The Giants signed flame-throwing Jordan Hicks on the 12th of January. It looked like things were heating up. Alas, it has since been quiet on the player acquisition front. There have been a few smaller moves, at least one that's intriguing, but nothing addressing the team's weak spots. The Giants picked up a 26-year old righty named Tommy Romero who was once a notable prospect in the Rays system. His MLB time is scant (8-1/3 IP, 44 TBF) but scary (9 BB, 7 HR). Like I said, intriguing. They added Cooper Hummel, a switch-hitting left-fielder who also catches. He's the backup for Blake Sabol, I suppose. Does this put Joey Bart on the trade block? MLBTR thinks so. (They also think teams are "showing interest" in Brandon Crawford.)
While Zaidian tinkering around the edges of the roster is necessary, it doesn't fill the fans with enthusiasm. They need another starter. They need another infielder—a shortstop, actually. Don't you think? And it wouldn't hurt to add a bat, just to give the fans something to get excited about. J.D. Davis is the only arb-eligible player who is unsigned. I wonder if that's just a small sticking point in negotiations as the Giants usually wrap all that stuff up early. If they are really interested in Matt Chapman, as has been reported all off-season, that would make Davis redundant. Are they positioning themselves for a trade? Davis led the team in games (144), plate appearances (546), strikeouts (152), and grounding into double plays (16). His .248/.325/.413 is solidly league average (104 wRC+). FanGraphs credited him with good defense and 2.2 fWAR while Baseball-Reference knocked his glove and pegged him at 0.9 bWAR. Chapman is a slight hitting upgrade but is usually rated very high for his fielding. Both men turn 31 in April.
I suppose I'll leave the strategic thinking to the team brass, after all they get paid to do it. This blogging stuff is strictly amateur. I've been away from my desk and unable to write but there's been nothing noteworthy so I didn't miss anything. We all saw the Dusty Baker news. The Giants have this unfortunate image of the team nobody wants to play for. It's bullshit of course, just media jive, but you have to deal with it. Dusty is well-loved all over the game and he puts a welcoming face on the Giants brand. That'll help.
The calendar says February 15th for the first Pitchers & Catchers workout and February 20th for the first Full Squad workout. The first Spring Game is on the 24th. I'm ready for some baseball, how about you?
--M.C.
16 comments:
Anthony DeSclafani now on Minnesota and the giants are paying part of his salary.
That's what it costs to land a former Cy Young Award winner, I suppose. Anyway I hope TonyD is healthy and can still pitch. He was great in 2021 but never really got it going again. He'll play 2024 as a 34-year old. He's back-end insurance for the Twins. He made 18 starts and logged 99 innings so 2023 wasn't totally lost. The Giants needed the roster spot--they've got plenty of back-end insurance candidates!
RH reliever Cody Stashak was signed to a minors deal. The core of the 'pen will be Doval, Jackson, and the Brothers Rogers. Junis, Brebbia, and Alexander are all free agents. Brebbia signed with someone else, the White Sox I think, and I don't expect the other two back. Manaea is gone as is Alex Wood, and DeSclafani of course.
On the 40-man are Tristan Beck, Sean Hjelle, Trevor McDonald, Erik Miller, Randy Rodriguez, Kai-Wei Teng, Ryan Walker, and Keaton Winn. (And Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison, Ross Stripling, and Alex Cobb!)
There are four spots (probably) for relievers after the aforementioned Doval, Jackson, Rogers & Rogers. It should be a competitive bunch this Spring. And they'll have to patch the rotation until Ray and Cobb are ready in the second half.
If the Giants don't sign another starter this will be a big opportunity for the young guns. Someone other than Harrison has to make some noise and show some big league chops!
Here is an interesting article:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2024/02/which-teams-are-most-likely-to-sign-the-top-remaining-free-agents.html
It actually doesn't assess which teams are most likely to sign the top remaining free agents at all, it talks about how much money each team has budgeted so far this offseason for it's 2024 team compared to past years. You have to scroll down pretty far to get to the Giants. There are 3 teams over the top CBT tier, you can guess who they are. Teams that are spending more than they ever have before are the Braves, Astros, Jays, Dbacks, and Rays. There are 7 teams that are spending pretty much what they did last year. After that, the Giants are in the group titled "Some Wiggle Room to the Tax Threshold" with a payroll of almost $30 mil less than the lowest CBT threshold, costlier than the Angels, rated "Should Have Lots of Room", a number of clubs rated "Should Have Some Room", and those rated "Below Past Levels But Might Not Spend".
FanGraphs projects Ross Stripling, Kyle Harrison, Jordan Hicks, and Keaton Winn filling out the rotation after Logan Webb.
They also have Sean Hjelle, Ryan Walker, Tristan Beck, and Erik Miller in the four bullpen slots after Doval/Jackson/Rogers^2.
Kai-Wei Teng. Trevor McDonald, and Randy Rodriguez round out the 18 pitchers currently on the 40-man. (The final two are Ray and Cobb.)
McDonald is only 23 and will likely be at AA. Not sure why he gets 40-man status! Maybe it's the 250 K in 223 IP. Teng (he's from Taiwan) is a starter. Big K numbers, big BB numbers in the minors. Rodriguez is a reliever. Another with big K numbers and big BB numbers.
I guess the Giants really like their young pitchers and Jordan Hicks, because they have now traded Ross Stripling and cash for minor league outfielder Jonah Cox, according to MLB trade rumors.
If they traded Stripling, that may be to free up money to sign someone at least marginally better. Surprised at the trade. Maybe they did not see much in his new death pitch.
Just got home from skiing and saw that news. I'm surprised, but I think it is the right thing to do. I was not counting on much from Stripling. He joins Alex Wood in Oakland. The fact that they got a decent prospect in return is good news.
Cox doesn't turn 23 until August. He's only played rookie league and A-ball after a stint at Oral Roberts. He's a righty known for bat-to-ball skills, speed, and OF defense. He's a long way from the majors! But it never hurts to have up-and-comers with the tools the team is looking for.
It's a good move for Stripling. He's not been healthy or productive and no one expects anything of this Oakland club. He can get his game back together. He'd be under more scrutiny and urgency in SF. I don't blame the Giants for moving on from him, it wasn't working out.
Are they making salary room for Chapman? Are they really going into the season with one ML-proven starter?
Just a couple of days ago there was an article about Stripling and Bob Melvin, with Stripling looking forward to pitch for the giants under Melvin and Melvin being excited to have Stripling. Should have known it was a harbinger for a trade.
Here's from an MLBTR article (today) talking about the A's roster with their GM David Forst:
Forst said the A’s started discussing signing Wood and making a Stripling trade with the Giants back during the GM Meetings in November.
I wonder how much players get told about the what the team has planned for them!
Giants need one of their young players to turn into Corban Carroll.
Or Spencer Strider!
MLBTR says the Giants are talking to Jorge Soler.
Here's the link to Soler's B-R page.
Here's the link to the MLBTR article. It cites Susan Slusser of the SF Chronicle.
B-R says his nicknames are "El Yoyo" and "El Crudo."
That and "Grandson of the Wind" will take the team to the top!!
Just kidding.
Giants need some thump, especially right-handed. If Soler can be the primary DH (and stay off the field) he could really help the lineup.
According to MLBTR J.D Davis won his arb case ($6.9M).
According to Roster Resource he avoided arb with a 2-year deal for 2024-2025!
I'm assuming the former is true.
I can find no confirmation on the latter.
That's all the arb cases. Now they just need to sign Jorge Soler or Matt Chapman (or both!).
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