Giants, closer Wilson agree on 1 year
January 30, 2010
SAN FRANCISCO (AP)—Brian Wilson(notes) and the San Francisco Giants agreed to a$4,437,500, one-year deal on Saturday, avoiding an arbitration hearing.
The Giants confirmed to The Associated Press that the sides settled at themidpoint of what each proposed in arbitration.
Wilson has spent the past two of his four major league seasons as SanFrancisco’s full-time closer, recording 79 saves during that span and going tothe All-Star game in 2008. The hard-throwing right-hander has a career record of11-13 with a 3.73 ERA and 86 saves.
When the sides exchanged salary proposals, the 27-year-old Wilson asked for$4,875,000 and the Giants offered $4 million.
Meanwhile, the Giants could be headed to an arbitration hearing withtwo-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum(notes). He is seeking a record$13 million and the Giants offered their ace $8 million.
Getting Wilson’s deal done is another item general manager Brian Sabean cancheck off his long to-do list this winter. The Giants re-signed second basemanFreddy Sanchez(notes), utility infielder Juan Uribe(notes) and catcher Bengie Molina(notes). Theyalso added left-handed hitter Aubrey Huff(notes) to play first base and bat cleanup,and Mark DeRosa(notes) as a utilityman and likely left fielder.
The Giants hope they’ve upgraded their offense enough to be a playoffcontender in the NL West. San Francisco was in the wild-card chase well intoSeptember last season but ultimately missed the playoffs for the sixth straightyear.
“Our goal is to win the division. It’s not going to be easy to win 88games. We have to catch two clubs,” Sabean said recently. “I think it’simproved but it still has to translate on the field, and the players areresponsible for that. And we have more depth. We’re getting closer to feelingwe’re all that much stronger than last year.”
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