On the same day longtime San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds’ received a sentence for 30 days house arrest and other minor charges for obstructing justice during a steroids investigation, Bonds’ former team made a small-scale move to bring back a player from the team’s 25-man roster. After non-tendering him earlier this week, the Giants re-signed catcher Eli Whiteside to a minor-league contract on Friday, Dec. 16.

San Francisco Giants C Eli Whiteside
Wikimedia Commons

After the season-ending injury to Buster Posey during the 2011 season, the 32-year old was thrust into a shared starting role with Chris Stewart. With Posey expected to fully return from injury for 2012, the backup catcher position will still be an interesting battle to watch. Unless the team signs another free agent catcher, the three men who are most likely backing up Posey next season are Whiteside, Stewart, and Hector Sanchez.

Signing Whiteside to a minor-league deal just days after not offering him arbitration was a best-case scenario for the team. Even though Whiteside only hit .197 in a career-high 236 plate appearances, the team still does not know who will win the backup catcher spot next season. By having Whiteside sign the minor-league contract, he will either serve as insurance in Triple-A Fresno or win the roster spot in Spring Training, thus earning close to the league minimum of $480,000 instead of the approximately $750,000 paycheck he would earn had he received arbitration from the Giants.

Despite going through his own elbow problems during the season, Whiteside could be a reliable backup for the Giants in 2012. When healthy, Whiteside has proven to be a good game caller and a solid defender behind the plate. That being said, Whiteside, Stewart, and Sanchez will compete for the roster spot.

Stewart had a career-high 162 at bats last season, only hitting .204 with three home runs. However, Stewart’s great defense in regards to throwing base runners out at second base put him into a platoon with Whiteside. Sanchez, at only 21 years of age for his MLB debut, hit .302 with Single-A San Jose and .261 with Triple-A Fresno before being promoted at the end of the season.

While the backup catcher will hopefully not matter too much in 2012, manager Bruce Bochy did announce at the Winter Meetings that Posey would play some time at first base to help him rest his ankle. With this news, the Giants backup catcher will see some starts during the season. All that’s left is to figure out which player will hold that spot during 2012 Spring Training.

Sources:

After sentencing, Bonds free to tell the truth, Yahoo! Sports

Giants re-sign Eli Whiteside to minor-league contract, HardballTalk, NBC Sports

Report: Giants re-sign Whiteside to minor-league contract, CSN Bay Area

More from this contributor:

Giants Re-Sign Guillermo Mota for One-year, $1 Million Contract: Fan’s Take

Giants Trade Torres and Ramirez to Mets for Pagan: Fan’s Take

San Francisco Giants Avoiding Long-term Contracts This Offseason: Fan’s Take

San Francisco Giants Designate Darren Ford for Assignment: Fan’s Take

Giants Trading Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera a Great Offseason Start: Fan’s Reaction

Austin Chang is a lifelong San Francisco Bay Area native, baseball fan, and supporter of the San Francisco Giants. Follow him on Twitter @_austinchang.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for giving false testimony in a federal steroid investigation.

U.S. District Judge Susan Illston, who presided over Bonds’ perjury trial earlier this year, has sentenced other athletes convicted of lying during the steroid investigation to probation and home confinement. Distributors of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs have received prison sentences of three to four months.

The judge will decide whether Bonds should be confined to his home, imprisoned for 15 months or placed on probation when he is sentenced Friday for giving evasive testimony to a federal grand jury investigating sports doping.

Bonds, baseball’s home run record holder, was tried for lying to a federal grand jury in 2003 that was investigating a Bay Area laboratory that was selling banned substances to athletes. A jury last April deadlocked on all the charges except one — a federal obstruction-of-justice count.

Authorities first became interested in Bonds in the early 2000s after learning that the Giants superstar had appeared in an advertisement for the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, which was authorities said was selling designer steroids and other drugs to professional athletes.

Bonds was one of 30 athletes summoned before the grand jury that was investigating the lab. Although given immunity in connection with testimony concerning illegal drug use, Bonds insisted that his trainer told him the two steroids he was taking were flaxseed oil and arthritis cream.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Bonds tested positive for a steroid and a fertility drug in a urine sample taken several months before his grand jury evidence. They also gave the jury a surreptitious recording of Greg Anderson, his former trainer, discussing how he injected steroids, in response to a question about Bonds.

Anderson refused to testify in the trial and was jailed for its duration. He has spent nearly two years behind bars, mostly because he would not cooperate with the investigation of Bonds.

Jurors heard three key prosecution witnesses: Steve Hoskins, a childhood friend who was close to Bonds for 10 years until the two had a falling-out in early 2003; Kimberly Bell, Bonds’ girlfriend of nine years; and Kathy Hoskins, Steve’s younger sister, who said she was packing Bonds’ clothes for a road trip when she saw Anderson inject the ballplayer.

Prosecutors also presented four former major-league baseball players who testified that Anderson supplied them with drugs that they said they knew were designed to boost performance and escape detection.

ALSO:

Tanker fire: Portions of 60 Freeway reopen

Atheists “hijack” Nativity display in Santa Monica, critics say

Paris Jackson living ‘normal’ life since father’s death, doctor’s trial

– Maura Dolan in San Francisco

Photo: Barry Bonds leaves federal court in San Francisco in April. Credit: Noah Berger / Associated Press

With the 2011 MLB Winter Meetings finishing up in Dallas, Texas, the San Francisco Giants re-signed an important player of the team’s bullpen at a very affordable price. As reported by Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, relief pitcher Guillermo Mota has re-signed with the Giants for a one-year, $1 million contract.

San Francisco Giants RP Guillermo Mota
Wikimedia Commons

Mota, a 13-year major league veteran, has been a member of the Giants for the past two seasons. In two years with the team, Mota has put up very respectable numbers as the team’s primary long-reliever. Last season, Mota had a 2-2 record, 3.81 ERA, and 77 strikeouts in 52 games.

Although Mota typically entered the game when a starter left the game early or when the score was already out of hand, he played a crucial role in the Giants’ bullpen. While guys like Brian Wilson, Sergio Romo, Jeremy Affeldt, Santiago Casilla, and Javier Lopez handled the more pressure-packed situations during the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings in close games, Mota was the reliable arm in the bullpen that was responsible for multiple-inning appearances and gave some of the more valuable pitchers in the bullpen rest when needed. In Mota’s 52 appearances last season, he pitched two or more innings in 18 of those games.

The Giants are very fortunate to re-sign Mota at this price. Over the past two seasons, Mota has signed a minor league contract with the club, later making it on the team out of spring training. Seeking a major league contract this season, the 38-year-old certainly deserves it after his contributions with the Giants. This most recent contract with the Giants will keep Mota with the team he has had the most success with since his days serving as a setup man in his first stint with the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2002-2004.

For the Giants, retaining Mota is a small but very helpful move for the cost-conscious ballclub. With so much money already devoted to players on the roster, this move adds an affordable piece to a Giants bullpen that general manager Brian Sabean has already put so much money in. Currently the oldest and most-experienced player on the Giants roster, Mota is one veteran player that the team doesn’t mind re-signing at this low cost.

Sources:

Giants re-sign Guillermo Mota to one-year, $1 million deal, HardballTalk, NBC Sports

Guillermo Mota Profile, Yahoo! Sports

Guillermo Mota Game Log, Yahoo! Sports

Guillermo Mota Career Stats, Yahoo! Sports

More from this contributor:

Giants Trade Torres and Ramirez to Mets for Pagan: Fan’s Take

San Francisco Giants Avoiding Long-term Contracts This Offseason: Fan’s Take

San Francisco Giants Designate Darren Ford for Assignment: Fan’s Take

Giants Trading Jonathan Sanchez for Melky Cabrera a Great Offseason Start: Fan’s Reaction

San Francisco Giants won’t spend big money on new bats for offense: A fan’s reaction

Austin Chang is a lifelong San Francisco Bay Area native, baseball fan, and supporter of the San Francisco Giants. Follow him on Twitter @_austinchang.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

For the 2012 season, Angel Pagan is set to play in the outfield for the San Francisco Giants. He is not going to provide a huge offensive boost to the team, but he will bring passable defense and decent production to the lineup. Pagan has always been a decent player, and that should not change for this coming season. With that in mind, here are some predictions for his 2012 campaign. How is he going to do?

Pagan will hit less than 10 home runs but drive in at least 60 runs.

This guy is not a home run hitter as he only has 33 of them through 541 games. His career high stands at a whopping 11 home runs that came during the 2010 season. Playing half of his games at AT&T Park is not going to help him smack the ball out of the park. Fortunately, he can drive in a few runs, notching 69 and 56 RBI in 2010 and 2011 respectively. What he lacks in power can be made up for there. He should be able to make it to 60 RBI without too many issues.

He will hit .285 with a .330 on-base percentage.

Pagan sports a .279 career bating average, which is not bad nor is it great either. Therefore, he should barely improve upon that number in 2012 by hitting .285 or so. He does get on base at a decent rate, so I would expect him to manage a .330 OBP, which is close to his career average .331. It would not surprise me too much to see him exceed either figure though. In any case, he should not drop far below these estimates unless a big slump hits.

His speed will be his biggest asset with at least 30 steals to prove it.

In the last two seasons, Pagan has stolen at least 30 bases each year. He does get caught a few times in the process, but that should be expected. The San Francisco Giants now have a little extra speed in the lineup though, so the steals should benefit the team. Without a doubt, Pagan will shine on the basepaths and will amass at least 30 steals but probably a little bit more. The team cannot complain about having him in scoring position.

He will keep his walk and strikeout numbers close together.

Luckily, Pagan does not strike out too much each season and his walks are acceptable. You can expect him to strikeout less than 70 times per season and walk at least 40 to 50 times. I do not see any reason that things will change in 2012. Either way, he knows how to get on base and will not waste his at-bats by striking out too often. I see no problems with any of that.

There is no way he plays in more than 150 games in 2012.

Since debuting in 2006, Pagan has only played in 541 games. You can attribute that to a lack of regular playing time and injuries. To that end, I would not expect him to play more than 150 games this coming season. In fact, it would surprise me if he manages to start 140 games. An injury will come up or a slump will bring him to the bench temporarily. Somehow, he will end up not playing in at least a handful of games. Hopefully, he can manage to eclipse 123 games, the mark he hit last season.

All in all, Angel Pagan should be a decent player for the San Francisco Giants in 2012. He will not make the difference for the team too often though. We might see him come through with a clutch hit or spectacular defensive play occasionally. Otherwise, you can at least expect him to be a decent player all around. If he can break his career norm of being average and excel a bit, then the Giants should consider that a bonus. It probably will not happen though.

For more information, visit The San Francisco Giants Site .

Derrick Williams is a fan of the San Francisco Giants after living in the city for multiple years. He regularly takes a trip back to the Bay Area to see family members and catch a few baseball games.

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

In all likelihood, the San Francisco Giants are going to pay the arbitration-eligible Ramon Ramirez(notes) around $2 million for the 2012 season. He is a great reliever with a lot of talent, and that should not change this coming season. It remains to be seen whether he is on the trading block or not though. In any case, I think he will put up another strong campaign. Here are some predictions.

1. He will be the first bullpen arm to go in a trade.

In reality, the Giants have invested more in their bullpen than most other teams, and it is not cheap to keep everyone from year-to-year thanks to arbitration. Ramirez would likely be the first reliever to go when it comes to a trade with another team. He is worth a lot for any team that needs help with relief pitching. Plus, the team is unlikely to be able to dump Jeremy Affeldt(notes) and his $5 million contract. That means Ramirez is the first guy to go.

2. He will post a sub-3.00 earned run average without a problem.

This should be no problem for him to accomplish. He has done exactly that for the last four seasons and counting. Without a doubt, he knows what he is doing on the mound and does not allow many runs to score. He does not strike out a ton of batters though, so he relies more on command and control to get the job done. There is nothing wrong with that though, and any team would be happy to have him on the mound.

3. Ramirez will pitch at least 65 innings during 2012 too.

Of course, he has also done this four seasons in a row and five of his six total seasons in the Majors. He is a fairly durable reliever that will get into games on a regular basis because he can be trusted to keep runners from scoring. Any reliever that can come close to 70 innings pitched in a season is doing something right. With that in mind, Ramirez is going to get that done once again and without any problems. Sure, an injury could stop him, but I think he will be just fine.

4. His strikeout-to-walk ratio will continue to hover around his career average of 2:1.

Throughout his career, Ramirez has usually walked about half as many batters as he has struck out. That is not all that spectacular, but it works for him. Obviously, you do not need to be a power pitcher to find success. I expect him to continue along his career norms and maybe possibly improve upon his strikeout-to-walk ratio. It does not really matter as long as he keeps games close and gives the Giants a chance to win though.

In reality, Ramon Ramirez is likely to continue doing what he has done for the past few seasons and that is pitch successfully. He is a great reliever no matter how you look at him. I am not saying that he is truly elite though. Fortunately, he is not too expensive for the team and gets the job done. That might not stop the San Francisco Giants from trading him to save some money, but he is going to be a solid reliever no matter what team he pitches for.

For more information, visit The San Francisco Giants Site .

Derrick Williams is a fan of the San Francisco Giants and lived in the Bay Area for nearly three years.

More From Yahoo! Sports:

Five Predictions For Aubrey Huff in 2012

Five Predictions For Buster Posey in 2012

Five Predictions For Nate Schierholtz in 2012

Five Predictions For Tim Lincecum in 2012

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.

Last season, Eric Surkamp debuted with the San Francisco Giants late in the season. Things started out well over his first two starts but then quickly worsened. He wound up with a 2-2 record, 5.74 ERA, and more walks than strikeouts. Currently, it appears as though he will spend most of his time in the minors in 2012, but he might see some big league action. With that in mind, here are some predictions for him this coming season.

1. Surkamp will be the go-to guy when a starter suffers an injury.

The team appears to be set on letting Barry Zito take the fifth spot in the rotation instead of acquiring someone else. Of course, that leaves Surkamp as the potential guy to take over for any starter that suffers a severe injury. With Zito in the rotation, that very well may happen at some point. Surkamp probably will not earn the job out of spring training or get a call-up based on his performance in the minors though. He showed that he still needs some major improvement after his first call-up.

2. With some luck, he will see a promotion to Double-A or Triple-A.

Surkamp has spent all of his time in the lower levels of the minors. His performance has improved greatly and he now mows down opposing lineups though. Therefore, he will probably get a shot at the Double-A or Triple-A levels. I think he will wind up at AA for most of the season. Either way, he needs to be promoted through the ranks so that he can face stiffer competition. Then we will all see if he can eventually grow into a Major League-ready pitcher. I do not expect him to get stuck at Single-A or something low-level like that for too much longer.

3. Alas, he still will not be prepared for extended time in the Majors.

No matter how well he performs in 2012, Surkamp is highly unlikely to warrant a call-up to the Majors for anything other than an emergency start. He is not a power pitcher, so he has to rely on breaking pitches to get the job done. That works well in the minors, but his 5.74 ERA and 13/17 strikeout-to-walk ratio shows that it does not work in the Majors. Obviously, the San Francisco Giants know as much, so he will not be ready for nor will he receive any extended playing time during 2012.

4. Expect him to work on improving his fastball and other pitches.

With that in mind, Surkamp is going to work on developing his pitches even more. This is undoubtedly something that all pitchers do, but he should work on it extra hard. He cannot find success with the Giants or any other MLB team if he cannot throw a decent fastball and even stronger breaking pitches. Unfortunately, his fastball is below average, so he will have to really work on his curveball and other pitches. It remains to be seen whether he can drastically improve his pitching abilities.

5. This could be the make-it-or-break-it season for Surkamp.

Personally, I do not want to see Eric Surkamp stay as a minor league pitcher for the rest of his career. The guy really needs to work on his abilities during the 2012 season in the minors. He might be passed on by management if he cannot do more than just dominate hitters in the minors. Of course, he did exactly that in 2011, but management needs to see him do something really special to keep thinking of him as a future everyday starter. He is only 24 years-old, but Surkamp needs to really shine to stay relevant or someone else could become the focus.

In any case, I am fairly certain that Eric Surkamp is going to have a great season in the minors. He might make a spot start now and then with the San Francisco Giants too. Without a doubt, he needs to make the most of those opportunities to start impressing more people. To make up for his lackluster call-up from this past season, Surkamp will need to really work hard to be seen as a future starter rather than a nobody. I think he can get the job done though.

Major-League ready now? No. In a couple seasons? Quite possibly.

For more information, visit The San Francisco Giants Site .

Derrick Williams is a fan of the San Francisco Giants and lived in the Bay Area for nearly three years.

More From Yahoo! Sports:

Five Predictions For Aubrey Huff in 2012

Five Predictions For Buster Posey in 2012

Five Predictions For Nate Schierholtz in 2012

Five Predictions For Tim Lincecum in 2012

Note: This article was written by a Yahoo! contributor. Sign up here to start publishing your own sports content.