Deals that Blew Up in their Faces

[klaiggeb]

If you haven't seen this article, it's very interesting.

bleacherreport.com/articles/2793939-mlb-teams-huge-risks-that-have-blown-up-in-their-faces-this-year?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=mlb#slide9

[rog]

Thanks for posting the article, Boly. It backed up Randy's position all along. While I liked the article for its accuracy and conciseness, there are a few important points that it didn't have time to cover.

. Baseball is a business. There are two fine examples of it this season. Probably the best and most ready minor league prospects are Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. and Eloy Jimenez. Guerrero hit .381 this season between AA and AAA, yet he isn't being called up now that the rosters have expanded. After being promoted to AAA, Jimenez hit .355. He won't be playing in the majors this season either.

Why? Because if they are called up now, they would likely become free agents after the 2024 season. By not bringing them up until say the middle of April, they won't be free agents until after the 2025 seasons. Baseball is a billion dollar business, so not all decisions are made for baseball reasons.

. The Giants felt they "owed" their fans a shot at another World Series, even though they realized it was a long shot. Now "owed" is spinning, and it is my word, not theirs. But I think you get the idea.

. Another business aspect of the game is the salary cap. The Giants entered last off-season feeling they needed to provide an opportunity for their fans this season, and they had virtually no money under the cap to accomplish that.

. The primary moves they made were the McCutchen and Longoria moves. The McCutchen move didn't have excessive long-term complications. The Longoria move still has issues for five years beyond 2018.

The Giants lost Kyle Crick and Brian Reynolds for McCutchen, but if they weren't contending, they could trade him De Paula and cash. Crick suddenly found enough control and command to become a good reliever, which shifts the deal toward the Pirates, but under the circumstances, the deal was far from a disaster.

Longoria is another story. We have discussed many times why expecting Evan to approach his seasons prior to 2014 was folly.

Again, Boly, thanks for posting the article, which was a good one. And now you know the rest of the story.

Not exactly comforting though, is it? Especially when Brian Sabean has made it clear that the 2019 season will also involve patching together a team that will HOPEFULLY be competitive. And it might be. At least this off-season the Giants have some money to work with.

But the challenge is just as great as it was a year ago.

One final point: Given their injuries (which shouldn't have been totally unexpected) the Giants have played well. They needed almost everything to go right this season, and if things had, we'd be singing a much different tune. The Giants gambled and lost. With the exception of the Longoria deal, they didn't lose too horribly much.

Perhaps the biggest thing they lost was that their core got a year older.