by Amaury Pi Gonzalez

SAN FRANCISCO–The San Francisco Giants who just acquired outfielder Nori Aoki from the Kansas City Royals who hit .285, one homer, with 43 RBIs. You would think the Giants would get someone with a little more power this is an indication that the Giants weren’t very active in San Diego during the Winter Meetings in December. The Giants are trying to catch up. They still need another starter, they still need a good hitting outfielder, Aoki is good defensively, he’s a contact hitter, but you already have a lead off hitter in Angel Pagan.

Pagan is the Giants centerfielder, Aoki plays leftfield, Hunter Pence is a rightfielder, guys like Gregor Blanco or Juan Perez those are guys that aren’t going to play everyday. The Giants have a problem in the outfield so they got Aoki because he has some experience he’s a decent hitter, he’s not going to win a batting title and they signed him for one year. He’s a decent hitter he’s got very good speed.

Pagan is not healthy, Pagan didn’t play for most of last year, he has a bad back he had surgery, Aoki could be an insurance blanket. It doesn’t hurt for the Giants however they still need some more power in that line up without ex-Giant Pablo Sandoval. The Giants third baseman Casey McGehee could also play some first base he’s not another Panda either he hit .287 with four homers and 76 RBIs last season.

The Giants are trying but they might have lost the plan already because they were not very active at the Winter Meetings in December. Talk about outfielders Aoki is an outfielder but the San Diego Padres are going to be contenders in my opinion in the off season they signed Matt Kemp, Wil Myers, and Justin Upton. Those are three caliber outfielders, three All-Stars.

The Giants looked like they were going to go after Upton and that would have been a great pick up, he would have been a great hitter, Upton can hit the ball for a home run. AT&T Park is not a great home run hitters park as we know. It’s more of a pitcher’s park but you still need that outfield with a lot of power. In a perfect world Pagan would be a leadoff hitter and then you have Hunter Pence and Buster Posey.

But you still need a power hitter in that line up, the Giants are still short of a power hitter and another starting pitcher but Aoki is not going to hurt the Giants. He’s a decent player, he’s not a superstar and they needed someone else in the outfield and remember Pagan was going to be so healthy that he was going to be the Pagan of three years ago.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the A’s, the TV Spanish voice for the Angels and does News and Commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com