It looks like FZ waited for the market to come to him and just like that, it turned and came to him. A day after signing Sean Manaea LHP to a below-projection deal, the Giants signed Ross Stripling RHP to an identical 2 yr/$25 M contract with the same opt-out after one season. I know you all are not diggin' the opt outs here, but more on that later. Ross Stripling was one of my early thoughts for potential Giants Hot Stove targets but then I kind of wrote him off because he was coming off a career year and thought his price might be too high for FZ's tastes, so I am pleasantly surprised by this signing. Here's his profile:
Ross Stripling RHP. DOB: 11/23/1989. 6'1", 215 lbs. Drafted in 2012, round 5 by the Dodgers.
2022(Blue Jays): 10-4, 3.01, 134.1 IP, 7.44 K/9, 1.34 BB/9, fWAR= 3.1.
Stripling has a 4-pitch mix of FB(91.6, 41%), Slider(22%), Curveball(10%) and Changeup(27%). All but the curveball were plus pitches for him last season. He pitched effectively in a swingman role but was pressed into fulltime starting when Hyun-Jin Ryu was injured and pitched brilliantly in the role. The Giants almost certainly promised him a starting role as part of the deal. It's not clear what the Giants might do to tweak his arsenal but maybe they don't need to? Maybe just ditch the curveball and go with his best 3 pitches?
The Giants now have a 6-man starting rotation of Webb, Cobb, Stripling, Manaea, DeSclafani and Wood. Wood might be better off physically if he pitches out of the bullpen and DeSclafani is coming off foot surgery so who knows how he is going to respond? Add in Junis, Hjelle and Kyle Harrison and the Giants have accumulated deep depth, possibly enough to even think about some trade possibilities?
*************************************************************************************
The Giants are apparently still in contention to sign Carlos Correa SS, are rumored to have interest in Dansby Swanson SS and are even rumored to be still talking to Carlos Rodon LHP! Either Correa or Swanson would put a nice capper on the season but it's not terrible as is. Add in a Taylor Rogers LHP to bolster the bullpen and I'd take it.
*************************************************************************************
For those of you grousing about short term pitching contracts here is something to consider: Over the past 3 seasons, the Giants paid Kevin Gausman and Carlos Rodon a combined total of $39.75 M. They pitched for a combined total fWAR of 12.6(including the shortened 2020 season) for a WAR value of $100.7 M. FZ should be getting all kinds of kudos for that!
*************************************************************************************
Churn Watch: Remember the Giants claiming Miguel Yajure RHP off waivers from the Pirates? Well, they were able to get him through waivers themselves so he is now officially a Giants minor leaguer. Churn on! Oh, and Jake Wong RHP was the PTBNL in the Blake Sabol C/OF Rule 5 Draft trade with the Reds.
*************************************************************************************
....and late breaking news! The Giants sign Carlos Correa for 13 yrs/$350 M. Yikes! But how exciting!
I like building depth in the starting rotation because pitchers get hurt during the 162 game season. The Giants have been good at fixing pitchers like Gausman, Wood who sign for 1 year. There's reason for optimism that Manaea can turn it around and Stripling was good for the Blue Jays. Maybe DeScafani and Wood are still question mark health wise. Wow I found out about the Correa signing reading your blog, Doc. Stunning but exciting! I'm happy that we won't have to read about the Giants always missing out on star free agents anymore and they kept their word to the fans/customers that they would be aggressive improving the team!
ReplyDeleteThe stripling signing is a great one at its price and is a classic Farhan deal. The Correa signing strays from Farhan history but I think we can live with it considering it’s annual avg. Especially if it convinces players to come to SF!
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Giants, Carlos.
ReplyDeleteI think, but am not sure, we still have some money, like $15 or $20 million, left to spend hitting before the threshold. Is that correct?
About Gausman and Rodon, we did a good job getting the results from both. That I agree. For me, it's also about whether we can continue and repeat that kind of success with one year plus option* deals. These same questions are asked of all strategies - scalability and repeatability. So I hope we can continue and repeat that same or similar kind of success from one or both of Stripling and Manaea. And I also hope that our pitching coaches and instructors throughout the system can scale up and help our up-and-coming starting pitching prospects achieve similar results, like we have done with free agent signees. By drafting and developing our own, we don't worry about one year deals for the first few years of their major league careers. If Harrison can contribute anywhere close to what Gausman and Rodon had done, we can hopefully look forward to many years of his Logan-Webb level presence on the team. The same for other prospects.
*These one year plus player option deals seem like basically the pitchers are given 2 years to prove themselves. If year one doesn't work, they still have year 2. On the other hand, if year 1 works out great, like Gausman and Rodon, they will opt out and be asking a lot more.