The White Sox served notice that they are seriously entering a Ready-To-Win phase of their rebuild with the signing of free agent C Yasmani Grandal for 4 years/$73 M. Grandal fills a yawning chasm in the 'Sox lineup as they have Abreu back at 1B on an accepted QO, Madrigal coming up at 2B, Moncada at 3B, Tim Anderson at SS with Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert in the OF. With the addition of Grandal, they can now concentrate on adding pitching during the rest of the Hot Stove season. Grandal is 30 yo and has a history of surgery on a knee and shoulder, but has been healthy the last 2 seasons. His lowest fWAR over the past 5 seasons is 4.1. If he continues to produce at that level for even half of this contract, it will be money well spend by the Chisox. I'm giving the signing a grade of A. The signing does not impact the Giants who are not in the market for a frontline C.
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The Giants announced a change in the ownership heirarchy. Greg Johnson was named "Control Person" which means he is the person in the ownership group who is accountable to MLB. Johnson is the son of the Giants largest shareholder, Charles Johnson. Interim Control Person, Rob Dean, will now have the title of Vice Chairman. So does that mean Greg Johnson is the Chairman, or just the Control Person? I'm confused! Larry Baer apparently stays on as President and CEO while Farhan Zaidi retains the title of President of Baseball Operations. Both Baer and Zaidi will reportedly report to Johnson and Dean, which seems like a demotion for Baer, but the whole setup is a bit confusing, at least for me. Again, just my very uninformed opinion, but this looks like the Big Money members of the owership group are taking a much more active role in decisionmaking. In the past, they have been content to stay in the background and let the less rich fanboys, Baer and Peter Magowan, run the team. It also makes you wonder if there aren't financial stressors in the background of the organization we don't know about.
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Not a major surprise, but the Giants made no changes to their 40 man roster at the deadline to protect prospects who are eligible for the Rule 5 Draft. Contrary to some reports, RHP Gregory Santos and RHP Camilo Doval are not eligible. Looking over the list of Giants eligibles, I will be moderately surprised if any are lost in the draft. As it currently stands, the Giants won't be active in the draft as their 40-man roster is full. What I don't know is if they can open a spot or two by releasing or trading players between now and the draft.
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A couple of quotes from Farhan Zaidi will make the Tanksters happy. In regards to a question about whether he will tender a contract to Kevin Pillar, "I think being in the transition phase that we're at, and having some younger outfielders we may look to create some playing time for--that's a little bit of the dynamic." "And again, I think the juncture that we're in as an organization, we're gonna have to view every baseball decision we make as a tradeoff between production and development, and the present and the future." My translation is "We may be $90 M under the CBT threshold, but don't expect us to spend any of that this winter." Oh, and Pillar is not going to be tendered a contract.
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I suspect your reading of Farhan's comments is correct. I do think it will open up more opportunity to find a real player/prospect or two hiding in the waste pile. In all seriousness Doc, this "dynamic" as Farhan describes it, makes your Blog that much more important to those of us the follow. Over the next year, the development of your players, and the discussion of their progress, will be important to keep the fan base engaged. No to put pressure on you, or anything. LOL
ReplyDeleteFrom someone who used to sneak a transistor radio into his room to listen to Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons, and remembers Gary Park and his bronzed forehead doing the TV broadcasts on KTVU channel 2 (Back then we only got 20 games televised per year), I think there is room for optimism for the Giants. But, I am prepared to be patient. If the willingness to be patient had set in with Giants management, when every objective signal was screaming "rebuild" 2 1/2 years ago, we would be looking at a team ready to seriously contend.
Water under the bridge. There is much to look forward to. The Giants are blessed with a fantastic ballpark, that they now own. The farm system is improving quickly, and the Giants are in a position to add impact 2-3 players in the draft in June. Three WS titles in the last 10 years - pretty darn great.
Let's get ready for a fun, though bumpy, uphill ride.
"It also makes you wonder if there aren't financial stressors in the background of the organization we don't know about."
ReplyDeleteYou think?
Sure, they own their park and a lot of other real estate but butts in the seats are the profit and 2019 was worse than 2009.
This won't be reversed by sitting tight: Something needs to be done to interest the fans, especially after losing the last productive hero (probably). More draft picks aren't going to sell tickets.
Maybe Farhan has a 2- or 3-year pass, but 2020 could become a Giant pit, and there's no Bonds or Posey/Lincecum/Cain/Bumgarner/Sandoval/Belt/Crawford/Pence/Amigos/1-year-wonders-at2B or a WS in sight.
Is there a resuscitation before 2022? Should the spade work begin where's the Lincecum/Cain/Bumgarner/Romo/Affeldt/Casilla/Lopez to build dreams on?
Are Bart/Ramos/Luciano/Bishop/Dubon/Canario/Pomeres/Fabian/Matos it?
Who are the pitchers?
Color me dubious...
Year Wins Attendance
2019 77 2,707,760
2018 73 3,156,185
2017 64 3,303,652
2016 87 3,365,256
2015 84 3,375,882
2014 88 3,368,697
2013 76 3,369,106
2012 94 3,377,371
2011 86 3,387,303
2010 92 3,037,443
2009 88 2,862,110
When Pavs reported the new Giants structure on Twitter he made a comment that all he wants to know is who will be sitting on the table with Gerrit Cole? Makes me wonder if he has inside info?
ReplyDeleteThat said I think you're right about the Giants looking at more young players. But their young GM Scott Harris said he needed a month to study the Giants organization before offering his own input on the roster, so maybe it's too soon to tell what kind of players they'll try to acquire? I wonder who the young outfielders Zaidi is referring to that Pillar might block, maybe Steven Duggar and Helliot Ramos?