The Giants have taken 29-year old lefty starting pitcher Noah Lowry off of the 40-man roster making him a free agent. Lowry did not pitch for the Giants in 2008 or 2009 due to injuries. He has pitched in 106 games (100 starts) in his career with the Giants and he was 40-31 with a 4.03 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP. The Giants won’t miss Lowry at all because he hasn’t pitched in two years but here’s to hoping that all of the rehab work he has been doing will benefit him down the road.

The Giants have 8 potential free agents heading into this winter including a few they might like to keep. Bengie Molina, Freddy Sanchez, Juan Uribe, Bobby Howry and Brad Penny all could all re-sign with the Giants over the winter. Rich Aurilia, Randy Winn and Randy Johnson will likely be looking for new teams in 2010. This winter is all about adding offense as the Giants have one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball. The Giants will likely inquire about Jason Bay and Matt Holliday but they might be smarter going for a RF and LF from the next tier instead of just signing one of the big guys. If the Giants could get two of Bobby Abreu, Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon, Marlon Byrd and Vladimir Guerrero they would be in business. 1B is without a doubt the next biggest hole in the lineup for the Giants. With that in mind look for them to make offers to guys like Hank Blalock, Russell Branyan, Carlos Delgado, Nick Johnson and Adam LaRoche. The Giants would be smart to bring back Bengie Molina but he will likely be out of the price range that they are willing to pay him. If that is the case the Giants could go after guys like Rod Barajas, Jason Kendall, Miguel Olivo, Ivan Rodriguez, Brian Schneider, Yorvit Torrealba or Jason Varitek (if the Red Sox let him go). The Giants would like to re-sign Freddy Sanchez but if he leaves town they would likely consider Akinori Iwamura (if the Rays let him go), Jerry Hairston, Orlando Hudson, Ronnie Belliard, Adam Kennedy, Felipe Lopez or Placido Polanco. The Giants will also likely try to improve the bullpen from both sides. From the righty side the Giants would likely give a call to pitchers like Danys Baez, Rafael Betancourt (if the Rockies let him walk), Kiko Calero, Brendan Donnelly, Octavio Dotel, LaTroy Hawkins, Brandon Lyon, Russ Springer and David Weathers. The lefties the Giants would likely consider are Joe Beimel, Scott Eyre, John Grabow, Ron Mahay, Will Ohman, Darren Oliver, Brian Shouse and Jamie Walker. The Giants need to spend some cash to close the gap between them and the Rockies & Dodgers.