Hot Stove League Update: Time To Douse The Embers

 Before we get started with our Hot Stove League Wrap, I just have to say that while other blogs post questions about superstitions and favorite baseball songs, we provide hard baseball content daily....and sometimes more.  Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Spring training camps open today with pitchers and catchers reporting.  We've already had our first "best shape of his life" story with Justin Verlander saying "This is for sure the best I've felt in last few years."  While there remain 7 of MLBTR's Top 50 Free Agents on the market, it sure feels like Buster doused the embers in his hot stove, which means it's time to review his moves, or lack of moves, and give in opinion on his inaugural Hot Stove League Season since taking the reins as POBO of the Giants.  

It seems like many people rate Hot Stove League success solely by the star power of free agents signed regardless of cost and that goes back further than the Dodgers recent spending sprees.  To me, it's a lot more complicated than that.  If it's not, you and I could be POBO's if we just had the financial backing.  I am not saying an organization with obvious financial resources like the Giants should be always looking for the most cost-effective deal either.  You have to weigh short term with long term success in mind with a goal of building a consistent postseason contender without backing yourself into future corners.  I am not convinced the Dodgers have not mortgaged their future for current dominance but that remains to be seen and may take several years to determine.

Buster Posey inherited a position that was spinning its wheels.  Stars on short term, opt-out contracts always seemed to end up leaving for greener pastures.  Free agent busts hung around soaking up financial resources.  A whole shipload of intriguing prospects were rushed up and "graduated" yet none established themselves enough to be counted on.  Buster's goal in the Hot Stove League was to try to nail down some long term star players to build around while sorting out the "wheat from the chaff" among the post-prospects.  His mission is to establish stability and sustained winning defined by consistent postseason appearances and hopefully another championship or two in the process.

Buster got an early start on the Hot Stove League when he took over the Matt Chapman extension negotiations when he and ownership lost faith in FZ's ability to get the deal done.  When that happened you had to know FZ was as good as gone from the POBO chair.  That stabilized one position which was problematic since Pablo Sandoval left for free agency and thank God he did!  The other gaping hole with no good internal options to fill it was shortstop. There was really only one good shortstop option on the market, Willy Adames.  Yes, there was also Ha Seong Kim but he is coming off shoulder surgery with no guarantees when he will play again and no guarantees he will ever have the arm to play shortstop again.  We saw way too many of those kinds of players come and go during the FZ tenure.  Hard pass and that is obviously how Buster saw it too.  He went after Adames hard and got him signed just before the Winter Meetings at close to his MLBTR projected contract in a brutal buyer's market.  Who knows what FZ's approach would have been or who he might have signed.  I have a very hard time believing Adames would have signed if FZ was doing the negotiating.  

Although the Giants have a large stable of young hurlers on their 40-man roster they needed at least one more veteran starting pitcher to reduce the load on Logan Webb.  Hopes were high for bringing Corbin Burnes back to the bay area where he played college ball at St Mary's but it was not to be.  It sounds like Burnes really, really wanted to play close to his home in Arizona and Buster did not want to get locked into another long term deal, especially with a hated opt-out.  Buster pivoted to Justin Verlander, an aging superstar who may have something left in the tank.  Verlander may or may not be the guy to help Logan Webb take the pressure off the bullpen but there is almost no such thing as a bad one-year contract.  Whether you like or dislike the Verlander contract, it happened almost solely because Buster himself picked up the phone and talked Hall of Famer to Hall of Famer and used his persuasive powers to convince Verlander to sign.  That also would almost certainly have not happened for FZ.  

Perhaps the most surprising Hot Stove League move was trading away Taylor Rogers.  On the surface the goal of that trade was to offload salary but Rogers didn't exactly endear himself to Manager Bob Melvin and I get the distinct feeling Melvin and Buster see it as addition by subtraction for roster building.  The Giants(probably GM Zach Minasian) brought in a small army of lefty relievers on minor league deals.  It appears they believe at least one of those will end up being a better option than Rogers.  That's the kind of move that makes or breaks GM's and POBO's so we'll see.

At several points along the way, Buster said he was looking for another hitter.  He ended up signing Jake Lamb to a minor league deal which seems like it fell just a bit short of the goal there but it does likely leave more PA's open to help sort out the internal options.  The other area of concern is a back up catcher who can play enough to keep Patrick Bailey from wearing down in the second half again.  The catching market was thin but it's highly questionable whether Tom Murphy, Max Stassi or Sam Huff will prove to be the guy to give Bailey the consistent respites he needs.

While we have seen and heard endless debates about whether Buster could have or should have maxed out the payroll at the CBT threshold and he left a couple of minor holes unfilled, he did not make any glaring mistakes or sign any obvious "albatross" contracts.  He now has some space to sort out the young'uns and enough ammunition in reserve to make a deadline deal or two and maybe another anchor signing or two in Hot Stove Leagues to come.

With all that said, my final grade for Buster Posey in his rookie Hot Stove League season is a solid B.