Giants offered to match Dodgers' offer to Juan Uribe

The San Francisco Giants wanted to hold on to Juan Uribe –- enough to where they made the infielder a last-minute offer to match the three-year, $21-million contract he ended up signing with the Dodgers, according to a baseball source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation.

Uribe, who passed his physical on Tuesday to finalize his contract, will be paid $5 million next year, $8 million in 2012 and $7 million in 2013. He will receive his final $1 million in 2014.

Uribe’s agent was contacted by the Dodgers shortly after Uribe and the Giants won the World Series. Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said he had coach Manny Mota call Uribe several times to talk to him about the club. Uribe and Mota are both from the Dominican Republic.

Uribe said he signed with the Dodgers because of the level of interest they showed in him.

“I was very proud,” he said. “It made me very emotional.”

Uribe and his agent, Barry Praver, were vague when asked about offers they received from other clubs, including the Giants.

Asked if he understood that Giants fans might be upset that he signed with the rival Dodgers, Uribe said, “I can’t control that. I’m not the owner of a team. Things happen.”

Uribe was respectful of the Giants and their fans, saying, “I have nothing bad to say about the team in San Francisco. I’m grateful for the opportunity they gave me. The fans treated me very well. That’s something I will never forget. I was able to play with a lot of emotion every day because of the support they gave me.”

-- Dylan Hernandez

Comments

[Larry Bowa]

If it will make the folks in San Francisco feel any better I suggest the Dodgers give them back Ned Coletti.

[SF]

Will miss the jazz hands, but OOORibe wanted $25mm from Giants. Thx Juan for the memories and enjoy last place...

[Johnny Depp]

From the penthouse to the outhouse...
.
WELCOME to the Los Angeles Pirates, Juan!

[Giants Stank!]

Man, that must hurt. Uribe rejects SF and opts for the DODGERS!!! GO BLUE!!!

[Hugh Jardon]

Enjoy the nice paycheck, Juan. Ownership there is a joke...

[Jesse Zamarripa]

well i guess 21 million is worth it to piss off the giants after all

[jason]

The Giants, and really I give them credit in winning the WS are not that much better than us at all. If we can just add a significant bat at either 1b, 3b or lf were in good shape.

[sangroazul]

Can't say I blame him (Uribe). Everybody wants to be in El-Lay!! How else would you explain leaving the club u just won the WS with to sign with their bitter rival!? Ha! that's comedy! And the funniest part is Giants Fan is soo myopic, they r trying to spin it into something it's not. Enjoy basking in the fog of your one WS, SF. Enjoy the horrible garlic fries, the telephone co ball park, and the bitterness only u know so well with your L.A. envy. BTW, Your favorite little cheer is missing a couple of word "(You can't) beat L.A.!!"

[OldBrooklynFan]

Let's hope that Uribe can make this our gain and the Giant's loss.

[G-Man]

Boooooooo-ribe

Thanks for helping with the WS ring, enjoy playing in front of some of the worst fans in all of sports.

[Lettimmysmoke]

Two words:

Jason Schmidt

[jason]

calling dodger fans terrible is so absurd. You Giant fans didn't even start wearing orange and black until a few weeks into September.

[Zen]

It's official: The LA-SF rivalry is over.

The owners and GM's don't buy-into it. Players like Uribe must think it's a joke.

Let's interview Jeff Kent on the subject.

[Dave Yost]

"according to a baseball source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the situation."

This source is Hank Schulman the Giants Beat Writer

[johnfrommanhattan]

"The Giants, and really I give them credit in winning the WS are not that much better than us at all."

Jason-- Frisco has the best pitching staff in MLB and except for RF, position for position they're better!

Stick to the Dodgers message board with all the other homers.

[The perd]

"Stick to the Dodgers message board with all the other homers."

Lol troll your at the La TIMES,
win 5 world series before you try to talk to dodger fans

[Mike Dudnikov]

Why oh why did this have to be the time we beat out the Giants. The Dodgers after making some intelligent moves stocking the pitching staff, pull this rock. Let's see, wait until a mediocre player has a career year and then overpay him and put too many years in the contract. Brilliant!! He will have the staying power of Ronnie Belliard. Remember him, fine late season performance in 2009, return to normal in 2010. I even think Uribe has a bigger belly. Is there at least a weight clause in that monstrosity of a contract. Why not bring back Manny? Then the Dodgers can have two entries in the fatest Dominican player in league history contest.

If the team has money to spend how about going after Jayson Werth or Adam Dunn?

[Kittybarfola]

Now the Giants have the last laugh because they signed Miguel Tejada who is better offensively than Uribe. DOH!

[Jeff]

"Jason-- Frisco has the best pitching staff in MLB and except for RF, position for position they're better!"

Um, the Giants are obviously not better at second base any more either...right?

1st base, I'll take Loney
2nd-We have Uribe now
SS-Furcal when healthy, any day
3b-Toss up
RF-Either in a landslide
CF-who plays center for SF again? I'll take Kemp, whom the Giants wanted in a trade for Cain, we wisely said no
LF-Giants take this one
c-Posey for sure.

The only thing better than whipping sf this year is knowing we'll be taking down the champs...

[68elcamino427]

Frisco Escape!
Welcome to the warm weather in So Cal Mr. Uribe.
Hit a homer for Barry.

[GoBlue78]

LOL at Gnat trolls thinking they have a dynasty. Your run was a fluke.

[johnfrommanhattan]

Jeff -- you're kidding, right?

Do yourself a favor and compare player stats on MLB.com.

[johnfrommanhattan]

"Lol troll your at the La TIMES,
win 5 world series before you try to talk to dodger fans"

The perd -- I've been a Dodgers fan longer than you've been alive! Tool.

[reality check]

Last time the Dodgers won the World Series:

President RONALD REAGAN called with congratulations.

Good Luck Losers.

[SFGigante14]

You can have uribe for 3yrs/21mill. I'll take tejada on a 1yr contract. Hope uribe wears his ring everyday so he can remind you clowns who the champions are. Enjoy 4th place uribe!

2010 world champions SF Giants

[These Dodgers Suck!!]

you know what I find "flukey"?

the fact that 3 million Dodger faithful still turn out every year to watch this pathetic brand of West Coast basball ...

TDS!!

[A Giant Champion]

La dodgers can kiss our world series rings!!!!! And their fans suck too

[Jeff]

As far as I am concerned it is now BOOO-RIBE. He left the World Champion Giants to go to the rival fourth place Dodgers who are in total disarray. The part I don't understand is we matched the Dodgers offer. There is no logical reason for him to leave.

Thanks for helping us get to the world series...but I will BOO you every time you come to the plate.

See you soon...BOOO-RIBE!

[Jeremy Adamson]

Good luck with that! Uribe faded more than Willie Nelson's jeans in the second half last year. He was in the top 10 in only two categories: fielding percent (which if you could only take one step either way and weighed 240 pounds, even you could accomplish), and GIDP (that's grounded into double plays for you less enlightened fans). rally killer who does not move runners over and makes zero two-strike adjustments. You will be bummed in the middle of next year!

[hugo]

giants fans are just like red sox fans, years of being shitty and all of a sudden you are the center of the baseball world, come on, you are what you are, a small city with horrible sport teams

[World Champion]

As a Giants fan, it might hurt to see Juan Uribe go to the Dodgers if it were not for the fact that he is a .240 hitter. He had a knack for hitting homeruns at key times, but he also has a knack for striking out, hitting into double plays, and kicking the ball around the infield. Congratulations, Dodgers! Reminds me of that old polka song: "I don't want him; you can have him; he's too fat for me!"

[Smooth Move Exlax]

I love articles written based on an anonymous tip! Maybe, just maybe, Uribe left the World Champion San Francisco Giants to go to the last place Dodgers because the Losers in Blue gave him more money! I wish him all the luck that Jason Schmidt had in your dirty, smoggy city!

[John Dutton]

URIBE FOR TEJADA A WASH (as in Washed Up?)
Go Gi-Roids! We were worried you were losing your 'S-men' with the loss
of Uribe, but now Sabean is back to his strong suit... getting S-men other teams don't want. For Sabean its Win at any cost and today nobody seems
to care, anyway. Uribe wasnt worth $20 mil, even with the stuff
he defended his Latin friends on.. Dodgers can go down further... while
the Giants can continue to do it their way, ala Bonds and Gi-roids! The leaders . Now Ross and Renteria , if he stays, have a new compatriot...
Hey, you can have your own crystal balls like these guys or Breakfast of Champions hats at
http://www.bayareacoupons.info/giants-world and http://www.RoadTosuccess.us

[Sean]

The perd said: "win 5 world series before you try to talk to dodger fans."

Sorry, the Giants have only won six times. LOL Dodger fans who can't count.

[chuck]

Well let's review. Boston hadn't won in forever and went on to win it all in '04 and '07 and have been annual contenders ever since. So if you're comparing the Giants to the Red Sox then that's great for the Giants. We'll (Giants fans)happily take another ring in a few years. Meanwhile the Dodgers are still going to suck.

[johnny dakota]

Haha moronic dodger fans... Giants are champions incase you haven't heard or were too doped up in la la land to get the memo. CHAMPIONS you delirious monkeys. Boo-ribe will be lucky if he even comes close to the success, not to mention fan treatment in SF. Have fun in last place. I understand tho, I mean if the Giants pitching staff was as horrible as yours I would be desperate for Giants leftovers also. HAHAHAHAHA talk about trolling? No need to troll when you are WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS. Can't take that away no matter how many pills you swallow you dodger dipshits. LAST PLACE AGAIN

[dodgerfan]

Coming from a Dodger fan in SF, Giants fans are a joke. There are some real, but about 85 % are fake. All the sudden they come outta nowhere when the make it to the playoffs THE LAST DAY OF THE SEASON. No loyalty. I would say I'm a dodgers fan and people wouldn't get it acting like it's not a rivalry. Then they start acting like they've been big and bad all season like they were in first place the whole year.. what a shame. Go Dodgers. Welcome, Uribe.

[Tripod]

Now now kids, don't fight. We all know the Dodgers have the better record since moving west. Let the Gints enjoy their moment because it's going to be a while before they have another. We all get lucky sometimes.

[Tripod]

Now now boys and girls don't fight, we all know who has the best record since moving west. We all get lucky sometimes, let the Gints have their moment by this time next year it will be the Gints of old.

[jt]

To doger fan, your fans leave in the 7th inning of a 1-1 game to beat the traffic, talk about fair weather fans!

[Joe A]

Next to maybe Houston and Tampa, the Dodgers have the worst fans in all of baseball. Arrive in the second inning, leave in the 7th. The only ones who might stay longer are the ones in the "all you can eat" section in the outfield, stuffing their fat faces with nachos and hot dogs. Meanwhile, the Giants won a World Series, have the most beautiful stadium in baseball and, obviously, the best fans.

[Native Angeleno]

Hey, Dodgerfan in Frisco! Is it not HI-LARRY-ASS when the Dodgers come to Frisco and Jints' fans start whining BEAT LA and the fans in blue, who fill the park in numbers Jints' fans can't stand, drown them out with GIANTS SUCK! Then to stop the Dodgers fans from going on and on, totally defeated in their home park by LA fans, they stop their chant.

Try that in Dodger Stadium, all 9 of you who show up to support your team, and you will be crushed.

I had no idea there were so many Dodger fans suffering in the cold and the fog of Frisco. At least you are rewarded by seeing the Dodgers 9 times a year.

As for the Giants' WS totals, LA leads SF 5 to 1. And you'll never catch up, Gnatos, you'll die with LA way ahead. As for the prehistoric days in NYC, never forget it was the Giants who refused to face the defending 1903 champion Red Sox in 1904 out of quaking fear they'd lose to the AL again. Out of Gigantic fear, the World Series of 1904 had to be cancelled.

Giants history: WHAT a DISGRACE!

[6 for 24]

The LA fans don't recognize the championships won in other cities until they try and convince people the Lakers are a superior franchise than the Celtics. Then all of a sudden they are quick to count the 5 the team won back in Minneapolis. Thanks to Uribe for helping win a WS title for SF. I'm gonna give him one big round of applause when he makes his first plate appearance in SF, but from there on out he is the enemy. From the penthouse to the outhouse...enjoy LA Juan!

[Mikey from Bay Area]

LA--steal our water and now our infielder. Whatever. Your polluted oasis of image-conscious oversized ego people (well represented by Kemp) can kiss our WS ring. Willie was better than the Duke and by god-by gosh you'd trade half your team for Lincecum. He's ours along with the rest of the best staff in baseball. But I digress. I love the rivalry and I'm happy to---finally---see some passion in Dodger fans. Third place next year for you guys if really, really try. Uribe badly faded---he rallied in the playoffs but his career is finally on the downside. Just a great clutch player and a natural clubhouse leader but we're better off moving on.

[exjag]

Well, he'll be leaving the land of knowledgeable fans to a place where ballgames are thought by the fan base to last only three innings. How else to explain they arrive in the 4th and leave in the 6th.

Poor Juan.

[JW]

i just flushed my toilet in honor of you mikey....thanks for the water. thanks for the infielder. enjoy your ring, its the only one you will get in your lifetime!

[LA Riots!]

I predict that next year Tejada puts up better #s than Uribe. So losing Uribe means (diddly). Anyways, a region with the highest unemployment #s in the country if not the WORLD should not be talking. Big waste of existance if you asked me. You unemployed losers need to do something better with your time.

[GiantsTillIDie]

dodger fans are a joke, many times this year when the dodgers were struggling there were no fans in the stands and you want to question the loyalty of Giants fans, we were there even when our team was struggling, you just want to talk crap about our loyalty so that no one will focus on how how your loyalty faded in times of adversity because if we are "bad fans" then you guys are pathetic. Sorry that you dont have the best pitching staff in the league, sorry that when you do get to the playoffs you choke, oh and sorry that ned coletti signed Boo - ribe f0r 21 mil. Have fun competing with the Padres and Diamondbacks for fourth place you scum bags HAHAHA! Oh and by the way, I want to see how much crap you guys talk when we are kicking your (rears) again this year.

[CJ]

Well, Juan, those great fans you left behind also love to boo that new Blue you'll be wearing. Welcome to the Southland, where the fan base thinks games are only three innings and English is a second language.

[David]

You have to wonder what Juan was thinking, coming on board a sinking ship.