Pitching staff over offensive upgrades says Giants’ GM

The Giants offense was among the worstin major league history in 2011. Fixing it will be a priority forgeneral manager Brian Sabean. But not his first priority. One day after the defending World Series champions completed adisappointing, run-starved season, their longtime G.M. basicallyruled out a run at Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder and Jose Reyes,the top offensive players on the free-agent market. Instead, Sabeansaid his first order of business this offseason would be to throwenough money at his top-flight pitching staff to hold ittogether. The Giants payroll was $124 million thisyear, and it won't go down, Sabean said. But with Tim Lincecumheading a list of 13 arbitration-eligible players, not all of whomwill be offered contracts, plus raises built in to others such asMatt Cain, the