Free Agency Time and This Time Sucks
I still haven’t locked in my picks at mlbtraderumors.com for where I think their Top 50 free agents will land. I was scanning the list just now and man, that’s an underwhelming list. Especially the top 10. I don’t find a player that I would truly want on the Giants (considering how much they will cost) until I hit Ubaldo at #11. After that I don’t see another name of interest until Nolasco at #20. Hart and #39 or McClouth at #41 wouldn’t have me doing a slow burn. I could see either, on the cheap, working out in the outfield for us.
Truth is, I can’t stand free agency. The players hired almost never match their production to what you are paying them. I still am blown away that 17 of the St Louis Cardinals in the World Series this year made under 600K. Of course, they lost so I guess all that tells me is that they had too many of those guys. Ha. Kidding, of course.
Anyway, here’s the list again:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2013/11/2014-top-50-free-agents-with-predictions-1.html
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
I’d be pretty happy with any 2 of Tanaka Garza Kuroda. I really hope they don’t trade Belt or Romo in order to improve the rotation. If SF winds up with the mid level guys like Haren Nolasco Arroyo Vargas (or even Balfour or Crain) it’s sure to be an improvement but might not be enough based on what LA does.
And that might be something big again. ellis and uribe (and maybe Nolasco) could leave and I don’t think they hand those jobs to Hairston Jr. and Nick Punto. Crawford had a solid season last year and might allow them to make Ethier or even Kemp (they basically won West without him) expendable.
Giants are a money making machine–park was pretty full even after they were long out of it, and a successful 2014 would have Baer and bean counters drooling over their calculators. I just think overpaying a high impact FA or three to the pitching staff is gonna do more for the club than overpaying Lincecum is.
I beg to differ on the top 10. I think Tanaka-san is going to be the real deal. I think the time is ripe for the Giants to pull-off one of their moves that makes the baseball world stand-up and take notice (think the original signing of Barry Bonds) and ink the kid from Japan.
I like Jiminez…just not sure that giving up a pick is worth it, when there are other pitchers to be had that will not cost that pick. Even with his age, I like Arroyo (for the right length of contract/$$). For some short-term filler, I could see a Hudson or Haren (Haren is mentioned as a possibility for the Giants).
I still think first priority is TWO starters. One a solid ½ (Tanaka) and then a guy who can round out the 4/5 slot.
The question really is will Charles Johnson and his crew open the purse strings enough to make the required moves to keep our boys in the Orange and Black competitive.
Going to be a great night for college football. OU-Baylor gets it started and then sometime during the first half, the Cardinal and Ducks will kick if off. My ass will be home with a cold one in hand.
Well if the Dogpile get Tanaka (outbid everyone) and trade for Price , and they have the prospects TB likes, then were “Fucked” with a rotation of Kershaw,Price,Grienke,Tanaka and Ryu.
3 CY Young winners and a dude like Tanaka who could win one too is fucking scary.
He took a lot of heat before blasting the Faders, but I like what Chip Kelly did with his team at Oregon and I hope he makes offensive inroads at Philly. Like em and their goofy unis or not, the Fighting Ducks are fun to watch and they do play defense too. Last year Stanford D (and some shaky officiating) held them off, but the year before they put 53 on Shaw’s team. They also have facilities and enough cache to be able to recruit well in bay area, something else that makes Dykes rough first year unencouraging.
Cards get the big guy Cajuste back but I don’t think they have enough O to stay with the O, and Shaw usually finds a way to get out coached when he has the chance (like vs. the very mediocre running Utes)–tho I don’t think liabilities of Hogan (that’s the best he’s got?) can be overcome.
I don’t think the Bums are that money crazy. One or the other but not both Tanaka and Price. That’s still of course a formidable rotation.
Pretty happy with Garza and Tanaka? Are you being facetious Willie? Either one should have you doing cartwheels.
I think it likely they get neither, instead opting for Nolasco or Arroyo.
cartwheels at my age might be fatal, bro. I wouldn’t count out LA to go balls out/bucks up to sign whomever.
and bums rotation, along with pen, are already pretty tough at the top end. If they pick up a couple more sticks like Phillips or a 3b the LU will be solid. I know the best team on paper, yada yada, but improved SPs would mean SF could get by without major upgrade to LF. More arms the better.
paying a 60 million dollar posting fee (or whatever it is) is not “The Giants Way.”– I don’t see them going that direction.
When you look at the posting fee, plus the contract money, it will end up looking like a Zito deal, financially. Giants way or not…to have a stud young arm (25 years old) for that kind of coin…they would be foolish to not look VERY HARD.
Here is a first look at the replay system that will be implemented next year.
http://tinyurl.com/nxdhmh8
Thanks to Paul for his most gracious compliment on the last thread..
The free agents I’m interested in, most of whom I’ve talked about before:
Tanaka- there is zero reason that we coudn’t get this guy. And if Sabean wants a staff, and therefore a team, to compete with the Bums, Tanaka might be the only FA pitcher good enough to elevate the staff enough to do that. I’ve pushed a Belt/Romo/? trade for Price or another top line starter, but that was presuming that Tanaka would go elsewhere.
Santana- I like him but he hasn’t been consistent enough to warrant the cost
Garza- those AL numbers on top of the recent injury make him too much of a risk for 15 mill+.
Ubaldo- no reason, no like
Kazmir- my newest fave, Tanaka and Kazmir would be an exciting and doable pair to grab
Arroyo- MLBTR pegs him at 12 mill and 2 years, he’s the guy I suspect they’ll get. Which I can definitely live with unless he’s *IT*.
Marlon Byrd- I don’t expect anything better and at two years, I think he’s a good fit.
Morales- If they either traded Belt or were insistent on a LF move, I like Morales here, even with the draft pick lost.
Josh Johnson- only on a Minor League deal and I think someone will offer him a Major League contract
Hudson- I like him. For a 1-yr deal.
Haren- Similar to Timmy in that his peripherals were better than his record. Like a few others on this list, I like him fine as a backend choice.
Vargas- his star is fading for me. As I’ve looked at other 4/5 candidates, I think his health is too big a risk.
Corey Hart- interesting, one year deal only.
Mujica- price may be too steep.
Uribe- I’d love him back- but will he go for a utility role and platooning w/Crawford?And is he too much of defensive liabilty at SS?
Maholm- another pretty fair #5
What I think they’ll do, or something similar- rework Vogelsong’s contract, sign Lopez, non-tender Mijares. That’s the easy part…sign Arroyo, Byrd, invite Jason Bay to camp.
Less likely but possible if they’re serious about this- sign Lopez, non-tender Mijares. Sign Tanaka, Kazmir, Hart, Byrd, invite Bay and Chris Young to camp.
I think that the Giants will end up with Nolasco. Mainly because Sabean has liked him in the past and that tends to be who he goes after. Other than that I don’t know who on that list will end up in SF but I don’t see them opening the vault for Tanaka.
Agree with Twin on Morales. I would like to see him with Belt moved to left if they get him. I hope the club holds on to Belt since he is still controllable and they could sign him to something similar to Sandoval’s previous deal.
agreed. I could totally see Nolasco coming here and I am on record as saying he would pitch well for us in 2014. He was born to pitch at ATT
I can see Nolasco, but he, like Arroyo, seems like an average 3, good 4. With both, I’d hope but hardly count on Sabean getting a solid 2 as well.
Here’s my bereakdown of the pitchers on the list of 50. If there are 2 numbers, I think of the guy as a tweener- could go either way. Most are tweeners. Our current group: Madbum 1, Cain 2/3 Timmy 3/4 Petit 4/5 Vogie 3/4/5
Tanaka 1/2, ESantana 2/3,Garza 2/3 Kuroda 2/3 Burnett 3/4, Ubaldo 2/3, Kasmir 3/4/5, Nolasco 3/4 ,Arroyo 3/4, Josh Johnson 2/3/4/5, Hudson 2/3, Haren 4, Vargas 4/5, Hughes 4/5, Maholm 4/5,
I’d take Ubaldo over any of those guys in a second and I think he’ll pitch as a 1/2 next year. Check out what he did in the 2nd half. And he’s on record as figuring out that he just needed to stop trying to blow guys away. And it’s working. Timmy should embrace the same approach (and in fact has, just not with the same results as Ubaldo who was one of the top 5 AL pitchers in the 2nd half last season
Well, I’d take him over *most* of them, I would have taken him over Timmy. I did check him out. I checked them all out. I’d want more than 1 good year out of 3 for 13-15 million per year. But it wouldn’t break my heart. He just bugs me. No particular reason.
The market is lousy with “backenders”. And I’d hope Sabes gets one of them plus a 1/2. And other than Tanaka, I wouldn’t take any of the 2/3 guys on that list. If they didn’t go for and get Tanaka, I’d turn to the trade market.
Obviously my numbers are subjective- I can see where Ubaldo might turn out better than I have him.
I like ubaldo and possibly even Johnson. I just think it will be Nolasco given his history. To me he really telegraphs his moves going into the off season. I think he does well with trades but acquisitions aren’t his strong suit in my opinion.
Stanford vs. Oregon is cool, but it’s no Fresno St. vs. Wyoming. 🙂 🙂
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The other day, Snarkk (I think) posted about having an abusive high school coach, and I had one, too. My varsity basketball coach had all the Bobby Knight antics, without Knight’s basketball knowledge, so the worst of both worlds.
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I don’t have any thoughts on Giants’ free agents. I got nothing.
Sadly, I think the Ducks beat Stanford tonight and I don’t think it’ll be that close. 10+ points for sure, maybe more. I’m gonna watch it at home.
Hot stove already being stoked with kindling, can’t wait til it really heats up. A “lousy” class of free agents still makes it interesting, more strategic, in a way. Agree that going after a Tanaka is not the “Giants’ way” but also agree that it would be terrific if they did. And while I was often on record here during the past season as saying they couldn’t just “stay put” with the current offense, I’ve come to agree with ya’ll that the pitching additions will be the key and the offensive improvement that’s needed will come from the regulars actually performing as they *should*.
Thanks, Michael. Been a bit of a rough year, lots of changes (even while still living in Asia, the difference between living in Vietnam and living in China now is huge). Feeling far away these days, as my 97-year-old Dad is in the hospital with heart problems and my siblings are starting to email me about “how easy would it be for you to get back here quickly?”….. Well, not so easy this weekend; taking a 4-hour bus ride this afternoon out of Kunming city into the mountains to stay in a quiet little town for some peace and reflection. Have a good weekend, Flappers everywhere.
Paul– hang in there. You KNOW we have your back– vent on the blog. Call for help if you want–and I’m pretty sure you dad is in the Marin-ish area. So if you need Meals on Wheels to drop by or anything to drop by, shoot me an email and I promise it will happen.
Thinking of you and your dad tonight…
Thanks, Craig. Actually, my family is all back east, my folks in Stroudsburg, PA. Fortunately, my sibs live only about an hour away in Joisey…
I remember a Marin pic recently, thought it was your folks place. Must have been a friend/family pad.
But the location doesn’t matter. If you need something and you can’t make it happen from China and your sibs need anything that your Flap friends can support or provide, please ask either here or via email….
Paul – wishing you and yours, and especially your dad, peace and comfort during this tough time. You are in my thoughts, brother. Enjoy your trek into the mountains.
The first 2014 projections are already in- from Steamer at Fangraphs. “Steamer” is a system developed by a High School science and statistics teacher and a couple of his former students. This is just FYI, I realize that not everyone is terribly interested in projections. I find them interesting, but I’m interested in about everything. I just did the 3 certain starting pitchers, For position players, I listed OBP for the singles-type hitters and OPS for the power guys. These are just the dinosaur stats.
Pence 21-86 .279 .800 OPS
Posey 20-90 .307 .874 OPS
Belt 15-65 .279 .798 OPS
Blanco 5-50 .251 .334 OBP
Scutaro 7-54 .290 .347 OBP
Sandoval 22-88 .292 .834 OPS
Crawford 8-53 .246 .310 OBP
Pagan 8-44 .283 .339 OBP
Bumgarner 14-9 3.26
Lincecum 13-11 3.71
Cain 13-11 3.61
Night all- goodnight, Paul.
Paul, in my prayers. Been through Stroudsburg, PA, many a time, though they always seem to add East to it. Yeah, my Mom is 97. Enough said. Take care. Literally.
Flav must be dancing in the street. Stanfoo’s up 26 7 with 9 minutes left in the game.
test
Uh oh. Orygun just blocked a FG. 26-13.
Paul, thoughts and prayers to you and yours in your troubling times.
Oregon gets the onsides kick . . . shit’s getting crazy.
Ore at the 1!!! and they almost fumble it away. Anyone else watching this?
26-20 Stanford. Oregon scores! Fucking nutty game. If Stanford can simply recover and onsides kick the game should be over.
Another embarrassing 4th quarter melt down from Shaw. I fucking can’t stand him. But I will take this…….
Well, it’s hard to blame the coach when you get a FG blocked and then can’t recover the onsides kick.
More fun from the Incognito/Martin deal. Another teammate, unnamed, had this to say:
“We are going to run train on your sister. . . . She loves me. I am going to fuck her without a condom and cum in her c—.”
And on a stupidly funny and ridiculous note, the ‘new’ SF Gstre Splash blog has been changing Timmy’s last name to Lince*** as part of it’s nasty word filter
Flav, did you add those ‘related’ posts under the main thread? Very cool. Saw onr of Snarkk’s posts from last year. Funny stuff.
You mean, let me understand this, ’cause, ya know maybe it’s me, I’m a little fucked up maybe, but I’m funny how? I mean funny like I’m a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh, I’m here to fuckin’ amuse you? What do you mean funny? Funny how? How am I funny?…
Courtesy Goodfellas… 😉
I was back and forth on the Stanford-Oregon game…clicked-away when it was 26-7…came back about the time of the blocked FG…what a wild-ass finish.
I don’t know that much about Shaw (Flavor ragging on him), but he seems to be well respected by most.
Anyway…another big win for the Cardinal. I like it any time someone sticks it to the quack attack.
Since I haven’t heard from the prize winners as to how things have gone with set up, I’m presuming everything is fine and therefore any tech support from me has now ended.Your support number is now 911. Enjoy your prizes.
I haven’t had a chance yet. They’re painting my apt. complex and I’ve been high on paint thinner all week.
Haven’t gotten a chance to even start messing with the turntable, Mike. Maybe this weekend.
Thanks again . . .
Well, good luck, hope you enjoy it. The reason I like for electronic items to be checked out right away is because they can suffer shipping damage that’s not apparent until the device is used. Anything I ship leaves here in working condition so it’s important to see that it arrives that way.
Well plug it in Chuck, the turntable spins clockwise.Maybe more difficult if your vinyls or square though.
Actually, there’s more to it- before it will actually play and/or convert the vinyl there are 73 intricate steps that must be followed exactly as directed in the online manual that can be purchased at a very reasonable $79.95 if he calls within the next 5 minutes.
Otherwise the price doubles . . .
But you get the “Hair in a Can” included with your purchase- but wait! I’m not done yet! Ask about free shipping ! Shipping is $29.95 but you can ask about free shipping…
Chuck if you call in the next 5min besides the “Hair in a can”, they throw in a special pubic hair removal kit!
Would that be mine, or someone else’s?
It’s “No! No! OMG No!” Pubic Hair Removal and Dessert Topping…
Ken Rosenthal reports that Ricky Nolasco wants 80 million and 5 years. If Sabean goes for that he’ll need the Popeil “Brains in a Can”..
Zito wanted 126 and 7. The problem was, he got it…
5.06-4.51-4.67-4.48 his last 4 years before his 3.70 in 2013. I guess he’s counting on cashing in due to a weak group of FA starting pitchers.
Charlie, like most of us here (Ferret and other ladies not included) know that you don’t need no stinking manual (73 intricate steps). (In response to Twin’s 12:01)…
Well, if you skip steps 43, 56, and 72, you arm the turntable and it becomes a whirling weapon of mass destruction.
Killed by a Mario Lanza 78…it would be tough for the mourners to keep from laughing at your sorry fate…
Everyone will now say if hell, if Lincecum is worth $17m, I’m worth at least ….
If they can do that for Nolasco, they can pony up the posting fee and get Tanaka…
Is that Kyle Crick pitching right now in the AZ Fall league on the MLB network? If so, he is definetly Matt Cain’s Minnie me…Even the manuerisims are the same.
I saw that tonight. He looked real good. This AFL on the MLB network is pretty cool.
I’m watching the Kings at the moment. Jimmer Fredette, former high draft pick, basically doesn’t get to play anymore. The forgotten man on the bench. He’s going to be a free agent after this season. He could fit a role for a team out there.
Curry didn’t play tonight for the Warriors? Sore ankle? Big shocker.
Curry has an ankle bruise and not a sprain,
It’s Saturday Morning and all is quiet. Not a creature is stirring not even a mouse. The Warriors lost in Texas so what else is new?