How to fill those holes

[Rog]

So how do the Giants fill their holes this off-season? 


Which free agents would we pursue.  How much would they cost?  Boagie has suggested signing free agent Lorenzo Cain, which is certainly an intriguing idea.

Which players would we be looking at on the trade market?  Which players would it take to get them?

How would we free up salary?  To help us in that regard, here are the amounts owed (in millions) in 2018 to the Giants' most expensive players:

Posey         $22

Cueto         $21

Samardzija $20

Pence         $18

Belt            $17

Crawford    $15

Melancon    $13

Bumgarner $12

Span          $11

Moore          $9

Cain             $8 (buyout)


I know the first two guys we'd jump on for getting rid of would be Span and Pence, but for the very reasons we'd like to see them gone, it is almost impossible to trade them unless the Giants retain a huge chunk of their salary, which somewhat defeats the purpose.  By the way, the Giants saved something like $14 million by buying out Matt Cain.

So the Giants need ideas, and of course they'll come to us first.  If we're Bobby Evans and Brian Sabean, what do we do?

[sfgdood]

The postseason presser wasn't very encouraging. It seems like we'll have pretty much the same philosophy that got us 98 losses.

[Rog]

The postseason presser wasn't very encouraging. It seems like we'll have pretty much the same philosophy that got us 98 losses.


Rog -- Are you saying that the postseason pressure is more important than the postseason presser? I agree.

Today at work I got to listen to Brian's PodCast with the KNBR Insider. Here is a summary based on my notes:

. Shaw was an outfielder in college, and the Giants tried to make him into a first baseman. Last season they moved him back to left field, and his fielding is behind his hitting. To me, that expresses a willingness to move him back to first base (where I think he's better suited) if they trade Brandon Belt, which I know would hurt Randy's feelings.

. The Giants are looking for center field defense and think it might come from Steve Duggar. Duggar was injured and missed development time, but he'll be playing in the Arizona Fall League. Sabean said that Duggar gets good breaks and has good speed. Offensively, he sees Steve as a "complementary" bat.

. The Giants feel they had a good draft this year. Heliot Ramos hit and played a good enough center field that the Giants expect him to play there. (As mentioned before, Ramos turned 18 just last month.)

. Their #2 pick Gonzalez, son of Luis Gonzalez hit well and doesn't have much speed. Gonzalez played third base, but Sabean seemed to imply that he might be better suited for first.

. To increase their presence in the Dominican Republic, the Giants have built a facility there. They would like to add another Rookie League team, in part to provide more opportunities for the players they sign out of the Dominican.

. The Giants began to use analytics more late in Sabean's term as GM. Evans is a big fan, and Brian thinks you need both the analytics ingredient and (naturally) the scouting ingredient to "bake the cake." Regarding analytics, he said the more the better. He feels that to be fully successful, analytics has to be embraced by both the coaches and the players. He implied that some of the players do, and some don't.

. Brian (naturally) feels that there is less pressure on making the 2nd overall pick than making the first. He pointed out that the Giants will benefit from having the second pick of EACH round. He feels college position players are the safest to draft, and high school pitchers are the most risky -- although he pointed out that the
Giants have had success with high school pitchers (in particular, Madison Bumgarner).

. He felt it was important that the GM bond with the manager during tough times and seemed to indicate that was happening.

. In their planning for the offseason (which I think is going on already), Brian said the Giants would benefit from work done for the trade deadline. That seems like a good point, since the Giants' needs haven't changed much in the meantime. He said that Evans is keeping his chin up.


An aside: Brian is speaking for the organization much more than he did during Evans' tenure. Not sure if that is to deflect some of the blame or whether Brian is taking a bigger role.

If you go to mlbtraderumors.com and on partway down the right side click on "Giants," it will take you to a very brief summary of what Brian said, and in the article, it gives the link to the 18-minute PodCast. Well worth the time, although hopefully I have capsulated the PodCast well for those who can't take the time to listen. I suspect the PodCast is available at KNBR.com as well.

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