It turns out the Yankees wanted Gerrit Cole very badly and quickly upped the ante to a massive 9 year/$324 M contract. The contract has a full no-trade clause and an opt-out after the 5'th year. Cole apparently grew up a Yankees fan even though he lived in SoCal(I think he may have played on the Yankees travel team as a kid) so maybe that's what sealed the deal, but whatever it was, the fallout is likely to spread far and wide. 1. The Angels and Dodgers were both left holding their *****'s, especially the Angels who had given up a top prospect to the Giants to unload a contract which presumably was to put them in a better position to offer Cole more. 2. Madison Bumgarner is suddenly the top FA pitcher left on the market with a long list of teams still in need of a frontline SP. Hot rumor is he is now the Dodgers top target. Ugh! Bummy is going to get paid and probably not by the Giants. 3. I read somewhere the Yanks are now way over the top level CBT tax and are trying to unload JA Happ and his contract. Maybe that opens up another path to a top prospect for Farhan, who has financial room to pull of not just one, but several of these deals?
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Didi Gregorius signed a 1 year/$14 M contract with the Phillies which puts him in another hitter-friendly environment. I love Didi, but he would have been a poor fit for the Giants in that he is a left-handed dead pull hitter, a type Oracle Park is notoriously unfriendly to.
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One hot rumor has the Giants taking David Price and his contract from the Red Sox if Andrew Benintendi comes along in the deal. I like Benintendi, but am not sure how much he really solves for the Giants. I might be more interested this kind of deal if at least one more top prospect was included. Another team with a contract they are almost desperate to unload and who have a really strong farm system is the Padres with Wil Myers being the bad contract.
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In response to the Anon who had a long list of valid concerns about both the Cozart/Wilson deal I would make the following points:
1. The current bonus pool/slotting system grossly undervalues draft picks. If there were unlimited bonuses in the draft, the Giants or almost any team would gladly pay an extra $9 M to a draft pick in the 10-15 range such as Wilson. There are no guarantees with prospects, but Wilson has a solid chance to be at least an average SS which is actually pretty valuable. He makes the Giants farm system noticeably stronger immediately. I expect him to start 2020 in San Jose. We'll see how he does there. I think he'll do quite well.
2. The $22 M Farhan spent yesterday should have no bearing on whether he signs Bumgarner or not. The Giants have plenty of room left to sign both Bum and a power hitting OF and a lefthanded hitting IF if that's how they choose to spend their money.
In short, the Giants still have the resources to put together a competitive time for 2020 AND build up the farm system for the future. It remains to be seen if Farhan can pull that off or if he is even trying.
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Wil Myers hits HRs at Oracle Park - plays LF, 3B, 1B - he'd be worth taking with a 50+ prospect. Pitching-wise, so would David Price with ABenintendi or a prospect, so would Happ with a prospect -- these SPs can flourish at Oracle Park and maybe be flipped (and/or Samardjiza, Cueto, Gausman) at the deadline for ANOTHER 50+ prospect - or maybe they all pitch lights out baseball and SF surprises the world in 2020. That'd be a solid SP rotation, eh? - Price, Cueto, Samardjiza, Happ, Gausman? Save Beede and Webb's arms for second half after the flips, if they come.
ReplyDeletePrice, Benintendi, Red Sox #1 prospect (19yo 1st baseman), and two pitching prospects to Giants. Belt, Yastrzemski from Giants to RSox. Giants sign Castellanos to play first for them. What about that scheme, whereby Sox get the first baseman they need, plus a good, cheap possible home town favorite? The Giants get Castellanos’s bat but not his wooden OF glove; they take on Price’s huge salary but by shedding Belt’s get some relief; they get a starting pitcher and a younger replacement for Yaz (Benintendi); and they bolster the farm, including a 55-rated first-base prospect who’s only 19. The Sox shed Price’s and Benintendi’s salaries, even if they have to give some of the savings back, to Belt, whom they have on a usefully short-term contract.
DeleteNot that Myers is better than Benintendi but he does bat RH with all the LHB SF has for OFers, maybe none as good as Benintendi but he would make the 4th LHB OFer.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Nick Piecoro, Arizona Republic Published Dec. 11, 2019:
ReplyDeleteSAN DIEGO — The Diamondbacks floated the idea of a contract in the range of $70 million for starter Madison Bumgarner, sources said, though it seems likely that will fall well short of what it will take to land the free-agent left-hander.
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Following the signings of free agents Gerrit Cole ($324 million), Stephen Strasburg ($245 million) and Zack Wheeler ($118 million), Bumgarner’s price seems likely to reach nine figures.