While we wait to see if the Mets back away from one of the worst trades in baseball history, RHP Garrett Richards announced via Twitter that he agreed to a free agent contract with the Padres. Terms of the deal are said to be 2 years/$15.5 M with an additional $2.5 M in incentives. Richards was one of my offseason targets for the Giants even though he will miss most or all of 2019 due to Tommy John surgery. When healthy, he's an elite hurler well worth his MLBTR projected contract. Spread over 2 years, the AAV is just $5 M which is close to a negligible hit on the CBT. The fact he received $15.5 shows other teams viewed him the same way and he benefitted from a rumored bidding war between the Dodgers and Padres.
I still like the deal but a little less than I did at $10 M. First of all, the Padres are guaranteed to get little or nothing in return in 2019 and while the majority of pitchers do have some form of success after TJ, it's not necessarily in the first season back and some don't come back at all, so there are real risks the entire $15.5 M goes for naught. I'm OK with letting the Padres take that risk, but I'll grind my teeth when Richards pitches a shutout while striking out 12 Giants in a game in 2020.
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Money does grow on trees...
ReplyDeleteWhats $15.5M here or $23M there?
Are we seeing a reverse from the pecuniary ways of last off season?
Pavlovic on Hunter Pence playing Winter Ball in the DR:
https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/author/alex-pavlovic
The energizer bunny never quits!
Giants signed 27 yo (2019) RH slugger Anthony Garcia, former Cardinal + 1 yr with A's.
ReplyDeleteStats look a lot like Chris Shaw's (AAA 2018) except Shaw walks a lot less, Ks a lot more, hits more HRs, and is about 2 years younger than Garcia. And Shaw bats left and is a whole lot bigger!
G AB R H TB 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO SB CS AVG OBP SLG
G: 131 480 78 122 230 31 1 25 91 65 2 107 1 3 .254/.357/.479/.836
S: 101 394 55 102 199 21 2 24 65 21 0 144 0 0 .259/.308/.505/.813
This blog has seen speculation about the Giants’ acquiring Billy Hamilton, last off-season and, I think, the one before. Now, according to MLBTR, they can do so, since the Reds are non-tendering him. He can’t hit, but fields wonderfully and steals bases at a great rate, once he actually gets on base to do the stealing.
ReplyDeleteand leave $$ for the stud OFer?
DeleteHamilton needs to learn how to get HBP -- it's an art.
He's been hit only 4 times in 2736 PA, he's certainly not trying.
Wear some armor!
If Bobby Evans were still the GM, I think signing Billy Hamilton would be a slam dunk, but Billy Hamilton seems like the exact opposite of the type of player Farhan Zaidi is likely looking for.
DeleteI do wonder what would happen if we could resurrect Harry "The Hat" Walker and have him work with Billy Hamilton.
Gorkys and Strickland were both non tendered. Too bad for the latter. He seemed to have turned a corner before punching the wall (or door). Probably blow up somewhere else.
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