Friday, February 15, 2019

Hot Stove Update: Giants Sign Solarte and Gentry, Waiting For Bryce

Farhan Zaidi continued to, ahem, deepen his bench with two more acquisitions today.  First was word of a deal with utility infielder Yangervis Solarte followed quickly by another deal with utility outfielder Craig Gentry.  We'll take this one at a time:

Yangervis Solarte, IF.  DOB:  7/3/1987.  B-S, T-R.  5'11", 205 lbs.

2018(Blue Jays):  .226/.277/.378, 20 2B, 17 HR, 6.1 BB%, 14.2 K%, .233 BABIP, 506 PA.

I don't think we need much of an introduction to Solarte who spent 2014-17 with the Padres.  I actually wanted the Giants to trade for him last season to play 3B.  He went to the Blue Jays instead and did a faceplant with an fWAR of -1.3.  At first glance, his BABIP makes him look like a nice bounceback candidate until you notice that his career BABIP is just .270.  Another alarming trend that may explain the BABIP is his IFFB rate over the past 4 seasons has progressed steadily from 10.9% in 2015 to 19.2% last season.  He can play all IF positions so might make a nice utility player if he can reverse the pop-up trend.

Craig Gentry, OF.  DOB:  11/29/1983.  B-R, T-R.  6'2", 190 lbs.  Drafted 2006, Round 10(Rangers).

2018(Orioles):  .269/.321/.346, 5 2B, 2 3B, HR, 12 SB, 6.5 BB%, 18.3 K%, 169 PA.

Gentry has kicked around awhile.  Earlier in his career he was the darling of the defensive metric crowd and put up some impressive fWAR's in part time play for the Rangers.  He's never been able to parlay that into a starting gig.  He did play for the A's in 2014 which was Zaidi's last season as Assistant GM there, so once again we see a Dodgers/A's connection to many of his moves. I could see him being a 5'th OF and spelling Steven Duggar in CF against certain southpaw pitchers.

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So, now comes word that the Giants are literally, yes literally, waiting for Bryce.... to make a decision before making any "big" moves.  I read this from 2 different beat writers who seemed to get it from Zaidi himself. Whether it's because they think Harper might actually choose the Giants or they think he's a domino that needs to fall to open up the trade market for OF's is not clear.  For what it's worth, a sports talk radio guy from Washington DC claims to have a source inside the Harper camp who says he's been consulting with his family in Las Vegas and has made a decision which he could make known in the next 24 hours.  This same radio guy says the Giants are the "mystery team" and predicts Harper will sign with them, but does not say he has inside info on that.  Stay tuned.  I'll believe it when I see it.

9 comments:

  1. The Giants under Zaidi are certainly a mystery as he channels Judith Rossner writing his own Looking for Mr Goodbat, daily picking up lower life arms and bats along the way to the real thing....

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  2. The thought of Bryce Harper becoming a Giant is exciting and frightening at the same time. There is no denying that Harper is an electric, if somewhat divisive, talent, but if he doesn't age well the contract could be a millstone that weighs down the franchise for years.

    The more optimistic view for Harper is he sees his place in history as a generational talent with a bust Cooperstown in his future if he takes good care of his body, and his commitment to excellence has him delivering 4-5 WAR at the tail end of his deal.

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  3. But how often have I read on this very blog that the Giants might, with an Rx of California Dream tincture, contend as is, the valiant men of In It Till September? If so, Zaidi’s making perfect sense in building inventory, esp. guys he knows via Oakland and LA, while swapping away no one of value. No mystery there. Wait for Harper? Why not? The Hot Stove hardly has a pilot light on, so there’s not a lot of urgency—in fact, desirable FAs may get cheaper as desperation sets in.

    Isn’t there some fretful inconsistency here?

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    1. No inconsistency, Campanari. It's not black or white, contend or not contend. Yeah, I wrote up a "dream" scenario to prove there is a non-zero chance of the Giants contending with the current roster. I think I even ended up with a few fWAR's to spare. The main purposes of that post were 1. Have some fun and 2. Rebut the folks who are saying the Giants should not even try to contend this year because it is hopeless anyway.

      Just off the top of my head, I'd say there is maybe a 10% chance of that scenario working out the way it was drawn up, which is not zero. If you add a Harper or some other combination of players that gets the payroll up to the CBT threshold, that chance might get close 50%. Wouldn't you rather have 50% odds of continuing than 10%? I know I would! Sure, almost everything has to break right but almost everything did break right in 2010, 2012 and 2014, so why can't it happen again?

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  4. Bryce signing with the Giants would at this point make Farhan look like a genius. Whatever the cost now I’m sure it is less than what it would have been had he signed several months ago. All these seemingly meaningless little moves would make a hell of a lot more sense if Harper was always the primary target.

    After Harper signs they need to get another RH power bat to balance this lefty heavy lineup. Adam Jones could be an affordable option and he could fit right into the OF and even leadoff if Dugger cant cut it. Lets hope Dugger can hit at the top and if so, the lineup could look something like this:

    Dugger CF
    Belt 1B
    Posey C
    Harper RF
    Jones LF
    Solarte 2B
    Longo 3B
    Crawford SS






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  5. Harper's bWAR for 7 years:
    5.2, 3.7, 1.1, 10.0, 1.5, 4.7, 1.3
    The "Perfect 10" gets attention, but what about 3 of 7 years at or below 1.5?
    What about the 2.5 average for the last 3 years?
    Brandon Belt's average for the last 3 years is 3.4 he's 3 years older and plays defense and we at times whine about his $17MM salary.
    Some want to pay $35MM for a guy who not infrequently fails to run out ground balls?
    A generational talent who has 4 or 5 "peak" years ahead of him if he doesn't get a couple under 2 (WAR).
    If his last 5 years are doubled for the next 10, he'll have about 66 bWAR and 470 HRs at 36 yo -- HOF?
    Some yes, some no, Scott Rolen isn't at 70 bWAR and he could play defense.
    Harper will help himself in that regard by playing for a winning team or in a homer-friendly ballpark.
    Welcome to Citizens Bank Park, Bryce!

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    1. fWAR is a little more generous to Bryce: 4.4, 4.1, 1.6, 9.3, 3.0, 4.8, 3.5.

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  6. I see the reasonss not to, but Harper would bring alot of excitement and hope...Anyway, WHo needs Harper when you add Para, Gentry and, now, Maybin?? I kid of course...but all these dumpster dives for OFs plus Ferguson dont bode well for holdover guys liek Williamson, Slater and Shaw (or even a guy like Garcia) with or without Harper....I guess we'll see in camp..shuld be interesting

    SteveVA

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  7. Eleven OFers in camp next week and EVERYONE OF THEM HAS SOME CHANCE TO MAKE THE TEAM!
    Gentry, Parra, Maybin, Andreoli, Gerber, Garcia, Ramos, Williamson, Duggar, Shaw, Slater -- there's still room for a Gonzales or 2, even a Jones or a Harper?
    Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?

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