The Giants have signed 32-year old righty swinging SS/2B Ryan Theriot to a 1-year deal. Theriot played in 132 games for the Cardinals last year and he was 120 for 442 (.271 avg, .662 OPS) with 46 runs scored, 1 homer, 47 RBIs and 4 stolen bases. He has now played in 795 games in his first seven years in the majors and he is 816 for 2,894 (.282 avg, .697 OPS) with 401 runs scored, 17 homers, 229 RBIs and 108 stolen bases. Theriot will likely head into spring training as the favorite to start at shortstop over Brandon Crawford.

The Giants have signed 32-year old righty reliever/starter Clay Hensley to a 1-year deal. Hensley pitched in 37 games (9 starts) for the Marlins last year and he was 6-7 with a 5.19 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. He has now pitched in 211 games (49 starts) in his first six years in the majors and he is 24-29 with 7 saves, a 3.94 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP. Hensley could compete with Barry Zito for the #5 spot in the rotation, but he’s more likely to work out of the pen in 2012 for the Giants.

The Giants have signed 27-year old righty starter Yusmeiro Petit to a minor league deal. Petit pitched in 7 games (6 starts) in Mexico last year and he was 1-2 with a 4.17 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP. He last pitched in the majors back in 2009 with the Diamondbacks. Petit has pitched in 71 games (36 starts) in his first four years in the majors and he is 10-20 with a 5.57 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. Petit will likely start the 2012 season in AAA-ball.

The Giants have signed 32-year old righty swinging shortstop Gil Velazquez to a minor league deal. He played in 4 games for the Angels last year and he was 4 for 6 (.500 avg, .929 OPS) with 1 RBI. Velazquez also played in 123 games in AAA-ball last year and he was 140 for 427 (.328 avg, .865 OPS) with 78 runs scored, 8 homers, 58 RBIs and 17 stolen bases. He has now played in 13 games in his first three years in the majors and he is 4 for 16 (.250 avg, .528 OPS) with 2 RBIs. Velazquez will try to win a job on the Giants’ bench this spring.

The San Francisco Giants added Melky Cabrera and Angel Pagan over the winter, but they really needed to get a power hitter. The rest of the players they have brought in so far this winter are minor league free agents. Here is a look at the new faces:

In the field: Outfielders Angel Pagan and Melky Cabrera came to the Giants in separate deals over the winter. The Giants hope that Pagan and Cabrera can add some juice to the lineup while playing solid defense in LF and CF. Gregor Blanco (OF) and Joaquin Arias (IF) will try to win jobs on the Giants’ bench this spring.

On the mound: The Giants have an outstanding pitching staff set up for 2012. They have only signed lefty Brian Burres and righties Eric Hacker and Boof Bonser to compete for spots on the pitching staff in 2012. I see all three of them starting the 2012 season in AAA-ball.

Overall: The Giants added some offense and defense in the deals with the Mets (Angel Pagan) and Royals (Melky Cabrera). It will be interesting to see if they did enough this winter to get back to the playoffs in 2012.