Saturday, December 8, 2018

The Winter Meetings

The Giants Brain Trust and their twenty-nine counterparts will be meeting this coming Monday in Las Vegas for the annual MLB rite known of course as The Winter Meetings. Newly-installed President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi brought in some new people in advance of this. Long-time amateur scouting director John Barr has been replaced by Michael Holmes who worked in Oakland in a similar capacity. They also added Zack Minasian who was a special assistant in Milwaukee. He will oversee professional scouting. Former Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi is also supposedly joining the team as a special assistant. I suppose the organizational flowchart will be in flux for a while and we might not fully know who's-who and what's-what but I suspect it will come together at some point. The Giants are making changes just like they said they would. Perhaps by the end of the week we'll have some new bodies in Giants uniforms as well.

--M.C.

11 comments:

M.C. O'Connor said...

The Giants signed Cameron Rupp to a minor-league deal. He's a catcher, sort of a younger version of Nick Hundley.

M.C. O'Connor said...

"Dirty Al" Gallagher passed away. He has the distinction of being the first native San Franciscan to play for the SF Giants.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Giants claim lefty centerfielder Mike Gerber off waivers.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Cutch goes to Phillies, 3 yrs, $50M.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Drew Ferguson, a CF from the Astros organization, was picked up via the Rule V draft. Seems like he could make the ML roster, he's 26 with four years in the minors (350 G, 1500 PA, .297/.393/.455 career line) and the Giants certainly need OF help.

Also got a lefty who whiffs a lot of people, Travis Bergen, from the Blue Jays system. He's 25 but has not seen a lot of action, only 59 G and 85 IP. Promising AA numbers.

I've been thinking a lot about FZ's comment: "no move is too small." The Giants need an improved roster and even incremental upgrades to the entire system (not just the 40-man) are important. Let's hope the team continues to find talent. I have a feeling we will get a lot this kind of news in the next few months. I'm not expecting anything too splashy this winter. I feel like if they do something big it will be near the season's start or mid-season.

campanari said...

I think FZ has three definable but semi-independent areas of concern: depth, the OF, and the rotation. The last of these I think will have to wait till Kikuchi makes a choice of teams, which happens on or before 3 January, as I recall. Were we to get him, we might try to sign Derek Holland and set that area of concern provisionally aside. Kikuchi, Holland, Bumgarner, and Suarez are all lefties, but if the D—g—s of last season suited FZ, four lefties shouldn’t bother him, particularly as one of them, Bum, may get traded. We will need two veteran outfielders, I suppose, maybe a FA such as Brantley plus a trade such as Kevin Pillar (Pavlovich’s suggestion); and there nothing may happen till late, when remaining FAs may settle for fewer years’ contracts and trade partners have a clearer sense of their needs. As to depth, where nothing splashy need be done, transactions can go on through the offseason and later.

The Giants are rich enough, I suppose, that the timing involved to deal with these three several areas won’t depend on avoiding financial squeezes of their own, though they may be able to take advantage of potential partners’ funding problems as the off-season continues. What is important for them is to try to get players without losing their own player inventory, as for example by making use of the Rule 5 draft and waiver claims, as they’ve done so far, increasing organizational depth.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Agreed on the "organizational depth" notion. That's a big one, and impacts the team's ability to make trades happen as well as field a competent squad. The Giants ought to be rich enough to weather any storm, right? FZ had a very deep roster in LA which enabled them to survive injuries and make it to the next level. Can he pull off the same act in SF?

M.C. O'Connor said...

Giants are supposedly interested in Pat Venditte a reliever who throws with either hand. He made 15 appearances for the Dodgers in 2018. RHB were 4-for-18 against him as a RH pitcher and LHB were 5-for-25 against him as a LH pitcher! Goofy, man. I'd like to see that. If they pull a switcheroo on him out there does he have to get a new glove? Or does he have some cool ambidextrous thing that can be worn on either hand?

campanari said...

The cool ambidextrous thing—there’s a picture of it on line, accompanying an article reporting the Giants-sign-Venditte rumor. Presumably Zaidi signed him for LA last year, and saw him pitch at his best; and his skills jibe with FZ’s love of platooning.

M.C. O'Connor said...

One-year deal for Venditte.

M.C. O'Connor said...

Apparently the deal is for less than $600K as he's only got a bit over a year of service time. His name is ven-DITT-ee according to Baseball-Reference. I don't recall seeing this guy pitch last year, he only made 15 appearances (14 IP), and as much as I try to keep up on the opposition he's new to me. Seems like a very Zaidian move.

Dodgers make a trade and clear out their OF (Puig, Kemp) and shed salary. Speculation is that Harper is their target. One wag I stumbled across opined "why have stupid money if you don't use it?"

It's not really important where Harper ends up, even if he is a ridiculous talent. What's important is that the Giants continue to improve: upgrading their ML roster and modernizing and beefing up the rest of the system. All I want for Christmas is that FNG FZ is the right man for the job!