It didn't take long for the Hot Stove to heat up as the morning after the World Series ended. We saw a flurry of options picked up and declined plus a couple more significant moves.
I'm guessing Buster Posey knew who his GM was at least a few days ago and was waiting for the end of the postseason to announce it. He went inside the organization to elevate Zack Minasian from VP of Professional Scouting to GM. While Zack has an interesting and extensive pedigree, I think that quite irrelevant to the decision. What I think is relevant is he was one of Farhan Zaidi's first hires out of the Brewers organization and FZ promoted him to the professional scouting role. I also think it's relevant that his experience is on the professional scouting side as opposed to amateur. To me, this suggests Buster want to hit the ground running at the upcoming GM and Winter Meetings and wants someone in the GM seat who already has extensive knowledge of the players they may pursue in trades and free agent signings. That seems like a smart move on Buster's part, especially if his agenda is not to work through a 5-year rebuild.
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Poor Jorge Soler is getting passed around like a hot potato. The other very early Hot Stove League news was the Braves trading him to the Angels for Griffin Canning RHP. The trade was straight up, no money changing hands and no other players. The move makes more sense from the Braves end as Soler was redundant with Marcel Ozuna and they get an innings-eating SP in return. The Angels had the second worst pitching in MLB last season and the third worst hitting, so this trade seems like a bit of wheel spinning. I will say the free agent pitching class this Hot Stove League season seems a lot deeper than the hitting class so maybe the Angels figure Canning is easier to replace than signing a hitter or two.
Sounds like Buster made a good GM hire in Zack Minasian from within the organization. It shows the Giants have good baseball people working in their organization. Interesting background in pro scouting and Baggs reported he has extensive experience in trade negotiations while working under Doug Melvin during his time with the Brewers. It was reported that FZ was trying to cut down pro scouting funding in favor of more analytics. Will Posey change this direction? Zack's brother Perry is GM of the Angels. Woulnt it be something if we see a Giants Angels trade this winter?
ReplyDeleteGiants may trade some of their pitching prospects to the Angels for position prospects. But I am not sure how much impact it would have. Giants do not have much room in the 40-man roster and they need difference makers.
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