'Tis the Season for Some Changes

The Giants promoted Antoan Richardson, the team's Field Coordinator, to first base coach for the major-league squad. Jose Alguacil, it seems, is let go. I always thought they were grooming Alguacil for bigger things. From a January article about Richardson:

Antoan Richardson -- Field Coordinator
Richardson starts his first season with the Giants as the Field Coordinator. The former outfielder spent the 2018 season as an Outfield Coordinator for the Toronto Blue Jays. Richardson appeared in the Majors with the Atlanta Braves in 2011 and with the New York Yankees in 2014. He was originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 35th round of the 2005 draft out of Vanderbilt University. The Bahamian native made his Major League debut on September 4, 2011, and recorded his first career hit off Clayton Kershaw in his first Major League at-bat. In his free time, Richardson mentors youth in the Bahamas through Project Limestone, a non-profit organization he established shortly after his retirement.

He just turned 36. Only Ron Wotus, among the coaches, is a greybeard. These whippersnappers have some big challenges ahead--I hope they're up to it!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone. And thanks for reading, as always.

--M.C.

Nicholas Castellanos, anyone?

The only free agent reliably associated (by that I mean multiple references on MLBTR) with the Giants has been Nicholas Castellanos. An OF and DH with the Tigers since 2011 he was traded to the Cubs in mid-season and performed extremely well (1.002 OPS and 37 XBH in 51 games). That raised his stock quite a bit although he was already a good player (2.7, 2.9, and 4.7 bWAR 2016-2018), if better known for his bat than his glove. He'll be 28 in March and has played in almost 900 games and amassed over 3600 PAs.

I don't know if the Giants are really in the running, after all the website is called MLBTR and the TR stands for Trade Rumors. But a tweet from Baggs sent me to an article by Sahadev Sharma who covers the Cubs for The Athletic and it had this:

Castellanos’ market is solid, but according to sources with knowledge of his priorities, he’s looking for a situation where “culture” and “environment” are more than just buzzwords.

Money matters, but all things being (nearly) equal, Castellanos is searching for a team ready to embrace him as a potential leader and one that is committed to building a winning culture. In his discussions with various organizations, Castellanos sees the Giants, Rangers and Cubs as three teams who value him for more than just his offense and that treat “clubhouse culture” as more than just T-shirts and talking points.

This counters a bit of the talk about analytics and cost-benefit analysis ruining the team! At least one player out there seems to like what's going on in San Francisco. Players choose teams for a lot of reasons. We don't always know what the reasons are.

In any event, Castellanos would be strictly a corner OF, mostly likely confined to LF. But if he could deliver 120 OPS+ and 300 TB that would be great. Supposedly he has improved his fielding every season since becoming a full-time starter--he came up as a third baseman but was quickly forced to the outfield.

This could all be nothing, but it's worth taking a look at. I think we've talked out the Bum stuff.

--M.C.

Adios, compadre

I should add an hasta luego as well.

In a move that took me by surprise the Arizona Diamondbacks signed Madison Bumgarner for five years and $85M. Forgive me if I think they got him on the cheap. The Giants supposedly offered a similar yearly salary but for only four years. And it turns out that Bum and his wife love Arizona and have property there. So he wanted to go. At least that's the way I see it. And good for him. He's a free agent after a decade in the bigs and he gets to call his own shots. That's the way it should be.

Of course he will be missed. Few players in the history of the team are equally accomplished and entertaining. Some are accomplished and some are entertaining, few can do both. Madison Bumgarner did everything you can ask from a player and did it with panache. He managed to surpass, in his Giants legacy, the two aces who came before him: Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. That's some damn fine work.

I hope he stays healthy and pitches well in Arizona. Except against the Giants, of course. I'll want to see 2-2/3 IP, 8 H, 5 R, that sort of thing. Against LA I'll be rooting for shutouts!

--M.C.

The new coaching staff

37, 35, 38, 36, 31, 29, 33, and 31. And 58, of course.

That's how old these guys are. Or, perhaps I should say, how young they are. I just turned 60, so they seem rather young to me. But that's good. Major League Baseball is a young man's endeavor.

The article is worth taking a look at even though it is a bit long.

--M.C.