, but seemed unconcerned about the team’s ability to withstand the setback. “We’ll figure out a way to get this done,” Bochy said, and—considering that the Giants’ season ended with a division title, a pennant, and a World Series championship—it’s fair to say that they did.

Although Sergio Romo eventually emerged as Bochy’s preferred ninth-inning man for the playoffs, five relievers earned at least three saves for the Giants along the way. Santiago Casilla (25) received most of the opportunities before hitting a wall around the All-Star break, at which point Romo took over, but Javier Lopez (7) and Jeremy Affeldt (3) were used when opponents sent fearsome left-handed sluggers to the plate, and Clay Hensley (3) picked up the crumbs when more trustworthy arms were not available. Bochy’s deft, if occasionally overzealous, handling of the matchup-based bullpen drew praise from April through October, and with nearly all of the pieces back in place for 2013, general manager Brian Sabean is confident that his skipper can tackle a similar assignment next year.

That confidence, combined with a three-year, $18 million hitch with Affeldt, has put Sabean in the driver’s seat in negotiations with Wilson’s agent, Dan Lozano. Wilson, who took home $8.5 million while nursing his elbow, has one year of arbitration eligibility remaining, but the Giants are understandably wary of tendering a lucrative offer to a high-effort pitcher coming off of his second reconstructive surgery. If healthy, the 30-year-old Wilson could turn an already solid bullpen into the senior circuit’s best, but Sabean has other fish to fry—second base and center field, to name a couple, plus a possible bank-breaking extension for Buster Posey—and, according to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Hank Schulman, negotiations are at an impasse.

With the non-tender deadline just three days away, Wilson’s name is likely to be added to a thinning list of free-agent relievers, where he would join, among others, fellow Tommy John victims Ryan Madson and Joakim Soria. And while letting the homegrown righty walk is a defensible baseball move for Sabean and the Giants, some fans are already up in arms:

Schulman believes that if Wilson is non-tendered, Sabean will maintain contact with Lozano in an effort to bring him back on a team-friendly deal. But given the plethora of late-inning openings around the league, Wilson may well find a team willing to take a $7 million gamble and hope that he regains his 2.22 FIP form from 2010. The smart money, especially considering the Giants’ recent success in finding useful players on the scrap heap, is on Wilson landing elsewhere.