Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Hot Stove Update: Giants Don't Sign Tyson Ross, Claim Mike Gerber

Mike who?  The Giants claimed OF Mike Gerber off waivers from the Tigers who had to place him there because they are overflowing with talent.  Wait!  What?

Mike Gerber, OF.  DOB:  7/8/1992.  B-L, T-R.  6'0", 190 lbs.

2018 AAA:  .213/.277/.411, 14 2B, 2 3B, 13 HR, 7.0 BB%, 32.6 K%, 316 PA.
2018 MLB:  .095/.170/.119, 8.5 BB%, 44.7 K%, 47 PA.

Gerber had put up decent minor league numbers before last season, but his walk rates had been declining and his K rates had been climbing.  When his BABIP normalized, his BA collapsed.  Yes, when BA is that low it does matter.  So, what does Farhan Zaidi see in Gerber?  Maybe the 60 power in his scouting report?  Maybe the 25 HR's/600 PA?  Maybe he spent 2018 working on a new swing? Maybe he's 2019's Max Muncy?  We'll see. The move takes up 1 spot on the 40 man roster but still leaves room for a Rule 5 pickup on Thursday.

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Meanwhile, the Tigers signed RHP Tyson Ross to a 1 year/$5.75 M MLB contract with additional $250 K in bonus opportunities.  Ross pitched a full season last year with the Padres and Tigers with a pitching line of

8-9, 4.15, 149.2 IP, 3.7 BB/9, 7.3 K/9.

Those are not vintage Tyson Ross numbers but it was his first full season in 3 after a string of injuries.  He had an ERA of 2.73 after being selected off waivers late in he season by the Cardinals, but his peripheral stats were actually worse with the Cardinals.

Gotta say, this contract is for a good $2-3 M more than I had projected for him.  Compare his numbers from last year to another comeback pitcher named Derek Holland and I think you'd have to say Holland's absolute floor is 2 years/$15 M.  Yikes!

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Billy Hamilton signs with the KC Royals.  Giants wanted to trade for him last Hot Stove League, but his numbers cratered in 2018 and I don't see him as being a Farhan Zaidi kind of player anyway.

14 comments:

  1. Like you've said we're not the General Manager (LOL SF doesn't have one!) so we don't know what's going on in the FO, but it doesn't take a "rocket scientist" (humor effort) to know, if Shark doesn't come back, after Bumgarner, Rodriguez, and Suarez, the SPs appear to be Blach and Stratton, with fingers crossed for Shaun Anderson (he IS a Gator!).
    It's hard to cross arthritic fingers enough.
    Might not even be able to get Holland for $15M/2 years!
    And there's Ole Reliable J A Happ at 3x Holland.

    This year the money is being spent!

    Well, OK, it's Other People's Money, spend it!

    The Royals are collecting OFers, will Austin Jackson or Gorkys Hernandez be next?

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  2. Farhan Zaidi explained yesterday (sfchronicle.com) why he did not tender a contract to outfielder Gorkys Hernandez: “One area we want to look at is improving the offense from a plate-discipline standpoint, even something as basic as walk-strikeout ratio.”

    Thus Mike Gerber.

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    1. Hmmm....I wonder if he looked up Mike Gerber's actual K/BB before he signed him, because it's actually pretty terrible.

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  3. So far these moves have absolutely sucked. I know everyone is trying to be nice and give a ton of benefit of the doubt but Rupp and now this K machine? They dont make wool thick enough to cover my eyes from this dumpster fire of a rebuild Farhan is doing. This will be a very very difficult team to watch.

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    1. Lol. Yep, offseason is just about over, these are the main guys Zaidi will be building around..

      Ouch, and THIS is the patience our previous FO had to contend with with their jobs on the line...

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    2. But he's a great baseball mind...

      I guess we'll just have to wait (and wait) and see

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    3. There is still lots of time in the offseason, but yeah, so far it's been a bit underwhelming.

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    4. What would one expect? Zaidi is working with people whose judgment he hasn’t had time to assess fully. He doesn’t yet know what will happen to his 40-man or 25-man as the result of the Rule 5 draft, from which (and from new waived players as the result of which) he can improve the Giants’ depth, getting players without surrendering any. Most teams around him have made few, if any moves, so the market is still fluid. He needs to husband trade resources because they’re scanty.

      Under these restrictions, it seems to me silly to kvetch about having had no pyrotechnics to help us while away the dull, gray offseason. What we need is shrewd prudence, and the testimonials to Zaidi when he was hired, plus the strength of the Dodgers’ roster under his GM-ship, give me confidence that shrewd prudence is what we can expect. The season, with wins and losses, is still a full quarter of a year away.

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  4. Sometimes your team does you a favor cutting you after 3 years and almost 300 games:
    Gorkys gets signed by WS Champs!
    Wonder if the Sox will want him to walk more or just pop balls off the wall.
    Wonder when he'll play: Betts, Bradley, and Benintendi plus Martinez in NL parks played almost 95% of their defensive innings.
    Good luck -- you were a good Giant!

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    1. Agreed. It really was never Gorkys fault that he was basically who he was. Gorkys is a very decent 4th outfielder, and that's about all. Last year the Giants put him in the position of starter/leadoff hitter, which he really isn't.
      I certainly don't blame him for the failures in the outfield.

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  5. Sorry I hit the wrong button on one comment who was suggesting a Zack Greinke for Even Longoria trade. We've discussed this before. Great idea except the D'backs are not going to have to take that much bad contract back in order to move Greinke.

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    1. LOL, wondered what happened to it!
      Anyway, payroll really isn't the Giants problem IF they can get people to come to the park although 30+ million for 35+ yo for 3 years would be a lot. Lucky to get 2 good years, much less 3!
      Giants could help on the money some.

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  6. One thing I'm thinking about with all the position flex hype... The G's in 2010 picked up a couple of misfit toys - Huff and Uribe - they had the "water buffalo" defense with Huff and Burrell with the express intent to hit home runs - and then pull them in the late innings... They snagged one of the best one year wonders in Andres Torres (lets see if Max Muncy can repeat his 2018 and also there is talk of moving him to 2B - I mean let's see what all the players can do but come on!) - who played a pretty solid CF (kicking Rowand out of there as an added bonus).

    Uribe played 103 games at SS (Rent-o-wreck was fragile), 24 2B and 26 3B. Huff played 100 at 1B, 46 at LF. That's some position flex right there.

    My point? I know a lot of Giants interwebz fans have been pining for a saber oriented front office, and a breath of fresh air... but just be careful about some moves made by management - through one lens its some smart savvy stat move, through another its just trying to patch things together. Which has happened in the past, especially 2010-14.

    The more I look at the roster, and the farm - just doesn't look like a tear-down. It definitely needs work, but this team was competitive with a lot of injuries.

    I'd trade Belt if the return is interesting (not a hate on Belt - 1B is the easiest position to replace), bad contract swap Melancon hoping for lightning in the bottle in return/get him off the roster, keep Longoria and try to train him to dead pull to LF, keep MadBum for the legacy/bounce back, don't worry about Posey/Crawford, sign 3-4 SPs and go try to compete. NL West ain't all that, if you're down trade Baum/Smith/Watson, if you're up you have Cueto coming as calvalry in September. Flags fly forever, tanking is for punks, go compete.

    Exciting times.

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    1. With Cards supposedly dangling Jose Martinez for a studly reliever, he needs 1B open: he's not Huff in the outfield, he's Burrell or Morse.

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