The Giants finally made some news at the Winter Meetings by moving all the way up from #15 to #4 in next summer's draft in today's draft lottery. This marks the first time the Giants have moved up since the lottery started and significantly increases their chances of drafting an impact player. Combine this good fortune with the expected signing of the top international prospect, Luis Hernandez, in January and the Giants are poised to break into at least the top third in farm system talent ranking by this time next year for the first time in many years. Props to Director of Player Development, Randy Winn, on a job well done representing the Giants at the draft lottery. His job just got significantly easier as I am sure he would much rather be in charge of developing good players than not-so-good ones.
Meanwhile the Dodgers continued to do Dodger things by signing the top Closer on the market, Edwin Diaz RHP to a 3 yr/$39 M contract. Of course, $4.5 M is deferred annually so the present value AAV for CBT purposes is only $21.1 M. Diaz is coming off a season with the Mets in which he recorded 28 Saves and pitched to a 1.63 ERA. Although he has been a fairly consistent he has tended to alternate between good and great seasons every other year so maybe he's only "good" in 2026? Remember the Dodgers shelled out a lot of money for Tanner Scott LHP last offseason and that didn't turn out so well for them, although they ended up winning the World Series anyway. Although the Giants have a big need for a reliable Closer, Buster Posey has given clear signals that he is shopping in the Brebbia Aisle while looking for bullpen bargains so nobody seriously thought the Giants were bidders for Diaz.
A player who the Giants were almost laughably linked to at the start of the Winter Meetings, Kyle Schwarber, is re-signing with the Phillies for 5 yr/$150 M. Schwarber, who will turn 33 yo before the start of the 2026 season, has turned himself into on elite power hitter although he is mostly limited to a DH role. Giants fans can return to hoping Bryce Eldridge turns into that kind of hitter in the very near future.
Haha, I’ve been reading your 2026 draft scouting reports lamenting that the Giants would probably end up making another conservative mid round pick and watching that player become a disappointment. Who would have thought that the player they could end up choosing is someone you have already profiled? This year’s draft looks a lot stronger than last year’s for the top half dozen or so picks. The baseball gods have given the Giants a small gift after bestowing upon the Dodger$ a title they probably should not have.
ReplyDeleteGiants owners are saving their money for the 2026 midterms.
ReplyDelete- Fan
The #4 picks in 2023 (Wyatt Langford) & 2024 (Nick Kurtz) were pretty good, but in this century it hasn't been especially productive, but there are a few very good ones:
ReplyDeleteKyle Schwarber 2014
Kevin Gausman 2012
Ryan Zimmerman 2005
Too early to say much about 2025: 18-yo SS: Ethan Holliday 18 games of A-ball
Nice to see the Giants get lucky and land the #4 pick!. When I saw that I checked online for the 2026 top rated players, but I know its subject to change once the amateur baseball season starts. Draft will be interesting if there are highly rated impact players available at the top of the draft. Let's go!
ReplyDeleteThis is probably the best news of the offseason. Four SS’s, 2 OFers, and 2 Lefty SP’s out of high school make up the top 8 currently. I can’t see Buster passing on either of the lefties they look like the real deal.
ReplyDeleteAiyo! IMHO Dodgers pulled another one off by signing Edwin Diaz. If you look at his track record, he has been dominate except for when he tore his patella tendon celebrating a win for Puerto Rico in the WBC before the season started in 2023. He missed all of 2023 and possibly his 2024 season was marred by still recovering from that injury. Knee injuries often take time to heal for strength, balance, mechanics to return to where they were. His ERA in 2022 was 1.31. His ERA in 2025 was 1.63. There were some down years prior to 2022, but he was so dominate before the patella injury, I would say he had all his weapons in place. Side note- Diaz' brother Alexis is in the Dodger organization which probably factored in his decision to sign with the Fodgers.
ReplyDeleteWith the signing of Edwin Diaz, the ******* ****** have a 2026 Estimated Luxury Tax Payroll of $339,070,530 (RosterResource).
ReplyDeleteThat is almost $60,000,000 below last years $397,041,125, but they have 3½ months before next season begins. The question is, how high will they go?
The Giants' estimated payroll for next year is $191,430,069 but we know they are going to add pitching, right?