Late Friday, word came out that the Giants had worked out a trade for Matt Moore with the Texas Rangers with the Rangers taking on all of Moore's $9 M salary for 2018 and the Giants chipping in $750 K worth of international bonus cap space which is the dollar value of Moore's buyout for 2019 option. In return, the Giants get 2 very low level prospects who are lottery tickets at best.
Sam Wolff is a 26 yo RHP who throws hard and put up interesting numbers at AA/AAA levels last year, but will miss at least half of the 2018 season with a flexor tendon strain. After that, he would have to be added to the 40 man roster next year to protect him from the Rule 5 draft(he was Rule 5 eligible this season and was not selected).
Israel Cruz is a 20 yo RHP who has pitched for 4 seasons on the Rangers organization, all in the DSL and rookie ball. He finally got his K/9 above 9 last season but that came with an ERA of over 6.
Moore came to the Giants at the trade deadline in 2016 with 3B Matt Duffy and SS prospect Lucius Fox going to the Rays. Moore pitched well for the Giants down the stretch including a memorable final start against the Dodgers and appeared to have game 5 of the NLDS won against the Cubs before a bullpen meltdown dashed the Giants hopes for another WS run. High hopes for Moore in 2017 came to naught when he had a severe regression while losing nearly 1.5 MPH off his FB, couldn't seem to command his curveball and dropped nearly 1 K/9 of his K rate. He pitched so badly and without any signs of turning it around, there was speculation the Giants might not pick up his option for 2018 despite the team-friendly terms of $9 M. Bobby Evans announced shortly after the end of the season that the Giants would pick up the option. I don't recall him saying the Giants would not trade him. Trade him they did with the only difference from not picking up the option being the option money came out of the bonus pool and the Giants get the two lottery ticket prospects.
Rumor has it that the Giants will put the savings from Moore's contract toward signing OF Jay Bruce. There are also rumor swirling about another possible salary dump deal involving Hunter Pence. The Giants said they would re-allocate Moore's salary to other positions which means they plan to fill 2 of their 5 SP slots with some combination of Chris Stratton, Ty Blach, Tyler Beede, Joan Gregorio and Andrew Suarez. They could also wait out the SP FA market and bring in a SP or 2 to spring training on minor league deals.
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Somewhat surprisingly, the Phillies signed 1B Carlos Santana to a 3 year/$60 M contract with a 4'th year option for $17.8 M. Santana will almost certainly play 1B for the Phillies, pushing Rhys Hoskins to LF and either Aaron Altherr or Nick Williams to the bench. Altherr has had trouble staying healthy, but I really like his upside. Make the call, Bobby!
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The Padre acquired IF Freddy Galvis from the Phillies for RHP prospect Enyel De Los Santos who put up decent numbers for AA Frisco in the Texas League. Galvis will almost certainly start at SS for the Padres and makes Yangervis Solarte even more tradable. Make that call too, Bobby!
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The Angels continued to remake their infield signing Zack Cozart to a 3 yr/$38 M contract. Cozart will almost certainly play 3B for the Angels with Andrelton Simmons staying at SS and Ian Kinsler taking over at 2B. Cozart is coming off a career year at the plate, but put up those numbers playing half his game in Great American Ballpark, a major hitter's haven. The Angels should have one of the best defensive IF's in MLB.
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The run on relievers continued unabated with Fernando Rodney going to the Twins and Hector Rondon going to the Astros.
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Thanks Dr. B for posting the info on the Matt Moore trade. I am happy to see Moore go and wish him well. I like giving his slot to one of the young arms. The only thing I don't like if I understand this correctly, is the Giants losing money out of their international signing pool pot.
ReplyDeleteGiants don't seem to have chips for a trade that they want, seem gun shy about spending big bucks on an aging star, so where is an option for growth? International pool seems to be something they want to keep open.
It's not clear to me whether the bonus pool money in this trade is from the current signing period or next. If it is from the current period, the Giants were not going to use it anyway. If it is from 2018-2019, then I would hope the Giants have not jeopardized their chance to sign a top international prospect on July 2, which I consider to be a big part of their long term rebuilding plan. They had a bit over $4 M in the next pool and are rumored to be in on a top prospect. Hopefully what they have left is enough to sign whoever that is plus a few more in the mid-6 figure range.
DeleteJay Bruce would not be high on my list: aging, .250 hitter, LHB, fair OFer.
ReplyDeleteHe hits better than his average @ AT&T.
I don't see him helping in triples alley.
Looks like a reach to get some pop.
An upgrade on Parker @ 20x the cost. jp
If the goal is to upgrade OF defense, it does not look like Jay Bruce is what the Giants need and there's a fairly big downside to the bat. He might hit more dingers than Hunter Pence, but beyond that, he does not seem like an upgrade.
DeleteThere continues talk about upgrades @ 3B: Does this mean Arroyo is not The Future? Was his 22-yo 34-game debut that bad? Or is it just 2018 is still too soon?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's just about Arroyo's rough MLB debut. He also broke his hand while playing in Sacramento and re-injured it in the fall and had a metal plate inserted to stabilize the fracture. At this point, he's just not someone the Giants can count on in 2018.
Deletemy rotation next season i think goes Bum, Cueto, Sam, Stratton, and Beede/Blach.
ReplyDeletePaul Matti writes: "The Giants are not going to land any big fish because they don’t have the prospects and star players are hesitant to play in San Francisco because the team isn’t winning anytime soon. Evans is wasting his core players primes, much like Ruben Amaro Jr (Phillies) did with Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, etc." Could it possibly be seen as fairer to Bumgarner, Posey, Crawford, Belt and Pence to trade them to contenders and superstock the SF farm system in return? Many fans would be disgusted but then again - imagine watching our boys on contenders: Bumgarner pitching for the Yankees, Posey catching for the Mariners, Crawford at shortstop for the Cardinals, Belt 1B for the Red Sox, and Pence hustling and PH for...someone, and at the same time feeling optimistic about several quality prospects arriving for the newly revamped SF farm. Cueto can bring great prospects if he's hot by July - some contender will grab him, too. It could be fun to watch the playoffs again!
ReplyDeleteBumgarner and Posey were major contributors to 3 championships while Crawford, Belt and Pence were around for the last 2. How is that wasting their prime years? My gosh! People write the most ridiculous things!
DeleteLook, Pence is untradeable except in some sort of toxic assets swap like the Dodgers just pulled off, but the Giants are only on the hook for 1 more season with him. Belt is probably untradeable until he proves he is healthy. Crawford is a good value for the Giants but will not bring a major haul of prospects in return. Buster Posey is not going to be traded, period. He also does not likely have a lot of excess value remaining on his contract, so would not bring a huge return either. The one guy who could bring back a haul is Bumgarner. The Giants need to decide very soon whether they want to be on the paying end of Bum's next contract. If the answer is no, and I think it should be, they should see if they could get several MLB ready players who would upgrade several positions at once who are all cost controlled for 5-6 years. That's the fastest way out of the current mess and would not be throwing in the towel on the next 2-3 seasons. Of course, there's also the argument that over the next two seasons, Bum gives them the best chance of rebounding and they should take those two years then let him go with a QO.
Totally agree with your sentiment doc. How quickly people forget we won 3 freakin World Series with in the last 10 years! I get it. Giants were a little too sentimental when it came to their heroes and also didn't take enough chances in the draft or sign well in the international market leading to where we are today. But by gosh let's not hang Evans and Sabean over the fire so soon like the spoiled children we are. There are many other fanbases who'd kill to see their FO try as hard as our guys have been to continue to excel
DeleteJ(SF)
Betting the farm on Stanton is one thing, buying pigs in a poke is another. Status quo hope is better than buying slop dear in this market.
DeleteWould any trade really help in the short run better than patching some holes and playing for 20-20 without losing sight of the long run.
Sell high, buy low.
Let someone else buy the lottery ticket. Put a good defense on the field which the Giants used to do and let the guys find the way to move the line. jp
Paul Matti writes: "The Giants are not going to land any big fish because they don’t have the prospects and star players are hesitant to play in San Francisco because the team isn’t winning anytime soon. Evans is wasting his core players primes, much like Ruben Amaro Jr (Phillies) did with Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, etc." Could it possibly be seen as fairer to Bumgarner, Posey, Crawford, Belt and Pence to trade them to contenders and superstock the SF farm system in return? Many fans would be disgusted but then again - imagine watching our boys on contenders: Bumgarner pitching for the Yankees, Posey catching for the Mariners, Crawford at shortstop for the Cardinals, Belt 1B for the Red Sox, and Pence hustling and PH for...someone, and at the same time feeling optimistic about several quality prospects arriving for the newly revamped SF farm. Cueto can bring great prospects if he's hot by July - some contender will grab him, too. It could be fun to watch the playoffs again!
ReplyDeleteDr B - I read that NYY would move Clint Frazier to someone if they would also take Ellsbury (and its 3yr/68mil left - but the Yankees would pay about half AND he can still cover CF) so I'm thinking their biggest need besides starting pitching is 1B (Bird). So trade Belt for CFrazier and Ellsbury? Both CF and RF filled for about 15mil for three years, but you've cleared 17mil and still have the 20 mil to pay Longoria at 3B (through 2023), assuming that that trade with Tampa can get done. You've still got Pence/Span platooning in LF, Duggar and Slater waiting to backup CF/RF. And 7mil under the CBT threshold. Maybe pick up Matt Adams to play 1B and hundley backup C. If Span salary can be cleared it'd be worth a chance on Chris Tillman SP returning to 2016 form on a one-year contract. Could this team compete in 2018?
ReplyDeleteGood one, Bobby
Delete