21. Diego Velasquez SS/2B. DOB: 10/1/2003. B-S, T-R. 6'1", 150 lbs. Rule 5 Eligible Dec. 2025.
2023(A): .298/.387/.434, 8 HR, 23 SB, 10.8 BB%, 15.9 K%, 517 PA.
I saw Velasquez play in person late last season. I guarantee he does not weigh 150 lbs. There are a lot of things I really like about Velasquez: Switch-hitting middle infield prospect, young for level, makes contact and hits for average while showing the patience to draw double-digit walk percentages, speed to steal over 20 bases, even a hint of power with room to grow into more. 2 more years of development before the Giants have to make a Rule 5 roster decision on him. The move up from SJ to S-K has been tough on young prospects the last two years. In fact that seems to be a bigger transition than A+ to AA now. Here's hoping Diego bucks that trend.
Do you think the Giants will make a move on another SP (Snell or Montgomery) or a hitter (Bellinger) or a "popular" favorite (Chapman) OR are they done?
ReplyDeleteI think the Boras clients are asking for more than leaguewide ownership/management values them. Boras is waiting for someone to blink, so to speak. I think FZ probably is open to adding but feels he could start the season with the current roster if he has to so is waiting for the market to come to him. Sometimes that strategy works but sometimes the market moves away instead.
DeleteProbably should add into the choices a power DH, but considering they would have to severely overpay to get a power hitter to play 81 games a year @ Oracle, that may be moot.
DeleteOTOH, maybe they should paint a line on the right field wall at 15 to 20 feet above the ground to turn some wallbangers into HRs?
Brandon Belt
DeleteGiants have plenty of money to sign Belt, but why would he sign with SF unless it's an overpay? They snubbed him last year in favor of a huge overpay for Pederson.
DeleteFor certain he will always see a LHP late in any close game – his splits haven't improved.
Belt was platooned last year by the BJ's. His career splits are not that bad.
DeleteI don't see it as a snub. Belt was coming off a very generous QO year and was obviously not going to get anything close to that again. I am sure he wanted to test his value on the open market. In that situation players almost never end up re-signing with their previous team.
DeleteI'm wondering how much payroll $ do the Giants have left to reach the CBT threshold of $237 mil? I'm finding that figuring that out is confusing, lol. According to Cots, the Giants haven't gone over the CBT since Greg Johnson became the lead owner. Also we don't know what their payroll break even point is that Greg Johnson mentioned is important to ownership.
ReplyDeleteIt appears to me the Giants could take on approximately $30 M in additional salary for 2024 but they may want to leave some room below that to add midseason. You are right, though, we don't know if ownership set a budget or if they did, what that budget might be. It might be a "soft" budget where it's a payroll target that can be broken through, but only if FZ can sell ownership it's an essential add.
DeleteThanks Doc, your explanation makes a lot of sense. Giants ownership are willing to spend, but not wildly, ranking 9th in MLB payroll in 2023. Nothing wrong with that and having a budget. Duane kuiper said on KNBR that he doesn't think the Giants are done making roster additions. Casey Schmidt said that the team told him not to give out his uniform # Incase there is a future signing. We will see what happens.
DeleteI should say I think they have about $30 M in AAV to add in 2024. CBT is based on AAV of the contract rather than what is actually paid out in any given year.
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