Notes...

Apologies for the relative inactivity lately...in my defense, though, the Giants have been relatively inactive lately...

• The Giants aren't interested in Johnny Damon or Rick Ankiel. Frankly, I would hope so. As long as they have Andres Torres, Aaron Rowand, Nate Schierholtz, Cody Ross, and Pat Burrell, they don't need another outfielder. 
• The Giants have strong interest in Andrew Miller. He'd certainly be an interesting "reclamation project," although it didn't end up working with Dontrelle Willis. I don't know where he'd fit in to the Giants' picture, but I'm a fan of the low-risk high-reward deals. 
• Brian Sabean said the Giants' payroll could reach $120MM in 2011. This doesn't particularly surprise me...The Giants had a payroll of around $100MM for 2010, so taking into account the fact that they won the World Series, one would expect them to be in the $110MM-$120MM range. 
• Freddy Sanchez will undergo yet another surgery. He should be ready for the season-opener, according to Dave Groeschner, but we'll wait and see. At least the Giants only have to deal with Sanchez's injuries for one more year...

Braves Acquire Dan Uggla

The Atlanta Braves traded Omar Infante and reliever Mike Dunn to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Dan Uggla. I think this was ultimately a smart move by the Braves, who have a pretty deep bullpen already; also, it's probably a good idea to capitalize on what will probably be Infante's only all-star appearance.

In exchange, they've added a powerful bat to their lineup that they could probably use for the next few years. When the Giants faced the Braves in the NLDS, the heart of their lineup consisted of Derrek Lee, Brian McCann, and Jason Heyward (I believe in the two-hole). Beyond that, they didn't have many impact bats with Martin Prado on the DL and relatively weak hitters like Troy Glaus, Brooks Conrad, and Rick Ankiel (yes, I said Ankiel).

Uggla, for them, represents a legitimate power bat that can complement Jason Heyward for several years to come, assuming the Braves sign him to an extension. The Braves now look like they will be a much scarier playoff threat in 2011.