There were several fairly low level deals done around the Hot Stove today. The biggest was the Yonder Alonso trade from the Indians to the White Sox. You had to sense that Alonso was going somewhere after the Indians acquired Carlos Santana and Jake Bauers in one day. Even AL teams can only use so many 1B/DH types or their rosters. The Indians received OF Alex Call who put up fairly average numbers in A+/AA last season.
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36 yo Ian Kinsler agreed to a 2 year/$8 M contract with the Padres. Kinsler still provided plus D and Baserunning but his offense is is fading manifested by a career-worst slash line of .240/.301/.380 with the Angels and Red Sox last season. Kinsler and Padres GM AJ Preller know each other from when both were with the Rangers. I'm guessing he is being brought in for the proverbial veteran leadership.
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The Tigers signed former Pirates SS Jordy Mercer to a 1 yr/$5.25 M contract with an additional $250 K available in incentives. Mercer slashes a lackluster .251/.315/.381 last year.
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The Giants did not sign or trade for any players today. None of the above transactions should impact the Giants positively or negatively. None of the players involved would be fits on the Giants roster.
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Hey Doc - Does having a completely new GM and FO, and a full overhaul of the Giants drafting team and a new drafting style coming on board make building this website way more entertaining? Or, were you as excited about prospecting at the end of the Sabean era as you were when you kick started this thing up?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm so happy for the transition, and I think Zaidi is far enough away from the ownership, and enough of a prodigy of his own, that he'll have the breadth to build this team in his own image and break away from the narrow minded-ness of "we must compete for the playoffs every year, and keep our vets, even if it runs the brand into the ground."
But, we'll see. I'm a little cautious about Zaidi being a bit of a baseball outsider, and I'm wondering if he'll gamble too big on some huge revolutionary ideas of how to scout, and they'll be a wash and the team will be absolutely underwater by the time they realize it.. We shall SEE!
Writing this blog, while everybody has their ups and downs and I get writer's block from time to time, is really fairly easy. Baseball in general and the Giants in particular are stories that keep on writing themselves. I just add in whatever thoughts pop into my head as a fan and observer and voila! I have my blog!
DeleteI guess I'm in a minority who think Bobby Evans' processes were OK. It's no secret he had a mandate from ownership to keep the core together and find a way to keep winning with it. He had to take some risks to do that. Those risks all turned up snake eyes and he took the fall for them. As for the farm system, I don't think it's as bad as it's made out to be and is actually stronger now than when Bobby became the GM. Readers here and on other blogs have long clamored for the Giants farm system to get younger and more athletic. Well,d it is and now those same folks don't like what they see because the process left a "donut hole" of talent in the upper minors, but if you pay attention to the entire system down to the DSL level, it's not in terrible shape. There is also nothing wrong with bolstering it through trades like what netted Gregory Santos and Shaun Anderson. We also did an exhaustive pick-by-pick analysis of the draft here. The conclusion was that the long string of first round failures was mostly due to draft position and it is unlikely that a different drafting team would have done significantly better.
Having said all that, there was a level of organizational orthodoxy that crept in and management shakeup is probably the easiest way to combat that. I am less convinced that Farhan Zaidi is going to bring dramatic improvements than a lot of people seem to be but I also am curious and a little excited to see how he goes about it and what the results will be. I agree with your assessment of the risks of essentially turning the team over to a guy like Zaidi.
I have to say, so far I haven't seen anything from Farhan that Bobby Evans couldn't have done just as well or even better. Don't forget, the Giants have a long track record of success with dumpster diving, which reminds me, I still need to write up my list of Giants Greatest Dumpster Dive Hits.
Giants delaying any big move until after Yusei Kikuchi decides ...
ReplyDeleteMercer slashes a lackluster .251/.315/.381 last year -- Crawford without the glove!
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