Catching Up

Hey team!  I'm back from a hellish conference in Las Vegas.  Nothing against Vegas but personally it's just not my kind if town, and it's not a great place for an educational conference if you are there to, you know, actually learn something.  Anyway, not enough time for a regular post this morning but a couple of thoughts to start the discussion:

The Giants seem to be dithering on their GM hire.  They are rumored to be in on Farhan Zaidi of the Dodgers but I haven't seen any word on an actual interview for him.  Meanwhile, it seems like Kim Ng interviewed about 5 years ago.  Rumor has it that Larry Baer wants a "big name" like a Theo Epstein or Dombrowski(more on Baer later), but guys like that already have big titles which means their teams don't have to allow them to interview and they are already in good situations so why would they want to make a lateral move to the Giants?  Me?  Again, I don't have enough information to know who the best choice is, but I'm still rooting for Kim Ng for all the same reasons.  I just know they need to get someone soon as Brian Sabean seems to have emotionally moved on a long time ago.

Lots of rumors out there about the Giants being in on Bryce Harper.  MLBTR's prediction has him going to the Dodgers for 14 years/$410 M so we're talking an enormous commitment here.  Look, I love Bryce Harper as much as anyone, maybe more than most, but Bryce Harper it not worth that kind of commitment and risk if payroll has any limit at all, and I would point to the Giants desire to stay under the CBT threshold in 2018 as proof that it does. That contract will make Albert Pujols look like a bargain by the time it's done!  The Giants were apparently serious about acquiring Giancarlo Stanton and his contract last year, so I assume they are serious about going after Harper.  Back to Larry Baer.  A signing on that level does not require a GM or even a President of Baseball Operations.  In fact, people in those positions might actually get in the way which makes me wonder if that might be an overlooked reason why Bobby Evans got fired and why Baer is dithering on the current GM vacancy?  Remember that Baer and Peter the Pink did the Bonds signing sans GM.  In fact, if I recall correctly, they were negotiating with Barry before they even completed purchase of the team!  Harper would admittedly be a huge shot in the arm for a team in desperate need of an enthusiastic player to say nothing of a big HR hitter in the middle of their lineup.  It's the longterm I'm concerned about here, which maybe I shouldn't be. There's not guarantee any of us will even be here by the time Harper's next contract is up.