Friday, August 31, 2018

Adios, Andrew

Andrew McCutchen won a lot of fans with his play and demeanor in his short time in San Francisco. Predictably he was traded before the deadline after he cleared waivers. The business part of the game still intrudes rudely despite five decades of fandom. I knew the odds he would be in another uniform by the end of the season were pretty good, and it is a move the organization has to make, but it still stinks. Cutch played with grace and class and was well-liked almost immediately. At 31 and in his tenth season, he's not the 7+ WAR player he was from 2012-2014 when he won the MVP ('13) and finished third in the voting twice ('12, '14). But that doesn't mean he isn't a good player! He leaves leading the team in hits, runs, doubles, homers, RBIs, total bases, and stolen bases. Of the Giants 135 games Cutch has started in 128 and appeared in 130 (most on the team), and also has the most plate appearances. The guy has been a rock in a season of inconsistency. So, farewell to our short-timer, and I would normally wish him well but he wound up on the Yankees, and they're no fun to root for. Maybe he'll hit a bunch of homers in the playoffs but the Bombers will still lose. That'll be OK by me.

McCutchen was the 11th pick of the 2005 draft. Here are some guys drafted ahead of him: Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, and Troy Tulowitzki. Here are some guys drafted after him (still in the 1st round): Jacoby Ellsbury, Jay Bruce, Jed Lowrie, Clay Buchholz, Colby Rasmus. The Giants did not have a pick until the fourth round that year, and the only significant piece from that draft came with the 852nd pick (28th round): Sergio Romo. The Giants had to give up their picks in the first three rounds as free agent compensation for Armando Benitez, Mike Matheny, and Omar Vizquel.

In return the Giants get two youngsters from the Dominican Republic. One is a 23-year old utility infielder named Abiatal Avelino. He's been in the Yankees system since he was 17 and has some time in the Dominican Winter League but no ML service. The other is an almost-21-year old right handed pitcher named Juan De Paula. He was in the Seattle organization and has seen some time in the Domincan Summer League as well as low-A ball with New York. He also has no ML service. Welcome aboard, FNGs!

--M.C.

4 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

BTW Ron I like your cornering-the-market-on-catchers idea. Seems like teams will have to come up with ways to keep their catchers alive and well. Splitting duties with two (or more!) guys makes a lot of sense. Relief catchers, like relief pitchers. Something. MLB will have to face the attrition at that position. Maybe the rosters will be expanded so teams can carry a guy just for defense back there to relieve the regulars. I don't know, but I do know that we won't see any more 15-20 year backstops. They'll be done after five, certainly by ten years in today's game.

Murf the Smurf said...

I really like the idea of the Giants dumping Posey on the Phillies. The poor guy has had better days and now it is time to let him out to pasture...with my boys.

campanari said...

I don’t know if I’m ruing “the businessside of the game.” Baggarly, I think it was, described the trade as a courtesy to Cutch, to give him a crack at a ring, certainly at some post-season cash. The Giants got two prospects, but I wouldn’t call bolstering one’s cache of personnel a business side of the game, such as a simple lowering of payroll would be.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Well, they had to trade him because he was going to be a free agent at the end of the season and thus no longer an "asset." Now they have two new "assets." If the Giants were legitimately in the pennant race they would have kept Cutch and paid the "cost" of losing him. When you are in the post-season those gambles are worth it, both in terms of opportunity to win the big prize, and increased revenue and fan interest and goodwill. So it was clearly a business decision to move him. Not to mention the money they saved by moving him allows them to potentially avoid another cost, the luxury tax. The 15 minor leaguers they are adding to the roster today cost money, and now they have a smidgeon of payroll room for those new costs. (And those called up this year start their service time clocks, creating costs down the road that have to be figured.)

I think the Giants made a business decision but with Cutch's dignity in mind. They weren't going to dump him, they were going to treat him like a professional and show some class. It seems they accomplished both the cost-savings and the courtesy in one move.