[Mick]

I'm not the one telling people they must agree with me, because I'm not writing that those who disagree with me are clueless, or whatever other term you want to use to impugn someone's credibility and/or intelligence. I'm simply throwing out my opinion because that's what discussion boards are about, discussing things. Now, with that out of the way...

https://theathletic.com/3384884/2022/06/...um=twitter

Going into this season, I was willing to trust: 
1) The organization that Joey Bart would be a passable replacement for Buster Posey.
2) My belief the Giants needed a proven RH hitter like Castellanos or Story, was misplaced because 35 yo Darren Ruf was the answer. 
3) Letting Kris Bryant walk was the right move.
4) Signing Wood, DeSclafani, and Cobb instead of Gausman and two others was better for THIS season (I could buy not signing Gausman would be better for future seasons beyond 2022, but coming off 107 wins, you should want to build on that, right?)

What has happened? Bart was demoted to AAA. Most observers see Ruf has not been the RH hitting answer. Gausman would be way, way better than Cobb, DeSclafani, or Wood. Passing on Bryant looks smart so far (and Caleb Killian has a 10+ ERA in 2 Cubs starts). So 3/4 of the things I disagreed with but was willing to trust Farhan and co. to get right, have not worked at all. It's time for the Giants to own this and start planning for the future, IMO.

I'm not down on bringing the Brandons back, or even relying on Longoria in last year of his deal, because who else were the Giants going to get that made a lot of sense?

It's time to get rid of the old guys, agreed.  But I'd limit free agent signings to studs on the right side of age 30.

As for the prospect performance numbers, the age thing means nothing without context. Where is the evidence to show that players who are younger than average in a league will all of a sudden perform better when older? The guys in Eugene are not teenagers. When I was 10, I played in a league against 13 year olds. THAT was a big deal; 20 year olds playing against 22 year olds, not so much. Moreover, the Giants have an absolutely atrocious history of developing position player prospects who stick in MLB. Granted, some of the few they have developed, were World Series winning caliber all at one time (homegrown infield of Posey, Sandoval, Crawford, Belt, Panik), but the overall track record is just dreadful, so excuse me if I want to see Giants prospects doing a little more than hit for an average of .237 vs. a league avg. of .227 to feel confident they are actual future MLB players of consequence.

Why I think they should use some of their salary cap to trade for expiring contracts and minor leaguers with promise.

The Giants were a contender through April. They are pretenders after because their flaws have been exposed. They are old, slow, injury prone, allow too much soft contact to turn into runs and don't score enough with their own soft contact. They are boring, and very little you see from the current team gives you optimism for the future. I'd rather be under .500 with exciting players who will get better, knowing the team is building toward winning in the future, than see the current cast pretend to be contenders. Of course, my preference is to see the 5th most valuable team in MLB spend like they want to win by having a payroll at least up to the luxury tax threshold, not $100M below it.

Mine too.  I hope they aggressively trade for very large expiring contracts for spectacular minor leaguers, since so many of the SFG minor leaguers aren't performing well.

Signing starting pitchers of any age, or position players on the wrong side of 30 to long term deals concerns me, particularly those that fade over the last 1/3rd or 2/3rds of a season.  The $110 million/5 yrs. Gausman is 5-6, same record as the $25 mms./2 yrs Wood.  Webb, Rodon, Junis, Cobb have a better record.  DeSclefani is 0-2.

[Mick]

I'm not the one telling people they must agree with me, because I'm not writing that those who disagree with me are clueless, or whatever other term you want to use to impugn someone's credibility and/or intelligence. I'm simply throwing out my opinion because that's what discussion boards are about, discussing things. Now, with that out of the way...

https://theathletic.com/3384884/2022/06/...um=twitter

Going into this season, I was willing to trust: 
1) The organization that Joey Bart would be a passable replacement for Buster Posey.
2) My belief the Giants needed a proven RH hitter like Castellanos or Story, was misplaced because 35 yo Darren Ruf was the answer. 
3) Letting Kris Bryant walk was the right move.
4) Signing Wood, DeSclafani, and Cobb instead of Gausman and two others was better for THIS season (I could buy not signing Gausman would be better for future seasons beyond 2022, but coming off 107 wins, you should want to build on that, right?)

What has happened? Bart was demoted to AAA. Most observers see Ruf has not been the RH hitting answer. Gausman would be way, way better than Cobb, DeSclafani, or Wood. Passing on Bryant looks smart so far (and Caleb Killian has a 10+ ERA in 2 Cubs starts). So 3/4 of the things I disagreed with but was willing to trust Farhan and co. to get right, have not worked at all. It's time for the Giants to own this and start planning for the future, IMO.

I'm not down on bringing the Brandons back, or even relying on Longoria in last year of his deal, because who else were the Giants going to get that made a lot of sense?

It's time to get rid of the old guys, agreed.  But I'd limit free agent signings to studs on the right side of age 30.

As for the prospect performance numbers, the age thing means nothing without context. Where is the evidence to show that players who are younger than average in a league will all of a sudden perform better when older? The guys in Eugene are not teenagers. When I was 10, I played in a league against 13 year olds. THAT was a big deal; 20 year olds playing against 22 year olds, not so much. Moreover, the Giants have an absolutely atrocious history of developing position player prospects who stick in MLB. Granted, some of the few they have developed, were World Series winning caliber all at one time (homegrown infield of Posey, Sandoval, Crawford, Belt, Panik), but the overall track record is just dreadful, so excuse me if I want to see Giants prospects doing a little more than hit for an average of .237 vs. a league avg. of .227 to feel confident they are actual future MLB players of consequence.

Why I think they should use some of their salary cap to trade for expiring contracts and minor leaguers with promise.

The Giants were a contender through April. They are pretenders after because their flaws have been exposed. They are old, slow, injury prone, allow too much soft contact to turn into runs and don't score enough with their own soft contact. They are boring, and very little you see from the current team gives you optimism for the future. I'd rather be under .500 with exciting players who will get better, knowing the team is building toward winning in the future, than see the current cast pretend to be contenders. Of course, my preference is to see the 5th most valuable team in MLB spend like they want to win by having a payroll at least up to the luxury tax threshold, not $100M below it.

Mine too.  I hope they aggressively trade for very large expiring contracts for spectacular minor leaguers, since so many of the SFG minor leaguers aren't performing well.

Signing starting pitchers of any age, or position players on the wrong side of 30 to long term deals concerns me, particularly those that fade over the last 1/3rd or 2/3rds of a season.  The $110 million/5 yrs. Gausman is 5-6, same record as the $25 mms./2 yrs Wood.  Webb, Rodon, Junis, Cobb have a better record.  DeSclefani is 0-2.