Yesterday I wrote about the Padres because of the late signing of Manny Machado. The Padres have suffered mightily for many years, but appear to be on the verge of not only being respectable, but also a contender in a year or two, depending on their pitching progress. Today I suffer because I am writing about the hated Giants. The best thing about the Giants is that they are projected for 5th and last place in the NL West.
The Giants are now four years removed from their WS championship, and they still have 6 members of that team on their current roster – MadBum, Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, and Pablo Sandoval.
The Giants’ player losses are not too problematic. Key losses include Hunter Pence, Hunter Strickland, Gorkys Hernandez, Gregor Blanco, and Nick Hundley.
For Farhan Zaidi, it looks like deja vu all over again. By my count (certainly nothing official about it), the Giants have acquired 32 players. Broken down there were 22 players signed to minor league contracts, 5 claimed off waivers, 2 acquired via trade and 3 free agent signings. The two acquired via trade were RHRP, Trevor Gott from the Washington Nationals, and the second was former Dodger Breyvic Valera from the O’s. The three free agent signings were LHSP Drew Pomeranz, LHSP Derek Holland, and SRP former Dodger Pat Venditte.
Two players claimed off waivers that may see some ML time this year are SS Hanser Alberto claimed from the O’s and RHRP Jose Lopez claimed from the Reds.
Most of us have not heard of many of the players signed to minor league contracts, but there are some notable ML players and former Dodger farm hands.
OF – Gerardo Parra, Cameron Maybin, Drew Ferguson, and former Dodger farm hand, Henry Ramos (pictured). As an aside, I chose Henry Ramos as a Portland Sea Dog as that is one of my very favorite locations to see a minor league baseball game.
Catchers – Steven Vogt, Rene Rivera, Cameron Rupp, and another former Dodger farm hand Hamlet Marte.
Infielders – Yangervis Solarte and former Dodger farm hand Donovan Solano.
The Giants seem to be taking a different tact than did the Padres. The Giants apparently believe they can still semi-compete without doing a total tear down. However, outside of MadBum and a couple of relievers, principally Will Smith, Tony Watson, and Sam Dyson, the other players have too large of contracts to be considered tradeable with a good return of prospects.
Multi-year committed contractual dollars:
Buster Posey – 3 years plus option year – $66.5MM
Johnny Cueto – 3 years plus option year – $63MM
Evan Longoria – 4 years plus option year – $61.5MM
Brandon Belt – 3 years – $51.6MM
Brandon Crawford – 3 years – $45.6MM
Jeff Samardzija – 2 years – $39.6MM
Mark Melancon – 2 years – $28MM
Like the Dodgers, the Giants have a lot of pitching depth. However, it is not nearly as good talent wise. With Johnny Cueto still expected to be out for the entire season, projected starting pitchers are:
MadBum (LHP)
Jeff Samardzija (RHP
Derek Holland (LHP)
Drew Pomeranz (LHP)
Dereck Rodriguez (RHP)
Others that will be considered for a spot in the rotation are:
Andrew Suarez (LHP)/Ty Blach (LHP)/Tyler Beede (RHP)
There will also be deep relievers, but again not as talented as LAD, but they should be fairly good. This is undoubtedly the strength of the team.
Closer – Mark Melancon (RHP)
LHRP – Will Smith, Tony Watson, Steven Okert
RHRP – Sam Dyson, Trevor Gott, Reyes Moronta, Chris Stratton, and Ray Black
Suarez, Beede, and Blach will not only get consideration as starters but also for relief. A couple of late minor league signings that could warrant consideration as dark horse candidates are RHRP Nick Vincent and LHRP Fernando Abad. I would also assume that Pat Venditte will garner his share of frequent flyer miles from Sacramento. Jose Lopez is another RHP to keep an eye on.
Buster Posey should be the opening day starter unless he is not fully healed from last years hip surgery. Aramis Garcia is the only other catcher on the 40 man, but I would expect Rene Rivera or Steven Vogt to get a chance to break camp with the ML team, especially if Posey is not ready.
The infield is a veteran group and should be set for the season until the first injury hits. After that? Who knows? The offense has been questionable, but the defense is solid.
1B – Brandon Belt
2B – Joe Panik
3B – Evan Longoria
SS – Brandon Crawford
The reserve infielders should be Pablo Sandoval for 3B/1B (2014 WS Roster), and I am going with Yangervis Solarte over Alen Hanson as the middle infield reserve.
The OF is a mess for the Giants. The five OF on the 40 man have a combined 905 PA, led by Austin Slater and his 352 PA.
Mac Williamson (LF) – 339 PA – .222/.295/.386/.681
Austin Slater (RF) – 352 PA – .263/.335/.342/.677
Steven Duggar (CF) – 152 PA – .255/.303/.390/.693
Chris Shaw (LF) – 62 PA – .185/.274/.278/.552
Drew Ferguson – No MLB PA
This seems to be wide open for Gerardo Parra and Cameron Maybin to make the roster out of camp. I would be very surprised if both do not make the 25 man roster.
Gerardo Parra – 10 years – 4,882 PA – .278/.325/.405/.730
Cameron Maybin – 12 years – 3,848 PA – .254/.322/.368/.690
The Giants are still in the hunt for Bryce Harper and if there is a team that really needs a RF with his offensive skills, it is the Giants. Will Farhan pull the trigger?
The farm system is relatively poor with the exception of #1 catcher prospect, Joey Bart. Bart (22) was the Giants 1st round draft pick in the 2018 amateur draft, and is the #23 overall prospect. He will be pushed and pushed hard. The other decent prospect is 19 year old OF, Heliot Ramos who is the #74 overall prospect. The #1 pitching prospect is 24 year old, Shaun Anderson. Anderson is not a top 100 prospect. Anderson was acquired from the Red Sox in the Eduardo Nunez trade.
It will be interesting to read about the Giants trials and tribulations this year as they decide what direction to take. I would expect Madison Bumgarner, Will Smith, Tony Watson, and perhaps Mark Melancon and Sam Dyson to be moved at the trade deadline to try and rebuild that farm system. But with their bloated contracts, they are stuck with too many unmoveable players. The Giants have no depth, and they have not corrected last year’s horrendous offense. The Giants over/under win mark is set at 73, and projected to be a fifth place team in the NL West.
Discussion (58)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Didn’t turn on the game until it was 7-7 in, if I remember correctly, the 7th inning. It’s only a small sample, but I was definitely encouraged to see these young guys stepping up. Looks like we have a bunch of really impressive young arms, especially Dustin May.
The only thing that discouraged me was seeing DJ Peters swinging wildly for the fences his last time up, following his 2nd HR. Sometimes it never happens, but Peters has got to realize that with his massive power, he doesn’t have to swing for the fences to hit it out. All that young man has to do is make contact, and baseballs will be flying into the stands or out of the park.
Santana, Gonsolin, May and White (the four really important young guys on display today) all looked mighty fine. That’s always nice to see when we still don’t really know what might be wrong with Kershaw. The future looks bright if you put those guys together with Buehler and Urias. The oldest of those six is only 24 and May is still 21.
Good grief our young arms have some serious stuff!!!
Like the Angel hitters, I was blown away!
Really digging watching (Holy schnike, DJ Peters just hit a BOMB for his second homer as I’m writing this)the young pups trying to make an impression. Now I can see why Freidman wouldn’t trade Lux, Peters, May, Kbear. Got some damn studs coming up. And where in the heck did all this young pitching come from? Wow, the next few years are gonna be fun to watch as some of these guys come up.
Wow, Kbear! Very athletic play.
Thanks SportsNet for interviewing Russell Martin during Gonsolin’s inning!
We haven’t seen the kind of gracefulness at backstop since Martin’s departure. If he does a fair job at the plate and keeps runners from advancing to 2nd then he’ll be great. It looks to me as he’s home now.
It’s easy to get excited by the performance of different players during the spring. But what impact do you really think it has on the front office as to whether or not an NRI or younger player makes the big club? Obviously, JT doesn’t have to have a good spring to make the club. But does it really impact the player on the fringe of the roster? Do you think the FO also looks at what happens during practices and workouts vis-a-vis the spring games?
This is going to be a fun game to watch, with all of our good young arms scheduled to make an appearance.
Santana has great movement on his pitches in this inning, wow!
I have enjoyed rubbing it in the faces of the Giants’ fans that I work with the past couple of seasons. They actually had 10 guys on the roster making $10 MM per season or more last year – they have 8 this year (McCutcheon and Pence are gone). The only expensive pieces that anyone would want are Bumgarner and – well, maybe Belt.
So they can’t trade players for prospects since no one wants their players and their farm system ranks either 29th or 30th depending on who’s ratings you prefer.
They are going to be bad for a while and it couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of guys.
Zaidi has been signing every AAAA OF he can find – their OF may be the worst in MLB. The infield has 4 actual major league players and all are good defensively.
The SP – it hasn’t been very good lately. You know that when Derek Holland is your ace (he was last year) you have a problem. The Shark and MadBum are supposed to be healthy this year so the SP may be better.
The ‘pen should be solid enough. Smith was actually the closer last year and will probably close again this year. Melancon is healthy again (maybe) and Watson pitched well last year.
They have no depth anywhere.
The only reason that they might not finish last is that the Pads may have the worst SP in MLB. The D-backs have enough talent left that they won’t finish behind either SD or SF, I think.
Wow – the NL West has gone from the best division in baseball in 2017 to maybe the worst in 2 seasons.
Nice write up on the hated ones AC! That outfield looks dismal!
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I admit to hating the Giants. I grew up in the era of only being able to watch the Dodgers vs Giants on television. I respected their players, Mays, McCovey, Davenport, the Alou brothers, Cepeda, Stu Miller, etc. I can still remember Vin Scully’s quip, “Due up for the Giants in the bottom of the inning are Davenport, Mays, McCovey and Cepeda. Doesn’t it always seem like they are coming up every inning?” With that said, I hate the Giants as a team, and as an organization. I hate their fans (as fans, not as human beings) and most of all I hate the City of San Francisco. It has an air of arrogance about it that I just can’t stomach. Of all the things I respect Jackie Robinson for, and there are many, his refusal to be traded to the hated ones, always makes me smile.
AC
I wanted to say this yesterday after you broke down the Padres, because your summary of the Padres made it a lot easier to truly see what the Padre’s have, especially for someone that doesn’t keep up as well with the other teams, in our division.
You ought to change your name to ACAQ, Always Complete and Always Quality work.
But even you, can’t make the Giants look good, although I never under estimate the Giants either.
I still can’t believe Belt got a better contract then Bumgarner, although I know Bumgarner signed that contract for security at that time.
But I probably would have tore Bumgarner’s contract up, and gave him a new one, before I would think about giving Belt that multi year contract.
But I am no Bumgarner lover that is for sure!
But if Kershaw could have had at least one post season like Bumgarner, I would be happy with that.
It will be interesting to see how Zaidi runs that team, in that big park.
I think the Dodgers should think about offering Corey a contract like the Angels gave to Trout, because after Corey has had these injuries he might want a little security before he becomes a free agent.
I know Boras is his agent, but Boras worked with the Nationals for Strasburg when he wanted to sign a multi year contract with the Nats.
I am one of the few here that doesn’t worry about what can’t be controlled. If Kershaw is hurt, he is hurt. The Dodgers have always done well when he has been out for short periods of time. I’d rather have Kershaw healthy and be the best in baseball but if other pitchers do well, others like Fergusson, Stripling, Urias, Stewart, Gonsolen; that will be fun to watch as well.
Heard that Doc said that Kershaw is still set to start on opening day, and that he will not need an MRI. Sounds like good news. Just hope this turns out to be nothing, but only time will tell.
And this is my first test of the paragraphs.
According to Spotrac: 2020 homer bailey 5,000,000 hector olivero 4,666,667 retained and kazmir 8,000,000 sierra 6,500,000 deferred equals 24 mil plus. 2021 kazmir 8,000,000 Sierra 8,500,000 deferred equals 16, 500, 000 these figures may not be accurate but this is where I got them.
By the way, paragraphs are now functioning – you don’t have to use . or –
Well ownership can say what they want but they are evaluating AF on more than just winning. As the initial contract of AF comes to an end he is going to say look at our performance. We win the division every year and have gone to the World Series two years in a row while turning a profit for you guys. Who could do any better? Hopefully, as expected they will get together on a contract to continue his good work with the appropriate raise. We will win another division and maybe get to the World Series only to flameout still trying to ride Clayton Kershaw. AF is not going to sign a high priced free agent on the open market. He is not about to take the plunge and go over the luxury tax. Kasten ditto for all the same reasons. Those guys are happy to win divisions and have a shot at the World Series while seeking every bargain they can find. We are missing that one guy like mad bum, Pedro, schilling, who we can ride to a championship. That may be buehler or urias. They seem to think it is kershaw I just disagree for obvious reasons. Financially, we still have kazmir and sierra on the books until 2022. Two terrible investments with little value. The trade, the Cuban contracts, and kazmir, McCarthy,, Anderson set us back for years. AF will not truly get out from under those mistakes until 2022 so wisely he will stay under the luxury tax to keep from further dope fiend moves. The next year or two the Dodgers will continue to improve their financial situation and risk contracts with blue light specials and injury prone guys like pollock. I believe he will try to sign bellinger, seager, etc which will be huge but they have got to get that hot, dominant starter like hershiser. Maybe we will have it with buehler or urias or someone we don’t have yet.
I’ll take the under on 73. And I’ll take the under on Farhan’s contract. Bad team, bad farm. Nothing going on up there, but the DBags might just give them a fight for last place.
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Unlike Bums, I can appreciate the fact that they moved to California together, and the historic players that donned the pumpkin colors without giving them any love whatsoever. I’ve been to Candlestick and have experienced the dirty stinking hated ones first hand. For that, I only have feelings of hatred and disgust for them. But, I will acknowledge their recent run of success and tip my cap to them.
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They still have a few years of bad contracts to get through and should be pretty bad for a while as a result. This brings me to the question. Would you be willing to suck for an extended period of time to win a few World Series? Think about that when we’re unwilling to overpay on a contract from time to time.
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It was a great start to Spring yesterday. Joc’s seems to be leading the LF competition after day 1, and he looks NOT FAT. What a blast! Like MT, Rios got my attention with that play at 3B. Gavin Lux looks like a ballplayer, what a sweet swing. Marnes made me forget about JTRM for a day. RedTurn2 can fall out of bed and hit. Kike looks like he got stronger / thicker getting his man strength. Not bad for the good guys who were without Belli, Seager, Pollock and Taylor. I wish they had a radar gun on Stetson Allie, he looks like a beast on the hill, and what a great name! Dick Mountain is ageless like Jaime Moyer. Yimi Garcia looks like me might have a career after all. Sborz really got my attention with his easy inning.
I used to have a snowmobile and I love it! It just doesn’t snow enough here to warrant it.
First n foremost, a shout out to Quas… Happy B-day and keep on keeping on!!!
This gave me a warm feeling in todays L.A. Times Sports pg.
“Dodgers had no directive to stay under luxury tax, chairman Mark Walter says”…
Say what???
San Francisco fans can be annoying. The Giants are not. I was a Dodger fan when they were still in Brooklyn and Snider and Mays were crosstown competitors. Both teams had to agree to relocate to California or it easily could have been other teams that eventually moved to LA. The teams will forever be connected. I prefer to appreciate both franchises and their histories.
There were many years where the only Dodger games televised were road games played in SF and road games played on Sunday. Those SF Giant teams had players like Mays, Cepeda, McCovey, Hart, the Alou brothers, Marichal. We knew them because that was the team on TV with the Dodgers. I didn’t like Bonds but when I watched him hit, it was uniquely interesting.
I am not a Giant hater. I don’t think about them. I look forward to a time when the Giants are competitive again. That said, go Dodgers.
The giants in last place is nothing but happiness. Nothing more today, 4 inches of snow last night making 18 inches this week and a record 38 inches this month,the snowmobile is ready to go and Dakota and myself are heading out the door.
I don’t know for sure AC but I think you missed your calling. Another great job with a first look.
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The Giants do seem to be in a mess but personally I am not very upset. Well, not upset at all. Those long term, expensive contracts do have to be paid and there is a price for the team to pay but not just in dollars. The maneuverability and flexibility that is lost must feel like the GM is in a strangle hold. Not only that the law of diminishing returns seems to set in early on the field.