Coming off a series sweep of 1 run games against the Dodgers, the Giants were ripe for a letdown against the Phillies and there might be no better pitcher in baseball to take advantage of that than Cliff Lee. The results were predictable. I didn't even bother to watch it. Key Lines:
Hunter Pence- 3 for 3, 2B, HR(6). BA= .297. Pence is red hot and seemed to be the only guy who was seeing Cliff Lee.
Madison Bumgarner- 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 7 K's. ERA= 2.31. Bumgarner had to battle a tight strike zone(I didn't see it, but Shawn Estes seemed to think Cliff Lee faced a similar zone) and the knowledge that he probably needed to pitch a shutout to win. The 7 K's would indicate he still had good stuff.
Cliff Lee- 8 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 6 K's, GO/AO= 11/1. ERA= 3.26. Lee owns the Giants in the regular season. The Giants own him in the postseason, although I wouldn't want to count on that again, not that it wouldn't be great to get another postseason opportunity against him.
The Loss cost the Giants a half game on their closest NL West pursuers as their hold on first place over the idle Rockies was reduced to 0.5 games. The D'Backs gained a full game to 2 behind with a 9-2 pasting of the Drooling Dodgers. The loss dropped the Hated Ones into last place, 5.5 games out. The Padres shut out the Marlins 5-0 behind Andrew Cashner to climb past the Dodgers into 4'th place, 5 games off the pace.
Tim Lincecum faces an underrated Kyle Kendrick in game 2 of the 3 game series.
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Bumgarner was due for a bad one and it had to be against the Phillies (I really dislike them). Hadn't realize Crawford's average had gone down so much. Hoping the old Timmy shows up tonight
ReplyDeleteI dont think its a good idea to have to left handed batters (Crawford and Belt) batting subsequently against a quality lefty.
Baggs at CSN suggesting that the Giants should be interested in Lee at the deadline for another shot at winning it all. Am all for it, pick up the rest of his contract (which will replace the Zito money) and give up one B and one C prospect. Dont see how any other team will beat the Giants with Lee.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget Zito's money is not completely gone in 2014. They have to pay him $7 M just to go away. That is $12 M less than they have to pay him to stay which is quite a bit less than they would have to pay Lee. Maybe he'd be a replacement for Timmy?
DeleteNot sure I could ever get used to that little hatchet face pitching for the Giants.
DeleteLee is "only" 50MM for 14-15 and a vesting/buyout of 27.5MM/12.5MM. For ages 35-37. That has "Dodgers" all over it.
DeleteI cannot stomach The Cliff Lee pitching for the French Vanilla. Just cannot. He is a horse though, and that option will vest most likely, making it a 77.5MM commitment.
The Dodgers don't have a lot of trade chips. Zach Lee and Chris Reed. Dee Gordon. They won't have a huge budget for IFA/drafting, although it'll be higher than Los Gigantes. Most likely they will go way over for the next Korea/Japan deal to supplement. Interesting article about Adrian Gonzalez not being able to adjust his swing back following that shoulder injury in the LA times... Ned Coletti has a habit of grabbing guys without looking at the med file. He did it to us with Eduardo Alfonso.
The Cubs have Matt Garza and Scott Feldman. I know Sabey Sabes doesn't like to deal with Epstein/Hoyer much, but he might have to pick up the Razr.
Its highly unlikely that Lincecum would be asking for $20m a year from next season onwards, so Cliff Lee would be replacing Lincecum's money in 2014. Giants could probably turn that $7m buyout clause for Zito into a 1yr/$7m deal? Its not like Zito has been worth that whole contract.
DeleteSo 2014 rotation: Cain $20m, Bumgarner $3.9m, Lee $25m, Zito $7m and the 5th starter could come from either Vogelsong or Lincecum or even free agency at $5-7m, in total about $61m its even cheaper than the 2013 rotation cost which is about $68m.
That is incorrect. Zito is 7MM buyout/18MM vest. Vogelsong's option is 6.5MM. Timmy won't get a 5-7, he'll get at least the qualifying offer bare minimum, call it 13MM.
DeleteCain/Bum/Zito/Vogelsong will cost 48.5MM next year, then you add your 5th starter, whomever that is, and this is assuming a Zito buy-in, a mighty big assumption at the moment, but much more plausible then 2 years ago. If you add Cliff Lee, you're at 73.5MM, a 5.5MM kick from this year. No idea what Timmy might be had for, that is impossible to predict at the moment.
Sorry Anon (get a handle already!) misread your post. No way does Zito or any other pro baseball player take a discount off of a contract. The Giants might be able to restructure but then its going 3+ years and 30MM bare minimum and more likely 15MM a year. Doesn't sound good at first glace, but looking at the WAR scores, as DrB and OGC have proven, with Zito especially, isn't where its at. You have to look at Quality starts. And the question is... What is a guy worth who gives you 16 QS a year and then follows it up with at least 8-10 absolute bombs and 8-10 very questionables? Its a tough, tough question.
DeleteIf we have learned anything over the years it's if you have to rosterbate to fit a contract for a Vlad or CC or similar player, it's ain't happenin. I just don't see Cliff Lee coming to SF, just don't.
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