For a second straight season, the Giants appeared on the cusp of an unexpected playoff berth but ultimately landed on the outside looking in. It’s been disappointing for a fan base that has become accustomed to postseason ball over the past decade, but president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has already said that his aim is to put a playoff team on the field next year. Zaidi appeared on KNBR’s Mark Willard Show this week to discuss the offseason ahead and what moves the Giants could take to get back to the playoffs (audio link with the entire 15-minute interview available).
Pitching will be the focus, it seems, with Zaidi acknowledging that retaining both Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly, in particular, will be a “priority” this offseason. Both showed well after signing one-year, make-good deals in San Francisco, though Smyly’s season was interrupted by a hand injury that sidelined him for more than a month and limited him to just 26 1/3 frames. Zaidi acknowledged that the organization has been unable to help wondering what might’ve been with a healthy Smyly, who pitched to a 3.42 ERA with a gaudy 42-to-9 K/BB ratio as a Giant.
Gausman’s excellent rebound campaign and the strong underlying metrics that support his success could make him one of the most sought-after arms behind top free agent Trevor Bauer and should at least push the Giants to think about making a qualifying offer. Smyly’s continued durability woes likely make him a more affordable reunion candidate, but the Giants will be seeking multiple arms this winter based on Zaidi’s comments. The San Francisco president of baseball ops suggested that stockpiling sufficient depth to get through 162 games, as opposed to this year’s 60-game slate, will be crucial.
The Giants have little in terms of rotation certainty, with Johnny Cueto, Logan Webb and Tyler Anderson the likeliest starters in 2021 at the moment. Beyond adding a reliable starter or two, Zaidi spoke of “backfilling” the starting staff. It seems fair to expect the Giants to bring in a handful of bounceback candiates on minor league deals — similar to their arrangement with Trevor Cahill this past season.
As for the bullpen, Zaidi made clear that he’ll pursue at least one experienced option to not only improve the quality of results but also to serve as a mentor for younger arms who are still figuring things out at the MLB level:
We are going to try to get some experience in that group. It certainly helps. One of the things we heard from our young relievers was how valuable it was to have a guy like Tony Watson down there, who’s seen a lot of battles from the bullpen and served as an example for them on how to get ready — how to think about the hitters you’re going to come into the game and face. There’s a lot of value in having good veterans in the bullpen, and that’s something we’ll look to do.
A reunion with Watson certainly seems plausible based on that comment, although if the club has true postseason aspirations, perhaps a more traditional closer would be a sensible addition. Ninth-inning duties were somewhat of a carousel at Oracle Park in 2020, with five different players recording saves — none more than Trevor Gott’s four. Liam Hendriks, Trevor Rosenthal, Trevor May and rebound candidate Kirby Yates are among the most notable names on the bullpen market this winter. Even if the Giants don’t expect to utilize a defined closer, bringing in some established help appears likely.
While it seems like the Giants will be spending to bolster the pitching staff, Zaidi cautioned against any visions of a top-tier position player joining the fray. For one thing, National League clubs are still uncertain whether they’ll have a designated hitter in 2021. Even with a DH spot at his disposal, though, Zaidi suggested that the organization is confident in the in-house group:
With the way our offense performed this year, I think we can be really selective and targeted and maybe look for more complementary players than anybody who is going to come in and play everyday, because we’ve got a lot of good options there.
In fact, Zaidi wondered whether, absent a National League DH in 2021, the club would even have enough at-bats to go around for the incumbent group. That might’ve seemed far-fetched coming into the year, but Mike Yastrzemski continued his 2019 breakout while veterans like Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford enjoyed bounceback seasons. The Giants’ overall .263/.335/.451 was good for a 114 wRC+ that was tied for sixth in MLB, and their 299 runs were the eighth-most in the Majors. That was done without much production behind the plate, but the Giants will welcome Buster Posey back into the lineup next season as well, which should help the cause even if his MVP-caliber days are behind him.
There are, of course, incalculable routes the Giants could take to address those offseason needs, but Zaidi did indicate that he expects the free-agent market to be more active than the trade front — at least for the Giants. It was difficult to line up on swaps given the sport’s economic uncertainty this summer, Zaidi noted, and he also pointed to what is expected to be a deep supply of free agents from which to draw with many teams expected to be aggressive in their non-tenders.
Really wish they would go after Springer to slot him in CF, in house options aren’t the best but understandable if they stick with what they have
I prefer JBJ because of the left handedness and defense, but yes, I agree a Cf would be a nice luxury. Team is thin up the middle and allowing Dubon to play more of a super utility role would really add depth.
I’m curious about the recent JBJ love on these boards. He was terrible for 3 years offensively, with defensive numbers slipping. The RS couldn’t give him away for the salary he was making, and now people are saying they should QO him, and I’ve read many fans want their team to sign him. Was 55 games of solid production really that big of an opinion changer?
I think people might be surprised at how little 2020 numbers factor into team’s and GM game plans going forward. Does anybody really believe that JBJ is 18% better than the average hitter going forward? Or that Yelich is a .200 hitter?
^i agree cjb, would rather spend more for springer on a shorter contract
Jbj is too inconsistent
I’m curious about the recent JBJ love on these boards
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I’m not sure anything you said was accurate.
The three terrible offensive years were almost identical to Buxton, Kiermeier, a little below Gardner, The league average OPS over those three years was .742, while JBJ was at .727.
You have no idea of whether the RS were trying to give him or not. More likely, they set a high price and were willing to keep him if the price wasn’t met. There was absolutely no reason that teams wouldn’t trade for him if he was available at a reasonable price.
And his defense has slipped slightly, but from extraordinary to merely ‘really good’.
While I agree there is no way he gets a QO, I’d be really happy if the RS kept him for maybe $20M/2.
Hmm Buxton was/is a young player trying to stay healthy and hadn’t reached his ceiling. And keirmeier was considered a disappointment offensively. Strange comparisons you just made. You should look back at articles and chats on these boards over the last couple of years. I’m not making up the lack of interest in Bradley. The RS tried to trade him last offseason but couldn’t find a taker. They dealt the 2nd best player in baseball instead to save money. (And yes I know it’s not that simple)
I’m not making up the lack of interest in Bradley.
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Unless your name is Bloom, then you are making this up. Why would anyone trade for Pillar, but not trade for JBJ, if the prospect cost was the same? Pillar is cheaper, but the difference, for on month, is negligible.
Just out of the three CF trades at the deadline, from 2017-2020, which doesn’t include JBJ’s two excellent seasons, the average bWAR & WAR/650:
Marte 2.3/3.4
Pillar 1.6/2.2
JBJ 2.4/3.3
So Marte is worth Mejia, Smith & Frias, Pillar is worth Wallace, and JBJ is worth -0-?
That’s impossible.
Unless your name is Bloom, then you are making this up. Why would anyone trade for Pillar, but not trade for JBJ, if the prospect cost was the same? Pillar is cheaper, but the difference, for on month, is negligible
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Lol dude, ok. So everything you read everywhere is “made up” unless it comes directly from the GM’s/VPoBO mouth? Sure, ok. Cool cool cool.
Pillar is way cheaper than JBJ, even on a per month basis. And the prospect return was? A reliever ranked in the 20s from a very poor system. (and even this was thought to be too much for Pillar).
No chance. Money will be needed for SP..
I don’t think it is really a huge need to spend that much on a bat – if you don’t have the arms to back them up no amount of offense will win you games. There are a few arms in the pipeline but it isn’t overflowing with talent whereas there are a lot of young bats in the system
Buxton and Keirmaier can give you elite defense in CF, which San Francisco would take with a barely league average bat. With JBJ, you get the league average bat and a declining glove. Maybe he bounces back defensively, but comparing just OPS for CFs isn’t really telling the story.
Springer will cost more, but if you can get him, he’d be an impact bat. But I’d be surprised if the Giants were in play for him, he’s on the wrong side of 30 and is that Zaidi’s (meaning, in a way, Friedman’s) MO? From my vantage point as a Dodger fan, knowing the Rays GM tree as I do, Springer doesn’t seem like a guy Zaidi would go for. Seems to me the plan is to shed payroll from older, expensive guys and hunt for the players like Yastrzemski and Dickerson until longer term players can be developed. Though Yaz looks like he’s likely here to stay for awhile.
Btw, Gausman really impressed me from what I saw of him this year. I’d prefer to see him leave the division. And the Giants pieced together a fairly potent offense in 2020, the need seems to be a starter and more bullpen help. I’d guess that they go arm heavy this winter and in 2022, the Giants go for an impact middle infielder. I wouldn’t be shocked to see them go after one of the big SS free agents (not Seager, I’d be surprised if he’s not extended by LA this offseason).
I doubt SF goes after a SS with Crawford rebounding and Luciano not far off. Giants need starting pitching, so try to retain Gausman (without a QO) and Smyly, and go after Hendriks and Trevor May.
I’m not up to speed on Giants prospects, so if Luciano is rated that highly, I’ll buy that.
I don’t think Zaidi will have the sentimentality for Crawford that your average Giants fan does. Even with somewhat of a bounce back in the shortened 2020, I’d say Zaidi would let him find a new team in 2022(?).
Pitching, the Giants need it. Or rather, good pitching.
Would love to see them make a play for Bauer. Resign Gausman and Smyly. Trade for Lance Lynn.
It would be nice to see the Giants make a run for the final contract years of Posey, Belt and Crawford and transition to their youth. SPEND THE MONEY FARHAN!
Not exactly his money to spend. I’m sure he’d love to sign Bauer if ownership would pony up.
Bauer will go to a bona fide WS contender.
I wonder what they would give up for Lynn. Texas wants a nice package, so It’d be quite a lot. I love the looks of Seth Corry and Hunter Bishop; I’d like a package including both of them.
umm no way anything close to that would happen –
NO! I understand that would be a great haul for the Rangers but please no.
I was thinking more of taking Lynn and Odor or even Elvis and sending a larger package including Slater and/or Ramos, Webb, Gott, Coonrod, Hjele. But if the Giants made Bishop the centerpiece along with some minor pieces I’d be cool with that but sad too!
The Rangers beat guys say that they are thinking about more of 1v1 deals for Lynn and one really good centerpiece guy instead of a large package of 4-5 guys. Bishop would qualify.
that wouldn’t make sense either for the giants – gott, coonrod may be had – hjelle is untouchable he has been fast tracked – ramos isn’t touchable either. The Giants aren’t looking to deal from the system for on field talent – they are looking to sign or trade on field talent to fill holes or supplement the system. Lynn, Odor, Elvis are not the type of guys that the giants are looking for and they wouldn’t give up prospects for any of them
Yeah with the contracts of Elvis and Odor we’d be lucky to get another expensive guy in place of them. Eovaldi for Odor sounds nice, but I doubt that happens.
That would actually be a very SF thing to do is taking the Odor money to keep the price down but I dont think the Giants are viewing 2021 as a go for it year- I dont see Lynn on the Giants next year unless theres an extension ready made on the day of the trade
That’s a huge overpay for SF. Lynn’s not worth that much.
that would be moronic.
Texas isnt tradimg him until they open their eyes.
Giants FO is cheap. They laid off 30 people from their organization.
no fans mean that no one is buying their $15 Heinekens and $9 garlic fries
the local homeless population are sleeping by the gates to Oracle Park
all the tech bros have left town
its going to be a long road back…
I’m hoping for Jackie Bradley Jr and Tommy LaStella on offense.
Pitching is the bigger problem, seems like the Giants realistically need to bring in 4-5 arms. Would love to see them retain Gausman, Smyly, and Cahill, and go get someone like Stroman/Tanaka and Yates/Giles/Rosenthal
I think Zaidi will be opportunistic here. I know he hasn’t spent in free agency yet, but this is a big market team coming out of a soft rebuild. A lot of teams mentioning they’re going to be shying way from spending money this offseason. With almost nothing on the Giants book in the coming seasons, maybe now is the time for the Giants to be aggressive free agent spenders.
Yes and No imo
I think they do use money as a flex but not with 2021 in mind –
2022 now, I think Yes they will be as big of spenders as they come that year with a great free agent class to pick thru
Sign Rosenthal and May to go with Gott and the Giants will easily lead the league in Trevor’s
Ha! True…
In college we knew a Trevor that was a real jerk and so started referring to dudes we didn’t like as “Trevors”
yeah I wouldn’t get your hopes up, last year they had the opportunity to lead the league n dickersons but didn’t go for it
Don’t forget Bauer haha
Gott’s a wild card
It’s a good year for the well-healed to pick the pockets of the small market teams, so I’d offer TB Zazu Pitts and Anne Sheridan, and agree tp take Kiermyer’s contract.
Pitching? Bauer or bumpkiss. Whatever it takes; Trevor would be an absolute “rock-stah!” in San Francisco.
Giants pretty much got soaked for most Samardzija’s contract and haven’t exactly got a great return out of Cueto’s deal (except his first season) they may not be in a hurry to sign another big money deal for a Pitcher when the could have kept Bumgarner for a lot less Bauer will sign for
Shark’s tenure wasn’t what it was hoped to be, but it was by no means a wash. Same with Cueto. They were moves that made as much sense at the time as any 3+ year deal does right now. And it was time to make a clean break of things with Bumgarner. Hopefully he can find his footing in a full season.
Calling it a wash would mean the Samardzija numbers, money and stats, evened out. I’m not sure how many people would think that was the case.
The only positive is that the money became less and less as the market steadily climbs for starting pitching, 18 million/year in 2020 gets you a little less than it did when Samardzija signed. Of course he was also less effective and less available by the time his contract was coming up.
I think he should have been looked at as a reliever (and maybe should be tried out as that going forward). But I’ve never been bullish on Samardzija, even going back to his 1.5 great seasons with the Cubs.
honestly after the initial reception that kapler got I think SF stays far away from bauer despite the fact that he could help the rotation in a big way. Honestly as a giants fan – I don’t like the guy and don’t think he fits the team culture
I feel like Kirby Yates makes a ton of sense here. He would probably want to stay on the west coast and even though SD loves him I get the impression that they want to move on because they want more certainty than a “rebound candidate” even if he was elite in 2019 before he got hurt.
The Giants should sign Marcel Ozuna. They haven’t had a stable left fielder since Barry Bonds.
They were interested in him last winter. Unfortunately for the Giants a big bat like that may shy away from signing because of the ballpark. No way does Ozuna put up big power numbers at AT&T
That narrative might change now that they brought the walls in. There was plenty of power there this year for guys like Yaz and Dickerson.
Both of those hitters are left handed
I’m pretty sure the Giants stadium plays neutral for right handed hitters. It’s lefties that are destroyed by the dimensions out there.
With that being said, I think the Giants prefer a left handed hitter to complement their lineup.
Ozuna has 85 career PAs at Oracle park, and has posted a .295/.341/.500 slash line.
“No way does Ozuna put up big power numbers at AT&T” (It’s Oracle now, but always will be PacBelle to those of us diehards.)
______________________________________________________________________ Actually, Ozuna would put up excellent numbers at Oracle—even before this year’s redesign. But SF wants a left-handed power bat and, more important—NEEDS starting pitching and solid relief (Hendriks, Trevor May). I think that’s where they’ll spend their money.
There are no free agent moves this offseason that will get this team to the playoffs next year. This is just more hot smoke that Farhan is blowing up loyal Giants fans butts.
His comment about realizing that a veteran pitcher in the bullpen could help the younger pitchers really shows how out of touch he is. That is common knowledge throughout baseball for traditionalists and had routinely been overlooked by Farhan and Stat nerds like him forever. For him to now acknowledge that it might be important is either lip service or genuine ignorance.
This is not a team that just needs a tweek or two, this team needs a lot more good players and at least 1-2 great ones. Pitching is obviously the biggest need but since there is none this year in the FA market maybe they should address other long term holes.
If they were willing to offer Harper all that money 2 years ago then there is zero reason why you wouldn’t go after Springer just as hard. Actually there is one reason which is they don’t want to spend the money and never intended to with Harper. Just another smoke screen to distract the Giants fans from the ever lowering payroll which sadly doesn’t have a corresponding lowering of tix and beer prices at the ballpark to go with it!
Nor should it, ticket prices and player salaries have almost nothing to do with each other…especially with the Giants, whose portfolio is so varied that your extreme oversimplification only goes to show how ignorant you are about the way teams are really run (Strike one)
And if you seriously think the Giants are suddenly afraid of spending money and not just trying to correct a ton of the previous regime’s mistakes that’s another notch on your belt of ignorance…(strike two)
Plus, if you don’t like the Giants, Giants fans, or Zaidi, why are you reading this article to begin with? (Strike three! GTFOH)
there are a number of great reasons not to go after springer:
1. it will require a long commitment
2. a long commitment means buying decline years likely when the team is swinging up
3. he blocks a bunch of prospects coming up
.4. the money can be better spent filling holes that are needed in the bullpen and rotation
FYI the Giants rotation this year is currently
Cueto
maybe webb
so that is not good.
Wow you guys must work for the Giants. To think that the amount of millions of dollars a team spends on players has nothing to do with tix prices is like saying gas prices have nothing to do with the price of oil. What money have the Giants spent lately that proves they are afraid of spending? They are deathly afraid of spending and BTW acronym boy, the past regime won 3 world series titles so this drastic overreaction is just more of a sign of how ignorant you and the Giants are not me big boy!
As for Springer blocking prospects have you ever heard about how a bird in the hand is worth 2 in the bush? Prospects are not guaranteed but proven MLB superstars just cost money. They aren’t guaranteed either but if it aint your money then why are you crying?
I used this analogy before and it went iver most of your heads but going to see the Giants is like paying for an ivy league school education. If you find out most of your Harvard professors teach the same courses at the local JC Thursday nights for $25 a unit my guess is you aren’t going to be happy paying $75 grand a year. As Giants fans we pay Harvard ñrices for
For Jr college product on the field. If that concept is too difficult to understand then you probably need to go back to Jr vollege and pay more attention
yeah but a bird in the hand isn’t worth cutting down your bushes, committing to a long term contract when you have been going through the exercise of developing multiple guys to slot in a position is counterproductive. if he wants to sign a 1 or 2 year but that isn’t going to happen he is going to ask for 5+ years at least since this is likely his last major contract.
1. Trade Yastremeski. Not a popular move, at all, but Giants need pitching and could net some a good haul for him. You can find decent OF options.
Jackie Bradley or Joc Pederson.
You have guys who can platoon with either.
2. Sign 1 or 2 year guys to cheap contracts for the pen and rotation.
3. Need to find an mlb ready replacement for Posey if he is injured or out again.
Maybe James McCann?
see above. JBJ was awful the last three years. Joc was awful this year. SO you either ignore this year’s production, or you don’t. How do you ignore it for Joc, but say it counts for JBJ? I’d be so much more inclined to say that Joc will rebound and JBJ is not the hitter we saw for 50 games.
2019 he hit
.230/.324/.464 against righties.
2018 he hit
.251/.322/.432 against righties
2017 he hit
.235/.311/.402
So he’s been a decent platoon option. His biggest asset is his speed, which in Giants park, would be a great strength for him.
How do you ignore it for Joc? Same way you ignore many 150 at bat sample size for guys.
You also look at his body of work. .238/.349/.501 against righties in his career. Coming off a bad season means he’s cheaper than he’d be if he was coming off a typical or career year.
You could sign both for a fraction of what Springer and Ozuna would cost. Forming a platoon with current guys on the roster is cheaper.
Also. minimum 3 batter rule.
In the past you’d bring in guys to get Pederson and Bradley out knowing they are at a huge disadvantage against lefties.
Going forward I definitely think guys who have same side disadvantages aren’t as hampered by Loogys like they were in the past.
Cjb1125, I disagree with the “either you do or you don’t” sentiment… different players, different situations… I trust Joc to rebound more than I trust JBJ’s small sample size of success as translating in the long run. That’s not a contradiction, that’s critical thinking. (Which is odd cuz either way, our difference in thinking led to the same conclusion)
Trade Yastrzemski? Trade Yastrzemski?
I’d rather the Giants try and trade Austin Slater, who finally showed us something but is perennially injured.
McCann is in line for a big contract as he’s the best option behind Realmuto, so that’s not going to happen. Posey just needs to be a middle of the pack catcher and groom Bart, who clearly was not ready for prime time.
No ones gonna give ya much for Yaz, he’s too old with too short a time in the MLB…he’s worth far more to the Giants as the example to all the youngsters of how to hustle and play the game right
yeas trade the best player on the team for garbage! Great move!
Yes! Great comment. Said nothing about who they would get for Yaz except using their best trade chip to bring in pitching! Awesome analysis!
Just curious, which part of “trading Yaz for pitching” told you they’d be trading him for garbage?
How many Trevors do you they could fit in the bullpen?
Trevor Gott +
Trevor Cahill +
Trevor Rosenthall +
Trevor May?
Do you get a discount if you sign Trevors in bulk?
Maybe get Trevor Hoffman to be the bullpen coach.
Trevor Plouffe can be a coach on the coaching staff.
*laughs in Trevor Bauer*
He’s a Dodger and does not want the Giants to win.
I saw a rumor from Morosi the other day that the Giants and Rangers are two teams that are interested in Ha-Seong Kim. I sure hope the Giants don’t get Kim, he’d plug a huge hole in the Rangers lineup and infield.
I love al of the I’ll give you garbage for your top prospect proposals
It feels like a whole lot of wishful thinking on Zaidi’s part. ERA over the past two years:
Cueto 5.06/5.40
Webb 5.22/5.47
Gausman 5.72/3.62
Smyley 6.24/3.42
Cahill 5.98/3.24
Seems like everyone on offense had a career year, and are ripe for regression. No closer.
It feels like the strategy revolves around finding (re-signing) four SPs. It just feels to me like a few years back, when they signed Cueto, Shark, and Melancon to expensive contracts, all in an effort to maintain an aura of respectability.
They might be better off just allowing the inevitable collapse. Instead of spending $60M to buy a mediocre rotation, my suggestion would be to take advantage of Belt & Crawford’s unexpectedly good years, and move them. Take advantage of your wealth by taking on as much salary as the commissioner will allow.
I’ve been thinking for a couple years that they just need to blow it all up and start fresh, but they really seem resistant to that. Obviously they don’t want a lengthy rebuild, but the blunt fact is they’re just not as good as LAD or SD right now.
They keep getting these surprise performances that keep them in the middle of the standings, and middle of the draft order, but they’re not really getting any closer to being an elite contender. I will say that their farm system has gotten much better recently, but I still think they missed opportunities to unload rentals (I.e. Bumgarner/Will Smith) to replenish the system even more. They should in theory have the ability to retain salaries by trading vets too, which could have netted them returns on players with seemingly little value. Or they could be taking on more salaries in a Zach Cosart situation to get young players. They have a good farm system but if they’d just tear it down they could have a great one.
I guess my main point is, I don’t know how they sign a few “bounce back” rotation candidates, hope everyone has career years offensively, and then expect to compete for the division title. Especially in the west thats a recipe for a .500 team, not a division winner.
@CNichols: They opted to attempt to contend while rebuilding, and so far, that’s proven to be a savvy strategy. Really, you couldn’t ask for much more. Had a few more games gone their way this year, they’d have made the playoffs. Meanwhile, there’s an excellent farm system brewing.
I can’t say so decisively, but my belief is that they really wouldn’t have gotten anything of value for Bum/Smith at the deadline 2 years ago. Zaidi was all ears then, and managed to swing some pretty killer trades, unloading Dyson and Melancon.
This past offseason, all of the vets you’d have liked to have seen gone were simple untradable. They had negative trade value. There was nothing to “tear down” because the only coveted pieces the Giants had were their minor leaguers. It was a huge coup that guys like Belt and Cueto demonstrated that they still had something in the tank.
With so many of the old guard’s salaries coming off the books in 2021, it makes the most sense to just address obvious shortfalls, to keep to what’s worked, and see where things lie at the deadline next year. At that time, the purse strings can open.
Joe Brady sounds like he actually might know what he is talking about. Unlike so many here
“They have a good farm system but if they’d just tear it down they could have a great one.”
Yeah it’s hardly that simple or easy especially with how tightly teams hold onto top 100 prospects these days.
Stupid mask……Covidiot.
First off, Yaz is going nowhere. As for Cueto, I wouldn’t bank on him breaking camp with them next year.
Zaidi’s MO will be to find another Pomeranz or 2 this offseason, and try to resign Gausman (assuming no QO) and Smyly. He wants another 1-2 bounceback pieces he can flip at the deadline in ’21. As such, they may take a run at Robbie Ray, Julio Teheran, and even Taijuan Walker, although the price may be too high on some of them. If they lose Smyly and Gausman, they’ll (over)pay for two of those guys.
they have to be decisive. rebulid or go for it now. holding wolnt do them any good.
I agree. I thought it was a terrible move in 2019 to not trade Shark, Bumgarner Smith or Watson. To me, the question is always, ‘will these guys be around for our next contending team. he should’ve gone the Bloom route and just traded everyone non-essential.
@JoeBrady: I get where you are coming from, but I want to offer a counterpoint, even if you disagree.
At the last two deadlines, the Giants were very much in contention. Lookin back with 20/20 hindsight, it’s easy to now say they that it would have been shrewd to have traded these guys, but that would have also signaled “we, the ownership don’t care at all about this group of guys that rightfully played their way into contention”. The Giants came ever-so close to the playoffs this year – literally down to the last game. Those guys, be they Bum or Smith in ’19 or Watson…they weren’t “nonessential” to their competing teams at the time.
The last two seasons have featured a scrappy fighters who played competitive ball. This year’s team was every bit as good as the ’14 team that snuck into the Wild Card and floored MLB by going all the way.
I think that MLB has created a sad black & white dichotomy where every team either needs to max out payroll in perpetuity or just bow out and tank, and that’s just not a healthy culture. It’s overly simplistic, and it’s not how it is.
By the way, what did the Padres get for rebuilding and sucking for years and years? Coldcocked by the Dodgers, who in turn, look like they hit a wall with The Braves. You never know who will win; There is no surety there. All trading away the guys you mentioned would have accomplished would have been decimating the teams that had proven to that point that they were contenders.
So damn true! Thanks for saying this. So sick of giants fans demanding a full tear down. Who the heck wants to be a fan of a 55 win team? “Oh hey, don’t worry, we’ll be good in 5 years…maybe.” No thanks. I’ll prefer to root for my team trying to win every year. The giants have done a great job of restocking without having to do a full blown rebuild (see: Dubon, Yas, Dickerson, Will Wilson, Tristan Beck, etc). And 2021 they should be a borderline playoff team with a top 10 offense AND minor league system.
At the last two deadlines, the Giants were very much in contention. Lookin back with 20/20 hindsight,
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This year, you were in contention. Last year, not so very much. There were 4 teams ahead of them for the WC. That’s doable, certainly, but they were the recipient of a lot of luck to have stayed that close. Their record in their previous one-run games was 8-0.
That said, I don’t 100% disagree. In 2019 as well, my rather mediocre RS had won 14-20, and had just annihilated the Rays and Yanks, winning 5-6, by a combined 54-24 score. And that’s the team we were supposed to be. Unfortunately, we then lost 8 in a row. Except for that mini-winning streak, we could’ve moved a lot of guys.
Please don’t spend big on a free agent. Pursue another left handed bat to platoon with Longo and Solano. Why is everyone negative on Dubon? Should improve and I like him in 9 hole. What rookies will make an impact.
Dubon was used more as a utility guy this year, right? id like to see him get a chance to start and lock down a position. (maybe 2B and move Solano around)
LaStella! He’s the perfect compliment to Longoria/Solano.
I believe Dubon was the main CF this year for the team.
Giants aren’t going to win the Series next year, but they can start working on adding pieces that will be in place when they are ready in 2022 or 2023.
Personally, I think the Giants should do exactly what they did last off-season – grab some guys cheap with upside and see what happens. After 2021 Cueto, Crawford, Posey, and Belt will be gone and that’s some serious cheddar they can toss around.
If they do dip into free agency, Marcell Ozuna is available without a QO attached. Slot him in left and give him a 4-year deal. I think he’s only 29 and had a great (short) season. He’s an instant middle-of-the-order bat to work with Yaz and can be there when they are ready. His defense in left won’t be great, but Oracle’s left isn’t that big (Morse played there after all) and when the dreaded DH comes in he can swap in there on occasion. Other than that, grab some more pitchers with upside (Robbie Ray, Odorizzi, Hamels, etc) for cheap.
I disagree with anyone saying to trade prospects now as we’re only in the middle of the rebuild. You build up your minors with prospects, grab free agents to supplement the roster, and then when you’re really competing you can trade someone at the deadline. You don’t trade any prospects for someone like Lynn right now. Wait a year or two.
Pitchings not going to be cheap though…Its a good time for Jake Ordoozi right now not a good time to sign him – Id 100% pass on those mid tier Sp guys if I was SF
I totally agree its nowhere near the time to trade for Lance Lynn right now- 21 is another sunk year and thats fine considering how great the 22 ledger gets overnight
I dont think they will rush anything this offseason
Damn. There is so much interest in the SF GIANTS. You guys have got it wrong so far. I bet you will continue to get it wrong.
Why outfielders? They have future outfielders coming up. The need is backup infield for left side. Left handed hitting. Longoria played too much. Robertson is all they have now and he’s right handed. Solano second base only (moving around killed his defense). On 2019 his defense was decent but this year not cuz of too much movement. Flores is similar.
And starting pitching obviously. And one solid closer type. Re-sign Gausman and smyly.