No link

[sharksrog]

With Buster's retirement, there is no remaining Giants player link to all three Giants World Series wins, and the two Brandon's are the only links to the final two. Those were very exciting years.

Looking back, I think we'd have to say that Madison Bumgarner was the overall MVP of those three championships. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain were better than Madison in the 2010 postseason, but then Madison began to take over (especially in 2014). As outstanding as he was in the regular season, Buster Posey wasn't a great postseason player, although he should certainly get some credit for the Giants' fine postseason pitching.

Tying into another thread, I think one could see Madison's decline coming, but I was taken completely off guard by Tim's. I guess in retrospect, we know that Tim's hip gave out, but I simply can't remember a Giants pitcher glowing so brightly and then flaming out so quickly. Madison's decline was far more gradual, but one could see it developing under the surface.

Mr. Zaidi actually offered Madison more than he was worth to stay, but fortunately the Diamondbacks offered even more. I guess another way to look at it would be to say that Mr. Zaidi made Bumgarner a respectable offer, but that Madison left because he was able to procure an unreasonable deal from the Diamondbacks. However one looks at it, it was a break for the Giants -- and a further indication that the value approach to players can work. I suspect that given the sweetheart deal Bumgarner initially gave the Giants, Mr. Zaidi stretched as far as he felt he could to re-sign Madison.

Kevin Gausman turned out to be a far better signing.

[reedonly]

The Phoenix area offered him a chance to purchase land for a ranch which would be much more difficult and more expensive than in California. He's still a Giant at heart since he obtained tickets for Brandon Crawford's boys for the Dodger series in Arizona. He'll continue to be cheered whenever he comes to Oracle Park and I'm glad he got a chance do do whatever made him happy.

[sharksrog]

I'm happy for Madison that he's able to get his ranch, and for the Giants that they didn't re-sign him!

[reedonly]

Nov 16, 2021 9:13:18 GMT -5 sharksrog said:

With Buster's retirement, there is no remaining Giants player link to all three Giants World Series wins, and the two Brandon's are the only links to the final two. Those were very exciting years.

Looking back, I think we'd have to say that Madison Bumgarner was the overall MVP of those three championships. Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain were better than Madison in the 2010 postseason, but then Madison began to take over (especially in 2014). As outstanding as he was in the regular season, Buster Posey wasn't a great postseason player, although he should certainly get some credit for the Giants' fine postseason pitching.

Tying into another thread, I think one could see Madison's decline coming, but I was taken completely off guard by Tim's. I guess in retrospect, we know that Tim's hip gave out, but I simply can't remember a Giants pitcher glowing so brightly and then flaming out so quickly. Madison's decline was far more gradual, but one could see it developing under the surface.

Mr. Zaidi actually offered Madison more than he was worth to stay, but fortunately the Diamondbacks offered even more. I guess another way to look at it would be to say that Mr. Zaidi made Bumgarner a respectable offer, but that Madison left because he was able to procure an unreasonable deal from the Diamondbacks. However one looks at it, it was a break for the Giants -- and a further indication that the value approach to players can work. I suspect that given the sweetheart deal Bumgarner initially gave the Giants, Mr. Zaidi stretched as far as he felt he could to re-sign Madison.

Kevin Gausman turned out to be a far better signing.

Every five years or so, there is a lot of turnover in baseball and since it was over ten years since the first championship, there are bound to be a slew of changes. As such, its time to transition to the Luciano, Ramos, Matos era.

[sharksrog]

Hopefully Joey Bart will be a big part of the new era, and it appears he'll be the first to get his chance. And there are others on the way. When I went to Milb.com to see how Marco is doing after a slow start to his fall league, this was the top story at that site:

MiLB.com's Prospect Season in Review series spotlights players who shined brightest during the 2021 campaign. Here's a look at fifth-ranked Giants prospect Kyle Harrison. For more player journeys on The Road to The Show, click here.

There are seasons like the one Kyle Harrison just put together for Low-A San Jose that might lead teams to a more open-minded Draft strategy.

Harrison is one of 15 players since 1998, including nine in the past five Drafts, to be selected in the third round and receive a reported bonus of at least $2 million. On that list, six players signed for a bonus more than three times their respective slot value. Rays right-hander Cole Wilcox and Pirates outfielder Hudson Head -- who were both drafted by the Padres and subsequently traded to their current clubs -- are the only third-rounders to sign for more than four times their slot value.

Harrison’s reported $2.47 million bonus was nearly 3.5 times the size of his slot value, which ranks fifth in that group behind Wilcox (4.29 times), Head (4.15), Blue Jays right-hander Adam Kloffenstein (3.75) and Mets righty Matt Allan (3.74).

The recent structure of the MLB Draft made these high-risk, high-reward plays a little more popular -- teams receive compensation picks for failing to sign any player selected in the first three rounds.

But clearly teams are still hesitant to take a chance and commit to a strategy that could land a potential first-round talent in the third round. But when they do, they’d be lucky to get the immediate payoff that Harrison provided the Giants in 2021.

One of the youngest pitchers at the level, the club’s fifth-ranked prospect went 4-3 with a 3.21 ERA and 157 strikeouts over 98 2/3 innings. He tied with Astros righty J.P. France for the eighth-most punchouts in the Minors, while his 14.32 K/9 was third-best among all pitchers to complete at least 90 innings.

"I always have to temper my enthusiasm, but this is one of the better raw-ingredient players that the Giants have had on the mound in a long time," San Francisco director of player development Kyle Haines said during KNBR radio’s Tolbert, Krueger & Brooks podcast in October.

The Giants plucked Harrison out of their own backyard from De La Salle High School in Concord, California -- less than 30 miles from Oracle Park. Throughout high school and during his time with Team USA at the 2019 Under-18 World Cup, the left-hander’s fastball hung around the low-90s. But after adding some muscle and making some mechanical adjustments, he was reportedly reaching 98 mph during the pre-Draft process.

“We've really seen his development over the last eight to 10 months,” amateur scouting director Michael Holmes told MLB.com last June. “We've seen his velocity improve. We've seen his breaking ball improve. He's always been able to command the baseball to both sides of the plate. It's more of a three-quarter to lower-three-quarter slot with a little bit of a cross-body look, so it's a very deceptive delivery. Hitters have a tough time seeing the baseball. But this kid is a smart kid on the mound. He's got tremendous feel. He's got good stuff. He definitely is a really competitive kid that we got a chance to know really well.”

Harrison fans 12th of the game
Sep 2, 2021 · 0:36
Harrison fans 12th of the game
The No. 99 overall prospect didn’t really get the team involved much during his introduction to professional baseball, recording 22 of 27 outs via strikeout over his first three starts. He did, however, issue nine walks and hit four batters over that span.

That spotty control proved to be an issue for Harrison as he made just one start over the course of the season without allowing a walk. It was a July 11 outing against Fresno that also happened to be the only time he completed seven innings all season, and he still managed to strike out seven while yielding a pair of runs.

Following that start against the Grizzlies, Harrison completed just 24 innings over his next seven outings, during which he had a 4.50 ERA with 16 walks. Although he’d been reeled in a bit, he was ready to be let loose during San Jose’s run to the Low-A West title.

Harrison finished the regular season with four consecutive starts of at least five innings, including a career-best 12-strikeout effort against Visalia on Sept. 2. He allowed two runs over those 21 innings while punching out 37 batters and yielding seven walks.

His run continued with a curtain call in San Jose’s championship series. Harrison allowed a run on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts over 6 2/3 innings in Game 1 of an eventual sweep of Fresno. It was just the second time he completed more than six innings all season.

There’s clearly a lot to appreciate about the 6-foot-2, 200-pound southpaw. In addition to that explosive fastball, he wields a sharp-breaking slider and a changeup with some arm-side fade. But it would obviously benefit him to reign in his control. There were only 28 other pitchers in the Minors this season with a BB/9 higher than Harrison’s 4.74.

Fortunately for Harrison and the Giants, he is just 20 years old and there is plenty of time to iron out those wrinkles.

"Kyle Harrison's gonna be as good as he wants to be. If he wants to get after it each and every day and have a great work ethic and continue to grow with a growth mind-set, the sky's the limit for this guy. He's the real deal,” Haines said on the podcast. "On and off the field, maturity beyond his years. I cannot be anymore excited to have him in the organization. He's got a chance to be a man amongst boys once he settles in, and he's shown that already this past season."

We have a pretty good following of the Giants minor leagues here on our board, but it ranges from Mordy our expert to another poster who doesn't even follow the minor leaguers. The latter guy apparently doesn't know what he's missing.

[reedonly]

Belt agreed to the QO. This is fortunate because the Giants farm is thin at 1B and re-evaluate next year given his injury history.  2021's knee injury is a bit worrisome.

[sharksrog]

It's good to have Brandon locked up for a year. Believe it or not, I believe I read that he had the 3rd-highest Runs Created Plus in the majors over the past two seasons. Brandon has been underappreciated on this board, but he's finally getting his due.

The Giants and Brandon are still said to be exploring an extension beyond the first year. How high would we go for a second? My personal thought would be that $16 million would be a nice figure. That's the average annual amount Brandon Crawford got when he re-signed for 2/$32 during last season. I believe Belt made an extra $1 million annually over Crawford on their former 5-year pacts signed in the same year. The $16 million figure for a second year would once again put them on the same time table and would give Belt an extra $1.2 per season this time.

I don't see anyone in the system taking first base away from Belt in either of the next two years, although if the outfielders continue to develop, I wonder if the Giants would convert one of them to first base. Hunter Bishop, for instance, has fine speed that shrieks outfield, but he also has fine size for a first baseman and a weak arm that is sometimes associated with first base. Then again, I think Hunter struck out in half his Arizona Fall League at bats this year, so he might be more than two years away.