[lex24]

An Adames trade makes too much sense.  Therefore, it is outside Zaidi’s comfort zone.  

Maybe the next GM will have the “aggressive gene” that Zaidi lacks.

The San Diego media has been reporting that there's been a recent upsurge in interest in Ha-Seong Kim, their $7 mms. Gold Glove second baseman (and former KBO teammate of new Giant Lee) in the last year of his contract. Strong hitter, finished 14th in MVP voting, sturdy (played 152 games) and in contract year. Hopefully Farhan is responsible for the recent interest. As you pointed out, would make too much sense. Would like to get both Adames and Kim. Clear out the low minors of pitching and hitting for trade bait and throw in Conforto, Villar and ... ?

BTW, the A's have signed Ross Stripling, Alex Wood  and Scott Alexander (as of today)

Although it would be risky due to his contract situation, I’d trade for Kim in a heartbeat.  As the saying goes…. no risk, no reward.  

Note:  A couple months ago, I was concerned about cutting a deal for Kim knowing he would be a free agent after the season.  I now believe the only way SF is going to sign any name free agents is to get them on board via a trade and then sign them to an extension (the Braves have been very successful using this approach).

Kim and Lee are supposedly close friends.  That would help sign him, I suspect.  But would SD trade him in division?  And do Giants want to trade some of their young pitching in division?

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Can't wait!  Couple of thoughts:

1. I hope it's Chapman versus Bellinger. Giants need a GG third baseman more than they need a really good outfielder. And Chapman hits better at Oracle than Bellinger does (.264 vs. .247 BA and .813 vs. .733 OPS). Bellinger is ordinary at Oracle.

2. I worry about Luciano. He won't turn 22 for six more months. He did very poorly in the Dominican winter league (.170/.339/.255/.594), although he boosted his walks considerably. Looks like some coach told him to be more selective. The Giants need a backup shortstop who can step in if necessary, though Luciano fields the position well, leading me to...

3. Fielding. My great concern. This will be an average hitting team (even with Chapman, Soler, Murphy and Lee) unless everyone breaks out and Pat Burrell works miracles. The pitching will be great, a ground ball bonanza. The good news: Bailey, Yaz, Slater, Schmitt, Luciano are all good fielders, but they're the only fielders with positive rTot (aside from 1/2 dozen young players who won't make the roster)...and while Bailey had positive rTot, he still led the league in passed balls and errors, playing only 82 games at catcher -- but he led the league in # caught stealing, was 4th in caught stealing% and third in putouts, so...good fielding catcher. Meckler, Pederson, Villar, Crawford, Sabol, Matos, Conforto were all disasters, athough Conforto is a decent left fielder and a horrendous right fielder. Keep him in LF, he's ok. Davis, Bart, and Wade were slightly below average. Wade and Davis started out strong, but melted down as the year went on. And Doval and Winn are not great at fielding, but not much we can do about that.

It looks like we're getting most of the bad fielders off the field and can "hide" the poor fielders. If the team can get to average...maybe we have something. 

Incidentally...the Giants were 32-21 in one-run games last season. Bob Melvin's Padres were 34-17 in one-run games last season.

Bottom line for me...if we get Chapman and a backup shortstop, we should be very strong. I don't think we need more pitching. We have lots of cap space. Maybe trade for Willy Adames, a very strong fielder with power (but not average) and he'll be 28 this season.

I think you inverted the Pads 1 run record.  But both it and the Giants ‘23 1 run records are irrelevant.  Those don’t have any predictive value.

Defense will be an issue.  Chapman would help.  Considerably.  Luciano may or may not be a ML level SS defensively.  Most scouts etc believe he’s not.  What he did in 12 games last year is way too SSS. as of right now, it’s questionable of Schmitt will even be on the roster.  

Bailey is plus defensively. Yaz is plus defensively as long as he’s in right field. Slater is decent defensively when he can actually play. We don’t know much about Lee defensively in centerfield. In fact, the comments have been all over the board. Early on it was he is a plus centerfielder and then as it got closer to the signing day I started seeing comments questioning his defensive acumen. We’ll see. I have to think it’s an improvement over last year. Even if he’s average.

Conforto in left will be average at best. When they put Soler out there, they probably will for 20 or 30 games or so, just hope nobody hits the ball there. He’s awful

Adames would be a nice add.  But he’s a ‘25 FA.  How much young pitching are you willing to part with?  Cause that, I suspect, would be part of the cost.  Same, btw, for Kim.

Tim Anderson is an interesting possibility.  He was awful last year. One of the worst players in baseball. But he has been a premium level shortstop in the past. And I believe he was very unhappy last year. So perhaps a change of scenery. One of those classic two year with an option contracts, that incentives for him to try putting a year together to hit the market. Frankly, I hate those contracts, but maybe in this case it makes sense. 

Team is still slow. They’re gonna need a lot of home runs. Because they’ll be station station again for the most part

Pitching – massive question mark.   If things go right, this could be a very good young staff. But you’re talking about one established starter and four questions.  . If things go south, which is not an impossibility, this is going to be a very long year.

[lex24]

An Adames trade makes too much sense.  Therefore, it is outside Zaidi’s comfort zone.  

Maybe the next GM will have the “aggressive gene” that Zaidi lacks.

The San Diego media has been reporting that there's been a recent upsurge in interest in Ha-Seong Kim, their $7 mms. Gold Glove second baseman (and former KBO teammate of new Giant Lee) in the last year of his contract. Strong hitter, finished 14th in MVP voting, sturdy (played 152 games) and in contract year. Hopefully Farhan is responsible for the recent interest. As you pointed out, would make too much sense. Would like to get both Adames and Kim. Clear out the low minors of pitching and hitting for trade bait and throw in Conforto, Villar and ... ?

BTW, the A's have signed Ross Stripling, Alex Wood  and Scott Alexander (as of today)

Although it would be risky due to his contract situation, I’d trade for Kim in a heartbeat.  As the saying goes…. no risk, no reward.  

Note:  A couple months ago, I was concerned about cutting a deal for Kim knowing he would be a free agent after the season.  I now believe the only way SF is going to sign any name free agents is to get them on board via a trade and then sign them to an extension (the Braves have been very successful using this approach).

Kim and Lee are supposedly close friends.  That would help sign him, I suspect.  But would SD trade him in division?  And do Giants want to trade some of their young pitching in division?

---

Can't wait!  Couple of thoughts:

1. I hope it's Chapman versus Bellinger. Giants need a GG third baseman more than they need a really good outfielder. And Chapman hits better at Oracle than Bellinger does (.264 vs. .247 BA and .813 vs. .733 OPS). Bellinger is ordinary at Oracle.

2. I worry about Luciano. He won't turn 22 for six more months. He did very poorly in the Dominican winter league (.170/.339/.255/.594), although he boosted his walks considerably. Looks like some coach told him to be more selective. The Giants need a backup shortstop who can step in if necessary, though Luciano fields the position well, leading me to...

3. Fielding. My great concern. This will be an average hitting team (even with Chapman, Soler, Murphy and Lee) unless everyone breaks out and Pat Burrell works miracles. The pitching will be great, a ground ball bonanza. The good news: Bailey, Yaz, Slater, Schmitt, Luciano are all good fielders, but they're the only fielders with positive rTot (aside from 1/2 dozen young players who won't make the roster)...and while Bailey had positive rTot, he still led the league in passed balls and errors, playing only 82 games at catcher -- but he led the league in # caught stealing, was 4th in caught stealing% and third in putouts, so...good fielding catcher. Meckler, Pederson, Villar, Crawford, Sabol, Matos, Conforto were all disasters, athough Conforto is a decent left fielder and a horrendous right fielder. Keep him in LF, he's ok. Davis, Bart, and Wade were slightly below average. Wade and Davis started out strong, but melted down as the year went on. And Doval and Winn are not great at fielding, but not much we can do about that.

It looks like we're getting most of the bad fielders off the field and can "hide" the poor fielders. If the team can get to average...maybe we have something. 

Incidentally...the Giants were 32-21 in one-run games last season. Bob Melvin's Padres were 34-17 in one-run games last season.

Bottom line for me...if we get Chapman and a backup shortstop, we should be very strong. I don't think we need more pitching. We have lots of cap space. Maybe trade for Willy Adames, a very strong fielder with power (but not average) and he'll be 28 this season.

I think you inverted the Pads 1 run record.  But both it and the Giants ‘23 1 run records are irrelevant.  Those don’t have any predictive value.

Defense will be an issue.  Chapman would help.  Considerably.  Luciano may or may not be a ML level SS defensively.  Most scouts etc believe he’s not.  What he did in 12 games last year is way too SSS. as of right now, it’s questionable of Schmitt will even be on the roster.  

Bailey is plus defensively. Yaz is plus defensively as long as he’s in right field. Slater is decent defensively when he can actually play. We don’t know much about Lee defensively in centerfield. In fact, the comments have been all over the board. Early on it was he is a plus centerfielder and then as it got closer to the signing day I started seeing comments questioning his defensive acumen. We’ll see. I have to think it’s an improvement over last year. Even if he’s average.

Conforto in left will be average at best. When they put Soler out there, they probably will for 20 or 30 games or so, just hope nobody hits the ball there. He’s awful

Adames would be a nice add.  But he’s a ‘25 FA.  How much young pitching are you willing to part with?  Cause that, I suspect, would be part of the cost.  Same, btw, for Kim.

Tim Anderson is an interesting possibility.  He was awful last year. One of the worst players in baseball. But he has been a premium level shortstop in the past. And I believe he was very unhappy last year. So perhaps a change of scenery. One of those classic two year with an option contracts, that incentives for him to try putting a year together to hit the market. Frankly, I hate those contracts, but maybe in this case it makes sense. 

Team is still slow. They’re gonna need a lot of home runs. Because they’ll be station station again for the most part

Pitching – massive question mark.   If things go right, this could be a very good young staff. But you’re talking about one established starter and four questions.  . If things go south, which is not an impossibility, this is going to be a very long year.