First-year Giants President of Baseball Ops Farhan Zaidi isn’t feeling the pressure of the offseason quite yet, in part because the offseason action has shifted later and later into the winter. Zaidi doesn’t care to comment publicly about any specific trade talks or which free agents the team might be targeting, but he knows the San Francisco fanbase is growing restless, per Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Madison Bumgarner remains their biggest trade chip, but assuming the World Series hero stays in the Bay, relievers Tony Watson and Will Smith have drawn the most interest around the league. Still, their new President is in no rush to jump the market. Despite coming to SF from LA, Zaidi is a small market strategist who spent his first ten years in the game with Oakland before working under long-time Rays’ GM Andrew Friedman. Large market teams like SF and LA have poached front office personnel from smaller markets in part to better avoid the exact type of splashy free agent signing that fans crave. All signs point to Zaidi bringing the Dodger model to the Bay – which isn’t huge payrolls and headline free agents – it’s creative, innovative “small market” thinking first, and dipping into the reserves of their large market second.
- The Milwaukee Brewers are fairly confident that offseason signee Cory Spangenberg has room to grow in a couple areas of his game, per Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. GM David Stearns sees some unrealized power potential in the 6’0″ infielder, but the more actionable area of growth for Spangenberg is his versatility. He mostly played second base and third base as a Padre, with occasional spurts in the outfield (in 2017, he got 25 starts in left field). Stearns sees Spangenberg continuing with outfield work, as well as picking up some time at shortstop in the spring. Defensive metrics haven’t raved about Spangenberg’s work at any position, but even if he’s only a passably below-average defender, there’s something to be said for being passably below-average all over the diamond.
- The hallways at Orioles HQ aren’t exactly bustling with activity, but the analytics, coaching and front office teams are beginning to fill out. With less than six weeks before the opening of Spring Training, GM Mike Elias is comfortable being in the early stages of building, shaping and refining those departments. Nonetheless, Baltimore’s front office team is – in the fateful parlance of the Emperor – fully armed and operational, per Jon Meoli of the Baltimore Sun. After clearing out much of the staff both before and after the hiring of Elias, those remaining staffers have been given more responsibility until key vacancies are filled. Koby Perez takes over one of those key roles as the new senior director of international scouting, a position with greater import in Baltimore than perhaps any other organization in the league, as his responsibilities include the management of their robust international bonus pool money. Though they have until June 15th to spend that money, Elias and Perez recognize that the international scouting process is typically a years-long, not a months-long process, per MLB.com’s Joe Trezza, and they are in no rush to spend to the limit. Though they can spend close to $6MM in that area, they are by no means required to, and there are many areas internally where that sum of money could be put to use.
rmhtwo23
Last
Cashford64
Good job!
nymetsking
Yankees?
xabial
Mets*
*After Marlins
Slevin
Mutants?
Lefty_Orioles_Fan
The hallways at Orioles HQ aren’t exactly bustling with activity
Oh but the O’s blogs are bustling with exciting meltdowns and talk of politics because there really isn’t anything else to talk about, so I am laying off for awhile
Anyway, as for the O’s, their ownership is terrible, they have no idea what they are doing
Sure maybe Elias and the gang might have an outside shot of getting it together and making a run, I mean if Showalter and Duquette can do, Elias and his minions……
As long as the Orioles remain in the Angelos Family hands……SMH
Also, Chris Davis is an issue, heck the O’s should have made a deal with the Blue Jays to get Tulo and eat contracts, the Jays would have eaten Davis’s contract to the extent of Tulo, but that still would have been better than what the O’s are currently doing which is nothing, except talk to Boras which is like talking to a wall,
steelerbravenation
Davis has a chance to bounce back
its_happening
Blue Jays have too many 1B/DH at the moment and has no use for Davis. Plus his contract is longer and more expensive.
Samuel
@ Lefty_Orioles_Fan;
You’ve been a very reliable poster over the years.
The Angelos Family are who they are.
Years ago I moved to a city and found a position managing a 20 person department of professional people. When I came in and took over it was a mess. After a few years a lot was straightened out. But I lost good people that said they enjoyed working for me, but the companies inconsistent policies were impossible to work under. Two quality people I wanted to hire after numerous interviews turned offers down, saying they wanted to work for me, but the company had a rep.
In that case the owner was a self-made billionaire that ignored rules and laws, did what he and his kids wanted. He made the mistake of taking his company public on the NYSE. So when he shut out external auditors from reviewing financial data, the SEC stepped in. After numerous warnings for years, the SEC subsequently delisted the company to protect stockholders. Ultimately the company was shut down (all this maybe 4 years after I resigned).
It is extremely difficult to get billionaires to do something they don’t want to do. In the case of the Orioles, the family is politically prominent in DC, and they can get their way as the federal government is more corrupt and out of control then at any time in American history. But MLB is comprised of a group of billionaire owners that are also powerful and connected. Hard to run roughshod over your partners.
Keeping Brady Anderson in place with vague responsibilities and reporting not to Elias but directly to ownership, is – to put it mildly – not a good sign.
Have you thought of following another team or two? MLB.TV on the Internet is not expensive. You can watch – and even replay at your leisure – almost all of a teams games. Can follow them via local newspaper blogs, even listen to their local talk radio via the Internet.
Might be worth considering.
shoreoriolesfan
Brady reports to Mike not ownership. It was covered during Mike’s introduction press conf. And Peter was the problem. The brothers have other interests and only want to own the team not interfere. Obviously with any business the owner has financial say as in here what you have to work with, etc. I trust the brothers and Mike.
Samuel
@ shoreoriolesfan;
What I wrote is what I read.
Later “Mike” said he was looking forward to working “with Brady” – although “Brady’s” duties were not delineated.
In business this sort of setup is regarded as a mole, or a “[fill in the blank] in the woodpile”
Lefty_Orioles_Fan
Thanks and I followed the Rockies on and off last year., especially their run from August on. Maybe again this year.
SDHotDawg
Samuel —
For many people, simply following another team is not an option. If you grew up in a city and grew up following your home town team, there’s an emotional attachment to “my” team that is difficult, if not impossible to break.
My team is the Padres. Win or lose. I get it. As a fan, I also reserve the right to be objectively critical of the organization, and/or blindly support them. I feel the pain of the Orioles fans.
lilpartialbaldo
Would like to see Zaidi earn his paycheck for a change.
Balk
Patience is boring, that I agree. I just hope he doesn’t feed off the bottom of the barrel when he does actually move on some signings. Let’s see what he does before we judge is all I can say to this.
dodgerfan
I would expect the same strategy used in LA, go after cheap high risk players that can, on occasion, pay off with high rewards. Baseball is more exciting for me when the giants are competitive however that organization has been ran through the ringer and will take some time to rebuild. Giants fans will need a lot of patience
terror661
We will. We have had the Warriors to keep us entertained but that could be coming to an end this year so…. Common Shanahan, gotta get the Niners going again. Lol. Cheers mate
HalosHeavenJJ
Agree on all fronts.
williemaysfield
Who’s going to beat the warriors in a 7 game series?
Balk
I don’t think it’s a bad of a team as people make them out to be. This team had 30 blown saves last year, and if they would’ve won half of those that would have been an 88 win team. Strickland and Melancon hurt us big time.
snotrocket
The same teams that they should be dominating that beat them on any given night? They were up 23 points on the Rockets in the 3rd quarter and blew it. I’m the biggest Warriors fan around but they they look terrible every time they play a team with any legit talent.
cainer18
While I don’t think the Giants are as bad as many make them out to be, I think their blown saves are indicative of their overall roster shortcomings. Their bullpen was decent last year, so that high blown save total is just as much (if not more) a representation of their feckless offense as it is their pitching. Their inability to score is the primary reason they were in so many tight ballgames, which means their overworked bullpen had so many official save opportunities to squander.
If they could hit, they wouldn’t need to magically win half their blown save opportunities
williemaysfield
Regular season basketball and playoff basketball is night and day. Against The Rockets Curry and Durant had poor shooting nights and Harden has been on a roll. Granted they aren’t playing like a team with urgency and team depth is lacking, but they are still the team to beat.
terror661
We haven’t really played well this year. But I agree. I still think the Dubs will take it again this year. Could be the beginning of the end though. I sure hope not but this season has had me questioning so much. I just wish basketball players weren’t the most selfish humans on the planet. Warriors used to be considered the least selfish team as far as ball movement and hustle. Since KD it’s all iso ball and no hustle ball when we lose bad. Which has been a lot this year. Gotta get back to playing Warrior ball and even if Kd leaves we will be fine. But I haven’t seen Kerr make any adjustments and seems to be fine blowing huge leads or the team not playing as a unit. I can’t explain how a team with so much talent can perform so lackluster night in and night out. KD situation is the elephant in the room and when Draymond called him out it pretty much divided the locker room regardless of reports.
williemaysfield
The offense was terrible last season. 14th in runs scored in the NL. I know WillieMaysField is a low runscoring environment but 14th is still aweful.
terror661
Yeah. Have to play better defense as well. We had a billion errors it seemed every game. It all combined for a horrendous year. That’s how it works. Lol
Balk
That’s true, except for the fact we play in a huge ballpark and we have never really had a crusher at the plate since Bonds. We had a huge crash of injuries last year and if just a few of those return to form with a healthy bullpen they’ll be in the hunt. Real crucial how Zaidi plays with Smith and Watson in the trade market. Based on that outcome, will determine what path they are headed. They may be able to piece a good right fielder and some back up help for Duggar, if he plays the cards right with those two. Here’s hoping for a good chess game out of this new guy
sasafrass81
Giants played close games a lot TN last season with a 14th ranked offense, but having no power since Bonds hurts the lineup as a whole. Our BP was our strength and we got some nice surprises from DRod and Suarez. If the team had been healthy, we could have been more competitive bc we were in until September when the injuries piled on all at once.
We need health from our lineup, corner OF pieces to compliment our young guys and depth in our starting rotation as well as on the 40 man. I believe Zaidi is doing just that and waiting for the right pieces to add. He needs 2019 to assess our talent and see where we are at the deadline to see what moves he can make to fortify our system. This draft is important and he’s hired the right people that will be tasked with building on last years draft.
Our defense has to get better and should be better bc that was always one of our strengths. Do I believe we are strong contenders? No, but I don’t believe we are a mess as people and the media make us out to be. Zaidi has a lot of work ahead of him, but I believe he’ll be competent and we all need to have patience in this process. If he sees them as contenders or pretenders, he’ll start the process of retooling, rebuilding or “reimagining”. As my ex wife once said…”It’s always painful the first time.” Then she’d ramble about the kids drinking all the beer and we had no kids or beer lol
Balk
Hahahahaha, your ex wife knows it all! I don’t think the Giants will ever be a full rebuild team, they are a big market team. They have a couple of years before money comes off the books, in the meantime they could move some of the big bad ones and replenish.
SDHotDawg
The Giants don’t do “rebuilds.” If you heard Zaid’s introductory press conference, his philosophy is that tanking and playing for draft picks in MLB is stupid (paraphrasing). He said his task is to build a roster to win games from day one.
I don’t know if it’s on YouTube, but if is, it’s worth a watch.
SFGiants4ever
Terror, Go Sharks too!!
wrigleywannabe
I’d like to see you earn yours.
batty
The Giants are a mess. They have too many veteran contracts that aren’t being lived up to, be it because of injury or diminishing skill. It would make no sense to jump into free agency feet first and add to those contracts with more that won’t see a profitable return. Trading those vet contracts will be tough and bring back little in return. Their three best trade chips, mentioned in the article above, are really their only best bets.
Zaidi is earning his check just trying to evaluate the situation and bring a plan in to right the ship.
Central Valley
Mr. Zaidi sure has his work cut out for him. He’s definitely going to earn his money turning the Giants around.
Can’t wait to their feckless, non hitting, lineup on their brand new scroreboard
williemaysfield
The three Championships didn’t come with expensive free agents signings. The teams were built thru the draft, trades, and smart off the radar free agent signings like Blanco, Torres, Vogelsong, and Affeldt. They did spend big for 2007 and 2008 with Zito and Rowand.
baseballpun
Over/under 2.5 more infielders signed by the Brewers this off-season.
stevewpants
Over
Vanilla Good
For the entire organization yeah over!
stevewpants
Star Wars quote wins the day!!!! I’m wondering though if it was meant to predict a similar calamitous outcome for the Baltimore rebuild?
steelerbravenation
Wouldn’t mind Wil Smith on the Braves.
wiggysf
Me neither, but he won’t come cheap. He was one of the best relievers in the game last year.
williemaysfield
Braves would be a good trade partner with the Giants. Watson, Smith, and Bum are really the only Trade chips the Giants have on the big league roster, but those players seem more like trade deadline moves with a team making a playoff push. Looks like the Braves are going to wait out the market. They made their move with Donaldson and now they wait.
terror661
Giants have like 4 Zito type contracts in their last few years. So once those are gone we should be ready to compete again. In the meantime, gotta take the bad seasons and capitalize with draft capital. And actually draft and develop well like we used to not many moons ago… I trust this guy as he worked in Oakland where they seem to compete every year with next to nothing as far as money. I’m not trippin if we don’t compete for a few more years. I never thought the Giants would win even one champion in my lifetime let alone three and make it to 5. Would be cool to see them win one more this decade but I’m not holding my breathe. The National League has been so weak besides only a few teams the past few years though it makes you believe it’s almost possible with a total crap lineup… Cheers faithful…
dodgerfan
I would expect the same strategy used in LA, go after cheap high risk players that can, on occasion, pay off with high rewards. Baseball is more exciting for me when the giants are competitive however that organization has been ran through the ringer and will take some time to rebuild. Giants fans will need a lot of patience
rxbrgr
Great Star Wars reference.
Clark K32
What are you talking about? The dodger way isn’t huge payrolls? They currently have the 4th highest payroll & last year operated at just under $200 mil. They have consistently acquired big contracts through trades & re-signed their own guys at great cost.
Zaidi is just being noncommittal. He doesn’t want to go all in for reasons only he knows (yes, I know that’d be extremely expensive, especially considering the number of bad deals they already have) & he doesn’t have the guts to tear it all down & start over. Instead, the Giants will crawl towards the future. Very innovative.
terror661
Agreed… He had guts letting Strickland go I felt though. Too many fans and people held his ERA to a gold standard when in reality the guy only has one pitch. And that was a fastball with no movement. Upper 90s with no movement is Bp in the big leagues and Strickland was coddled by Evans and Bochy. Should have been gone 4 years ago. 3 at least. We held onto other bad bullpen arms for too long as well. But finally let go after costing us the 2016 playoffs. So I don’t mean to just single out Strickland. I could list countless failures we kept in the pen for too long. I think this guy will get back to Giants draft and develop ways pre WS runs. Which is how it should have always stayed. Idk how our farm went from one of the best to worst in 5-6 years but it sure did. I don’t want to hear low draft picks cause that’s no excuse. You can find talent in later rounds.
arc89
Strickland is gone more because of his attitude. Most giant players couldn’t stand him for what he brings to the bullpen he takes away twice as much in team chemistry. There is not much Ziada can do to make them playoff contenders this year. Waiting out and getting rid of all the bad contracts is the best thing for the team. They should work on building a better bullpen with some cheap FA signings. Harper or machado do not make them playoff contenders.
terror661
His attitude was not good either. No denying that. I got into 3-4 twitter spats with him and I’m just a nobody fan. Over the most random of things as well. He would post like random NRA stuff saying Sandy Hook was fake back in the day and like pro white supremacist stuff then immediately reply if you just said anything he didn’t agree with… It was like he was just wanting to start crap with random people. Then he would threaten people on Twitter that didn’t agree with him. I still have no idea how TMZ or MLB or anyone never addressed any of that. Strickland was such a nobody that no one cares his a crazy person that threatened people on Twitter I guess… So I can only imagine how he was in the locker room. Despite all of that I would still root for the guy cause he wore a Giants uniform. Very happy he is gone. He won’t be missed.
arc89
Somebody will end up picking him up just because he can pitch. Giants will be better without him by getting rid of all the bad chemistry he brings. Let’s not forget how he cost Morse his career with the bean ball incident that was not needed.
mt in baltimore
They are anything but a small payroll team…
terror661
That’s what he said
jekporkins
I got to think Zaidi is waiting for the free agent market to die down before he tries any moves. He was never going for Corbin or Harper, he’s looking for affordable value and for teams that miss out looking for bullpen pieces. I suspect 2019 will be a down year and he’s looking at 2020 and 2021. With that said, I believe he’ll move Watson and Smith, either for prospects or as packages that also relieve them of some unfortunate contracts. It’s exactly what the Dodgers did the last half-decade. He’ll most likely get a cheap veteran to help out in the outfield right before spring training starts.
bobtillman
You can almost excuse the Oriole folks from being too busy trying to repair the infrastructure of the organization, rather than making any big personnel moves. Dan Duquette is rather famous for being behind the times on many things as a GM; see Red Sox pre-John Henry days. One of the things that made Theo (who replaced him) so successful was that he’s an organizational guru, and the Sox FO was just a mess after Duquette.
And let’s face it; the O’s are a train wreck on its way to a dumpster fire. They could sign 17 free agents, and they’d still be a last place team. I suspect they have to get the MASN business straightened out before they can get any real sense of direction.
True, they have about 6M left to spend on the International market. But if you don’t have the scouts or technology to take advantage of that, it’s better off redirecting it to other areas.
What’s troublesome is that Elias wants to be his own Scouting Director…that hasn’t worked anywhere.
Bobby Mongan
I think the O’s will be fine. Let Elias and crew get the first under their belt and get a better reading of what talent they do have based on their style of baseball and baseball methodology. Then they can weed out the roster and remove players that don’t fit their future vision or plans for this organization. There will be growing pains… but there also almost certainly be progress.
Bobby Mongan
That was supposed to read “first season”
And … there wasn’t supposed to be 2 posts… sorry
Rex Block
The Orioles — and the Angelos family, specifically — need to resolve the MASN dispute with the Nationals and pay the fair share of TV revenue to the Lerners that the Orioles agreed to years ago. It’s ridiculous and absurd the dispute has gone on this long, and it’s only getting worse as the awards are collecting interest in abeyance. It is my fervent hope this resolution breaks the TV deal once and for all, and gives the Nationals control of their own revenue stream.
leftcoaster
Giants might as well initiate a complete tear down. They’re absolutely horrible.
James McCorkell
Still waiting to see if the Giants go for it next year or rebuild. They should rebuild.
Central Valley
I doubt Harper would even consider the Giants but I know they’d be able to market the heck out of him recouping his salary plus more.
Plus, the new scoreboard with Harper on it…
Central Valley
Hoping Joe Panik has a nice, healthy, bounce back this year.
James McCorkell
If Panik is heathy, he could have a good year.
ThatBallwasBryzzoed
Brewers dont have enough to get bumgarner. Pretty sure at this point MadBum cant choose where he wants to go. Milwaukee would be very not a place he would approve a trade too
RedRooster
Bumgarner doesn’t have any kind of no-trade protection and while I don’t see Bumgarner going to Milwaukee without Keston Hiura coming back to San Francisco, the Brewers have enough trade chips to get him if they want him.