04-05-2022, 10:00 PM
So did Clint Hartung.
(04-05-2022, 02:07 PM)OutsiderFan Wrote: I'm not going to be an apologist for the Giants not spending more on their roster, but will play a little devil's advocate.
The Giants have the oldest position player group in MLB. The Giants also have a lot of good prospects in the pipeline. Now let's look at one position, Right Field.
Farhan Zaidi believes Darrin Ruf will provide as much production this year as anybody he could have signed as a Free Agent. Let's say they signed Kris Bryant or Nick Castellanos (who went to Philly and was guy I had my eye on) to play that spot. They would have been paying $25M for a few years to them. That would prevent the Giants from plugging in say Heliot Ramos in 2023, who will be making less than a $1M, and also getting this productive year from Ruff, and they'd have to pay what, $125M for that pain?
If Ramos stalls out his development in 2022, the Giants can look at a free agent RF next year. But if Ramos rakes, not signing Castellanos will prove the smarter decision.
I'm sensitive to the possibility the Giants are being too frugal, but am not ready to die on that hill just yet.
(04-05-2022, 02:07 PM)OutsiderFan Wrote: I'm not going to be an apologist for the Giants not spending more on their roster, but will play a little devil's advocate.
The Giants have the oldest position player group in MLB. The Giants also have a lot of good prospects in the pipeline. Now let's look at one position, Right Field.
Farhan Zaidi believes Darrin Ruf will provide as much production this year as anybody he could have signed as a Free Agent. Let's say they signed Kris Bryant or Nick Castellanos (who went to Philly and was guy I had my eye on) to play that spot. They would have been paying $25M for a few years to them. That would prevent the Giants from plugging in say Heliot Ramos in 2023, who will be making less than a $1M, and also getting this productive year from Ruff, and they'd have to pay what, $125M for that pain?
If Ramos stalls out his development in 2022, the Giants can look at a free agent RF next year. But if Ramos rakes, not signing Castellanos will prove the smarter decision.
I'm sensitive to the possibility the Giants are being too frugal, but am not ready to die on that hill just yet.
(04-05-2022, 07:39 PM)lex24 Wrote:(04-05-2022, 02:07 PM)OutsiderFan Wrote: I'm not going to be an apologist for the Giants not spending more on their roster, but will play a little devil's advocate.
The Giants have the oldest position player group in MLB. The Giants also have a lot of good prospects in the pipeline. Now let's look at one position, Right Field.
Farhan Zaidi believes Darrin Ruf will provide as much production this year as anybody he could have signed as a Free Agent. Let's say they signed Kris Bryant or Nick Castellanos (who went to Philly and was guy I had my eye on) to play that spot. They would have been paying $25M for a few years to them. That would prevent the Giants from plugging in say Heliot Ramos in 2023, who will be making less than a $1M, and also getting this productive year from Ruff, and they'd have to pay what, $125M for that pain?
If Ramos stalls out his development in 2022, the Giants can look at a free agent RF next year. But if Ramos rakes, not signing Castellanos will prove the smarter decision.
I'm sensitive to the possibility the Giants are being too frugal, but am not ready to die on that hill just yet.
Actually signing a FA would not have meant they don’t sign Ruf, or plugging in Ramos. Not in the least. Zaidi made the same comment vis a vis Ruf and FA. The obvious question to ask is why not both? 25 million brings this years payroll to a modest $165,000,000.
Speaking of Ramos. ‘20 hurt him perhaps more than any other Giants prospect. He seemed to be on the cusp after ‘19. Has a rather pedestrian year in ‘21. Not sure his star is shining quite as brightly. This is a big year for him. He has the tools and looks the part. But so did Todd Linden….
(04-05-2022, 07:39 PM)lex24 Wrote:(04-05-2022, 02:07 PM)OutsiderFan Wrote: I'm not going to be an apologist for the Giants not spending more on their roster, but will play a little devil's advocate.
The Giants have the oldest position player group in MLB. The Giants also have a lot of good prospects in the pipeline. Now let's look at one position, Right Field.
Farhan Zaidi believes Darrin Ruf will provide as much production this year as anybody he could have signed as a Free Agent. Let's say they signed Kris Bryant or Nick Castellanos (who went to Philly and was guy I had my eye on) to play that spot. They would have been paying $25M for a few years to them. That would prevent the Giants from plugging in say Heliot Ramos in 2023, who will be making less than a $1M, and also getting this productive year from Ruff, and they'd have to pay what, $125M for that pain?
If Ramos stalls out his development in 2022, the Giants can look at a free agent RF next year. But if Ramos rakes, not signing Castellanos will prove the smarter decision.
I'm sensitive to the possibility the Giants are being too frugal, but am not ready to die on that hill just yet.
Actually signing a FA would not have meant they don’t sign Ruf, or plugging in Ramos. Not in the least. Zaidi made the same comment vis a vis Ruf and FA. The obvious question to ask is why not both? 25 million brings this years payroll to a modest $165,000,000.
Speaking of Ramos. ‘20 hurt him perhaps more than any other Giants prospect. He seemed to be on the cusp after ‘19. Has a rather pedestrian year in ‘21. Not sure his star is shining quite as brightly. This is a big year for him. He has the tools and looks the part. But so did Todd Linden….
(04-05-2022, 10:01 PM)DC 86 Wrote: Bottom line, the Giants have made a smart business decision to operate with a mid-market payroll - they can still contend for a wild card while maximizing profits. But from the standpoint of maximizing the number of games won or maximizing the chances of winning the division there's no rational argument for not signing better players that were available.
My assumption is the following, speaking in the presumed voice of Giants ownership: "Unfortunately we're in the same division as the Dodgers. In order to compete with them we would need to spend $100 million more per year. With the addition of another wild card we can maintain a mid-market payroll, reach the playoffs more often than not, and then try to get hot/lucky the way we did in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Fans will come out either way and sponsors will sign up either way. It doesn't make sense to almost double our payroll for a 45% chance of winning the division when we can pocket the profit and still have a good chance to reach the playoffs. If we were in the NL central spending an additional $30 million per year probably makes us the favorite to win the division, but in the west we still would be way behind the Dodgers on talent. So why spend the money to win six or seven more games and still face an enormous gap vis a vis LA."
(04-05-2022, 10:01 PM)DC 86 Wrote: Bottom line, the Giants have made a smart business decision to operate with a mid-market payroll - they can still contend for a wild card while maximizing profits. But from the standpoint of maximizing the number of games won or maximizing the chances of winning the division there's no rational argument for not signing better players that were available.
My assumption is the following, speaking in the presumed voice of Giants ownership: "Unfortunately we're in the same division as the Dodgers. In order to compete with them we would need to spend $100 million more per year. With the addition of another wild card we can maintain a mid-market payroll, reach the playoffs more often than not, and then try to get hot/lucky the way we did in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Fans will come out either way and sponsors will sign up either way. It doesn't make sense to almost double our payroll for a 45% chance of winning the division when we can pocket the profit and still have a good chance to reach the playoffs. If we were in the NL central spending an additional $30 million per year probably makes us the favorite to win the division, but in the west we still would be way behind the Dodgers on talent. So why spend the money to win six or seven more games and still face an enormous gap vis a vis LA."
(04-06-2022, 06:30 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote:(04-05-2022, 10:01 PM)DC 86 Wrote: Bottom line, the Giants have made a smart business decision to operate with a mid-market payroll - they can still contend for a wild card while maximizing profits. But from the standpoint of maximizing the number of games won or maximizing the chances of winning the division there's no rational argument for not signing better players that were available.
My assumption is the following, speaking in the presumed voice of Giants ownership: "Unfortunately we're in the same division as the Dodgers. In order to compete with them we would need to spend $100 million more per year. With the addition of another wild card we can maintain a mid-market payroll, reach the playoffs more often than not, and then try to get hot/lucky the way we did in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Fans will come out either way and sponsors will sign up either way. It doesn't make sense to almost double our payroll for a 45% chance of winning the division when we can pocket the profit and still have a good chance to reach the playoffs. If we were in the NL central spending an additional $30 million per year probably makes us the favorite to win the division, but in the west we still would be way behind the Dodgers on talent. So why spend the money to win six or seven more games and still face an enormous gap vis a vis LA."
I will rebut your devil's advocate rebuttal :)
Explain the Padres. The Giants are in a much larger market than San Diego and are worth a lot more than the Padres as well. Yet the Padres are also outspending the Giants, and also above the tax threshold, at $214M in 2022.
I can justify not spending into the tax THIS season, as it is a bit of a transition year for the Giants. They need to see what their prospects can do over this full minor league season - even if that means trading some - as they plan for the "Post-Brandons" era.
There is one other devil's advocate position to take. The Braves were 88-74 and won the World Series with a $153M payroll that was #11 in MLB in 2021. The Braves did win their division, but we all know it's not that difficult to win World Series as a Wild Card. The Giants are at $143M as of now for 2022, and they can add some big contracts in trade market as well.
(04-06-2022, 06:30 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote:(04-05-2022, 10:01 PM)DC 86 Wrote: Bottom line, the Giants have made a smart business decision to operate with a mid-market payroll - they can still contend for a wild card while maximizing profits. But from the standpoint of maximizing the number of games won or maximizing the chances of winning the division there's no rational argument for not signing better players that were available.
My assumption is the following, speaking in the presumed voice of Giants ownership: "Unfortunately we're in the same division as the Dodgers. In order to compete with them we would need to spend $100 million more per year. With the addition of another wild card we can maintain a mid-market payroll, reach the playoffs more often than not, and then try to get hot/lucky the way we did in 2010, 2012 and 2014. Fans will come out either way and sponsors will sign up either way. It doesn't make sense to almost double our payroll for a 45% chance of winning the division when we can pocket the profit and still have a good chance to reach the playoffs. If we were in the NL central spending an additional $30 million per year probably makes us the favorite to win the division, but in the west we still would be way behind the Dodgers on talent. So why spend the money to win six or seven more games and still face an enormous gap vis a vis LA."
I will rebut your devil's advocate rebuttal :)
Explain the Padres. The Giants are in a much larger market than San Diego and are worth a lot more than the Padres as well. Yet the Padres are also outspending the Giants, and also above the tax threshold, at $214M in 2022.
I can justify not spending into the tax THIS season, as it is a bit of a transition year for the Giants. They need to see what their prospects can do over this full minor league season - even if that means trading some - as they plan for the "Post-Brandons" era.
There is one other devil's advocate position to take. The Braves were 88-74 and won the World Series with a $153M payroll that was #11 in MLB in 2021. The Braves did win their division, but we all know it's not that difficult to win World Series as a Wild Card. The Giants are at $143M as of now for 2022, and they can add some big contracts in trade market as well.
(04-06-2022, 10:02 AM)Giants Wrote: Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, The Padres are currently at $228,985,000 v. a CBT of $230,000,000. That is why they are trying to deal Eric Hosmer. They need some wiggle room to allow them to pursue trade options during the season.
Note: the calculation for the CBT includes player benefits and a variety of other charges.
Note2: Since SD exceeded the CBT in 2021, they will pay a repeater penalty if they go over this year.
(04-05-2022, 01:21 PM)Mick Wrote: Eddie D. had the luxury of operating without a salary cap all through the Montana years.
(04-06-2022, 10:02 AM)Giants Wrote: Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, The Padres are currently at $228,985,000 v. a CBT of $230,000,000. That is why they are trying to deal Eric Hosmer. They need some wiggle room to allow them to pursue trade options during the season.
Note: the calculation for the CBT includes player benefits and a variety of other charges.
Note2: Since SD exceeded the CBT in 2021, they will pay a repeater penalty if they go over this year.
(04-05-2022, 01:21 PM)Mick Wrote: Eddie D. had the luxury of operating without a salary cap all through the Montana years.
(04-07-2022, 09:55 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: Just heard Farhan Zaidi say to Tim Kawakami that Ramos is "one notch of strike zone refinement away from really making an impact for us."
He added one of the main reasons they didn't sign a Bryant or Castellanos as a right handed hitter is because they "wanted to leave opportunity" for Ramos.
(04-07-2022, 09:55 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: Just heard Farhan Zaidi say to Tim Kawakami that Ramos is "one notch of strike zone refinement away from really making an impact for us."
He added one of the main reasons they didn't sign a Bryant or Castellanos as a right handed hitter is because they "wanted to leave opportunity" for Ramos.
(04-07-2022, 09:55 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: Just heard Farhan Zaidi say to Tim Kawakami that Ramos is "one notch of strike zone refinement away from really making an impact for us."
He added one of the main reasons they didn't sign a Bryant or Castellanos as a right handed hitter is because they "wanted to leave opportunity" for Ramos.
(04-07-2022, 09:55 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: Just heard Farhan Zaidi say to Tim Kawakami that Ramos is "one notch of strike zone refinement away from really making an impact for us."
He added one of the main reasons they didn't sign a Bryant or Castellanos as a right handed hitter is because they "wanted to leave opportunity" for Ramos.
(04-07-2022, 01:51 PM)lex24 Wrote:(04-07-2022, 09:55 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: Just heard Farhan Zaidi say to Tim Kawakami that Ramos is "one notch of strike zone refinement away from really making an impact for us."
He added one of the main reasons they didn't sign a Bryant or Castellanos as a right handed hitter is because they "wanted to leave opportunity" for Ramos.
Sorry, Mr. Zaidi, but that’s bullish-t. They had plenty of room to sign a RH bat and still “leave room” for Ramos.
(04-07-2022, 01:51 PM)lex24 Wrote:(04-07-2022, 09:55 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: Just heard Farhan Zaidi say to Tim Kawakami that Ramos is "one notch of strike zone refinement away from really making an impact for us."
He added one of the main reasons they didn't sign a Bryant or Castellanos as a right handed hitter is because they "wanted to leave opportunity" for Ramos.
Sorry, Mr. Zaidi, but that’s bullish-t. They had plenty of room to sign a RH bat and still “leave room” for Ramos.
(04-07-2022, 02:18 PM)DC 86 Wrote:(04-07-2022, 01:51 PM)lex24 Wrote:(04-07-2022, 09:55 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: Just heard Farhan Zaidi say to Tim Kawakami that Ramos is "one notch of strike zone refinement away from really making an impact for us."
He added one of the main reasons they didn't sign a Bryant or Castellanos as a right handed hitter is because they "wanted to leave opportunity" for Ramos.
Sorry, Mr. Zaidi, but that’s bullish-t. They had plenty of room to sign a RH bat and still “leave room” for Ramos.
It's so ridiculous that I didn't comment initially.
1. Correa and Story bat from the right side also. 2. Suzuki bats from the right side also, at a substantially lower price than the players that Zaidi mentioned. Interesting that he wasn't mentioned. 3. Castellanos or Suzuki could play LF, RF or DH, Bryant could play 3B or OF or DH No blocking. 4. Ramos projects to be a regular, chance of being a star or being a bust. If he ever has a season on par with any of the elite free agents it would be a major success. 5. Ramos hit 4 home runs in 229 at bats in AAA last year so a big season in MLB is probably not imminent. 5. If the Giants signed a free agent who both blocked Ramos and played so poorly that SF released him instead of using him at another position or on the bench, it would have no impact whatsoever on the Giants ability to compete because they could absorb the financial impact. Of course it would reduce their profits, which is the real issue here.
P.S. (unrelated but nice) Nico Hoerner started at shortstop and hit a two-run home run for the Cubs this afternoon.
(04-07-2022, 02:18 PM)DC 86 Wrote:(04-07-2022, 01:51 PM)lex24 Wrote:(04-07-2022, 09:55 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: Just heard Farhan Zaidi say to Tim Kawakami that Ramos is "one notch of strike zone refinement away from really making an impact for us."
He added one of the main reasons they didn't sign a Bryant or Castellanos as a right handed hitter is because they "wanted to leave opportunity" for Ramos.
Sorry, Mr. Zaidi, but that’s bullish-t. They had plenty of room to sign a RH bat and still “leave room” for Ramos.
It's so ridiculous that I didn't comment initially.
1. Correa and Story bat from the right side also. 2. Suzuki bats from the right side also, at a substantially lower price than the players that Zaidi mentioned. Interesting that he wasn't mentioned. 3. Castellanos or Suzuki could play LF, RF or DH, Bryant could play 3B or OF or DH No blocking. 4. Ramos projects to be a regular, chance of being a star or being a bust. If he ever has a season on par with any of the elite free agents it would be a major success. 5. Ramos hit 4 home runs in 229 at bats in AAA last year so a big season in MLB is probably not imminent. 5. If the Giants signed a free agent who both blocked Ramos and played so poorly that SF released him instead of using him at another position or on the bench, it would have no impact whatsoever on the Giants ability to compete because they could absorb the financial impact. Of course it would reduce their profits, which is the real issue here.
P.S. (unrelated but nice) Nico Hoerner started at shortstop and hit a two-run home run for the Cubs this afternoon.
(04-07-2022, 02:21 PM)lex24 Wrote: Athletic had an interesting article about how the Cubs wooed Suzuki. Wonder what the Giants did. I placed their failure to sign a long term FA squarely on ownership not willing to come up with the money. I still do. The other possibility is harder to accept and that is that Zaidi and Company cannot close on a big deal.
(04-07-2022, 02:21 PM)lex24 Wrote: Athletic had an interesting article about how the Cubs wooed Suzuki. Wonder what the Giants did. I placed their failure to sign a long term FA squarely on ownership not willing to come up with the money. I still do. The other possibility is harder to accept and that is that Zaidi and Company cannot close on a big deal.