Willy the Kid

He's 29 so I don't think it fits but I couldn't resist. He did reach the majors as a 22-year old. And Baseball-Reference lists 'The Kid' as his nickname. Regardless, as Zo said in the comments on the previous post, this is something the Giants needed to do. It's a whopper of a deal by SFG standards--seven years and $182M--but it's not so much on the breakdown. Major league shortstops cost this much. At $10M per WAR he would have to be an 18-WAR player over the life of the contract. That seems reasonable. He's a 20+ WAR player over his first seven seasons. His reputation is that of an all-rounder. He's not great at anything in particular, just good at everything. He's a ballplayer. A Buster kind of guy.

Adames makes the left side of the Giants infield really strong. He and Matt Chapman will put on a show and create a lot of outs. This moves Tyler Fitzgerald to second base where he will be a better fit.

The Giants have been linked to Corbin Burnes and that would be a good move, too.

--M.C.

Happy Thanksgiving!

When Blake Snell opted out of his last start I think we all knew he wasn't coming back. Oh, I had visions of them throwing money at him, but after Posey was PoBOed reality set in. Of course the Dodgers have a spare $182M for a guy like Snell and the Giants aren't going to play that game. They don't have LA's financial muscle or its star appeal. Whatever. The Giants will have to improve in other ways. There won't be a Christmas Miracle like Juan Soto.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. We all have much to be thankful for. Perhaps the Posey Effect will kick in this winter and San Francisco will field a really good, really cool team next spring. Or perhaps not. Either way, life/baseball goes on!

I hope everyone has a relaxing and enjoyable holiday.

--M.C.

 

p.s. The Giants have been linked to Tomoyuki Sugano, a veteran NPB ace.

1948

Of the last four teams standing in the post-season, three of them have MLB's highest payrolls. Cot's Contracts has two payroll lists, one called Year End 40-man and the other called CB Tax 40-man. In the first list it goes Mets ($341.5M), Yankees ($303.8M), and Dodgers ($288.3M). Figuring in the Competitive Balance Tax keeps the Mets ($356.2M) in the top spot with the Dodgers ($351.7M) and Yankees ($314.8M) switching places.

The three highest-spending teams in the two biggest baseball markets are in the League Championship Series. That's the semi-finals. The winners go to the World Series. The networks are guaranteed one LA-NY matchup (that starts tonight on Fox) and may get two.

The Cleveland Guardians are 21st ($106.1M) and 23rd ($139.7M) on the two payroll lists. They have not won the World Series since 1948, back when they were the Indians and had guys like Bob Feller and Larry Doby. Any discerning baseball fan who isn't rooting for the Guardians is doing the game a disservice. I'll exempt lifelong fans of the other clubs. After all, somebody must like them.

--M.C.

p.s. The moneyline (Fanduel) on winning the whole thing stands at Dodgers (+150), Yankees (+170), Mets (+410), and finally the Guardians (+550). If you bet 100 bucks on the Bums you'll clear 50 bucks if they win. They are 3-to-2 favorites. The longshot G's will make you a profit of 450 bucks if they pull off two upsets. Their odds come in at 11-to-2.

PoBO Posey

When I first heard the news I only caught the part about Farhan Zaidi being let go. I wasn't happy. I wasn't surprised, but I felt that continuity was important. And the FZ & Co. draft picks were finally coming of age and that, it seemed to me, would be a better criterion for judgment. But this is pro sports and results are what matters. And other than the 2021 NL West title this club has not produced the results during FZ's tenure.

Then I found out that they were naming franchise legend (and part owner) BUSTER POSEY to be the new President of Baseball Operations.

Now THAT is operating on an entirely new level! What's next, Brandon Crawford gets BoMel's job? Just kidding. Seriously, this is a big deal. All that talk about Buster wanting to spend more time with his family, yadda-yadda-yadda, and it turns out his competitive fires are still burning. He will get to spend more time with his family, sure. But he will be under enormous scrutiny. This is a high-profile gig, man. And the expectations will be off-the-charts. It's Buster Fucking Posey! Phenom. RoY. MVP. World Series Champion. It's quite a resume and it is all in orange-and-black.

Slick move by ownership. A+ rating for energizing the fanbase.

What say you, Giants fans?

--M.C.

p.s. this was so important I had to post even though I'm still "away from my desk"

80

SF 6  STL 5

Until this afternoon's victory the Giants were 0-4 against the Cardinals. They blew a 5-2 lead but recovered to win with the help of a throwing error by St. Louis reliever Matthew Liberatore. Two straight losses before today pushed their total to 81 so the best they can do is .500 with a win tomorrow. It's a disappointing season, that's for sure. I really felt like they had a more competitive roster this year. I do agree with Farhan Zaidi that the Giants have an excellent group of youngsters for 2025.

Matt Chapman got the obviously well-deserved Willie Mac Award. Blake Snell bailed out of today's start in favor of rookie Tristan Beck but he said lots of nice things about the Giants. I think they should sign him--it's just money, after all. What else is there to spend it on?

I'm going to be "away from my desk" for a week or so. Then we can start talking about next year. Tomorrow's finale is 12:05 and Hayden Birdsong gets the call.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Giants power-stomp Snakes

SF 11  ARI 0

Not only did the Giants claw their way back to .500 (79-79) with last night's thumping win they also pushed their run difference into positive territory (+7). Five home runs from the lineup and six scoreless frames from Logan Webb were too much for the Diamondbacks. Arizona might be watching its Wild Card chances slip away. This game was over in the 3rd inning. Tristan Beck threw a scoreless 7th and Austin Warren got the last six outs.

The Giants have won five straight scoring thirty runs and allowing only four. Mason Black gets the start tonight.

Let's get a sweep!

--M.C.

Spoiler Alert

SF 6  ARI 3

The Giants messed things up for the Kansas City Royals and they put the same hurt on the Arizona Diamondbacks tonight in Phoenix. Who are these guys? Why didn't they play like this last month? Anyway, the Giants played another good game and backed up Hayden Birdsong (5 IP, 2 R, 6 K) and annoyed the Arizona fan base. The New York Mets are now 1/2 game ahead for the final Wild Card spot in the NL. Matt Chapman drove in half the the runs with an inside-the-park homer (he really is fast!) and a triple. The bullpen did another stellar job to nail down the victory.

Logan Webb goes tomorrow. In his last five starts he's gone a mere (by his standards) 26 innings and allowed a whopping (by his standards) 19 runs. Mason Black is listed for Wednesday. There's an off-day on Thursday and I expect Blake Snell will get a start on the weekend series against the Cardinals. It looks like they may not bring back Webb at all and finish out with another start from Birdsong and perhaps Landon Roupp. Webb needs 1-1/3 IP to reach 200 for the second season in a row.

Go Giants!

--M.C.