by
Greek Giant
Now that we are celebrating our early holiday gift (Thank You Bobby Evans) with the signing of Mark Melancon as the new Giants closer, it’s time to clean up the gift wrap and think about recycling those bows! There is news today that Mark Melancon’s contract allows for a player opt-out after two years. This means there are likely to be repercussions for the Giants in terms of roster construction both in the early and long terms of the closer’s tenure/contract life. Details of the contract include the eye-popping stipulation that Melancon will receive a $20 Million dollar bonus! His contract is heavily front-loaded and the Giants are going to pay more than half of the contract for the first two years, amounting to a potentially much higher average annual salary in the near term.
There are risks here. If Melancon pitches like the premier closer we are counting on he is likely to opt out and sign a mega deal at the age of 34!
There are other implications. First, Bobby Evans was on record today as stating that the Giants expect left field to be an open competition between Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker. So, goodbye Juan Batista. Au revoir Ryan Braun. Ciao Yoenis Cespedes.
Second, the signing of Melancon pushes the Giants past the luxury tax threshold this year and may be a factor if the team is looking for mid-season acquisitions for 2017.
Like I said, there are repercussions to this deal and they are a risky proposition. But it’s not like we’re the Red Sox who just traded Yoan Moncada and other top prospects for Chris Sale! This baseball GM business can get a little hairy and the Melancon move signals that the Giants mean business about winning now. As a fan who understands that windows of opportunity don’t stay open forever (see Tigers, Phillies, Royals, etc.) I appreciate and agree with this mindset.
I just want to play with my new toy.
Breckeroni says HELLO to Klay Thompson and Mark the Melancon
https://www.facebook.com/warriors/videos/10154891287482526/
Breckelancon will love us too much to leave.
The Giants get the bicycle they wanted and the rest is stocking stuffers.
Melancon’s AAV will remain consistent at 15.5 for the duration of the contract.
As for luxury tax threshold…
Rosenthal reported that the Giants were at 155+ mil prior to to Melancon, so now they are right around 171 million. There’s a gap of 24 million between that figure and the 195 threshold, but there are an abundance of 40 man roster considerations that are due (I’m guessing 15-20 mil?). So they should have somewhere around 4-9 million to play with.
More obfuscation.
But some tweeters have some good ideas. What if a trade targeted a third baseman? And Nunez was moved into super-utility role?
https://twitter.com/hankschulman/status/806252092302053376
…or if they signed Turner for 3rd and put Nunez in LF and/or utility role. Not going to happen, but since 3B was brought up…
The wheels are turning. The hamsters are motivated.
…Longoria?
I still covet some beef in the middle of the lineup. A guy to really knock in runs.
I think Nunez IS the 3b. But a trade for a utility guy who can play the OF and has some pop makes sense.
What of Todd Frazier? Hadn’t thought too much of him lately because of low OBP, but he did pop 75 HRs the last two years. He’s in the last year of arbitration and should be making somewhere north of 12 million.
That’s underselling who Nunez is.
Who is Nunez?
Here, use this ñ.
Thañk you!
ñuñez
Me parece que necesito eso también: ú
Núñez
Which key do you hit?
Sol maggiore.
Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si
Ok so does that warrant a “vaffanculo” ?????
🙂
Crudo!
I would never have expected from you such a fail on style. Have you been exposed to the Grillo virus, perhaps?
yes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OloXRhesab0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rhYMMlvCNg
G flat.
“Option” and the letter on a Mac, the repeat the letter.
After going to the AS game for the first time – he deserves to start.
My CONCERN is how long he stayed HURT
You mean the hamstring at the end of the season? That happened in San Diego only a week or so before Game 162, so even the Cubs’ series was barely two weeks later. Hamstring strains can take a lot longer than that.
And anyway, that led to Super Conor. No hammy for Nunez, maybe no wild card win!
OK and WHO would have thought that two tremendous highlights would come from two of our most different players?
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/51231442/v1186327383/?query=eduardo%2Bnunez
And Conor has his copy narrated by Vinny
http://m.mlb.com/video/v1200742283/?query=conor%2Bgillaspie
Well in principle I was pushing for a good outfielder more than an elite closer (on the assumption that some combination of Law/Smith/Strickland/Gearrin would develop soon enough) but I can’t deny that given the available free agents, Melancon was the best choice as the big acquisition of the off-season. Cespedes was too expensive, Batista and Braun are just gross, and although I really think Ian Desmond would be a great acquisition, no one seems to agree with me so I’m probably wrong. Have to save some money to keep Bumgarner and Cueto. $62 for 4 years appears to be a lot for a reliever but it’s a lot cheaper than a top-tier outfielder, and Melancon is not only generally great but as a ground ball pitcher fits the Giants really well. The bullpen is looking great now but quite different from before–with the Core Four and their lefty-rights splits gone, Strickland as the only reliever like this left, and five solid relievers in front of Melancon (Law, Smith, Strickland, Gearrin, and Kontos), it should be more of each reliever coming in for an inning or so depending on who’s rested regardless of who the other teams is sending to the plate. Bochy won’t have to think too hard or get creative with the relievers, which is just as well after last year.
Mark Purdy’s story on Alex versus Kap debate…years later.
http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/12/06/purdy-the-kap-vs-alex-argument-is-settled-and-its-become-obvious-the-49ers-made-the-wrong-choice/
He needed to do one on Scot versus Trent
Interesting factual/statistical analysis, and it doesn’t even touch the more intangible issue of how the treatment of Smith might have soured relationships in the locker room, as well as trust issues it might have raised with Harbaugh.
For me, that sequence of events was the beginning of the end of me being a 49ers fan, which I’d been since the early 80s. Their coddling and enabling of bad guys like Aldon Smith and Ray McDonald (one year they had no fewer than 7 guys on the roster with sexual assault/DV/DUI histories) sealed the deal for me, but I never felt the same about the 49ers after Alex was dumped like that. Now I honestly don’t care. I was being truthful, not snarky, when I said the only reason I turned on their game this Sunday (for the first time this year) was to see how Matt Barkley was doing.
Amen. Lets all remember when it first happened that Vernon, Staley, the Cowboy and Willis were none to happy but they smoothed it over.
The 49ers got rid of Scot when they could have got him some rehab work for his binge drinking.
*Who ever decided to stay in Florida for BOTH weeks should be fired. Barkley succeeded because of familiarity AND talent. The 49ers all were wearing sunscreen still last Sunday.
Having been to a Sharks game and a Bear game a couple of weeks ago in Florida, Sunscreen certainly is mandatory. Especially when sitting in the East side of the stadium. No I know how fans in Santa Clara feel
Matt Barkley looked good! For the first time I can remember, I have to root against Alex this Thursday. Raiders fan 🙂
Did you see that a bunch of the Raiders were at the Warriors game last night? Derek Carr treated his O-line.
I saw that…but late. I was laughing, because I didn’t hear about them being at the game and saw the post-game picture. A bunch of big dudes…and Derek Carr…so I figured it out from there. I keep hearing how Derek is a huge team guy and none of this success is changing him. They should be good for the next few years; regardless where they end up.
He seems to be a very fine young man. The Buster Posey/Steph Curry of the Raiders.
Carr got one of his shots to go in for “THREE” – when they all shot around after the game.
Believe it or not, the Raiders offensive line is nicknamed “Carr Insurance “
Working on winning the Winter, the Sox topping a busy day…
https://twitter.com/Ken_Rosenthal/status/806272016919777286
So Hanley will be the DH? Not bad.
probably mix it up with Hanley at 1B vs LHP. Have prospect Sam Travis too.
But I thought Pablo’s dream was to eat as much Dunkin’ Donuts and eventually become the DH.
It is HIGH time that SFB LLC aka Scout_Finch_Baseball and Hunter Pence Baseball Academy should join forces so as to educate the masses both on and off the field
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6hCMKA9GBU
That’s fine. More pressure and high expectations for BoSox.
KC is supposed to be shopping Jarrod Tyson. That guy is worth better than 5 WAR per 600 ABs for his career. He should make about 5 mil this year. He might not be an exact fit for the Giants but wouldn’t he be a great pickup?
He’s the type of defense in CF that people have been dreaming about. Too bad he is LHH.
Too bad he can not hit .
He is slappy. The kind of hitter you love. He did hit 8 triples last year and had a .340 OBP. that’s pretty good.
He would have been a starter with KC, if he could hit, he was a defensive replacement, PR most of his time with KC .
You think that might be because he came up about the same time as Cain? Naw, that couldn’t be it,
No, he can not hit, Cain was not a starter early in his career either, Cain was not a good hitter until the last 3 years .
Since he cannot steal first base but but but ….. do you think Billy Hamilton will mature as a professional type hitter going forward?
If Hamilton grew into Dee Gordon at the plate would that be a good thing?
Gordon got caught partner, you can not hit, you can not hit .
PED’s help you recover. They do NOT help a hitter hit a baseball.
Wow, how come most on this blog think Bonds HR record is not legit .
So you’re saying he would not be a great pickup?
As a 5th outfielder great move, as a starter bad move .
Ughhh. Crawford’s also going to be on the WBC team.
So long as nobody gets hurt, it will be cool to see Giants in action on this February/March stage.
That’s what Scottsdale is for
Are you going this year?
Nope….too busy!! My kid is heading down for a week with buddies….
Old Farts have a tendancy of getting hurt. He is going to be crossing the the breakdown age of 30 soon
Nahhh. He’s related to Cal Ripken on his mother’s side.
One of the Oakland fire kids had a BC look to him 🙁
First name was even Brandon https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/20790810acc551e4e4ce3efabb7a93158dd26ca40409e3fa5652108f6fbf9a56.jpg
Bochy must be drinking at the Winter Meetings
Henry Schulman @hankschulman 2m2 minutes ago
Bochy on Casilla: “I like Casilla. A lot. I would welcome him back. He’s going to have some options. It’s going to be up to him.” #sfgiants
Casilla could become the new Guillermo Mota. It’s a role he could fill.
I’ll supply the children’s cough syrup
He also said he enjoys root canals, colonoscopies and Adam Sandler movies.
Wedding Singer is pretty good.
“Get out of my Van Halen T-shirt before you jinx the band and they break up”
I regularly send him your posts, just kidding.
He’s obviously not paying attention.
COMMON! of course he likes Casilla, why else do you think he kept running him out there last year? Casilla performed previously and he just wanted to give his guy another chance to get going. This is not news.
SMH. Time for Phil Nevin.
Does everyone know that if you want to see more tweets, all you have to do is click on the name (Greek Giant, Alex Pavlovic, etc.) and that person’s twitter account pops up in a separate window, then you have ready access to the blog and all the tweets in the specific twitter account side-by-side. It’s easy and convenient.
Sounds like this guy could be on the move soon. Dodgers, Cubs, ???
https://twitter.com/JeffPassan/status/806287224031612928
It’s the Cubs, per Passan.
Hank Schulman, 54min ago:
Nuñez has never played OF regularly. Barely 150 innings. That’s a winter project that I do not believe #sfgiants have undertaken.
I’ve got him down 130 innings in LF and 28+ in RF over his career and he did most of that in 2014. So at least he’s got some time there – a lot more than Kelby Tomlinson. Belt almost has 370 inning in the OF.
If something comes up, Giants can use some flexible thinking to exercise a flexible roster.
In the event of injury and while waiting for the call-up to arrive.
Or trying Nunez in a super utility role should a bigger bat at 3B somehow materialize.
I thought Kendricks was pretty darn good out there last year for LA. Gordon also came via 3B to LF. It’s certainly worth a look see.
I too thought Kendricks handled himself just fine. Ian Desmond managed a tougher challenge in CF with flying colors. Ben Zobrist was once a full time SS before becoming super-utility.
Nightall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqbP-IqOvBI
Good opening guitar…
Good night.
For those of you who don’t get to watch Bay Area sports talk, one Giants executive told Pavs he could head home. Not much more happening at the Winter Meetings for our team.
“Our work is done here, we’re pretty much set”
Dodgers have a long ways to go. We’ll just have to see what more the other contenders do to bolster their squads. Sounds like the Cubs and Nats are fighting over Wade Davis. Cardinals have some work to do as well. Should be interesting to see if the Rockies get a big thumper to play 1B.
Other than that, 69 days until pitchers and catchers report!
That’s about 40 days too long…
My Dodgers fan chiropractor was freaking out today…luckily he didn’t take it out on my neck. He sounded a bit like Efrain after drinking sour milk.
A few years ago I was seeing a physical therapist after a knee injury. He was working on my knee and making small talk:
PT: How was your weekend?
Me: I wish I’d put money down on USC to beat Notre Dame.
PT: You an ‘SC fan?
Me: Alum.
PT: /digs fingers hard into my sore knee.
Me: OW!
Me: Where’d YOU go to school?
PT: (you guessed it) …UCLA.
That’s a GREAT story!!!!And….I can relate!
lol
you been following Bruin basketball?
watched them smack Kentucky last Saturday…that was nice. I couldn’t decide if they were for real, or just shot lights out….
They are good, but will be relying on the young blood to push them over the edge. We’ll see, Kentucky has been able to win with kids before, Bruins did it with the Tracy Murray team.
The fact Ball had a bad game to his standard shows that they may have more to them then they are currently showing. The kid Leaf is not getting as much press as Ball but is really really good and composed.
Ball is looking like a top five pick, if not top 2 in this years draft.
Now or never
The Nats lost out on Melancon and Sale. Will be interesting to see what they do pull off.
Meanwhile, the Red Sox got a set-up man, a stud ace, and a first baseman all in one day. Bow down to Dave Dombrowski.
Quintana? Possibly Wade Davis or Cutch?
I’ve seen rumors about all of those today.
Tweet of the Day (TOTD): Someone (Olney? Rosenthal? Heyman?) tweeted that if the Nats got Sale, they’d have the best rotation in baseball. Noah Syndergaard: “We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.”
The guy the Chi Sox got, Kopech, draws comps to Syndergaard.
They got a great haul. Looks like one of those win-wins for both teams.
Giants Vs Red Sox WS
I never make predictions but I got a feeling about this one.
Bring it on!
Maybe the exec was getting sick and tired of talking with Pavlovic.
looks that way from the outside looking in. If you look at the Giants MO last off season they nailed the biggest need and now feel they have enough talent in the 40+ man roster to field a team that can compete for a title. Of course some will agree with their tactics and some will not.
I’d still like to see a LF and a another bench veteran, but they don’t need to be frontline players as long as the team avoids multiple injuries this season.
That is the one variable no one can account for.
I’m still worried about the outfield, but they have a strong rotation and now a solid bullpen (addition by addition–Melancon–and addition by subtraction–I don’t need to mention names). They have three Gold Glovers. I’d like another bat, but the Giants will be relevant in 2017.
But can’t have it both ways!!!!!! Either you would like MacPark to get a chance or the better question is will the team do more to improve than those two and some scrap heap pickups as they have done with the likes of Colvin, Perez, Lollis and De Anza. Seriously they should have just kept Aoki.
But you know what those idiots in the FO should have done for LF – NEVER BANISHED MELKY!!!!!!!!!!
They could have kept him of the roster that off season, won, and brought him back – BOOM the SF Giants LF for a decade. Winning and penance goes a long way.
They could STILL get Melky. The White Sox are open for business.
Never should have been so impulsive. If they get him it will feel so right.
I’ve had an issue with Disqus for quite some time. Whenever I pass my curser over an avatar it pops up and the blue border that usually signifies a new post pops up on every post that person has made. Most won’t go away until I scroll past every one of them.
Has anyone else had this problem? Does anyone have a solution to this irritation? Does anyone have an idea how to get rid of this pop-up “feature”? Is there a way to turn it off? Is there a source of information for overriding these things?
I’m sorry you’re having this unique problem. Sounds funky. I gather rebooting doesn’t do anything for you. Wish I had a magic wand to wave away these problems of yours.
No, I haven’t noticed anything like this. I usually follow this blog on my iPad, but occasionally do so on my iPhone or one of my Mac computers. But nothing like that. Sorry.
It happens on my MacBook more than my PC.
Are you using a different browswer on the MacBook? Like say Safari? If so, maybe try FireFox or Chrome
Chrome on both.
I see what you mean – it just happened to me when I wanded over Scout! (I guess because there’s a blue ‘Follow’ button on his profile, where yours says ‘Private.’ (Nothing happened then.)
When I wanded over Scout’s again all the highlights went away.
Hmmm. I tried this for Oracle after clicking his follow button and nothing happened.
No – I didn’t click on your ‘Follow’ button – I’m just saying that was the only difference between yours and Baps’ profiles. By going over yours twice all the highlights (‘unreads’) went away. Thank God, I didn’t have read them all 2X! ;o)
I just did the same with Lefty’s and it highlighted but the second time did NOT go away. I wish I could turn off all these wonderful features.
I find using my I Pad is much better than my work PC and mouse…lots of odd glitches.
I’m not sure the Disqus IPO will raise much more than the price of a latte
Looks like the Snakes are signing Fernando Rodney.
/shoots arrow skyward
That skewed cap bill angle would have gotten on Kirk Gibson’s last nerve.
I see it upsets you enough to mention it?!
And Wade Davis for Jorge Soler. Good deal for both teams.
Here’s Mac Williamson at a local charity event for the Giants Community Fund. Been a good week for young Mac. The Giants spent all the money on Melancon, and Mac’s getting votes of confidence from Bobby Evans.
https://twitter.com/giantscommunity/status/806247331624456192
That reminds me: If the Giants believed Mac/Parker were next up in LF, then WHY OH WHY did they both get buried after July?! That makes no sense. None.
2016 was such a weird year. I will never understand some of the decisions that were made.
I have your answer for you: Bruce Bochy.
Just bizarre. Pagan had a groin injury and was slumping. They knew he was a free agent and not coming back. It would have made all the sense in the world to play Mac/Parker in September.
Mac was hurt down the stretch, thus he couldn’t play in September
He was hurt at the end of July. He rehabbed and played in Sacramento in August–in fact I saw him play in Sacramento right before Sept. 1 call-ups–and then was called up and activated. If he was healthy enough to play for the River Cats, he was healthy enough to play for the Giants in September.
How about parking Span and playing an OF of Pence and the two young guys? That would be a lot of pop and Mac looked good in RF, I’m sure he could play CF.
And yes, it’s been a long day, am I coherent?
You had me at “parking Span.” (Sorry, Scout!)
It’s been a barrage from all angles. I’m learning to block out the Span rants.
I’m just hoping he does enough to make everyone have a slice of pie.
Really not that hard to comprehend. As built at the end of last season, with a good pitching staff and light hitting, the team must have felt that they could not trust Mac/Park to both hit enough and play good enough D to keep them out there (made worse by the closet situation)
Now that they literally spent their off season $$$ on the one missing piece that they may have beat the Cubs with, they most likely feel with the big 4 in the rotation + Melancon, they can get away with anyone in LF as long as they can catch the ball and hit somewhat decent. It;s not as much a vote of confidence on MacPark but basically a typical Giants statement of “we paid $$$ now let’s see where this takes us”.
I’m not a big Parker fan, but Mac absolutely can play better defense than Angel Pagan, and ANYONE can play better defense than Span.
They both hit well when Pence was injured in July–Mac led the team in OPS during that stretch. Span and Pagan hit like .063 in the first half of September as the Giants dropped out of the division race.
Nope. The answer was Bochy’s stubborn, rigid loyalty to veterans no matter how awful they were. It ruined the season–not just the outfielders, but the 37 starts that washed-up Peavy and Cain made, and his insane insistence on sticking with Casilla (and Lopez, and Romo).
But as for Mac/Parker in particular, it’s a bit ridiculous to bury them in the minors in August and glue them to the bench in September–as the team floundered the whole second half–but in December say “Oh, they’re our guys; they deserve a chance.” Either they were wrong then or they’re wrong now.
Mac was ostensibly injured and it wasn’t clear how long this injury went on for. I have the impression that Bochy used it as an excuse for sticking with the veterans.
It does not matter who the Giants closer was last year. The Giants were not scoring the runs. They were asking WAYYYYYY to much of the bullpen trying to hold 1 run leads for 2 or 3 innings where the average is a 1.3 runs in 3 innings. It does not matter who the Giants closer is this year either if the Giants are looking at protecting a 1 run lead 120 times for 1 to 3 innings.
Hey I hear you it’s not a full proof strategy but it’s better than what they had. The Giants love tourture baseball – its worked for them before.
No torture was a Brian Wilson phenomenom when he would come in with 2 and 3 run leads allow a run or 2 and walk the bases full before getting the final outl
These poor bastids on MLBN are all looking pretty beat.
So the Cubs and maybe the Nats are closing in on Wade Davis. Loria has given the green light for the Marlins to throw $$ at Chapman or Jansen. The Yankees want a closer and so do the Nats.
This is to say that the Dodgers may be on the outside looking in on this closer thing. They may live to regret not appreciating Jansen more when they had him.
Dodgers appreciated and developed Jansen just fine.
I still doubt he is going anywhere.
That’s not what he thinks. He was unhappy that they tried to trade for Chapman right before his walk year. They kept signing guys like Brandon League and Brian Wilson and demoting him from closer because he was under team control so they could jerk him around. He wasn’t interested in discussing an extension before last season.
If he comes back to the Dodgers, it will be because they offered him the most money, not because he loves them so much. They were never loyal to him, so why should he cut them a deal? Don Mattingly always believed in him, and the Marlins want him.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he ends up in Miami or D.C.
maybe?! who knows who cares…..you’re guess is as good as mine.
They believed in him to help him develop as he changed positions and stuck with him while he worked things out. Goes both ways.
Don’t get me wrong…I think he’s a stud and would have been happy if the Giants signed him. But you’re right: who cares? We needed a closer and we got one.
I still say he is one of those guys that repays the Dodgers for developing him.
And I say someone else is going to show him the money. The computer nerds in the Dodgers front office won’t be able to get over the sticker shock.
side bet? drink a Finnerty’s next season.
You’re on! But I think you should come here and watch a game at AT & T.
I should, sadly I did not get to this year but usually squeezed one most years. I’ll be in SF for 2+ weeks in January and a summer trip in early June looks promising.
Probably better.
It’s all about the money.
He’ll go where the money is.
Casilla is available.
While at work today I saw a UPS proof of delivery that read LEFT WITH WOMAN. That sounds like a good day for Brown, I wonder if it was Slikk.
He left UPS!
Fed Ex driver
Not UPS
Sounds like the Rangers are going to sign Carlos Gomez.
I know we’re not spending more money, but I’d still like Ian Desmond. He and Melancon were the two guys on my shopping list.
It just stinks that the draft pick is attached again to Desmond.
Makes it almost a certainty that the giants won’t go there.
I wouldn’t care. The Giants should be in the low 20s, anyway. That’s nothing special.
I rhink theyre done for this year if the full 24m of the signing bonus and 2017 salary is applied to the tax calculation.
Dream on, Liv Tyler 😉
But maybe think of Nunez playing the role of Ian Desmond, with Todd Frazier or Evan Longoria at third. Okay, my turn to wake from R.E.M.
Red Sox mic drop on the winter meetings. At least some Giants’ fans don’t need to fret over possibly winning them this year. I guess if it’s the Sox vs the field, bet the field.
somewhat overlooked in this outfield situation is the fact that we are much worse off than we were last year going into spring training. It is not as sinple as hoping for a Williamson/ Parker left field miricale. We have lost Pagan and Blanco, leaving us with only four outfielders (Span, Pence, Williamson and Parker– five if you count Hernandez) Of these Pence has become fragile the last two seasons and really wasnt hinself last year even when healthy. For much of the season the pitchforks were out for Span and it renains to be seen if he can produce worthy of his contract, In addition his defensive metrics wrrd poor. Neither Williamson nor Parker have shown that they can produce at the major league level. I know some here continue to tout Williamson but recall that he was zero for most of September, and most times Parker was the designated strikeout. Arguably at this juncture we have one of the worst outfields in baseball without Pagan and Blanco and I beleve that we need to acquire an outfield bat to conpete this year. Our window with Cueto and Melancon is now do lets get it done
You and Bochy do not seem to understand that giving a young hitter 5 to 10 at bats a month is not the right way to develop a young hitter , and the hitter is always going to look bad in those situations .
Though that may be true– or not– sometimes you just have to produce when given the chance. there is no indication that numerous at bats will lead to production either. This is the same Gary Brown, Todd Linden, Nate Sheieholtz and countless others discussion all over again. They are simply the new kids on the block. Being “young” (though neither Parker nor Williamson is still young) doesnt equate to being a major league hitter. There is simply no basis to conclude that they can do the job. I hope they can, but right now the outfield situation having lost Pagan and Blanco is bleak without an outside addition.
Bochy seems to play his veterans every day regardless if they produce or not !
The difference is– assuming that’s true– is that they had produced at some time in the recent padt, as opposed to hoping that someone may produce. Of course that is why they are given more rope
Parker produced at the end of 2015, and Mac produced in the road trip after the All Star break in 2016, so they have produced in the past, the Veterans like Pagan, Span, Pence and Blanco, all had long month like slumps last year, and were still put in the lineup .
Three WS and they won all three
I rate Gorkys’ chances higher than Parker’s, but do think Williamson is going to be on the roster. Fortunately, a 5th OF from the waivers or a minor trade or even signing Gregor Blanco up for a year will fit in the budget.
What has Kelby Tomlinson been doing this winter? He’s so fast it is intriguing to think of him as playing some OF next year.
Looking for more slap hitters in the outfield, I see, Parker did hit 3 HRs in a game and 8 in a few weeks , when he played regularly at the end of the 2015 season .
There’s nothing wrong with everything you put into this post. It’s difficult to mount a counter attack. However, in the case of Mac, it’s undeniable there is power there, and undeniable the Giants are woefully lacking in that department. Also, defensively, the eye test last year showed me he was getting his footing at AT&T in right field. He made a few terrific catches and his arm is big league ready. I’m also aware of the fact that a lot of guys can hit the ball a long way but don’t make big league lineups. But, again, by the eye test, I think it’s Mac’s turn. And it’s just one man’s opinion.
The A’s outfield might be pretty bad too.
At least they have a outfielder that hit 42 HRs, 102 RBI .
Khris Davis!
And they may pick up Jarrod Dyson, vacuum in CF. So advantage A’s, right?
Yo, Surf Ebenezer….it’s December 7th…too early to say “going into Spring Training”!
Nice guest post on the memorabilia, BTW. Hope all is well in FLA….or HI…..or whatever warm climes you picked this time.
More important how are you. Please stop scaring us. Your health has been a rooler coaster ever since we met in Chicago. Knock it off please. Im ok– in NYC right now on my way to Maui. I wrote another memorobilia piece for GG when he gets a chance to post it.
Jarret Parker’s OPS in 176 MLB ABs is .865 — that is pretty good and suggests he could be a decent platoon player. He also has a very good arm and decent speed.
Significantly impacted by the 6 hr in 2015 at the end of the season. What was it in 2016?
I thought the one big hole for the Cubs was bullpen but damn if they get Davis and he’s healthy that’s a killer.
Win the Division first and then worry about the Cubs later .
PJ, I’m down with that. No more wild card, it is time to smash the Dodgers.
And by chance if he’s not, they still have guys behind him: Rondon, Carl Edwards Jr., & Strop. Soler is intriguing but there wasn’t much playing time for him in Chicago. Seems like a good risk for both sides. Theo being Theo…
Strong team, but so are the GIants. May 22,23,24,25 at Wrigley, after three games in STL, and August 7,8,9. Should be good stuff!
Nice, 4 games early in the season, three late in the season, and 7 in October!
That would be a good road trip in May. We love Chicago and have always wanted to go to a game(s) in St.L. Stupid job.
The White Sox haven’t had much of a farm system, but they will now because of the impending talent liquidation triggered by the Sale trade which brought them a grade A and grade A-/B+ prospect. The New York Yankees ( who have been quiet this winter ), did some significant upgrades to their farm system by unloading premium relievers and for the first time in many years can boast one of baseballs finest farm systems:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/2016/12/6/13856026/new-york-yankees-top-20-prospects-for-2017
For folks that would like to see Matt Cain grazing in other pastures, the Tigers’ Anibal Sanchez is getting nibbles and he’s owed 21 million dollars and hasn’t been very good either. So ya never know. Giants could eat a bunch of Cain’s salary and save themselves several million bucks towards the luxury tax threshold/salary cap (shall we call it what it is becoming?).
The “tax” limit does not go up very quickly during the new CBA, so it does indeed look like it’s becoming a salary cap for perhaps a third of the MLB teams. The teams seem to have agreed on a very big cutback in money spent on international signings, too.
HUUUGE cutback in IFA. That was a bold stroke. No more 60 million for Moncada. But this is going to create an issue for Otani, the stud we’ve talked about in Japan. Will be interesting how they sort it out for him next winter prior to him becoming a Yankee.
I think the new international limits apply to younger Latin American ballplayers–and there are still some exceptions for pro Cubans–and not to professionals from Japan.
I heard “no exception” for players under 25 – but I think they are working on it.
Interesting comp. They’re the same age and broke into the league around the same time. Sanchez’s main claim to fame is that he won the ERA title in 2013 and pitched a no-hitter once. He’s never had a 200-inning season, and Cain’s had six. Cain’s a three-time All-Star; Sanchez has never been an All-Star and only once got Cy Young votes (2013). Overall, Cain’s had the much more distinguished career.
But Sanchez did have an excellent 2013 and a pretty good 2014 before his bad 2015-16 (and you’re right; they look a lot like Cain’s stats, except Sanchez was able to take the ball more). So he’s more recently been serviceable than Cain has.
Much as I wish we could trade Cain to someone, I just don’t see it. We broke it, so we bought it.
Very interesting graphic on the impact of Buster Posey’s framing skills.
https://twitter.com/alexpavlovic/status/806511670654861312
I care more about his hitting skills .
His new nickname is Slappy Strikemaker, just for you
You care about MadBum pitching well, too. Look at that graphic.
You are all about Pitching and having a great defensive player at every position, and if they can hit that is a small plus .
You don’t know a thing about me, PJ.
Yeah I do, you post a lot, you have your pet peas, and complain more about defense then offensive failures .
Peas are pretty good, but I’m big on cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, carrots, and–my favorite–asparagus.
whirled peas !
p.s. The up arrow is NOT for the cruciferous vegetables in your list! I love Hunter Pence, but am mystified by his kale thing.
The only way I eat kale is mixed with spinach and Greek yogurt in the Trader Joe’s “reduced guilt” dip. 🙂
out of lettuce the other night, so made BKT instead – yep, bacon, kale, tomato. Pretty, pretty good.
I remember you advertizing BALT once (A=avocado). Yum! My recipe is TBT, that is, tomato on both sides of the bacon, no green stuff at all.
I take out the tomato, add warm boiled beans and some kümmel seeds, the bacon is deep fried of course.
LMAO
In linguistic speak – what do you call 2nd person statements like this :
you like so and so
you don’t such and such
PJ’s specialty.
I can’t think of a specific term, but I know what you mean. A (mis)characterization? An overgeneralization? Labeling? Etc.
need a psycholinguistic therapist
In italian you could say: è solo fuffa = It’s crap only.
BOOM
PJ, every kind of team game’s foundation is in this motto : DEFENSE FIRST. No exceptions are allowed. And this is historically proved.
Take a time out and go to your kids room.
I suppose that’s one thing the juggernaut Red Sox don’t have: a veteran catcher with elite defensive skills – although I don’t know enough about what Leon, Vasquez, & Swihart can do behind the dish.
I think Vazquez is the one with the defensive skills, and Swihart is the hitter(?). And Leon’ is definitely the hitter–we saw some of that at Fenway this summer.
that sounds right about V & S – Swihart was once a prominent prospect, known for the bat. Switch hitter I believe.
What guys like Posey and Molina do behind the plate speaks volumes to the entire team.
The hitting is icing on the cake.
Agreed. And Posey’s throwing was better than ever this year.
nothing amazes me more than a catcher receiving a ball from a crouch, popping up, and delivering a perfect strike to the bag. That defines professional ballplayer.
It helped a lot that Buster was catching Bum (who’s majorly cleaned up his game as to holding runners on) and Cueto (maybe the best RH pickoff move in baseball). In previous years, he wasn’t catching pitchers who were good at holding runners. Like Krukow says, stolen bases are almost always on the pitcher.
I could bet a megagalactic amount of € that PJ doesn’t agree, because he “cares more about his hitting skills”.
He bats 3rd or 4th, if he does not hit, the team has no chance .
I’m member of the defense first party. IMO the perfect victory score is 1-0. Il resto è solo fuffa per i gonzi.
1-0 accompanied by a razzle-dazzle Panik/Crawford/Belt DP in the 9th is pure bliss. But my heart likes the easier 7-2 kind of win a couple of times a week.
That way make you miss the thrill. Don’t you like to feel your hair rising along your spine?
I was at a game at AT & T early last season that Cueto won 1-0, pitching a complete game. It was awesome and the crowd (and Cueto) was totally into it.
Me too. I have seen that game on MLBTV.
Ive talked a lot of smack about Evans and his tirekicking ways but i have to give him credit on this one, nice job Robert Evans!!
but he’s calling it quits too early, Slikk!
This might be a case of quit while you’re ahead with mr. Evans
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