Danny Knobler: Carlos Beltran could be a “stretch” to fit in Giants’ budget

With the acquisition of Melky Cabrera (reaction here), the Giants don’t have much left on their offseason checklist. Perhaps find a back-end starter — if they’re not entirely comfortable with the current options (Barry Zito, Eric Surkamp). Maybe go out and get a shortstop — though it’s looking increasingly likely that the organization will just go with Brandon Crawford as the starting shortstop. In fact, Danny Knobler of CBS Sports reiterated today that it’s very unlikely that San Francisco pursues Jose Reyes or Jimmy Rollins (but again, this is old news).

The biggest remaining question is Carlos Beltran. The Giants’ offense was bad in 2011 — unbelievably bad, and retaining Beltran would certainly improve their outlook. He’ll be somewhat expensive — but we’re not talking Albert Pujols/Prince Fielder money. Extra Baggs wrote today that the Giants are still pondering Beltran:

“We’ll see and that’s one of the things we need to do to: Reconvene on where else we’ll spread our money.”

Unfortunately, according to Knobler, Beltran could be a ‘stretch to fit’ in the Giants’ 2012 budget. If this is the case — that the Giants do end up backing out of Beltran talks due to financial concerns, this makes the Javier Lopez/Jeremy Affeldt moves all the more questionable. Not exactly a prudent allocation of money, considering the Giants’ dire need for offensive help.