Here’s the latest out of San Francisco…
- The Giants “checked in” on Avisail Garcia as part of their search for outfield help, NBCSports.com’s Alex Pavlovic reports. The White Sox outfielder is coming off a breakout season, and he’d fit the Giants’ needs as a right-handed hitter who comes at a relatively inexpensive price (arbitration-controlled through 2019). Garcia and Jose Abreu stand out as Chicago’s two biggest remaining veteran trade chips.
- Also from Pavlovic’s item, he reports that the Giants were going to install Phil Nevin as their new bench coach if Hensley Muelens had been hired as the Yankees’ new manager. Once New York hired Aaron Boone, Nevin ended up being the one leaving for the pinstripes, taking a job as the Yankees’ new third base coach. Some Giants officials feel Meulens will only be with the team for another season, as another club will hire him away for a managerial position.
- Talks between the Giants and Reds about Billy Hamilton failed to materialize since the Giants balked at moving Heliot Ramos, The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly reports. Ramos has been a hot commodity this winter, as reportedly just about every team the Giants have engaged with in trade talks has asked about the 2017 first-rounder. While the Reds would have to drop their asking price, Baggarly doesn’t think San Francisco has given up on pursuing Hamilton, as an improved outfield defense would go a long way towards helping the Giants again become competitive.
maybe the giants can actually pull the trigger on someone
Let’s hope that trigger doesn’t include shipping off Ramos.
Alright if I’m a Giants fan I am really upset if Avi Garcia is my big move
I am a real Giants fan, I’d rather not get Avi if it costs Ramos. If you were a Giants fan you would have celebrated 3 WS championships since 2010.
He would have celebrated a 98 loss season last year.
Gosh you giant fans are lame sometimes. 3 championship, it’s a even year, orange Friday. You serve sushi at your ballpark and 90 percent of your fans wear beanies in the summer you bunch of hipster’s. Oakland fans rep the bay area. San Francisco Giants fans rep the millennials.
So how’s that stadium hunt going?
Haha! Well even if they don’t contend this year- they’ll still have a sold out parade.
It would probably be going better if the Giants weren’t crying to MLB about the As going near San Jose/Santa Clara
politicsNbaseball:
Right. It wasn’t a lot of injuries to key personnel, it was because 2-3 years ago the Giants denied permission for the A’s to move into Giant’s territory. Yeah that kind of thing will really impact the W/L record.
Lmao you don’t know anything bruh, real SF native here and that ain’t us.
Those beanie wearing hipsters are the red sox, blue jay and dodger fans that moved here and they can go back to where they came from.
Actin like SF don’t rep the bay TF do you know, square.
Poor A’s fans, so bitter as always. I used to feel sorry for you guys, but maybe it’s better for everyone if your team moves to Vegas or Montreal.
Jeez, it’s only mid-December. If the Giants acquire Garcia it would be their first move, but not necessarily their big move.
We’ll happily take Arroyo off your hands
A third baseman with no power that flopped in his first appearance in the big leagues.
still has a lot of upside though
No offense but Arroyo must not be too highly regarded any more since apparently there hasn’t been a lot of demand for his inclusion in deals. Besides his hit tool there just isn’t much to distinguish him from so many other options.
“…there hasn’t been a lot of demand for his inclusion in deals.”
Wow, I had no idea that you were privy to trade discussions between teams.
Yes. I’ll happily take a chance on him. 135 plate appearances at the major league level isn’t anywhere enough to scare me away.
I should’ve prefaced that by saying I don’t think Heliot will be an option.
Living up to your username, I see.
BitterPadsClown, I can list 50 AllStars off top who didn’t see any success with their first taste of the Bigs. And most of em weren’t learning a new position on the fly. BTW I’ve been to SD several times. The gas lamp district is cool but you’d never know a pro baseball team plays in the city. Talk about clueless fans. You evaluate talent as well as your FO does. You guys are good for each other. Good luck on the Hosmer thing.
Sfg415sfc, great burn hahaha.
So a 21 year old kid (last season) is hitting over .400 the first month of the season in AAA. He gets a quick shot in the majors and as a 22 year old (he had his birthday) has some clutch hits, doesn’t get a lot of hits so they send him back to give him some more time, gets plunked by an erratic pitch and breaks his hand and is unable to finish the season. So because of that, you think he’s a bust? By the way, the Marlins wanted him in the proposed Stanton deal.
I remember Padres fans saying the same about Anthony Rizzo. How did that work out for you?
It’s cool they had Yander Alonso lol
Remember when the Padres where a dominate team? Huh? I don’t!
I do. And then their manager went and won three championships in San Francisco.
The Giants need to get out of fantasy land, they need to build their farm system and retool. This is not a team that is going to compete for a title for a little while. Some bad decisions over the last few years made this the only solution. If they think getting Hamilton and getting a Bruce is putting them in the playoff race they are seriously crazy. What they need to do is trade a couple of valuable pieces off to get good prospects and draft well and build it back up. I know I would still watch if some stud young guys were coming up and there was hope for the future. It is better than watching their core struggle to win 70 games if that. Also Evans needs to go and that is a given but Bochy needs to go. I don’t know if Muelens is the answer but it was a great run but a new voice needs to be in the locker room.
Bochy is a HOFamer
I agree on the need to rebuild. But there is an odd situation developing. The DBacks are shopping their two best pitchers right now. If they ship off Corbyn and Grenkie, I don’t see them being a wild card team. Meaning the Giants would be against the Cards, Rockies, and another team or two for those wild card spots. And with a pitching core of MadBum and Cueto, anything can happen in a post season.
So I can see why the Giants want to put off a total rebuild.
agreed
Giants had an epic injury meltdown in 2017. They’ll be better just by putting a healthy team on the field. The West has gotten tighter though. Colorado and AS aren’t doormat now, SD doesn’t look great yet….but it’s not the same as it’s been most of the decade when it was them and the Dodgers. Giants need to be healthy…make some savant moves and see what happens. Extra wild card puts everyone in play but a few.
All the Giants need is a good defensive CF, a halfway decent 3B, a LH piece for the pen, and health to contend. It was bad health not a lack of talent on the team that led to a 98 loss season, but health is a huge ask for a team that old.
As far as pitching goes, Bumgarner will be healthy in 2018 and if both he and Cueto are back closer to their career averages, which is a very high probability, then they will put up a combined 400 IP and an ERA in the mid 3s. Shark will be Shark, put up 200 innings and great K/9 and BB/9 with a 4+ ERA and a 3 FIP like usual. There is no problem with those 3.
Moore has to rebound. His career numbers are much better than what they saw last season and he is pitching in a great pitchers park. The Giants have Melancon returning to a decent pen that is devoid of a good LH option. Sign a guy like McGee or Watson and that pen is set.
In the field, players at every position other than Posey spent time on the DL last season. 3B was a revolving door with 7 guys getting double-digit starts. The Giants ended up playing Panda in 47 games! They need 140 games from a new 3B, Pence in RF, Span in LF, Crawford at SS, Panik at 2B, and Belt at 1B. They don’t have the depth to compete if they all see time on the DL again.
Add a 3B like Headley that will not cost much at 3B, and sign Cain, Dyson or trade for another CF that plays great D and they are set in the field.
That is a good team. WC a good possibility with the Diamondbacks in a selling mode on Greinke and Corbin.
The Giants do have a LH relief option returning. Will Smith, whose loss last season was one of the contributing factors to the bad year, is expected to be available in May. I think they need 2 outfielders, with a Pence/Span platoon in LF, as well as the decent 3B you mentioned. Cain should be avoided because of the cost in draft picks, but I do like Dyson for CF.
Thats a lot to ask for. Too many things have to go right. They are not making up the 40 game gap with the Dodgers. So all that just to hope to be in wild card position.
Smith was a huge loss to the team last year. He had TJ in March and 12-18 months is the typical rehab time. He could be back as soon as late spring training, but that doesn’t mean he will be back in the Giants pen. Several writers from the Bay area have talked about June being realistic return. Even with him in the pen, they need another lefty.
I didn’t think about Cain being tied to a draft pick. You may be right about that. If they had a good defensive CF, don’t you think that would help out Pence in RF and Span in LF?
Padres are shopping Headley who is about a MLB average 3B and he would cost very little in prospects. I read somewhere yesterday from the Winter Meetings that they were willing to eat half his salary, too.
I’m not a Giants fan so no horse in this race, I just think the Giants could be a WC contender with some luck on the health front and a few key pieces.
tab2b13: forgot about Austin Slater. Good last year but was sidelined for 3 months. 3rd best Giants hitter after posey and Nunez last year.
I thought Slater looked promising from what I saw, but it’s still too small a sample to know for sure that he could be a contributor. I’m sure the Giants will give him some time in the OF, but there’s not enough for the Giants to count on. They need to bring in a good defensive center-fielder for now.
Steven Duggar seems to be the future in CF for the Giants, but they can’t count on him being ready to start the season in the majors.
Slater should also be in the running for a significant OF role. He looked pretty good before getting injured.
Bochy is one of the top managers in all of baseball and you want to get rid of him and replace him with someone who has never managed?
Taking a page out of the Yankees playbook
This same core team was projected to be a WC team before last season. They basically lost a year of ace pitching between Cueto and Bum. There has definitely been some decline with age, but this team could very easily compete for a WC spot again this year, especially if they clean up the outfield in a cheap manner.
A great run that saw a third WS title just three years ago. Swapping managers is not the Giants problem.
I believe the Giants are going to surprise this year. That is if they can address their outfield defence. You get full year of Bumgarner, Cueto, and the NL’s leading innings eater. Combine that with Melancon who was injured all year and can bounce back. They you have some nice bullpen pieces that learned a lot last year.
Bochy is a Hall of famer and has three world series under his belt. I believe Buster has at least 2 more all-star offensive years under his belt. Then you get Belt coming back with his great OPS, Crawford and Panik gold glove down the middle.
They do need to have a great outfield defence, so perhaps Dyson platoon with Hernandez. Pence/Span platoon in Left , and get bopper in Right.
Third Base will need some luck, but maybe Arroyo is the answer.
Best case scenario they’re good for 80-85 wins, don’t jeopardize draft, and have a nice competitive season.
I don’t mind that.
This year I believe Cueto and Bum are good for 15-20 more wins.
Amir, I believe you mean Slater in the OF not Dyson, Dyson of course is a reliever.
I don’t think you platoon Slater, he should be given all opportunities to take the job in spring training. He was the best OF’er they had last season.
He’s talking about Jarrod Dyson, a FA center-fielder, that plays excellent defense, but isn’t much with the bat. For CF I have no problem with that. You’re thinking of Sam Dyson.
Also: If you still say Gorkys Hernandez should be playing for a major league team in even a PLATOON role, I have to wonder if you actually know who he is.
Wow. The Giants have a weak farm system, but I think there are several ways to put together a good Billy Hamilton trade for the Reds with guys who aren’t Heliot Ramos, for guys closer to and safer to reach the majors.
Christian Arroyo would be kinda repetitive for the Reds, who already have several former SS’s who now play 3b and could probably play 2b, while not actually playing shortstop. If he actually DOES compete with Peraza at SS in 2018, that could make for an interesting trade.
RHP Tyler Beede and LHPs Garrett Williams and Andrew Suarez would find themselves in the back of a deep rotation competition, but could find bullpen jobs, maybe? C Aramis Garcia has some appeal. CF Steven Dugger had a promising performance in the AFL, and the Reds have no true CF as an in-house replacement for Hamilton.
Get it done Reds and Giants! Make sure there’s a throw-in again, like that Adam Duvall bum who was thrown into the Mike Leake-Keury Mella trade!
Id much rather keep Duggar than trade for Hamilton.
I simply just dont think Hamilton is worth more than an average B prospect. Something around Beede and lesser prospects is ok with me.
Duggar is high on the giants radar don’t see him moving and saurez was a rule 5 pick for somebody (don’t remember who maybe Milwaukee). I personally don’t wanna see any trades or big signings hang in for a year and wait til next yards crop
That was Albert Suarez not prospect Andrew Suarez to ARI
Your right I forgot there was a 2nd Suarez. Their names are so close lol
Duggar= Garry Brown???
I pray no
Hamilton provides speed and defense, no hitting ability of any kind. You do not trade a number of top prospects for him. Ramos, Arroyo, Duggar are all part of the Giants future. I also think you hold on to Beede to be the main prospect if you’re going for someone big, Hamilton is essentially a desperate move in my opinion.
By the way, if you look at Sandoval’s splits last year at ATT, he batted 0.300
309/337/469
Um not sure where your getting your info but Sandoval was straight crap with the Giants. 225/263/375 638OPS.
Reading is your friend.
He said AT ATT. And he’s right, Pablo raked there.
You misinterpreted his post. It’s not what Sandoval hit in a Giants uni, that he’s citing, it’s what he hit at AT&T.
Lmao i was iffy on including Ramos in a potential Stanton trade. In a trade for Billy Hamilton? Absolutely not. Dude is trash.
Im a dodger fan and i agree 100 percent. Ramos for Hamilton is comical on the reds part for even asking
I understand overvaluing your own players, but wow, the Reds’ opinion of Hamilton is shockingly absurd.
So is everyone. Have you seen the ticket prices? Broadway stars are getting rich fast.
The Red’s players I’d have most interest are in this order Eugenio Suárez, Adam Duvall and then Hamilton. Suárez is the positional fit (3rd) and comes with 3yrs control vs Hamilton’s 2yrs, and Duvall with 4yrs. I think Broxton (MIL) might be a better fit than Hamilton if the Giants think Duggar is close since he has pop and he could move off CF to RF in the very large OF at AT&T park. Broxton is far from perfect, like Duvall their OBP leaves much to be desired but then again there’s a reason these guys are available in trade (ditto Gruchik in STL)
How dumb would the Giants look trying to re-acquire Duvall after dumping him in Cincy for a few mediocre months of Mike Leake. Not the finest hour for the Giants front office.
Duvall was a 1B/3B guy in the Giants system. At the time, he didn’t have a place. It wasn’t til he went to Cincinnati that someone tried him in the OF.
Not sure why people are so critical of that move.
That was sarcasm, right ?
No?
Just because Duvall has been good in Cincinnati doesn’t mean the Giants were dumb for trading him. That was by no means a bad trade.
The dumb trade everyone should be talking about was dumping Luis Castillo for Dan Uggla.
I seriously doubt that the Giants have any desire whatsoever to re-acquire Duvall. He is not at all the type of player they prefer. He’s not strong defensively, nor does he get on base at a decent average. He would have to play LF at AT&T because CF and RF are both too difficult, and the Giants alreadyhave enough left-fielders. Duvall is the epitome of one-dimensional players who are over-valued because they hit dingers. He’s just another Mark Trumbo.
Duvall had good defensive numbers last year. The idea he is a liability out there is ridiculous. No ide who the giants will go with in LF but if its more of the same it wont be as good of an option as Duvall
Yeah, Duvall just missed the Gold Glove in 2017, so defense is TOP NOTCH. His only shortcomings were two straight second half slides (heat of summer gets him) and just a so-so average/obp. Maybe the cool SF climate (and west coast in general) will help him not fade in August/September? Much less humid and much less hot in bay area, heck even in SD and CO much better summer weather (LA gets fairly hot).
“In left field in the NL, Marcell Ozuna of the Marlins claimed his first Gold Glove, besting Gerardo Parra of the Rockies and Adam Duvall of the Reds.”
You are right that Duvall is just a LF player, but has is great there from a defensive standpoint. Gold glove finalist for two years and led the league in outfield assists (Hamilton was second in assists, btw).
It’s one thing to play decent defense in a band-box, and another thing to do it in a real park
If Span is not traded, which is a good bet, he and Pence will probably platoon in LF. Had they platooned in 2017 they would have combined for a line of 284/.340/.454. I’ll take that over one-dimensional Duvall’s line of .241/.301/.480. Pence and Span combined for 71 platoon SOs. Duvall struck out 170 times.
On top of that Duvall’s career stats at AT&T are .186/.260/.386. Why would the Giants want a guy that can’t hit in their park? No one in the SF organization is clamoring to get Duvall back.
“…so-so average/obp.”
That is ridiculous. A career .296 OBP is not “so-so average”. Out of 144 qualified batters in 2017 Duvall was 132nd. And in 2017 he bested his career OBP by 5 points.
There is debate as to how much a positive it is to have a lot of OF assists. The theory being that guys are much less likely to challenge the really good arms. And why does he play LF exclusively? He’s the only Reds outfielder not to play multiple OF positions, Do the Reds not trust him in RF?
Doesn’t really matter who they send out in LF at this point. Its not Stanton and the team is not going to be very good
“… the team is not going to be very good”
Just keep telling yourself that. It’s not like Stanton was the one and only player that was the difference between them being good or bad.
Your right. Stanton was the 7+ win player that might have maybe changed the team outlook. Adding todd fraizer, dyson or someone else will not do anything. There is absolutely nothing that shows why the giants can contend.
Fantastic defense for the $29.5M Pence/Span platoon.
WalkersDayOff:
It seems you’re assuming that everything will go wrong for the Giants once again in 2018 like it did in 2017. Injuries to Bumgarner, Cueto, Will Smith, Melancon, Panik and Belt might happen again, but probably won’t Those are core guys, and that’s not to mention injuries to role players like Jarrett Parker, who was just starting to hit when he broke his collarbone, or Arroyo, Nunez, and Slater.
Factor in Moore’s inconsistency. He wasn’t just bad, he was absolutely terrible in 2/3s of his starts, but almost ace like in some of the others. He had 10 starts where he went a minimum of 6 innings and gave up 2 runs or less. In half of those he gave up only 1 run or less. That suggests a solvable mechanical issue.
Full seasons of the core guys, a bounce back by Cueto and Moore, and the FO moves to address 3B and the OF defense, and this team finishes ahead of AZ and COl.
Rockies just made 3 moves to improve their bullpen. So Col has the offensive and bullpen edge. Dont see how SF can pass them. ARI might be a little easier because they will lose JD but still a lot has to go right
Trade for McCutchen and sign Todd Frazier. Thank you!
This guy knows what he wants
Here’s a fact all giant fans know. That the Oakland fans are to ignorant to support their own. So the A’s have to go and try and take another teams Fanbase away from them.So here’s a little help,you might want to tell your ownership do like the giants did build there own stadium. Stop whinnying about the fact somebody else needs to build you a new stadium. So get off your whiny backside and support your team maybe they might build there own stadium and stay in Oakland.