[Mick]

1704500494[/url]']

1704489196[/url]']
Good trade.  Dump two dead weights and get back one half-dead weight with a total net salary close to even.  Also, Imanaga over Snell - less money and better potential.  Webb, Imanaga, Cobb and Ray would be a nice rotation IF SF can just eke into the playoffs.  

Having said that, I don’t think the Giants are done on the free agent/trade market.  More bats, please.

Agree with all of that...and everything I read is that, while Yamamoto has better stuff than Imanaga, Imanaga has outperformed him in international, high level competition. Not by a lot, just by a little. And he's five years older...still, I really hope we end up with him.

And we do need bats. We finished 25th in runs per game last year, 26th in triples, 25th in doubles, 24th in fewest strikeouts, dead last in stolen bases,  and 27th in OPS. 

I'm hoping our terrible fielding last year was an anomaly. Even our star, Patrick Bailey, tied for the most errors in MLB committed bya  catcher, T2 for the most passed balls. Wade was second in most errors by a 1B (10, but he also had the greatest range factor), Cobb was T5 for most errors committed by a P, though Beck and Cobb were T1 for most DPs by a pitcher. Estrada had the best range factor as a 2B. And Crawford, that oldie, was third in MLB in range factor per nine innings as a SS. Webb was 5th in range factor for pitchers. All that said, the Giants were dead last in fielding percentage at .981, they had the most errors with 117, and they were 25th in RTot. Ugh. Both stats were similar in 2022. Hopefully Bob Melvin can turn it around. Padres were below average in fielding, incidentally.

One interesting bit...the worst fielders on the Giants, by fielding percentage, were the pitchers, and it wasn't close. Aside from Joc Pederson, the worst 11 were all pitchers. Then Heliot Ramos, Paul DeJOng with 2 errors in 16 games, Crawford with 12 adn Casey Schmitt with 8. JD Davis had 9. Very few Giants had a positive RTot. Bailey (7), Yastrzemski (5), Bryce Johnson (now gone, 3).  Fitzgerald, Stevenson, Estrada, Slater & Haniger all had two.  Conforto was worst at -13, Matos was -10, Sabol was -9, Crawford was -8, Meckler was -6, Villar and Davis were -5, Pederson was -4.

No, it was not an anomaly.  In fact it was a bit better than ‘22.  Errors only tell a part of the story.  They were not strong in most metrics. Including Outs Agaist Average.  The only player that stood out in that category was Estrada. I believe Crawford, even in a lousy year, was second.

The Giants are s l o w.  It hurts them offensively and defensively.  Lee will help some.  So, btw, will Chapman if they sign him.  Bailey is strong defensively.  Luciano if he can hold the job will be average at best defensively.  Yaz is good in RF.  Slater not a liability, when he can actually play. Conforto is not good.  Wade mixed. 

I like the trade.  But I liked it a lot more before I read Zaidis comments in Baggerly’s column this morning. Sounds like Giants are not “in” on any of the remaining FA pitchers.  Maybe Zaidi was playing possum.  But he talked about the need to have a couple rotation spots for “flexibility“ with players who have options can go back-and-forth between the bullpen. Great! Can’t wait to see the openers again next year. Right now the rotation? Webb and a prayer.

This current roster is 75-80 wins.

I think you have it pegged. I liked the trade even less when I read in Baggarly's Athletic article that the Giants kicked in $6 million to make it revenue neutral. At least Haniger and DeSclafani will be ready at the start of the season. Hopefully Robbie Ray returns to his old self. I'm guessing that Farhan is painfully cognizant of the fact that Haniger and DeSclafani won't return to their former form.

So the positives: perhaps gives the Giants a co-ace to pair with Webb. Apparently the Giants wanted Ray after 2021 but didn't bid enough. Ray had UCL elbow surgery, but apparently across MLB pitchers are having a much higher success rate with Tommy John surgery.

Current rotation is Webb and Ross Stripling with Kyle Harrison, Keaton Winn and Tristan Beck, all of whom I really like. Sean Hjelle and Kai-Wei Teng are the depth options, per Farhan. Incidentally...as you say, Farhan is downplaying the FA market. I don't think he wants to pay $100 mms. for a 30 year old AAA pitcher (Imanaga), or $300 mms. for a 31-year old Cy Young winner who has pitched over 130 innings twice in an eight-year career. Farhan sounds very confident about Teng, Wishenhunt, Black and Birdsong. Robbie Ray and Cobb will start on the 50 day disabled list.

No starter in the field started more than 117 games last year. And the biggest mystery to me about the Giants from last year is their second half tank when it didn't seem to me that anyone was playing too much.

I think we do pick up Chapman. I think we have Lee in CF, Conforto in LF and Yaz/Slater in RF. Without Haniger as a RHDH, they can put JD Davis in that slot. Hopefully Flores keeps up his solid bat, and Estrada and Wade can do a full season of greatness. BTW, JD Davis had a solid first half as well. Then everyone hit the wall.

I should point out that the Giants missed the playoffs by four games, and they finished 3-7 their last 10 games. Go 7-3, and they're in the playoffs -- and BTW, the team that did win the World Series was 83-79 in the regular season. So they were close. But I think Melvin is a retread. This team absolutely top ends at 75 wins.

[Mick]

1704500494[/url]']

1704489196[/url]']
Good trade.  Dump two dead weights and get back one half-dead weight with a total net salary close to even.  Also, Imanaga over Snell - less money and better potential.  Webb, Imanaga, Cobb and Ray would be a nice rotation IF SF can just eke into the playoffs.  

Having said that, I don’t think the Giants are done on the free agent/trade market.  More bats, please.

Agree with all of that...and everything I read is that, while Yamamoto has better stuff than Imanaga, Imanaga has outperformed him in international, high level competition. Not by a lot, just by a little. And he's five years older...still, I really hope we end up with him.

And we do need bats. We finished 25th in runs per game last year, 26th in triples, 25th in doubles, 24th in fewest strikeouts, dead last in stolen bases,  and 27th in OPS. 

I'm hoping our terrible fielding last year was an anomaly. Even our star, Patrick Bailey, tied for the most errors in MLB committed bya  catcher, T2 for the most passed balls. Wade was second in most errors by a 1B (10, but he also had the greatest range factor), Cobb was T5 for most errors committed by a P, though Beck and Cobb were T1 for most DPs by a pitcher. Estrada had the best range factor as a 2B. And Crawford, that oldie, was third in MLB in range factor per nine innings as a SS. Webb was 5th in range factor for pitchers. All that said, the Giants were dead last in fielding percentage at .981, they had the most errors with 117, and they were 25th in RTot. Ugh. Both stats were similar in 2022. Hopefully Bob Melvin can turn it around. Padres were below average in fielding, incidentally.

One interesting bit...the worst fielders on the Giants, by fielding percentage, were the pitchers, and it wasn't close. Aside from Joc Pederson, the worst 11 were all pitchers. Then Heliot Ramos, Paul DeJOng with 2 errors in 16 games, Crawford with 12 adn Casey Schmitt with 8. JD Davis had 9. Very few Giants had a positive RTot. Bailey (7), Yastrzemski (5), Bryce Johnson (now gone, 3).  Fitzgerald, Stevenson, Estrada, Slater & Haniger all had two.  Conforto was worst at -13, Matos was -10, Sabol was -9, Crawford was -8, Meckler was -6, Villar and Davis were -5, Pederson was -4.

No, it was not an anomaly.  In fact it was a bit better than ‘22.  Errors only tell a part of the story.  They were not strong in most metrics. Including Outs Agaist Average.  The only player that stood out in that category was Estrada. I believe Crawford, even in a lousy year, was second.

The Giants are s l o w.  It hurts them offensively and defensively.  Lee will help some.  So, btw, will Chapman if they sign him.  Bailey is strong defensively.  Luciano if he can hold the job will be average at best defensively.  Yaz is good in RF.  Slater not a liability, when he can actually play. Conforto is not good.  Wade mixed. 

I like the trade.  But I liked it a lot more before I read Zaidis comments in Baggerly’s column this morning. Sounds like Giants are not “in” on any of the remaining FA pitchers.  Maybe Zaidi was playing possum.  But he talked about the need to have a couple rotation spots for “flexibility“ with players who have options can go back-and-forth between the bullpen. Great! Can’t wait to see the openers again next year. Right now the rotation? Webb and a prayer.

This current roster is 75-80 wins.

I think you have it pegged. I liked the trade even less when I read in Baggarly's Athletic article that the Giants kicked in $6 million to make it revenue neutral. At least Haniger and DeSclafani will be ready at the start of the season. Hopefully Robbie Ray returns to his old self. I'm guessing that Farhan is painfully cognizant of the fact that Haniger and DeSclafani won't return to their former form.

So the positives: perhaps gives the Giants a co-ace to pair with Webb. Apparently the Giants wanted Ray after 2021 but didn't bid enough. Ray had UCL elbow surgery, but apparently across MLB pitchers are having a much higher success rate with Tommy John surgery.

Current rotation is Webb and Ross Stripling with Kyle Harrison, Keaton Winn and Tristan Beck, all of whom I really like. Sean Hjelle and Kai-Wei Teng are the depth options, per Farhan. Incidentally...as you say, Farhan is downplaying the FA market. I don't think he wants to pay $100 mms. for a 30 year old AAA pitcher (Imanaga), or $300 mms. for a 31-year old Cy Young winner who has pitched over 130 innings twice in an eight-year career. Farhan sounds very confident about Teng, Wishenhunt, Black and Birdsong. Robbie Ray and Cobb will start on the 50 day disabled list.

No starter in the field started more than 117 games last year. And the biggest mystery to me about the Giants from last year is their second half tank when it didn't seem to me that anyone was playing too much.

I think we do pick up Chapman. I think we have Lee in CF, Conforto in LF and Yaz/Slater in RF. Without Haniger as a RHDH, they can put JD Davis in that slot. Hopefully Flores keeps up his solid bat, and Estrada and Wade can do a full season of greatness. BTW, JD Davis had a solid first half as well. Then everyone hit the wall.

I should point out that the Giants missed the playoffs by four games, and they finished 3-7 their last 10 games. Go 7-3, and they're in the playoffs -- and BTW, the team that did win the World Series was 83-79 in the regular season. So they were close. But I think Melvin is a retread. This team absolutely top ends at 75 wins.