The Giants’ rotation took the early spotlight this winter as Kevin Gausman weighed multi-year deals against a short-term return to the Bay. Ultimately, Gausman brought his 3.62 ERA/3.09 FIP and 32.2 percent strikeout rate from 2020 back to San Francisco by accepting the club’s qualifying offer.
Slot Gausman at the top of the Giants’ rotation, then, and veteran Johnny Cueto right behind him. With Gausman on a one-year pact and the soon-to-be 35-year-old Cueto also facing free agency (assuming the Giants buy out their 2022 team option), the Giants have long-term flexibility at the top of their rotation. As much as malleability has become a chief asset throughout the game, the top of the rotation is the one place where teams probably prefer some stability. The Giants have some work to do in this regard, but that’s probably not a box they can check this winter.
Elsewhere, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood are “locked into the rotation,” per Maria Guardado of MLB.com. The way in which those starts manifest themselves comes baked-in with more than a dash of uncertainty, especially given the unique incentives in Wood’s contract. His deal leaves open the possibility of taking his turns traditionally – or as an opener or follower. DeSclafani, meanwhile, has only twice made 30+ starts in a season, and he’s coming off a 7.22 ERA/5.52 SIERA in 33 2/3 innings – which included seven starts and two relief appearances. Regarding the stability/flexibility dichotomy, Wood and DeSclafani, like the top half of the rotation, are heading back to free agency after 2021.
Funny enough, Logan Webb, the frontrunner to land the Giants’ fifth starter spot, also probably has the most secure long-term future with the club. The 24-year-old owns a 5.36 ERA/4.64 SIERA over 94 career innings. In the short term, however, he’s most likely to find himself displaced from a regular role should President of Baseball Ops Farhan Zaidi continue to add from the outside. At least for now, that’s a real possibility, writes Guardado.
Interestingly, Zaidi sounded pretty certain that the rest of their roster was set. The Giants added Tommy La Stella to the top of their lineup this winter and Curt Casali to the bench. In the bullpen, Matt Wisler, John Brebbia, and Jake McGee joined the bullpen potentials along with Rule 5 selection Dedniel Nunez.
Could see this team winning ~80 games if things go their way
Edit: I am totally expecting the people who like to disagree with everyone try to shoot me down
Their team is solid. That isn’t their problem. Their problem is the lack of early-mid 20 building blocks, either in the rotation or everyday starters. They still have an old roster, compared to San Diego and LA.
Yeah, solid. They can get 80 wins but that isn’t getting them close to the wild card.
Not only that but they will also face tough competition in their division too. Dodgers/Pads are both clearly better and the D’backs are going to be relatively competitive
Zaidi was one who wanted to get rid of “old players.” He certainly hasn’t done that. Still trying to catch “lightning in a bottle.”
Well, lesse…
Samardzija? Gone. After 2021, Posey, Belt, Crawford, and Cueto are off the books. That’s $95+ million and all in their mid-to-late 30s. That’s also where you can plug in younger players. Heck, at that time if they want they can eat Longo’s $14,5 million if they get a better deal. They will have plenty of money to play with.
Looks like he’s going to do it to me.
I think a lot of people underestimate how dang smart Zaidi is. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from MIT and a Doctorate in economics from Cal Berkeley. To think he’s winging this and doesn’t have a plan (and contingency after contingency plan) for the next five seasons is moronic.
Redwolves3:
Do you seriously believe that a GM or PoBO can significantly reduce a team’s age in a season or two? They are getting younger, but it’s a gradual process. They were the oldest team in 2019, tied for the second oldest in 2020, and will get younger in 2021. On the roster in 2020, but gone now are Hunter Pence (38), Pablo Sandoval (34), Justin Smoak (34), Jeff Samardzjia (36), and Tony Watson (36). Posey (34) coming back replacing Bart (24) does work against getting younger, but in that case, the production will go up. But the overall impact is a team getting younger.
I think the Giants are going to surprise some folks.
Solid? They haven’t posted a season above .500 in the last 4 years. They’re terrible
@tonygwynnsd19
Big words coming from a guy who’s team hasn’t won 80 games since 2010…(didn’t even win the division)
SFGbreezy:
This troll is best ignored. Nothing he has to say has any sort of insight or objectivity. He’s here for one reason, which is to post insults. I’d say just don’t feed him since he isn’t interested in talking, or even debating baseball. He’s just a superficial insult machine.
I like Farhans roster management, I love Kapler’s lineups. I hate Kapler’s pitching management though, and I think terrible pitching will cause the Giants to win 70-75 this year.
Maybe if he had some pitchers, he could manage them. He doesn’t have much to work with.
I’m actually hoping for .500 season!
Assuming they only win 30-40% of their games against the Dodgers and Padres 80 wins might be a bit of a stretch. I think 70-75 wins is more realistic.
C-Daddy:
That’s huge assumption, and doesn’t at all reflect the reality of baseball. You can’t assume head-to-head records based on how good or bad teams looks on paper. Last season the Giants were one game under .500 against the WS champion Dodgers. The Giants had the same record against the Rockies, and yet the Dodgers were way better than the Rockies.
Records are the aggregate against all teams for an entire season. You can assume the Dodgers and Padres win win at least 90 games, and most probably more. But baseball just doesn’t work that way that you can assume win/loss percentages against specific teams.
@tad2b13
Yeah obviously you can’t predict win/loss records with certainty, but what I said isn’t unrealistic.
@tad2b13 clearly one of the few flaws of the 2019 and 2020 Dodger teams is that they don’t play Bad teams well.
The Lakers are like that too.
The lack of formidable competition puts them to sleep
The division is no tougher than last year. The Dodgers are still great, the Padres are improved, but the Rockies are significantly worse and the DBacks are a little worse.
And thankfully teams aren’t playing entirely in their regions this year. The Giants will benefit from getting to face the NL central. That said, I can’t see better than .500 with that pitching staff.
I think they will be slightly above .500 in the 84-87 win range, partly because teams doing the west coast swing will need to come through LA and San Diego on some occasions and will be pretty beat up by the time they get to SF. I think there will be bright spots but ultimately the minors are not exciting me as much as they are some fans and I think this rebuild could go into the middle of the decade before they are relavant again.
as much as I rag on the Giants I can see them being .500 if they dont get smoked by the Dodgers and Padres. probably doesnt get them close to the WC, but shouldn’t be a train wreck season.
80 wins would be a major accomplishment; doubtful.
Yeah we would only want to argue with you because you have a soundproof argument that the team isn’t awful smh giants fans are almost as bad as mets and dodgers fans
The Giants. Lol
Yeah but you have to sweep the Rockies
Dixon the Giants are settled…in 3rd place.
As a lifelong Dodgers fan, I always like to see the Giants lose. However, if they can stay healthy, they appear reasonably solid on paper. Much will depend on consistency from rotation and Posey.
When 80 wins is the “if everything breaks our way” outcome, that’s not good. At all.
that rotation is not optimal.
Zaidi will be redoing the rotation again next year. Gausman, Cueto, DeSclafani and Wood will be FAs after 2021; thus leaving Webb and Bedee (possibly) as only starters. So what is Zaidi’s master plan to bring back championships to the Giants?
Good lord, that SF starting rotation…arguably one of the worst groups in MLB
Those arms are gonna get HAMMERED
The scary part is their extensive medical records suggest it’ll actually be unnamed worse pitchers in the rotation most of the season.
But they can hit.
I see them adding bigger/younger free agents after next year. Gotta see how the prospects are doing this season I.E. Ramos, Bart, sean, possibly bishop. 2022 is going to be a good year for them.
Trevor Story to SF is a major possibility next winter IMO
Think Luciano is the future there, though maybe he switches to third.
Not a chance Storey signs with Giants. Besides Zaidi is not going to spend that kind of money Storey demands.
He may if he has the makings of a winning team coming up from the minors, though I don’t know that he will. The giants have plenty of money they are not the A’s, they just haven’t had a reason to spend during the rebuild. That said I don’t know story is the price they need with Luciano on deck and other holes to fill, or if the rebuild is at that point that one or two veteran pieces can make them contenders. I think they have to get something anything going with the staff first, until then I see the added veteran prices being short term minor impact fillers. I suspect story is going to want a 5+ year deal not a 1 or 2 year deal.
Redwolves3:
What makes you think Zaidi won’t spend the money on Story? There are reasons why Story won’t be a Giant next year, but money isn’t one of them. Zaidi was willing to take on Stanton’s contract, and he offered Harper more money than Philly. If Zaidi wants Story, and Story is so inclined, money will not be a deterrent to him being a Giant in 2022..
Considering 3 of the Giants starters are coming off injuries in the last year I would think adding a couple of extra free agent starters in camp would be mandatory. Paxton, Odorizzi and Taijaun Walker are the best names out there. Hamels, Shoemaker or Porcello would likely require Major League pacts.
However they could likely sign one of last years starters (Cahill or Anderson) to a minors pact as well as any of Brett Anderson, Homer Bailey, Zack Godley, Gio Gonzalez, Mike Leake, Jimmy Nelson, Anibal Sanchez or Julio Teheran to a Minors pact as well.
kinda random, but any word on Jason Vargas? havent heard from him since his option wasnt picked up by Philly. seems like a better innings eater then most of the market this year, not playing in 2020 nonwithstanding.
I imagine he is essentially retired at 38 years old and not having been signed the past two offseasons
yeah but there hasnt been any word at all. obviously that doesnt suggest he’s likely to sign, but not even a word about him retiring though.
Giants better off giving prospects a chance to prove themselves than throwing away good money for pitchers that will not make a difference.
Jimmy Nelson signed with the Dodgers.
Couldn’t agree more..SP’s not really deep right now, even in the farm and wouldn’t be surprised if they get short like the Warriors Center situation and just make due
I’m sure sumurdzja is available. On pace to.lose 100 games.
Awful take. Even Dodgers fans don’t think the giants lose 100 games this year.
Yeah PECOTA has them at 75-87 and I think that’s pretty spot on. They have enough decent veterans that I could see them in 3rd or 4th and not truly bad.
I think they’re in a weird spot with so many aging veterans that probably won’t be around much longer. This year they might be .500ish but beyond this season they don’t have the long term assets to be truly competitive.
Their starting rotation last year wasn’t as bad as their relief pitching. It was awful watching them blow games. On the other hand, the Giants had a ton of come from behind victories last uear to have the record they did. Still see them in the low to mid 70s for wins.
I think it is the opposite actually, beyond this year the books free up and the young core starts to graduate, this year I see them being right around .500: it with the call ups and being able to compete in the FA market I see next year as the year that the major league team starts to really compete once you see who pans as far as Hjelle Ramos, Luciano, Bart, Bailey, correy, etc.
Good luck to the San Francisco Reds this year
And good luck to the Atlanta Giants as well.
Clearly on paper LAD/.SD rightfully deserve to be at the top of the division with AZ/SF in the next group and have zero clue re COL or how much more tearing down they will continue to do but safe to say at the moment they are in turmoil.
If SF or AZ have any aspirations for the second WC the road map is as follows; hold their own in intra division and that starts with beating up on COL and each other + look to really beat up NL Central, wow are they down, and play above .500 against NL East & Inter-league.
Keys for the Giants, Posey and Cueto will be another year removed from major surgeries, clearly no long in their prime but above average performance by both over 162 games goes a long ways to a successful season. The Giants 40 man depth will be on display this year particularly the bullpen and they will be asked to eat a lot of innings, I expect some TB light strategy this year. They really would benefit from a durable #4 type who eats innings just not sure that person exists.
We can speculate all we want but in the end play the games and know the rosters on opening day won’t be the rosters in August or September.
The Giants can be sneaky good if Posey comes back strong after a year off and Belt builds off of last season. Longoria was decent last year and LaStella should improve the offense
esox
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Rsox
43 mins ago
The Giants can be sneaky good if Posey comes back strong after a year off and Belt builds off of last season. Longoria was decent last year and LaStella should improve the offense”
Dude, I’m not a Giants fan or a fan anf of any NL team, but kindly, keep dreaming about Posey, Belt and Longo. They need Bart and a lot of others. IMO they should have gone scorched earth rebuild a few years ago if they wanna compete for championships in the future rather than competitive mediocre – get fans in the stadium $ plan…
Fonzo2:
Well, as a Giants fan, I’m very happy that you aren’t running the team. Scorched earth? If they gave away their veterans for pennies on the dollar, which is what it would’ve taken to move those contracts, who is starting for them? Steven Duggar, Tyler Beede, and who…? Joey Bart? You don’t have to be a GM or PoBO, to see that it’s obvious that Bart is not ready by a long shot. He needs a full season at AAA. His entire MiLB career consists of 102 games in A Ball, and 22 games at AA.
Thank goodness those running the Giants now have fielded teams that have been fun and entertaining to watch. I can’t imagine how awful it must be watching your team get beat down every year, and the only hope is getting better years down the road. I have zero interest in watching my team finish in last place year after year for the sole purpose of having high draft choices.
I don’t know what you think scorched earth gets you, it isn’t like sf is hurting for money and just clearing a roster of guys by releasing them doesn’t do anything for you either, neither does getting returns of mid to low tier minor leaguers for guys. The system is being built up while the contracts expire and good prospects are on their way. Baseball isn’t a casual card game where you can mulligan and get a whole new team, it doesn’t work that way.
Giants are a weird team. Looks for all the world like they’re gradually rebuilding, judiciously adding free agents along with a trade or two, working their way towards contention … until you realize that basically the entire team is over 30. Their entire lineup will be 30 something except their CF (assuming Posey is the catcher). Their entire rotation except for the 5th starter. And even most of their bullpen.
Though they may well be a 500-ish team this year, they still haven’t paid the piper and had their awful years. And they’re coming.
seamaholic:
Too much is made of age. Last season the oldest team was the Nat’s. The Giants average was 29.7, the same as the Twins, and only .07 percent older than the Yankees, 29.0.. The Rockies and Pirates at 27.6, and 27.8, respectively, were two of the younger teams. Youth didn’t seem much of a benefit in their cases. The Dodgers and Rays, both at 28.0 were younger than most, but then so were the Royals, also at 28.0. It’s not the age, it’s the quality of the players.
I would agree with most of this but I think it has to do with attracting talent too. For example would a Josh Donaldson or Anthony Rendon, a Zack wheeler or Cole want to sign with a sub 500 team that is among the oldest in the league for the remains prime of their career? The giants are in the same position they were in 2007-09. No free agent with multiple options is coming here, if it looked like they were on the brink of breaking out with a loaded farm system but still below .500 they could maybe get a seat at the table, but with a middle of the road yet improved farm system aging roster and sub 500 season after season no one that wants a championship before retirement is going near SF in free agency.
Not a clever name:
Well, first of all, calling their farm “middle of the road”, is a bit pejorative. In the 2021 rankings, Bleacher Report in January had them at #6, Prospects 1500, ranked them 10th, 4 days ago. And ESPN has them at #12.
Plus there’s far more to a guy’s decision than the age of the team. You mention Cole, but the Yankees are almost as old as the Giants. Clearly the financial clout they have, as well as other factors, outweighed team age in Cole’s decision. The Giants have just as much financial clout as the Yankees, and also have a much better ranked farm system than the Yankees.
The fact that Zaidi has not yet spent big on a FA doesn’t mean he won’t. In fact, I think you can count on that next year.
oldass team.that can’t finish above .500. They’re irrelevant
Agreed. But as I’ve said, I think it’s just 1 tank year in 2022 and then the prospects and free agents return the team to relevance.
Really bad take, next year at least 3/4 of the team isn’t under contract so how does age matter? A lot of them are reclamation projects, realize that the projects have been paying off.
If last year was any indication they’ll need more pitching and overall depth for when injuries occur, but the offense should be even better with the addition of posey
The focus is really on next year, so anything over .500 is a win in my book
Do the messages bathed in green indicate anyrhing?
It means they are new messages
Thanks
Lots of talk about old roster but I think anybody who is a Giants fan knows that most of those ‘old players’ come off the books next year.
The organization doesn’t expect championships right now but with a top farm system and a few good free agent acquisitions they should be back in the mix for 2023.
It will be interesting to see how the Pads and Dodgers continue along. It would seem their riches are infinite but things change. I see the Pads with more growth and the Dodgers losing a few key cogs to free agency and now that they resigned Turner…Can Kershaw pitch another 3-5 years? And the elephant in all of this, CBA next year…
The Giants are not planning to contend this year. However, they will be more fun to watch. Last year turned out to be fun and they were just good enough to still be in the hunt right up to the end. I expect more of the same this year.
Next year they have a LOT of money coming available and prospects maturing as well. It should be more fun in the division then.
I think 2022 is going to be a very bad season for the Giants. If they were really planning on competing next season they would have signed more long term deals this offseason.
Yes, they will sign some players but the prospects are going to need more seasoning in the majors before they really make an impact. A one year tank will finish their farm system rebuilding and 2023 should be the season they truly start to compete again. Yaz, Dickerson and Dubon probably get traded too.
davemlaw:
I don’t get the logic that if they were planning on competing next season they would have signed more long term deals this offseason. I think, because this off-season’s FA class was thin, and next season is looking deep, they are just reserving their resources. Why sign so-so guys this year, when next season you can sign much better guys next?
With pitching their biggest need, they did retain Gausman who MLBTR had as the #2 FA pitcher. And I wouldn’t think the fact that they didn’t sign Bauer means they aren’t planning on contending next year. Maybe they did try to sign him. And maybe they didn’t think Bauer was worth what it would take to sign him.
The Giants always want to field a team that can contend. Sometimes it isn’t in the cards, but they aren’t going to pass on opportunities to do that when they get them.
The end of this year and beginning of next are about the young guys and the freedom to spend, I 100% disagree on the trades, yaz is very controllable and dubon is slotting as the cf and controllable as well. Dickerson may become expendable but not if the dh comes to the nl.
Every team was in the hunt last year
I’m not really digging the starting staff. Gausman is just not a 1 and Cueto I mean his days are numbered. He could go either way, turn in a great year or show that he’s on his way out. The lineup will be scrappy as always but they have a lot of work to do if they want to compete in the NL.
The Bruce Bochy Curse !!
Giants can’t beat the Padres to save their life !!
Settled in mediocrity!
I fully expect around 75-78 wins for the giants this year with a top 14 offense in MLB. Kapler bullpen management is so horrendous that I think they will lead the league in Blown Saves by a very very large margin.
Well a top 14 offense would be a step back, they were top 5- top 10 offensively last year in nearly every category
Dodger fans will root for the Giants when they play the Padres just as San Diego fans will chant “Beat LA!” when SF plays the Dodgers. So really, everyone not a SF fan wants the Giants to be around a .500 team just not when they play your favorite team.
The teams who underestimate the Giants are going to get beat more often than they win.
That’s only half the equation though. Giants have enough veteran stopgap type bats to win more often than they lose against AZ and COL. That division is pretty split between LA/SD and everyone else but SF is slightly better than the other two in my mind.
Oversimplification here but if they win 1/3 when they play SD/LA but 2/3 when they play AZ/COL then they’re going to be about a .500 team.
I don’t know about .500 – there’s just so much injury history on this team.
Posey was in deep decline and hasn’t played in a year. Belt is currently injured and may not make opening day. Dickerson and Slater most certainly aren’t going to play a full season.
Then you look at the pitchers and realize that every one of them has an injury history, a lot of it pretty recent. Even if you think Gausman was underrated and is hitting his peak, try telling me that everyone else in that rotation isn’t an obvious retread.
Who do you honestly think has a chance to be better this year than they were last? Dubon, maybe? Perhaps Yaz pulls out another good campaign, but most likely, he is headed for regression.
This team will all but certainly be worse than last year’s. .500 is a lot to ask from this aged out, budget team.
Scottn59c:
You make some good points, but I can’t agree that they will be worse as a team next season. And mostly I disagree with your assessment of Posey, saying he’s in deep decline. Sure he is going to decline, but I think calling it deep is a bit hyperbolic. The Giants were excited about Posey coming into 2020, because he was looking healthy. The pandemic screwed that up. As recently as mid-June 2018 he was hitting well. On June 9th his slash line was: .301/.372/.440 with an .812 OPS. Then his hip became a problem and he had surgery before the end of the year. 2019 was the result of that surgery and not being fully rehabbed.
The team is improved as far as the bullpen goes which was the main problem in 2020. Plus the signing of Tommy LaStella should not to be underrated. So even with some regression, which every team can expect, I think they will be slightly better in 2021 than 2020.
@Tad,
Thanks for your take, and I hope you’re right; I’d love for Posey to prove me wrong. I will be the first to concede that he has value as a catcher, but his bat has been pretty flaccid for a few seasons. Power, average, slugging, OPS have all trended down. And it feels like he’s also a GDP machine whenever he is put into a clutch situation. He’s now deeper into his 30s with a year-long gap. That’s not going to bode well for his production, I think.
Agreed that the bullpen last year was not good. Giants really need a closer and still don’t have one.
We’ll see what LaStella can do. I wasn’t high on the signing of Wilmer Flores, but he proved to be a very valuable player, so who knows.
Will they be better over 162 (or whatever it turn out to be) games this season? It’s possible. But if you ask me, it’s not likely.
Scott:
Well, you could be right that the year off was not good for Posey, but I’m hoping that time off helped him get healthier. Who knows? Time will tell.
And as much as I enjoyed 60-game 2020, we really don’t know how well that will translate to 162. Still, I trust that Zaidi knows what he’s doing. He’s improved the team every year, so I hope 2021 is another incremental step forward.
Actually posey was injured and then opted out so we don’t really know what he is, he could show decline or a resurgence depending on what is general decline and what was due to the rehabbing hip
Zaidi and Harris have been a huge disappointment. With a losing record this year it will be the first time in 136 years the Giants organization had 5 losing seasons in a row ! With Zaidi 3 years later its still about promises. As one of the wealthiest organizations in all of sports Zaidi is still carousel of bottom feeding hoping to capitalize on other teams mistakes and truth be told after 3 years the organization is no better off. They are running place.
Of course, don’t talk about the farm systems being better and you will hear about big contracts ending this year and cutting payroll to spend on future free agents….. For decades the Giants sold the idea they are a mid-tiered franchise that can’t afford big time spending. Check Forbes…the Giants are one of the wealthiest in all of sports. They can outspend the Yankees and Dodgers.
Either Zaidi has been given a mandate to cut payroll at all costs or his is suffering from paralysis by analysis. Hopefully the fanbase is aware and will stop supporting this bogus nonsense and either spend or fire Zaidi.
I’m probably not going to change your mind, but I would encourage you to be patient. Remember that the Giants were in a really bad place after signing a number of sunset contracts to aging, fan favorite veterans (during the Evans administration, you’d agree, right?). Had the Giants signed Stanton or Harper, their situation would be utterly dire: they’d be fielding a team that would likely be every bit as mediocre or more.
Give FZ credit for some really great bargain pickups. And he knows that he has until the end of this year before the old veterans are all gone and the wallet can open up. If it turns out to be the same schtick in ’22, then you can be rightfully frustrated. But in the meantime, just root for a scrappy team that will hopefully exceed expectations or at least be fun enough to take our minds off of the crummy situation everyone has endured this last year. The Giants have been through rebuild cycles before, and if ’21 is the end and ’22 is the beginning of a new era, then that’s about as fast of a rebuild while contending as you can hope for.
Scottn59c
Thanks and nicely done.
Curiously we have all heard the consoles of remaining ” patient “. You make a sound case. As mentioned things take time. The problem is the promise to wait until they unload the big contracts and build the minor league system.. Well, every move should be held up to the mirrored reflection of the Dodgers.
They have won the West 10 of the last 14 seasons. The Giants had the 3 WS’s but the Dodgers are the hallmark for consistency.
We have no idea if Zaidi will ever spend big. He has no history on his own other than working for Friedman and Beane. That in itself guarantees nothing. Check out Sabean’s first years with the organization. When he took over in 1996 the Giants were in last place and for the next 8 years team had one of the best runs in the history of the organization.
At this point Zaidi is starting to approach borrowed time and we have not one young solid addition that can be built around that are essential to turn things around. Not one.
giants1954:
I would suggest the only alternative to what they’ve done under Zaidi would be a full tear down and rebuild. I for one am thankful that Giants fans have had fun and enjoyable seasons, despite no PS, for the last two years. I’m happy to not have to suffer like the fans of the Oriole’s or Tigers, who did opt for the tear down/rebuild model. I can’t imagine they’ve had anything close to the fun we had last season.
tad Well, it did get interesting. At times more distracting with all the up/down moves with San Jose and the countless small time player acquisitions that were almost always a waste of time.
It sort of looked like a merry-go-round with so many players coming and going but really just represented bottom feeding. .
During the last 2 weeks of last year it was obvious the Giants lacked quality and didn’t belong in the playoffs.
I tried to count the number of player transactions that have taken place since Zaidi took over 2018 but it was too lengthy to count but easily in the 100-200 plus range…
If he was getting paid by piece meal alone that would have justified his salary.
But since he is fishing in a shallow pond with limited talent and an unwillingness to spend on quality talent unfortunately little long term progress has been made. As we all know the Dodgers, Padres and even the Braves are more seriously pushing the envelope.
“an unwillingness to spend on quality talent”
Again, ’54, the jury’s still out on that. If Zaidi took on Bauer this offseason, say, what would be the point? He’d be burning a year of Bauer’s prime for maybe another 5 wins in what will probably be a non-contending year. If FZ is going to compete with the Dodgers, he’s most likely thinking to wait until the old guys are gone and the farm has graduated enough good players to where he doesn’t need to purchase an entire team’s worth of talent.
I’m curious to know who you would have liked to see join the Giants this offseason if they had decided to spend big.
Zaidi was brought in to shift the focus away from pouring money into aging vets and into using analytics to find hidden gems (just like the Dodgers did with Muncy, Turner, etc). He has done that with guys like Yaz and Solano and Dickerson. Just because he has done that well with his previous clubs does not mean that he can’t or won’t spend money. Spending money is the easiest thing in the world, believe me. Just ask Bobby Evans.
Please don’t take my tone the wrong way, but do you really think the Giants are staging some kind of conspiracy to take money from the fans while fielding the cheapest team they can? Much more likely is that they are biding their time and waiting for the ideal time to use their payroll to maximize a shot at another championship.
giants1954:
Again, I have to disagree. I do not believe the small time player acquisitions were a waste of time. You have to look through a lot of rough to find the diamonds in the rough. If they’re obvious diamonds, it’s no secret to other teams.
But this is what Zaidi does, and it helped find those diamonds in the rough like Chris Taylor, and Max Muncy for the Dodgers, and guys like Yaz and Dickerson for the Giants.
If the Dodgers hadn’t had a more complete roster, and more prospects in the minors, than the Giants, you would have seen a lot more of those small time player transactions in LA. The situation in SF allows more opportunities to make those moves to try and find the potential diamonds. As he improves the team we will see less of them. But those are low risk moves that do occasionally pay off.
Dodgers have outspent every single team to win their world series farhans may have helped dodgers find some talent but the all mighty dollar bought them their championship. Nobody wants to see this product, hopefully Posey gets his swing back and stops swinging at pitches like Steve Smith swings at tennis balls. If your prospect isn’t ready at 21 years of age sign a MLB player to play that position.
We have multiple that look like they will be though, Luciano is on everyone’s radar where if he continues on the trajectory will be the real deal, there is a lot of talk about hjelle, correy, Harrison, on and on, of course they probably all won’t hit but it only takes a handful to make a solid core
Scott59c What do you know about Mission Rock ?
The Giants organization is CURRENTLY involved in a project that has been estimated to one day generate over $1B a year in future corporate revenue. It is a big time costly venture and took years for approval.
The Giants in a good year could generate say $2 to $300M in profit. Now if the Giants were a smaller part of overall corporate holdings…. how would ownership feel about the team losing money while they have taken on such a monstrously expensive project in another area ? Would ownership want money pumped into the Giants ballclub with so much else going on ?
You mentioned earlier something about a short/long term master plan.
Do you think any of the above was generally discussed with FZ at any point in time and he was given guidelines on what was expected ? No conspiracy theories this is business.
OK ?
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Giants won’t get Story because they have Luciano at short
What’s wrong with Story at SS, and Luciano at 3B?
I’d like to see Alex Wood bounce back. The Giants have had a lot of issues to overcome with horrid contracts. Samardjia was a grease fire for them. This minor league catcher that they have will be incredible.