Let's catch up with the Giants trade deadline deals. To recap our summary, make no mistake. FZ was selling at the deadline. The problem was the buyers weren't diggin' what he was selling. His two biggest pieces were Carlos Rodon LHP and Joc Pederson OF/DH. Rodon had a opt-out/opt-in clause in his contract teams did not want to get stuck with in case of injury. Joc was untradable because recovery from concussions is so unpredictable. Somewhat surprisingly, he ended up trading Darin Ruf IF/OF/DH and Curt Casali C for an interesting return. He was also able to recoup something for a couple of rehab flyers Matt Boyd LHP and Trevor Rosenthal RHP. Here's the breakdown:
Giants traded Darin Ruf IF/OF/DH to the Mets for:
J. D. Davis 3B/OF. DOB: 4/27/1993. B-R, T-R. 6'3", 218 lbs. 2022: .238/.321/.370, 4 HR, 9.7 BB%, 31.9 K%. Davis has always been a true outcomes hitter but the power lagged over the past two seasons. That may be due to a torn ligament in his wrist repaired last fall. He's 7 years younger than Ruf and has 3 arbitration years left before free agency. FZ may be counting on him finally being fully healthy in 2023.
Thomas Szupacki LHP. DOB: 6/12/1996. 6'2", 180 lbs. 2022 AAA: 2-6, 3.46, 65 IP, 29 BB, 89 K. Low-slot lefty who can get it up to 97 MPH with a secondary breaking ball. Ironically his one MLB appearance this season was a disaster start against the Giants.
Nick Zwack LHP. DOB: 8/1/1998. 6'3", 230 lbs. 2022(A/A+): 6-2, 2.36, 76.1 IP, 18 BB, 96 K. Big lefty with great ratios. I like it!
Carson Seymour RHP. DOB: 12/16/1998. 6'6", 260 lbs. 2022(A/A+): 5-5, 2.76, 81.2 IP, 21 BB, 92 K. Jumbo RHP with terrific ratios. I like it!
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Giants traded Matthew Boyd LHP and Curt Casali C to the Mariners for:
Michael Stryffeler RHP. DOB: 5/22/1996. 6'2", 210 lbs. 2022(2 AA/AAA): 1-3, 2.15, 37.2 IP, 21 BB, 60 K, 3 Saves. Reliever track with typical reliever ratios.
Andy Thomas C/1B. DOB: 6/17/1998. B-L, T-R. 6'2", 210 lbs. 2022(A+): .264/.400/.444, 9 HR, 43 BB, 66 K, 265 PA. You can never have too many catching prospects. Have I ever mentioned how valuable a LH hitting catcher is?
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Giants traded Trevor Rosenthal RHP to the Brewers for:
Tristan Peters OF. DOB: 2/29/2000. B-L, T-R. 6'0", 180 lbs. 2022(A+/AA): .305/.385/.482, 8 3B, 7 HR, 13 SB, 45 BB, 62 K, 387 PA. Peters might be the most interesting prospect coming to the Giants in these trades. 5-tool OF. Nice haul for a flip of a rehabbing pitcher!
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Taken in isolation, FZ appears to have brought back a very nice prospect haul without giving up much. If Davis proves to be a younger version of Darin Ruf, or better yet a worthy replacement for Evan Longoria 3B it will be a huge bonus. The problem with this deadline was what didn't happen. While failing to move Rodon and Joc were not entirely FZ's fault, it's still disappointing. He can recoup some value for Rodon by giving him a QO and taking the compensation draft pick along with the added slot bonus money to play the draft with.
It was hard to see the value of these moves in the moment since all of us were waiting for Rodon to get traded and every move that didn’t involve him seemed like a disappointment. Thanks Doc for breaking these moves down and providing some hope. It would be nice if these players provide more impact than the guys he got the year he couldn’t trade MadBum or Will Smith. Dubon may have been the only one that stuck at all in the Majors and then poof he was gone.
ReplyDeleteIf FZ was doing this in Oakland, KC, Pittsburgh, etc they would be talking about building statues for him when he retired after decades of running the team! I have no doubt that if given 20 years, FZ would win 2-3 WS with his process. I also think he would have .500 teams 15 out of the 20 years.
No GM in any sport gets more than 5 years without showing significant growth or playoff consistency. Next year will be his 5th year running this team and maybe it should be his last if he doesn’t figure out how to make a few big moves. This isn’t a small market team and it’s kind of embarrassing to be acting like one going on four years now.
Zaidi inherited a team that won 73 games in 2018 with Posey (bWAR: 2.8), Belt (bWAR: 2.5), Crawford (bWAR: 1.5), Longoria (bWAR: 1.4), Duggar (bWAR: 0.9), & Slater (bWAR: -0.3) with a total payroll of $200,505,278. B-R says a WAR of 2+ is a Starter, 0-2 is a sub, so that team had 2 “starters” and 3 "subs."
DeleteAround that core he added a new manager and 26 position players that won 107 games in 2021 with a payroll of $149,344,778.
That team had 7 “starters” by B-R standards (Bryant is included although he had less than a third of a season). That team had 16 position players with a positive WAR, 10 of whom were added by Zaidi.
Pitching was similar: Webb, Rogers, Cueto, and Baragar were inherited and performed positively, especially Webb and Rogers. The rest of pitchers were acquired.
Shouldn't Zaidi get some credit for assembling a team that won the most games ever for the franchise, dating back to the days of the Gothams in 1883 & 1884?
Absolutely, Zaidi and Kap and the coaching staff should get credit for 2021. Some of what happened this year is out of their control, an overwhelming number of injuries for starters. On the other hand, the failure to address a couple of obvious problems in the offseason and an ongoing trend of busted first round draft picks are issues that deserve criticism.
DeleteListened to an interesting podcast with Pav's and FZ. Thanks for the recap on the trades, thought they good trades. FZ said part of the reason they were reluctant to sell off more pieces is they were part of 2021 107 wins team. I can understand that, but I hope that doesn't influence their decision making too much on roster construction going forward. My opinion is the previous regime fell into that trap. They were part of the 3 world series winning teams which clouded their roster decision making. Example instead of rebuilding after 2017 98 loss team, they thought they could win so they made the ill advised trade Bryan Reynolds for Andrew McCutcheon. The Giants should concentrate on developing their own players thru their system. Posey, Madbum, Lincecum, Cain and others were developed by the Giants and became stars too.
ReplyDeleteThe previous regime won 3 world series over 5 years!
ReplyDeleteIn 63 years in the Giants have been in San Francisco > the previous regime won 3 world series over 5 years!
Love him or hate him Brian Sabean knew how to build a team > even if it meant moving draft pieces!
Your Honour we rest our case!!!
Richard in Winnipeg
Sabes probably gets too much credit for 3 in 5 and Bobby Evans probably gets too much blame for the next 5 seasons. FZ/Kap probably got too much credit for 2021 and too much blame for 2022.
DeleteAgree with Richard, cheers to the SABES regime for 3 World Series trophies in 5 years. Thankful for Giants baseball to enjoy for 3 hours on GameDays and following their trades. Like the Ruf trade, JD Davis can hit, Szupacki is a lefty and should help this year. Seymour and Zwack another lefty are 2021 college pitcher draftees already in high A ball. Andy Thomas , catcher was also a Seattle 2021 drafted also playing high A ball. Does it seem like the Giants player development people don't like to move prospects up too quickly, not a bad thing. OF Tristen Peters also drafted in 2021 is playing in Richmond for the Giants. I like the deadline trades FZ made. What are the chances Rodon signs again with the Giants?
ReplyDeleteI like the trades too, LG. Not counting Rodon, the Giants have just $77 M in payroll commitments for CBT accounting purposes per Cot's Baseball Contracts. That goes down to $32 M in 2024 when they will be approximately $200 M under the tax threshold. Given their financial situation, they should be spending close to the threshold at a mininimum or even slightly above. What I'm getting to is they need to spend all that on somebody. Looking at the pending FA list on MLBTR, it looks to me like re-signing Rodon needs to be a priority as well as a middle of the order bat and a seasoned Closer.
DeleteMaybe 2 or 3 middle of the order bats, Giants need a core to build around, there ain't nothing there!
ReplyDeleteDefying age and odds, the old core was the strength of 2021: Posey, Belt, and Crawford.
Bryant, Ruf, Flores, Solano, Wade, and even Longoria augmented them with good years: 13 Giants had OPS+ of 100 or more, 9 with 110 or more.
That plus the pitching won 107 games but none of that offense came back - ONE player with 120+ OPS and he doesn't bat against lefties.
If Aaron Judge decides to test the free agent market, the Giants should be aggressive gaging his interest signing with the Giants, he is the RH power bat/star that they need to sign . He's also from Northern California. I'd be ok if they leave enough room under the threshold in the off-season to give them flexibility to make moves during the season. I remember a season when the GM at the time Bobby Evans made the McCutcheon and Longoria trades which put them against the cap, which prevented them from making more moves, a bad sign
ReplyDeleteThey need to figure out whether they can be competitive 1st before deciding how and who they should spend it on. I think they can compete. It's too bad their top prospects Harrison and Luciano might be too young to help them in 2023. Ramos has been a disappointment and he's young but a 2017 draft pick so he might run out of time. The free agent shortstop class might be great again led by Trea Turner, Bogarts, Carlos Correa, Dansby Swanson. Question is will 1 or 2 of these players want to sign with the Giants? Offering the highest bid doesn't guarantee the player will sign with the Giants. Should be an interesting off-season. Read the article about how disappointing the Soto trade talks was. It's too bad the Giants had too many top prospects that had down years due for various reasons including injuries. Who knows if these prospects get healthy they might rebound
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