Jordan Hicks pitched an electric 3 innings and the Giants scored 5 runs in a pivotal 7'th inning for a spring training win. Key Lines:
Wilmer Flores 1B- 2 for 3, 2B, BB. BA= .412. Wilmer is quietly one of the Giants best hitters this spring. So, what else is new?
Trenton Brooks PR/1B- 1 for 1, 2B, SB(1). BA= .500. Another guy who is quietly having a great spring. Brooks is an intriguing sleeper in the system. Acquired last August for Sean Newcomb LHP. Brooks is limited defensively but appears to have a serious bat.
Matt Chapman 3B- 1 for 2, BB. BA= .500. Chapman makes his 2024 spring training debut. More on this later. All I can say is I hope he vindicates FZ's ham-handed handling of the J. D. Davis situation.
Wade Meckler LF- 1 for 1, SB(2). BA= .400. Meckler broke his bat on the hit, but it drove in 2 runs.
Giants hitters drew a total of 11 walks in the game including 2 each by Tyler Fitzgerald PR/CF, Casey Schmitt PR/3B and Nick Ahmed SS.
Jordan Hicks RHP- 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K's. ER= 4.91. Hicks was electric and he said he dialed it back a bit because he wasn't feeling 100%.
Mason Black RHP- 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 K. ERA= 5.14. Black loaded the bases on 3 infield hits before he recorded an out. He got out of it allowing just 1 run.
Landon Roupp RHP- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 2 K's. ERA= 0.00. Roupp made his spring debut and it was sensational as he hit 97 MPH on the radar gun and showed off a knee buckling hard curve to finish batters off. Roupp is another reason the Giant may feel they don't have to cave to free agent or trade demands for a fronline SP. He was sidelined last year with a bad back.
Camilo Doval RHP, Tyler Rogers RHP and Spencer Bivens RHP pitched a scoreless inning each.
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In a shocking development, the Giants reportedly DFA'd J. D. Davis in the wake of the Chapman signing. It was obvious from long before the signing there was not room on the roster for both players. In a twist that I was not aware of until reported by the Giants beat writers, if Davis clears waivers the Giants can release him and owe him only a small prorated fraction of his $6.9 M salary because he won it in arbitration. Winning arbitration salaries are not guaranteed. Davis would then be able to cut the best deal he can find as a free agent but the there are several hitters at least as good as him still unsigned so the market looks rather bleak for him. You have to think the Giants were well aware of this wrinkle all along and that it factored into their signing of Chapman who now only costs them a net $11 M in the first year of his contract.
It all makes a lot more sense now and it is a savvy move by FZ but I still don't like how Davis got treated and I'm sure that is not going be lost on players around the league. It also makes me wonder if maybe FZ could have sold high on him at the trade deadline last season, a possible missed opportunity to amplify the return on the Darin Ruf trade.
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On a happier note, while Thursday's game against the Dodgers was officially cancelled by rain, Kyle Harrison LHP was tremendous with 6 K's in 2.2 IP against the hated rivals. Speaking of which.....Mookie Betts is now the Dodgers starting SS due to throwing issues for Gavin Lux and lack of hitting by Miguel Rojas. Hey! Betts is a great player and athlete so it may work out, but it sure seems like the Dodgers are playing with fire here.
Good post Doc. Although FZ gets the credit for signing Chapman, it seems like BoMel was pushing the FO hard to sign Chapman. FZ signed him since the price came down . Chapman's 1st year with the A's was 2017. FZ left the A's for the Dodgers in 2014. FZ doesn't know Chapman as well as BoMel. I heard Marty Lurie I think comment on the Chapman signing that "BoMel got his guy". It shows that BoMel already has power in the organization, which is good and should help FZ I think.
ReplyDeleteWell, you can look at it that way or you can say it's old school cronyism. But as I have said all along, Chapman is a small but definite upgrade on Davis across the board and I guess since they can subtract Davis salary the net cost for the first(and possibly only) year of the contract is just $9 M so probably a good move. Just gotta feel for J. D. who seems like a good guy and who worked really hard to upgrade his D at 3B last year.
DeleteJust a thought that maybe this is an example of what FZ meant when BoMel was hired that he hoped BoMel could help lure free agents to SF which he did in Chapman's case
DeleteEven if the Giants were able to trade JD Davis, the new team could have theoretically also cut him without having his contract guaranteed right?
ReplyDeleteI think so, but wouldn't bet the blog on it.
DeleteWait. Okay, so a winning arbitration salary is not guaranteed. Begs the question, is a losing arbitration salary guaranteed?
ReplyDeleteI dunno, bad look on the Giants. Say what you will about Kapler. Love him or hate him, but releasing him with a couple of games left in the schedule was very low-road. The Giants were trying to make a statement about Kapler. But, really, it made a statement about them.
Might be the same on Davis. Savvy move. Yeah, for sure. Win the battle, but how are you viewed as franchise? I get the rumors about players not wanting to play in SF are incredibly overblown. But these things have a habit of taking off. JD gets to hold "Good Giant" status. Not a good send off.
Losing arbitration salary's are guaranteed because it's what the team offered but it's rare for players who win their case to get released. Among other things, this action by the Giants will be a wake-up call to players that if they want a guaranteed contract they better accept what the team offers. I am sure the MLBPA is filing this one away in reference to future negotiations.
DeleteI'm blown away by the imbalance of power on arbitration results.
DeleteOkay, so the Team gets to walk if the high figure wins. Why wouldn't this cut the other way as well? Shouldn't he player have the opportunity to walk if the low-figure wins? Sometimes I wonder about the MLBPA.
Never understood why MLB owners get an anti-trust exemption either...
Agree on the non-level playing field in arbitration. When it first started arbitration was perceived as hurting the owners but management now has it down to a science and it definitely does not work in players favor most of the time.
DeleteGREAT stuff by Hicks, Roup and Black to go with Harrison the other day. Great to see but a starter is needed despertely..something I don't think FZ is capable of given his recent incompetence.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he my get out from under the DAVIS contract but talk about horrible asset management. Getting nothing for a good player? pitiful perfromance by FZ.. Could have/should have acted sooner on one, the other or both. By not doing so, got caught with his pants down again, even if he expected it and wanted it, as it was obvious from the second that Chapman was signed that nobody would offer a used jock strap for Davis. But FZ is smarter than anybody! ask him! But that's not the worst part. the worst part is that we down graded offensively at 3B (and SS) as CHAPMAN will continue his steady decline at the plate (1 good month last year Whoopee!!!..).And why do they just dump the better hitting 3B? To bring in a crony and old time pet of FZ and Melvin who was once good (4-5 years ago). Chapman and Ahmed on the LHS side of the infield will scare all of MLB!
SteveVA
Apparently Chapman dealt with a finger injury last season which may explain his power drop from 27 HR's in each of the previous two seasons to 17. The rest of his numbers were essentially his career averages across the board. Even at 17 HR, he was equal offensively to Davis who in fairness had a pretty bad second half along with almost the entire Giants roster. Assuming the finger is healed, it's reasonable to expect a positive regression at the plate from Chapman as well as a significant upgrade on D at the hot corner. If you believe in projections, Chapman's look better than Davis.
DeleteIf the Giants offered Davis around but received nothing they valued, is it Zaiti's fault?
DeleteHe cost SF next to nothing (in the trade with the Mets), most anything in return from the low minors would have been something, but not even Jerry Dipoto with a hole at 3B would make a deal with his favorite trading partner.
Of whom did Zaidi take advantage?
It's not Davis, it was his Agent who either didn't know the rules or didn't advise Davis of this outcome.
Someone most likely will pick Davis up off waivers and he will get a job somewhere, but the news here really is no one wanted to give the Giants anything (they wanted) for him.
It's an example of being careful what you wish for.
Nobody did anything wrong here. I just think J. D. ran into a perfect negative storm of circumstances and is a sympathetic figure in all this and Giants management comes across as looking heartless and uncaring. The optics, as they say, are bad. Also true FZ is giving up nothing but I think you can look back and wonder if there were some misjudgments around last seasons trade deadline and a missed opportunity to amplify the value of the Ruf trade.
DeleteThe Giants were one of the wild card leaders in the NL at the trade deadline. Hard to say that they should have traded JD then, but they looked bad standing pat instead of trying to improve the team by making a trade for pitching.
DeleteI don't care if the Davis move is perceived to be a smart move what so ever.
ReplyDeletePlayers are people too! I can only imagine other players are going around holding up a mirror to see if someone with a knife is coming for them.
Farhan in my books would have been a great accountant for that guy with the bad hair do and orange skin.
Players will see Farhan as a person who speaks with a forked tongue.
Plus he knows zero about playing baseball, and diving out of the way of an incoming fastball.
My rant for the week Doc!!
Richard in Winnipeg
I don't now DOC, CHAPMAN had that one good year in 2019. After that, you subtract out his hot early month last year and You have a guy that has hit .230, 210, .230, .220 and with an OBP averaging around .310. Not garbage when you conside the other WAR like stats (which FZ thinks are the be all to end all, and we all know that FZ is smarter than everybody else!) Still, Not sure I am buying all this finger injury crap... sounds like a lot of agent, player, club propoaganda. Hell, his own team wanted nothing to do with him. This is not a guy I spend any money on and certainly not a guy that make/allows me to piss away a perfectly good player/asset based on past reltionships ..Becsue we all know the Giants are all about past releationships, right BRANDON??
ReplyDeleteSteveVA
I'll just go with projections which are not perfect but extremely accurate on average. I personally think ZIPS is the most sophisticated and accurate of the projection systems. J. D. Davis: .249/.334/.411, 14 HR, 9.9 BB%, 28.9 K%, BsR -1.1, Off 2.9, Def -0.2, fWAR 2.2. Matt Chapman: .241/.333/.438, 22 HR, 11.2 BB%, 27.6 K%, BsR -1.3, Off 7.7, Def 9.6, fWAR 3.7. Very similar players but Chapman is just a bit better across the board, even on offense mainly due to more projected power. I still think there were and are better ways for the Giants to spend their payroll budget, but it's a defensible tradeoff, especially since they apparently can just make Davis salary disappear.
DeleteIt should be interesting to the myiad of Zaidi-haters that he could not find a trading partner for Davis.
DeleteHad he been traded, the Giants would have had to pick up 10% (+/-) of his salary (a month's worth of 7 months?), but did no one want to even pay $6M (and change) and give the Giants a "passable" prospect?
True some team will get him for less now, his choice, but any team could have had him and didn't bite. Why?
SF's greatest weakness last year was its porous defense, and the "D" has been addressed so that the weakest link now is Conforto in LF which isn't bad.
They will "giveaway" fewer games, and, hopefully not collapse in September and fritter away their Playoff position as of beginning of play September 1.
I think potential trade partners looked the situation and saw an opportunity sign Davis after release for a fraction of the $6.9 M he was awarded in arbitration.
DeletePoor treatment of JD -- not only the DFA, but also not calling him when getting Chapman -- following how Craw was treated during the Correa -- chase shows poor people skills for sure, and won't enamor Gs to FAs.
ReplyDeleteFor all the hoopla and money spent the Dodgers are still not without notable flaws. Sorta like the ultra rich family that bought the biggest house in the neighborhood with cash after a drive by. I’m not feeling too bad about the Giants missing out on the top free agents. They have measurably improved the offense and defense. And I think the reason they are waiting out any significant free agent pitchers is that they know their pitching pipeline is as strong as it has been in years. With pitching development these days being almost a factory process they appear to have the raw materials to produce multiple mid range starters, and possibly a #2 type if everything clicks right. That at a fraction of the cost of a marquee free agent, especially given the current trend of short term contracts and mercurial nature of pitching in general- might as well develop your own pitching.
ReplyDeleteThe Dodgers are still likely to runaway with the division title but if you are a Dodgers fan you have to wonder if all that money spent did anything to improve their dismal postseason record.
DeleteAs any honest, observant person should have realized at least a year ago, it is plain to see why the Dodgers were not crushed to see Farhan Zaidi leave them. Just look at the results he got with the hand he was dealt: Bruce Bochy out, Gabe Kapler in. Look at SS. First, they sign Carlos Correia, and do not tell Brandon Crawford (they greatest SS in the SF Giants era) that he will be moving to 3B. Then, when the Correia deal falls thru, the tell Crawford 'never mind'. Then they get rid of Crawford (who wanted to stay and mentor Marco Luciano) so they can give a chance to allow Luciano develop his immensely talented bat and stick at SS - and now, they will apparently replace him with 34 year old, light hitting Nick Ahmed before opening day. 3B? Look at how they treated Casey Schmidt. And then, JD Davis. All for Matt Chapman? And what about Zaidi's prowess in drafting? Hunter Bishop. Will Bednar. Reggie Crawford. Even his lone (albeit modest) success, Patrick Bailey - will he be looking over his shoulder to see if Tom Murphy will get more playing time at C this season? And the OF? First Heliot Ramos. Melvin says he is the 'star' of spring training. Does anyone think he will be in the opening day lineup? And who says Luis Matos will not be sent back to AAA for more seasoning this year? All so Zaidi can see what he has in Wade Meckler (even though Jung Ho Lee is a similar type of good contact, good glove, little power player) and make sure Mike Yazstremski and Austin Slater get enough playing time. Unless you are in tight with the manager (Chapman), or someone Zaidi 'has been keeping his eye on for years' and never made it (Sabol, Wisely, Murphy), you will constantly be wondering about where you stand. More importantly, after the way the treated Mitch Haniger, Ross Stripling, Kevin Gausman, Carlos Rodon, Brandon Crawford, and now JD Davis, who would want to make a commitment to this organization, as it is currently run by Zaidi? When was the last time a big time guy, a star (in the MLB, that is, not Lee), who did not start out with the Giants, agreed to make a big commitment and sign with the Giants? Most of them were 'opt out' deals, showing about as much commitment to the Giants as the Giants show to them.
ReplyDeleteA Giants fan all my life (I actually say Mays play when I was a kid), I always try to see them at least once a season, when they come to the New York area, where I currently reside. I have tickets for May, against the Mets. I have done this for many years. Decent seats are pricey, but these are my Giants. This year, I wanted to see the young Giants - Luciano, Ramos, Matos, Bailey. The kids who are just waiting for the chance to be the next generation of Giants stars. I would not be surprised if I see none of them in the lineup when I attend. There have been other years where the Giants were not very good - I still was a Giants fan. Now? It is getting difficult to even care about them.
Some of those negatives you list I think are defensible but you also make some good points. All GM's have to make tough decisions and moving on from players who are past their prime is a longstanding MLB tradition. Wasn't it Branch Rickey who once said its better to trade them a year too early than a year too late? I do thing the farm system is better and deeper today than it was when FZ took over but otherwise you have to squint to see any significant improvement. I would say this season is pivotal for determining a grade for his tenure.
DeleteGreat stuff kar120c..I know FZ has made a few really good deals (Yaz, Estrada, to name a few), and had one good year mainly due to pre-FZ plyers like the two Brandons having out of the world years (before getting the bum's rush) but the entire package of performance,, where they stand now, and how they are seen by MLB players is very sub standard, to put it nicely.
DeleteSteveVA
I would think the likes of Szapucki and Waites plays a very large role in how other players view the Giants Organization. Along with Baker, Clark, Burrell, Panda... And lets not forget, if it were not for the immense and very unique financial opportunities for Ohtani and Yamamoto in L.A., it's good chance they'd be wearing the Orange and Black.
DeleteRob in Vancouver
Wow, time to break out the ‘Fire Sabes, Fire Melonhead’ hats? Just kidding!
ReplyDeleteWhile I was sort of neutral for going after Chapman- it did seem a bit of a head-scratcher, I’ve definitely come around for all your listed reasons, Doc. It’s going to look bad if it goes south, but brilliant if it goes well. I’m rooting for the latter but really, I think if it’s the former, it’s just going to be optics. It’s probably not a popular sentiment right now, but Davis looked really bad in the second half; seemed like an automatic out. I can see why FZ rolled the dice. My question is, why is Chapman BM’s ‘guy?’ And do we know for certain BM ‘twisted’ FZ’s arm to get him? I know it’s not popular, but FZ is a very smart dude. I’m sure he saw the possible ‘lateral’ move with Chapman. And I’m sure he saw the price tag no matter what pieces he moved around to bury it. I’ve read the blurb from Chapman thinking, they have ‘unfinished business’ from the Oakland days, but I would hope that Chapman would clearly see that finishing business with the Gigantes is going to be a tough road.
As far as the Davis fiasco (if it even is one), I agree with the Anon post, a lot of this HAS to fall on his agent. And there’s no way they didn’t see Chapman coming…
As for Crawford, one of my all time favorite Gigantes, enough that I considered buying an over-priced, sweatshop made jersey over Mays, Clark, Bonds, and Posey (and I grew up a catcher), it was crystal clear that he was done. Automatic out at the plate and painfully reduced range in the field. I almost cringed every time a ball was hit in to the hole. There is no way FZ could have given him a roster spot to mentor Luciano. And if he did? By August we’d all be calling for FZ’s head. Look, I don’t blame Craw for grabbing an extra two mil for his family, but money aside, he should have retired. The Giants would have leaped at the opportunity to market his legacy to death- what they do with Mays is painful to watch. And I’m sure they would have found a way to get him on the bench or some, ‘Will Clark’ type role. Unless, there’s something about Craw’s personality that we fans don’t know about…
And sorry, there is nothing Crawford could do with Luciano. The kid just needs time and the show, one in a major market with a great history, is not the place to prove it. I’m rooting for Luciano to hit 40 a year, but he’s nowhere close to that- or even the ball, right now. I also think the Ahmed signing is going to be at least helpful to attract pitchers. And if it doesn’t work out, he’s gone. FZ could not just DFA Craw.
As always, thanks, Doc, for providing a cool place for us fans to vent! Your ‘reject post’ button must be getting worn out! And to your comment on GM’s making tough decisions, I want to say Bonds said it best (if it was him), ‘I haven’t played baseball since college.’
Rob in Vancouver
See Ann killion's March 3 SF chronicle article titled ' Giants Zaidi gets W but Melvin's part in Chapman deal was critical '.
DeleteThanks! I pretty much figured what was in the article. Just wondering if there was something else that caused Melvin to push so hard and why Chapman, who at this point in their financial situation, needs to win, ultimately chose the Giants. Did FZ really overbid?
DeleteRob in Vancouver
On the whole, I think FZ is working within the owners plan. He doesn't have the open checkbook that the Dodgers have, hard to fault him for moving on from some of the people he has other than the fact they were perhaps long time Giants. However, you can't make business decisions like that, and they have been in the hunt, albiet at times with a very boring product, of at the minimum a wild card most of the years he has been here.
ReplyDeleteJD Davis is a big boy, he will be fine and I think he actually sealed his fate some when he whined a little bit after Chapman was signed and compared his situation with Crawford's about not being told. Compare his response to Flores and Schmidt, two other guys who were significantly impacted by this signing, they put the team first. He's not happy to be here it is clear so let him go be happy somewhere else.
In the meantime, the Giants have picked up some solid players, have some exciting pitching prospects, and a couple of veterans rehabbing and should be ready at a crucial time. Hard to see any negatives about how he has approached this season frankly and I am much more excited to see the team that will be on the field this year than last, even with Davis and Crawford not being on it.
Looking forward to opening day and putting a much better hitting, fielding, and possible pitching team than last year.
Billy Baseball
The JD Davis situation is disappointing but I will reserve judgment until we see what they do with the money.
ReplyDeleteIf it just goes back into ownerships pocket then I will be disappointed to loose what is a fantastic bench player. And once again be annoyed at Greg Johnson.
If they use that money either now to sign another player or do a midseason acquisition. Then I will say it was a hard but defensible move.
Time will tell. And hopefully that time is sooner rather than later.
- Fan
Is Schmitt going to be able to progress offensively if he’s limited to Sac at bats and mop up duty in SF? Or, is Schmitt not as close as maybe some of us assumed?
ReplyDeleteI think Schmitt could use at least a half season in Sacramento consolidating his apparent newfound plate discipline and working getting experience at multiple positions for a potential utility role.
Delete