All Questions Answered: Answered

We didn't get a lot of questions but the ones we got were definitely challenging.  I could probably write a whole offseason of posts answering each one, but I'll try to tackle them here.

1.  Will the Giants improve in 2020?

Lots of question marks here.  A lot depends on how the offseason goes, but Farhan Zaidi has his work cut out if he wants to progress in a rebuild in the long term and still remain competitive in the short term.  Anon is right.  If the free agents all leave, heck, if just Madbum leaves, there is one huge hole to fill.  The single biggest strength from 2019, the bullpen, is a shadow of it's former self already and Smith may well be gone too which makes for another big question mark.  Is "The Core" coming back and can any of them bounce back?  Can Johnny Cueto regain his former magic on the mound?  Are Tyler Beede and Logan Webb ready to be rotation contributors for a full season?  Can Mauricio Dubon hit over a full season?  Can Mike Yastrzemski build on, or at least maintain, his rookie season success?  Does Shark have one more solid season in him?  Is Kevin Pillar worth his likely 2020 salary?  Those are a lot of questions that have to all break the right way for the 2020 team to be as good as 2019 let alone better.

Zaidi has proven he can work the waiver wire and find a few gems.  That's great if you are trying to add to a solid core of players to create depth and fill a gap or two.   That approach alone is not going to transform this team.  At some point, he's going to have to address the core and make some big money decisions.  Will he do that this offseason or is the plan to work the sluice box until the improved farm system starts delivering the next homegrown core?  That could take a few years?

2.  Who is the right person for the open GM job?

The days of having front office responsibilities handled by a singular GM are long gone.  All of the top, big money organizations have multiple people handling the job single GM's used to do.  I am sure there are differences in how responsibilities are divided up.  Farhan was GM under Andrew Friedman in LA and have this vision of him having the singular job of operating the "sluice box".  I mean, that's about 90% of what he's done since coming to SF!  Now, for all I know, maybe Farhan has already delegated that role to JP Ricciardi and he's frying bigger fish or maybe his new GM will be the "sluice box" guy like I think Farhan was in LA?  Maybe Farhan does not want to be bogged down with contract details and negotiating with agents and opposing GM's and needs more of a business type guy in that role?  Or does he want to create a team of nerds who all sit around a table bouncing ideas off each other?

One prominent name that keeps coming up is his old pal Billy Owens from the A's.  Owens' background is in scouting and he absolutely loves tools.  He also is not afraid to advocate for a prospect he's fallen in love with.  That approach has intriguing upside, but my concern is how it may have impacted the A's last several drafts in which they sold out for tools with disappointing early returns.

It should be fun to analyze the new GM when we learn who it is.

3. How does the Starting Rotation shape up for next season?

Another great question.  Best case scenario is a re-sign of Madbum or another top of the rotation type.  Johnny Cueto wins Comeback Player of the Year.  Shark has another solid season with Beede and Webb stepping up to their potential.  I have a feeling Farhan does not believe in giving big, long contracts to pitchers.  I think he will ultimately let Bummy go.  Rather than replace him with an expensive ace, he'll go for depth and sign a mid-level guy with a couple of potential bounce-back value guys like Alex Wood or Rick Porcello then work the sluice box for long shot options.  As for what else may be available on the farm, I'll be firing up the depth chart series shortly to get a granular look at it.