New Directors of Pro and Amateur Scouting

[rog]

I don't recall their names, but the Giants have hired both a new director of pro scouting and an amateur scouting director.  Given Farhan's background, I'm almost positive he's improving the Giants' analytics too.  I don't think I've seen anything specific about development changes, but it appears the Giants have addressed at least the "S" and "A" of scouting, analytics and development.

I don't know if it means anything toward direct action at the GM meetings, but the Giants made multiple entries in different areas today at MLB Trade Rumors.  I think the big news is that they appear to be extremely intrigured by Japanese right-hander Yusei Kikuchi.  The 27-year-old pitcher "really likes" San Francisco and "might" have the Giants at the top of his list, according to the Chronicle's Henry Schulman.  Kikuchi's age and semi-reasonable price tag might be attractive to the Giants as a hybrid retool/rebuild signing.

Japanese pitchers who have come to the U.S. have tended to be riddled with arm problems.  With the Dodgers, Farhan overcame the large amount of arm problems by building a rotation that was usually seven or eight pitchers deep.  His philosophy appeared to be that he would rather have a good pitcher part-time than a mediocre one full time.

Right now I would guess the Giants' rotation would be Bumgarner, Rodriguez, Suarez, Stratton and either Blach or Saun Anderson.  They're likely interested in re-signing Holland, but other than Bumgarner, none of those guys is well established.  And Madison has been described over the past two seasons as effective but no longer ace-like.  

He also continues to be discussed as the Giants' best trade piece, although the consensus seems to be moving toward Randy's idea of trading him at the deadline.  That would give the Giants the most options, including keeping him if they're somehow contending, as well as re-signing him for the long term.

Not to further incur Mordy's ire, but a point for Randy:  A year and a half ago you derided the Eduardo Nunez trade without knowning much of anything about the two players the Giants acquired.  After a fair amount of digging on Anderson (easy) and Gregory Santos (very hard), I reported back that I liked the idea of acquiring a high floor/low ceiling starter in Anderson and a low floor/high ceiling strikeout/groundball arm in then 17-year-old Santos.

My question, Randy, is why would you hit so hard on a trade you really knew nothing about?  Wouldn't it have made sense to do perhaps a modest amount of homework, in which case you might at least have come to the conclusion that the trade likely wasn't  as bad as you made it out to be?

I thought you ignored that the trade came in a buyers' market, not a sellers', but I could understand not recognizing that nuance.  But what I didn't get was why you would want to scream so loudly about a trade you actually knew very little about.

You also seemed to take a negative stance on Farhan before you knew much of anything about him.  Why are you so quick to make negative judgments with so little information?

[Islandboagie]

Rog- Right now I would guess the Giants' rotation would be Bumgarner, Rodriguez, Suarez, Stratton and either Blach or Saun Anderson. 

Boagie- Glad to see you finally came around on the Samardjiza thing. But, even I would include him in the rotation until he's gone, or until our rotation is better.

[rog]

I forgot about Jeff, although I don't think his health is guaranteed. With Jeff include, the Giants do have numerous potential starters, but the overall quality isn't very good.

I just read where the Giants' present outfield may be the worst in the majors, and I think thats's almost a given. I would say the rotation is below average, with the bullpen being at least a bit above. The infield including catcher has five accomplished players, but they're all coming off at least one down season. Let's call them average -- maybe. With the position starters being weak overall, naturally the bench isn't very strong.

We've questioned the bullpen, but that's likely the team's strength -- which isn't a good sign. Farhan says the Giants let Strickland go because of the depth in the bullpen, mentioning that they couldn't work an acceptable trade for him. I think that was a nice way of saying Hunter wasn't a good clubhouse fit, and he did walk more than four batters per nine as a Giant.

Brandon Belt is said to be on the block, and interest has apparently been expressed. Brandon is owed something like $52 million over the next three seasons with a cap hit of $48 mill. That teams are interested in his bat/glove combination at that price after a down season coupled with significant concussion and past injury problems would seem to indicate he is valued around baseball higher than we value him here.

And it's not as if there haven't been a lot of available first basemen this winter. The Twins signed the non-tendered C.J. Cron, the Phillies both acquired Carlos Santana and they released Justin Bour. Santana, whose skills and contract are similar to Belt's is almost certainly available too. That there is apparently significant interest in Brandon is encouraging, althought the heavy supply coupled with his down and injury-riddled season may conspire to keep the return low.

But at least teams seem to be listening.

Yesterday the Giants claimed left-handed hitting outfielder Mike Gerber. He brings their 40-man roster to 35 or 36, leaving room for multiple additions. The Rule 5 draft is later this week.

I see nothing special about Gerber, but the Giants' scouts must have spotted something they like. And I guess one might not expect to see much special in a player who projects as a fourth outfielder or platoon player at best. His scouting reports seem to indicate he's about average in just about every facet of the game.

With Gerber and Steven Duggar both hitting from the left side, the Giants may be most interested in right-handed hitting outfielders, whose power would likely be diminished less much by AT&T. Gerber has hit decently in the minors, but hit something like .140 when called up last season. He may have been a bit overpowered, pulling just one in eight balls to the right side.

It seems odd, but the Giants seem to be highly satisfied with their minor league signing of the hard-throwing right-hander born in South Africa, Love-something-or-other. Apparently even though it is a minor league contract, they had significant competition in signing him.

The Giants have also signed another couple of minor league contracts, so they haven't been totally inactive by any means. Farhan believes there is value in working around the edges of the roster.