Zach Wheeler isn’t someone I would give up for a 34-year-old rental who probably won’t stick around for more than two months. But then again, when you have the opportunity to play in your second World Series in as many years, you do whatever it takes to get back there.

This Carlos Beltran trade has had me spinning. At first I was shocked when I heard the Giants were willing to part with Wheeler (their top prospect) for a potential rental like Beltran. Then I was downright furious when I got to thinking about how the Giants just gave up one of the best pitching prospects in baseball and only got Beltran in return. I even had a 700-word piece written on how Giants GM Brian Sabean once again overpaid in his pursuit for a veteran player.

But after sleeping on it, I’ve come to my senses. I still don’t like the fact that Sabean parted with his top prospect for someone who may not be around in two months. It’s too risky. If the Giants fail to make the postseason or get swept in the divisional round, then this trade was all for naught. The Mets wanted a top prospect for Beltran and they got one of the best in baseball. The Giants had money to burn and were (albeit seemingly) willing to pay most of Beltran’s contract in order to avoid giving up a good prospect. So instead they gave up their best prospect. As I alluded to in the intro, I wouldn’t have parted with Wheeler for Beltran. I would have parted with Wheeler in a deal for B.J. Upton, who hasn’t hit his weight since 2008 but who is just 26 and a potential five-tool player. He’s also under team control for the next several years, unlike Beltran, who becomes a free agent this winter.

No, I wouldn’t have traded Wheeler for Beltran. But then again, let’s stop and look at the big picture here. The Giants already have three young guns in Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner, who all figure to be around a while. And the club’s scouting department is so good that they’ll probably draft three Wheelers by the time they need arms again. What they needed now was offense – and bad.

Pre-Beltran, I don’t think anyone could look at San Francisco’s lineup and say it was good enough to beat Philadelphia or Atlanta in the postseason. But Beltran gives them the middle-of-the-order presence that they sorely needed. For as good as Pablo Sandoval is, he isn’t enough and for God’s sake, Bruce Bochy has been reduced to batting Mike Fontenot third at times this year. If there’s any team that needed a Carlos Beltran, it was the Giants – Zach Wheeler be damned.

And for once, let me give Sabean credit. Some criticized him for trading Tim Alderson for Freddy Sanchez (another potential rental) a couple of years ago, and for dealing John Bowker in the deal that netted LOOGY Javier Lopez. But without Sanchez (whom Sabean wound up re-signing) and Lopez (who was virtually un-hittable in the playoffs), the Giants would have never won last year. Sabean has some downright nasty acquisitions on his resume, but the guy has been pretty damn good over the past couple of years.

Before the 2010 season, the Giants hoped they would have a team ready to seriously contend by 2011 or 2012. As it turns out, destiny brought them a title last year and now they have a great opportunity to win again this year. But they needed a big bat. That’s why you part with a Zach Wheeler for Carlos Beltran, even though the latter might only be around for another two months. You part with a Zach Wheeler so you can win. And really, isn’t that the point here?

In Wednesday’s Quick-Hits, I rant about Donovan McNabb’s feelings, the steep price that the Giants are willing to pay for Carlos Beltran, the Jets’ desire to build the best cornerback duo in the history of mankind, and much more.

- I’ll have more once the deal becomes official, but I’m rather surprised by the reports that the Giants are willing to give up top prospect Zack Wheeler in order to acquire Carlos Beltran. Yes the Giants need offense and yes Beltran provides said offense. But if Beltran walks at the end of the year when he becomes a free agent, then the Giants just gave away one of the top pitching prospects in baseball for a rental (albeit a very good rental, but a rental nonetheless). I guess it all comes down to philosophy. I wouldn’t give up a top prospect for a rental unless I had a good feeling that the rental would re-sign with me at the end of the year. And at this point, the Giants can’t possibly know if they can re-sign Beltran. Granted, if he helps them win another World Series then it was worth the price of Wheeler. A lot of people didn’t like the Tim Alderson-for-Freddy Sanchez trade a couple of years ago, or the deal that netted Javier Lopez from the Pirates last July. But without Sanchez or Lopez, the Giants wouldn’t have won last year, so maybe this is what GM Brian Sabean had to do in order to take another shot at a World Series title. (And really, isn’t that the point?) But assuming this deal comes to fruition, I like it a lot better from the Mets’ point of view. They didn’t care about Beltran’s contract – they wanted a prospect, and got one. The Giants seemingly didn’t want to give up a good prospect…so they gave up their best one. Beltran better have been worth it.

- Apparently Donovan McNabb had his feelings hurt when he learned that the Vikings tried pursuing Tyler Thigpen before calling the Redskins about a trade for him. If this is true, somebody should remind McNabb that he’s about to be traded for a sixth round pick and, perhaps more importantly, was a team’s backup plan when they couldn’t acquire Tyler freaking Thigpen. If that doesn’t paint a clear picture of your worth as a quarterback, nothing will. Considering he gets to stay in a West Coast Offense and will have Adrian Peterson and Percy Harvin (and Sidney Rice?) to play with, McNabb has nothing to sulk about.

- NFL Network’s Michael Lombardi is reporting that the Jets are prepared to pay free agent Nnamdi Asomugha $12 million per year. Could you imagine being an opposing quarterback playing the Jets next year? I would check to a run or dump the ball off to my tight end damn near every play. Offensive Coordinator: “What happened on that audible, Anthony? That’s the 17th time you checked off to a run.” Me: “Ha! You want me to take a trip to Revis Island while flying Asomugha Airlines? Go f&$k yourself. I’ll be over here if you need me – I’d keep our running backs fresh if I were you.”

- If you got sick of hearing about Rex Ryan and the Jets last year then grab a brown paper bag and some TUMS because it’s only going to get worse this season. Re-signing Santonio Holmes was huge for Mark Sanchez and the offense, but wait until they sign Asomugha and Randy Moss. All of Bristol, Connecticut will explode due to ESPN trying to figure out how to cram one hour of Yankees and Red Sox highlights and Jets training camp coverage into SportsCenter.

-Depending on what the compensation winds up being, I think the Dolphins are about to make the most underrated move of free agency when they acquire Kyle Orton from the Broncos. Orton will never win a Super Bowl by himself a la Tom Brady (who had little marquee offensive talent around him when he won his three rings), but he’s a smart, competitive quarterback who can prosper if he has enough talent around him. Reuniting him with Brandon Marshall is incredibly smart on Miami’s part.

- Speaking of Orton, how pissed were the Eagles when they found out the Broncos made him available? The Eagles know they have a suitor for Kevin Kolb in the Cardinals, but the Broncos essentially just gave Arizona another option at quarterback. The Cardinals can now say to Philadelphia, ‘Why should we give up a first round pick for Kolb when we could have Orton, another guy we like, for less?’ Granted, it looks like Orton is a slam-dunk to land in Miami and Kolb is still a shoe-in for Arizona, but Philadelphia couldn’t have been too pleased when the quarterback market became more crowded.

- I’m not wild about the Colby Rasmus trade for the Cardinals. Edwin Jackson should pitch well under Dave Duncan in St. Louis this season, but he’s a free agent at the end of the year. If he doesn’t re-sign with the Cardinals, they essentially traded Rasmus (plus Brian Tallett and P.J. Walters) for Octavio Dotel, Marc Rzepcynzki and Corey Patterson. I know the Cardinals had grown tired of Rasmus (and possibly his too-involved father), but that’s not enough compensation for a 24-year-old outfielder that is under team control through 2014. It’s not like Rasmus has cashed in on his potential yet, but St. Louis could have done better than this, right? What am I missing here?

During the seventh inning of the Brewers-Giants game in San Francisco on Friday night, flamboyant Milwaukee outfielder Nyjer Morgan ran down a potential hit off the bat of Nate Schierholtz and then turned to fans in centerfield to politely remind them that there were two outs.

Oh I’m sorry, did I say Nyjer Morgan was involved? No yeah, he was being an ass.

Some San Francisco fans have, of course, taken offense to the gesture and some Milwaukee fans have, of course, downplayed the issue. Morgan has flashed his “Tony Plush T” before, so fans in Milwaukee are accustomed to the gesture. But I could see why some Giant fans are ticked off because it looks like he’s giving them a gesture to F-off.

Whatever. I’m sure those Giant fans sitting in centerfield weren’t sharing recipes for homemade clam chowder with Morgan. That doesn’t mean that Morgan should act like a clown after he makes a nice play, but we didn’t hear what those fans were saying to him. Plus, and I cannot overstate this fact: it’s Nyjer Morgan. He has two sides: an entertaining side and a side where he wants to purposely blow up catchers and mix it up with fans. That’s just him. Personally, I’ll take Tony Gwynn and Ozzie Smith any day. They respected the game, their opponents, their teammates and yes, fans in all cities. They were professional at all times and exuded class. But we live in a different day and age now. An age where showing up fans or opponents is deemed as “not a big deal.” It’s now chic to say Morgan was “just having fun.”

What was nice about the days of yore in baseball is that the league used to police itself. It still does to some extent, but not like it used to. MLB has really cracked down on players retaliating and maybe that’s a good thing. I don’t want to see anyone get hurt, but back in the day if you disrespected the game or an opponent you were guaranteed to get a high, hard one in your next AB. It was a different game back then.

There has been some bad blood between the Brewers and Giants before, specifically after Milwaukee’s “bowling ball routine” following a Prince Fielder walk off in 2009. It’ll be interesting to see if emotions boil over again this weekend after Morgan’s performance on Friday night.

It’s been a rough couple of days for Giants closer Brian Wilson. He blew a 1-0 lead in the ninth on Thursday at Wrigley Field when he fell behind Aramis Ramirez and had to challenge the Cubs’ third baseman with a 3-2 fastball that Ramirez promptly crushed over the leftfield wall. The Cubs went on to win the game in extra innings and the Giants had to settle for a split in the four-game series.

On Friday in Detroit, Wilson was again called upon to save a 1-0 lead and again he mucked things up when he allowed a single to Tigers’ right fielder Magglio Ordonez in the bottom of the eighth. The Giants managed to score three runs in the top of ninth off a wild Detroit bullpen to make it a 4-1 game, but Wilson could only muster one out in the bottom of the inning while jamming the bases and allowing two runs.

When skipper Bruce Bochy pulled him in favor of Jeremy Affeldt, this is what the bearded one did in the dugout:

Wilson also punched a wall (which wasn’t shown in the video), making it one of the better dugout meltdowns I’ve seen in a while.

The Giants eventually hung on to beat the Tigers 4-3 so when reporters approached Wilson in the clubhouse, he was back to being his jovial self. Below is an exert from Giants beat reporter Andrew Baggarly’s blog.

“I’m fine,” he said. “Ask the wall.”

Wilson’s other deadpan gem, after he was asked if it would be difficult to have his Happy Gilmore swing played on a loop on television: “Why would it be difficult?” he said. “I squared it up.”

At least one media member took to Twitter last night to insinuate that Wilson’s freak out was all for the cameras, and maybe it was. But despite his, uh, outgoing personality, Wilson rarely shows emotion on the mound. (Anyone who actually watches the Giants and who doesn’t just insinuate things would know that.) He’s usually cool and collected, but he’s intense and obviously blowing two saves in two days would make any closer a little cranky. As long as he didn’t hurt himself, I think everyone should just enjoy the water cooler beatdown and not look too deep into Wilson’s antics.

Giant fans don’t like the sight of Eli Whiteside in the lineup. That usually means that Buster Posey has a day off (if he’s not playing first base), although nowadays the situation is more permanent after the 2010 Rookie of the Year broke his fibula on Wednesday night.

But even though Giant fans would clearly rather see Posey play everyday than Whiteside, they must have a little more respect and admiration for the backup catcher after what transpired Friday night in Milwaukee.

With two outs and the Giants nursing a 5-3 lead against the Brewers in the 8th, Jonathan Lucroy drove in Ryan Braun with a single to left to cut San Fran’s lead to one run. Trying to score from second on the play was Prince Fielder, who came barreling down the third base line at Whiteside as Cody Ross threw a perfect one-hopper to the plate.

Giant fans watching as the 275-pound built-like-a-Mac-truck Fielder came rushing full-bore at Whiteside immediately felt their hearts jump into the their throats after witnessing what was done to Posey two nights prior. But Ross’ throw was early, so Whiteside had enough time to catch it, set his feet and take Fielder head-on. Not only did he absorb the blow from the Milwaukee linebacker first baseman, but he also held onto the ball to end the inning and the Brewers’ scoring threat. The Giants eventually held on by that same 5-4 score.

After the game, Whiteside told reporters: “If he’s coming at you, you can go at him. No rule in the book says you can’t take it to him.”

How do you not love that if you’re a Giants fan? It certainly doesn’t ease the pain of losing Posey for the entire season, but you have to love how Whiteside (who isn’t a jockey at 6-2, 220 pounds) wouldn’t back down. I don’t know how long this video will be up before the powers at be take it down, but here’s the play:

I love Fielder’s expression at the end of the play. “Seriously, dude hung on? And did he just toss the ball over my head?”

If ever there were a time to root for a broken bone, it would be in the case of Giants catcher Buster Posey.

After his leg collapsed awkwardly under his body during a collision at the plate with Marlins’ outfielder Scott Cousins on Wednesday night, Posey underwent three MRIs on Thursday to determine the severity of the injury. The early reports were that he was diagnosed with a broken leg and torn ligaments, the latter of which being the freighting part to Posey and the Giants.

Broken bones heal, but damaged ligaments are something that can puts athletes’ careers in jeopardy. Thankfully, he “only” has a broken left fibula and severely strained ankle ligaments. In some respects, it’s the first sign of good news since Posey suffered the injury on Wednesday night. It’s still a terrible situation and your heart goes out to a young player who has meant the world to the Giants’ organization, but at least his knee was unaffected.

The Giants placed their young catcher on the 15-day DL on Thursday and have stated that he will have surgery within the week. They won’t say whether or not he’s out for the season because quite frankly, they don’t know. They won’t have a timetable for his recovery until they get the details of his surgery ironed out.

I’m no doctor but if I were to make an educated guess on how long Posey will be out for based on athletes who have suffered a similar injury, the player that instantly comes to mind is Michael Vick. Different sports, I know, but the quarterback suffered a fractured right fibula on August 16, 2003 and returned to action on November 30 of that same year, which would have put his recovery time at roughly 15 weeks.

Again, I’m not a doctor. If any reader in the medical field would like to set me straight and educate me on the severity of both injuries: by all means, please leave me a comment. But from a simpleton’s point of view, it looks like Vick and Posey suffered similar injuries. Vick was also in his early 20s at the time of his injury and being 24, Posey has age on his side as well. Either way, it’s obviously important that the Giants don’t rush him back. If he needs a full year to recover, so be it. But based on the injury Vick suffered, I wouldn’t be surprised if Posey’s recovery timetable is right around 4-5 months (which would sadly wipe out his 2011 campaign).

In an incredibly gracious move, Barry Bonds has offered to pay for Bryan Stow’s children to go to college according to USA Today. Stow is the Giants fan who was severely beaten outside of Dodgers Stadium on Opening Night on March 31.

Bonds, baseball’s all-time home run leader, has offered to pay for the college education of Stow’s two children, according to Stow’s attorney, Thomas Girardi.

Stow received a visit from Bonds in his Los Angeles hospital room on April 22, just days after Bonds’ federal trial for perjury and obstruction of justice concluded.

Stow, 42, has been moved to a San Francisco hospital but remains in a coma after the March 31 attack at Dodger Stadium; one suspect has been arrested in the case, with at least one more at large. Stow has two children currently in grade school.

There will be plenty of people who will think this is a publicity stunt by Bonds in efforts to shed some good light on his name – and maybe it is. But no matter what his motives are, this is a very generous offer and unless there’s more to the story, it appears as though it was Stow’s attorney who made this news public. Not Bonds or his people.

A couple of years ago I read the book, “Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero.” What blew me away was not the stories about how much of an a-hole he was to people at times (which he was), but how generous he could be when nobody was looking. There’s a soft side to Bonds that people don’t often get to see and since I’m optimistic and positive by nature, I choose to believe that he’s helping the Stow family out of the goodness of his heart (and not because he has alterative motives with the press).

Well done, Barry.

Giants fans had to be excited when they woke up on Wednesday to a report from Mychael Urban of CSN Bay Area that said their club was interested in acquiring Mets’ shortstop Jose Reyes. But they’ll have to temper that excitement for now.

GM Brian Sabean told Adam Rubin of ESPN New York.com that he hasn’t spoken with his Mets’ counterpart Sandy Alderson since January. So as Rubin notes, Reyes may be a fit for San Francisco but a deal won’t be happening anytime soon.

When Juan Uribe surprised the Giants’ brass last winter by signing with the rival Dodgers, Sabean became desperate to fill the hole at shortstop. So he overpaid (a habit he seems to enjoy) for Miguel Tejada, who signed a one-year, $6.5 million contract in November. It’s only been 30 games but the fans in San Francisco have already grown restless with Tejada’s shoddy play. He’s hitting just .204 with one home run and possesses a dismal .243 on base percentage. What’s worse is that his play in the infield has been just as bad. (His error at third base a few nights ago ruined what had been a great outing from youngster Madison Bumgarner.)

But while fans may want Reyes in a Giants’ uniform today, the club isn’t going to give up on a $6.5 million offseason investment after only one month. Granted, it’s not the fans or the rest of the team’s fault that Sabean seemingly screwed the pooch by not only signing Tejada, but also overpaying for him as well. But those are the breaks.

There are other factors to consider as well when it comes to trading for a guy like Reyes, which I outlined in this post yesterday. The bottom line is that Reyes isn’t going anywhere today, next week, or even a month from now. He’s probably going to be in New York until the trade deadline approaches in July. So for now, Giant fans will just have to hope that someone like Mark DeRosa (who has spent more time on the disabled list than on the field since Sabean signed him to a two-year deal last year) can save them from their Tejada misery.

Charlie Sheen has received plenty of negative, wild and downright zany (do people still use the word “zany?” Ah, to hell with it – I’m using it anyway…) headlines over the past couple of months. So it’s only fair that when he gives something back to society, the media reports on those storylines as well.

According to the New York Post, “Wild Thing” Vaughn donated $20,000 to the foundation for Bryan Stow, the Giants fan who was beaten by a couple of thugs in Los Angeles during the opening weekend of the MLB season. Apparently Stow is not responding to stimulation as much as the doctors would like now that he is out of a medically induced coma. Doctors took Stow off the medication that was keeping him in a coma last Tuesday but while he was able to come off it without suffering any seizures, he is still not responding.

Meanwhile, the two animals that carried out the act are still at large.

Sheen is the latest to contribute to Stow’s fund. On Sunday, the Giants’ minor league teams in San Jose and Fresno gave $43,362 to Stow’s young children in order to help with the loss of wages, family travel and any medical costs that Stow’s insurance doesn’t pick up. People have been very gracious to the Stow family, who must be touched in what can only be described as a difficult time.

Sheen is a huge fan of not only baseball, but Giants’ closer Brian Wilson as well. It’s not surprising that Stow’s situation encouraged him to donate and I think it was an extremely nice gesture. (Especially when you consider what else Sheen could have spent the money on…yikes.)

For those who have had the misfortune of watching Miguel Tejada play on a nightly basis, the answer to the question in the title should roll off the tongue: “Yes. Yes the Giants should acquire Jose Reyes. Please God, in all your holiness, allow the Giants to acquire Jose Reyes so that I don’t have to continue to endure Miguel Tejada.”

But the question becomes a little more convoluted when you consider the many factors that would go into trading for Reyes. For starters, the Giants would have to accommodate his $11 million salary this year. That may not be a big deal in the short term, but there are rumors that the 27-year-old will be looking to match Carl Crawford’s seven-year, $142 million deal when he hits free agency this winter. Would the Giants be willing to give up a top prospect in order to acquire a rent-a-player for a couple of months? Furthermore, should they?

The Mets will probably ask but it’s doubtful that the Giants would part with either Madison Bumgarner or Brandon Belt. Either of those players would be too much to give up to acquire a player that New York is looking to dump anyway. The Giants could pitch (pun definitely intended) Jonathan Sanchez in a deal, although that would leave a gapping hole in their pristine rotation. They could probably get by with a starting five of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Bumgarner, Barry Zito and Ryan Volgelsong, but why weaken the pitching staff when the point of acquiring Reyes is to win now?

The more likely scenario for the Giants is to center a deal around former first rounder Zack Wheeler, who was taken sixth overall in 2009. He is one of the top 55 best prospects in the game and while it would deplete the Giants’ already thin farm system, they could stomach that blow much easier than they could if they dealt someone like Sanchez.

But again, it all comes back to whether or not the Giants should make a deal like this. Yes, Reyes would be a massive upgrade over Tejada and once Pablo Sandoval returns in 4-6 weeks, their struggling offense would like rather potent. Assuming Reyes stays healthy and continues to hit as well as he has over the first month of the season, he could lift the Giants back into World Series contention. That said, does a team like San Fran make a move like this for a potential rent-a-player? It’s a tough call, although a few more weeks of watching Tejada flail at pitches and try to play ground balls to his side could force the Giants’ hand.