Thoughts on Farhan Zaidi's Rosterbations

Rosterbation is a double entendre term that arose on the baseball blogosphere out of frantic efforts by bloggers and their readers to fit offseason moves into mythical salary caps.  It may have started with folks who were dreaming about the Giants signing Vlad Guerrero to a free agent contract as the Bonds era came to a close.  I think it probably started on McCovey Chronicles and may well have been coined by Grant Brisbee.

Rosterbation has taken on a whole new meaning since Farhan Zaidi became the Giants GM, or whatever his title is.  Players have been shipped in and out so quickly I can't even remember all of them.  On top of that, we are now adding the IL shuttle the Dodgers are known for the last few years. There were more moves today and to tell you the truth, I am not sure who all is on the roster and who it not right now.

The day started off with the Giants claiming OF Aaron Altherr off Waivers from the Phillies.  More on him later, but to make room on the 40 man roster, the Giants DFA'd RHP Andrew Moore.  Andrew Moore?  I guess I vaguely remember him being acquired a couple of weeks ago or 3.  But wait!  Altherr is also out of options which means the Giants have to put him on the 25 man active roster, so a move needs to be made there too, but who would it be?  Brandon Belt is apparently not hurt bad enough to go on the IL, which is amazing in itself the way Zaidi uses the IL.  Farhan and Bochy just got through making a commitment to an extended look for Mac Williamson, not that those pronouncements have meant much in the recent past.  Tyler Austin is a game removed from hitting two 3-run dingers, so it's hard to imagine him being released.

The Giants have some off days coming up and Dereck Rodriguez needs to work on his command.  That's it!  But wait!  Apparently the D-Rod move was to make room for Eric Kratz.  Which means Aramis Garcia will likely be the one to go to make room for Altherr.

Back to Aaron Altherr.  I've had me a hankering for Aaron Altherr for awhile now.  Here is the line Altherr put up in 2017:  .272/.340/.516 with 19 HR and 5 SB in 412 PA.  He's 6'5", 215 lbs and very athletic.  A 5-tool player if you will.  He has had some bad luck with injuries.  He had another one early last season and never regained traction stumbling to a sub- .200 BA.  The Phillies moved on this offseason so the writing was on the wall in Philly.  I thought he might make a nice buy-low target in the offseason, but now the Giants have him for free.  In my opinion, all Aaron Altherr needs for another breakout is an injury-free run of steady PA's, but he needs time.

Here's the problem.  Mac Williamson also has breakout potential, but needs time.  Steven Duggar has breakout potential, but needs time.  Tyler Austin has breakout potential, but needs time.  Baseball is a game of repetition, muscle memory, adjustment, more repetition.  That is not just a subjective observation or opinion.  It is a mathematical fact that baseball performance for anything less than approximately half a season is nothing more than a random number generator.

So enough with the Zaidi version of Rosterbation.  It's time to settle down, decide what horse you want to ride and give it some room to run.  Maybe one of Mac, Altherr and Austin will break out and be the next Max Muncy/Chris Taylor/Justin Turner.  Maybe they all will.  Maybe none of them will.  We'll never know unless they have some time to prove it.  After all, Max Muncy was in the Dodgers organization for a full year before he had his breakout.

*********************************************************************************

A word to the wise:  Don't waste your precious time writing comments demagoguing past Giants trades.  I am telling you now, I have zero patience for these comments and will not publish them.  Every organization and every GM has trades in their past they would like back.  It's an inherently risky business.  There were numerous trades made during the Sabean/Evans era.  The vast majority worked in the Giants favor.  Harping on a couple of prospects we'd all like to have back is not constructive and ignores the greater body of work from the previous regime.

The two that seem to be currently sticking in people's throats are Luis Castillo and Bryan Reynolds.  Yes, Luis Castillo is an ace right now.  Yes, I would like him in the Giants rotation right now.  But TINSTAAPP.  On average, if you trade a couple of pitching prospects from the lower minors for veteran help, you will come out ahead at least 90% of the time.  Remember that once upon a time, Francisco Liriano and Zack Wheeler looked like aces too.  As with all hard throwing young pitchers, Luis Castillo is always one pitch away from a visit to Dr Andrews.  As for Bryan Reynolds, he's an OK prospect, but the Giants have about 15 OF's in their organization just like him or better.  Personally, I'll take our chances with Steven Duggar, Mac Williamson, Aaron Altherr and Mike Yastrzemski.