-1.0
Disappointed to hear we let our leader in nearly every meaningful offensive category, not to mention our WM winner, flitter into the mist. But while Pillar was our most exciting player, by far, he wasn’t going to make much of a difference on next year’s squad. And he’s certainly not part of the plan for the future.
Unfortunately the interest level I have in this team just took a big hit. If we are going to stink it would be nice if we had some players who are fun to watch. Exit 1.0 but Crawford, Belt and Longoria, the 3 most boring baseball players of all time, stay here?
That’s a tough sell for me.
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Can I hope this leads to a couple other free agent bats who likely would have a bigger offensive impact?
1.0 had a combo of power, speed and electrifying defense. who do you want, specifically, in his price range that might be better?
I am arguing that dont spend $7.5 on Pillar if you can get an Ozuna for $15 and I think Puig may shake out agreeing to a 1 year $10millionish deal hoping to get a big deal after a stronger year. Both bring more to the plate than Pillar. I think Duggar could be the defensive presence and you get the offense with upgraded hitters in the corners…
And I dont think this is how Farhan thinks and he just may want to be free of any contract that he does not see a long term role for that player like Pillar…we’ll see..
And, in a bit of poetic finality, he ended the 2019 season with a 1.0 WAR.
Adam Jones ended the season with a -0.4 WAR.
lqtm
Thought they would resign him and then flip him at deadline. Maybe GM figured he’d be harder to trade if he was making $10 mil.
On the list of most interesting last year, he’s certainly near top…with Yaz Bum Smith Vogt Solano and Dick in brief stay off IL. Interesting to see how GM replaces talent lost, which isn’t insignificant.
With NL being very competitive, other teams just outside like Reds Pads AZ Mets Phils are goinna do things to improve their chances of being in WC hunt.
I have said all along that I trust Z-man’s judgement in steering the ship, but I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed in the non-tender to Pillar.
But do agree with your sentiments Flav that Pillar was not going to impact the team significantly one way or the other, and he definitely was not a part of any long-term plans.
A move I find regrettable is not picking up Vogt. I liked his contributions. He got a 2 year deal elsewhere, so good for him…
All catchers are prime attractions snarkk (as I said a couple of weeks ago). Just look at what happened with James McCann yesterday (doubled his salary) with the White Sox and more important, insofar as what I said previously, the same team signed free-agent catcher Yasmani Grandal to a $73 million, four-year contract last month. Consequently, I think it wasn’t that Z didn’t want Vogt, but he was outbid.
We should just be happy we got a nice year out of Vogt. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s injured most of next year or if he regresses significantly.
Agree.
Curious if Z would have any interest in Blake Trienien(sp)? Yeah he was a bust last year due to injuries and confidence, but he was an absolute stud in 2018, 2Hr’s allowed in 80 innings and 100K’s.Some say the change of baseballs spun to tight might of affected his power sinker.Hey they need a closer among a whole new staff of BP/Starters he’s worth a flyer you would think?
That is a Farhan type of move….
At least Solano is back!
Not that they were going to matter much, but I gotta wonder why you’d select 2 arb eligible pitchers off waivers , 1 at the end of October and the other at the start of November, only to non-tender them in December.
Does Tony C have any grandkids?
I’m still hoping against hope that Belt and Crawfish are traded/eaten/dumped somehow. I can live with Longo and Posey if those two are gone.
I think it’s possible. They are very similar in that they are both overweight lefties with excellent gloves who are hurt by their home park. They also have the same first name.
That short RF porch in Yankmee stadium has to look good for both of them.
Good player and better person. Will miss him.
Hank quoting Z: “We feel like our OF picture has improved a lot with some of the guys who have emerged.”
Then Hank says Z cited Yaz and Davis if he makes team can cover CF. Also said Z added he will pursue other OFs this winter. “Zaidi has said he wants to find a power hitting corner OF.”
Sure hope that comes to fruition.
I hear Michael Reed is available.
If I’m not mistaken, didn’t he also lead the league in fWAR? I don’t get it. But I don’t have the huge pulsating brain, so there’s that.
No. Per what I understand, fWAR refers to Fangraphs’ calculation of WAR. bWAR or rWAR refer to Baseball-Reference’s calculation. And WARP refers to Baseball Prospectus’ statistic “Wins Above Replacement Player.”
Yes, it is all confusing. lqtm.
If the ‘f’ stands for Facebook, then, yes.
I thought the “f” stood for Flap and using that fWAR, he absolutely led the league.
Yeah I think it was Flap war.
We’re officially in rebuild mode. I was clamoring for Harper last year when I thought the infield group had some good seasons left in them. I don’t feel that way anymore. I don’t see the purpose of going after any more glitzy free agents in the next year or two. Its all about Dumpster Dives and Draft Picks for the next couple of years. On field product could be ugly, but at this point I think it is the right course while we finish enduring these contracts and hope to grow something on the farm—which does look to be on the upswing as Blade mentioned the other day.. I’ll still watch–listen–comment—go to a game here and there. I’m all in on this team.
Great post.
Glad to see that you have changed your mind (taking note, because I should be more open-minded as well).
Awesome post, Sandog.
Nick Castellanos is on our radar apparently. One of Harris’s guys in Chi-town. He’s 27 at least, not 31.
Nick Castellanos would be just what the doctor ordered for this team.Hitting machine with an insane 58 doubles last year to go along with 27 bombs and OPS of .863 and a solid corner outfielder!
Problem is, would he really come here after he slammed Detroit’s park for being unfriendly to hit in, and knowing The Big O is even worse!
Probably after cutting Pillar,Z just wanted to give the fans some hope,when it really will just be another smoke&mirror tatic and not his big splash..
They’ll probably offer him just enough to turn down…
fWar is the saber stat I made up and I recognize there was already an established Fwar that measured something else. Mine is more reflective of actual value though. The way you calculate it: if a player does something rad to help your team win or keep them in the game they get a 1.0 rating for that game. If they don’t, they get a 0.0 rating. Walks are frowned upon. Stolen bases and bombs are celebrated wildly. Add up all your 1.0’s at the end of the year and….well, I never actually got that far in the calculation. But make no mistake about it, Kevin Pillar was our fWar leader last season…….
Castellanos would be a terrible signing. He got hot in the second half, some team is going to completely overpay for him. Like WAY overpay. Fuck that, he doesn’t want to come here anyway. As Kat noted, he complained about the size of the Detroit park like a fucking girl, he wouldn’t come to the vast lands of Oracle in a million years.
Let the Cubs have him I say….
Castellanos is a RH power hitter, I can get behind that. But he’s not THAT big of a power hitter and he doesn’t do anything else well. I’d take him on the cheap because he’d make our team better but no way do I pay that dude what he’s going to get
No idea what he’s asking, but will he do more than Pillar? That would be the hope. If he’s bitching about Deetroit, then yeah, he’s gonna faceplant here.
Castellanos is not a star, he’s a very good hitter in the right conditions. With Boras taking bids you know he’ll get his boy overpaid. Fuck it, he’s not that good. And again, he’d NEVER come here, IMO
He will get in that 4 year $80 mill range I think…
https://twitter.com/KO_Crowley/status/1202045825402073088
if we were one bat away from being competitive I’d probably grudgingly accept Castellanos at 4 years/80 million but he’s not worth that. And we are not one bat away…..
Yeah Nick won’t be coming here for sure.
The Giants are always the laughingstock when it comes to making a big move.
They do their best work just teasing a player and jacking up their price they eventually get from someone else!
Really players like Harper,Stanton etc, should send the Giants a nice gift along with a Christmas card thanking them for getting the most bang for their buck..
Yeah, starting with Garvey who completely used us…
I didn’t know the Giants made a run at Garvey, Ugh, I’m glad that never happened.
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/12/17/Jerry-Kapstein-agent-for-free-agent-first-baseman-Steve/1655408949200/
I couldn’t stand Steve Garvey!
The only ball player in history that could slide and his jersey was still clean cause the dirt only stuck on his pants stripe..
Yeah Kat, I hated Garvey too, mostly because of his Mr. Clean image, when he was anything but….
‘We feel we have as good a chance to sign him as anybody,’ said the Giants’ Lurie, squelching reports the Giants were still involved only for the publicity.
Man, we have been doing this shit for years. I don’t understand why the Giants brass thinks it’s a big score with the fans if they are simply *in* on trying to sign free agents. Lurie was FOS back then and Zaidi is FOS now if he says he’s *in* on trying to get Castellanos
Ha, that quote stood out to me, too.
Much as I despised Garvey, I think I was psyched enough to accept him after the unlikely near miss in ’82.
Maybe I thought he could put us over…
Arizona St and Bobby Hurley of the famous coaching family from New Jersey, is in town to play USF. He’s in white shirt and tie, and patrols sideline watching game with arms crossed. But eventually he explodes and marches up and down sideline waving his arms. His rants are among best I’ve seen in long time.
His team is really good but he is half the show himself.
How about wilco’s home town for sports dynasty? Waco TX is home to Baylor Bears, defending women’s b-ball champs and ranked 3rd, plus top rated football team7th in playoffs playing for Big 12 title vs. Oklahoma, while mens b-ball is also a very good team ranked #18 that should contend in big 12, maybe top rated league in whole country.
I don’t speak German, so I don’t know if “Flinke Finger” means anything close to “Busy Bodies,” but this guy does a great cover of this song, in German.
Elvis Costello’s “Armed Forces” is a brilliant album, in a career of many brilliant albums.
OK I guess this question is more rhetorical but…I understand Giants are “more than 1 bat away” from contention at present. But how many? 3, 4?
So wouldn’t picking up 1 close gap, be a start in right direction and lessen the distance?
Otherwise, what is the plan? Wait for all top prospects to suddenly turn into power hitting superstars?
We are 3 bad contracts from contending.
Yeah we’re in a real fickle till respectable..
Ive been saying 2 bats and 2 arms to get started…
And I would still say pitching is more important than power. All the past WS winners had dominant SPs, to get through reg season and playoffs. In most cases they brought them in too to cover up weakness and increase strength for post season, even LA.
In case of Giants, they are only going to hit so many bombs. Preventing them and holding runs down, especially at home, has to be fixed before they will be any good. As for the “plan”, losing top starter and dominant closer isn’t going to help if they can’t be adequately replaced.
Gotta do something to get the fans interested or the place will be deserted.
It’s bad to suck, but worse to be boring – especially when you have a spoiled (3 in 5) following…
The debacle game I went to early last year in May, the 18-2 loss to AZ, was prolly attended by about 15,000 fans. It was down to 6,000 by the 5th inning. Regardless of who they get,they need to win to draw.
Last year’s resurgence wasn’t due to names (the no-names we picked up), it was due to the flap descending on the ball park, and the subsequent wins in July..
My Aim is True is nothing but great songs. And it includes one of my favorite lines in rock and roll history. From Watching the Detectives:
“She’s filing her nails while they’re dragging the lake.”
Songwriting don’t get much better than that.
Speaking of that, well, nothing in particular, Spotify decided I would like this song. Hadn’t heard it since the 70s.
CBS Sports used to use this as their intro iirc.
Any song with backward masking is good by me. He says something like “you can turn this record backwards but you can’t turn back time.Turn back! Turn back!”
Yeah, I’m all in on ELO. Their double album “Out of the Blue” played on heavy rotation on my record player back in the day.
Jeff Lynne has cited the Beatles’ “I Am The Walrus” as a big influence, and I can hear that in his work; but I’m also hearing some Elton John “Funeral For A Friend” in this particular song, which is cool. Influenced by, but still doing his own thing.
Great stuff Chuck!
ELO always puts on a good show and Fire on High never gets old!
Cha ching! Wheeler $118 million 5 year deal with Phillies. Nice pay day.
Cole Hamels – who is a lefty – signs a one year, $18 million contract with Braves. This probably eliminates MadBum from signing with them or the Phillies (albeit, Wheeler is a righty, so who knows???? Maybe the Phillies still pursue him).
Absolutely fucking ridiculous and they’ll be laughed at for years for that deal.
That’s just crazy $$$ for a slightly above-average pitcher.
Well, ya have to remember – either the GM or the owner said last season when they were pursuing Harper, “. . . we want to spend stupid money” or something to that effect. The trend continues – Stupid is, as stupid does.
That is insane. Wheeler will look like this after half the season:
Still think Bummie stays. Problem is we prolly offer him 4 years.
Bum ain’t sticking around to watch this shit unfold.
He will stick to the NL though so he can hit.
Braves,Cardinals are Padres are my choices he goes with..
Chump change compared to what Cole,Strasburgh,and Rendon will end up getting..
925K for the Dick will look like a bargain even if he only plays 50 games…
Giants do sign Tyler Anderson LHP after 1st non tendering him.Believe around 2.4 mil for 1 year. Nothing like having another back in 5th starter with questionable health issues!
This starting rotation is easily going to be the worse in baseball…Cueto?Smarg? Beede?Webb? Anderson? and the other Anderson BP?and Rodriguez?BP
Interesting reference to Garvey and reading that story that makes mention that he was seeking an $8.8 million deal for 5 years as a 34 years old and that seems shockingly paltry…but how the structure of baseball salaries are changing and older players are not getting the money they used to get, this salary today would equal about $4.6 mill and that is probably of what 34 year olds will get and definitely not getting 5 year deals. I assume Garvey did not get that 5 years….
Garvey got 5Y/$6.6M.
Not surprised Phillies threw money at Wheeler thought Hamels would go back. Would guess Bum not likely Atlanta bound. Still think Strasburg goes to Yankees but could see Angels as well…
Didn’t know we were going for Garvey. That woulda been worse than getting Puig.
No inclination??? That’s pretty fucked up. I’ve been saying all along I think he wants to stay, but not even a perfunctory offer? Tossing Pillar is one thing, but Bummie? Jesus.
I just might join the Facebook housewives in getting unreasonably pissed.
That is pretty fucked up. I hope he doesn’t get pissed off enough to sign with LA.
The ultimate irony would be Bum as a Dodger facing Puig as a Giant.
Would anyone not tune in for that?
With Country Joe calling balls and strikes…
Now that would be entertaining.
I would DEFINITELY tune-in for that…especially with Country Joe calling them from behind the dish.
i like Tim Ryan a lot but what level of dumbshit do you have to be to say this on the radio?https://twitter.com/MikeLerseth/status/1202372356175347712
About mad bum
On Wednesday, Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported two Major League Baseball executives said they believe the starting pitcher will land a contract worth at least $100 million in free agency this offseason. Those around the league consider him the third-best starting pitcher on the market behind Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg.
Crazy money still being laid out.
36 year old Cole Hamels signs with the Braves for 18 mil 1 year!
If he can bank 18 mil at his age, Bumgarner is easily getting someone to bite for 4/85 at 31 years old.
Braves are going all in with Smith,Hamels and hoping to retain Donaldson after back to back division titles..
We don’t know what Bum’s asking price is. The Giants think it’s too high, I guess.
I don’t think it is all about $$, but also years. I have read where Zaidi has said that they don’t want to do the same thing that got them where they are now (big $$ lengthy contracts).
We’re all dang curious what Bum’s market value will prove to be.
I’m leaning Cardinals now.
They don’t have a southpaw in their rotation and the park is not a home run haven.
Plus St. Louis is a cow town…
StL is around a 10 hour or so drive to his home. Cincinnati is only about a 7 hour drive, and odds are they won’t get Puig back, so I put them in play.
How long by dirt bike?
Hmm, I gotta think it would make up some time going through West Virginia. Those folks have switchbacks in their driveways.
I could see his on St. Louie for all those reasons. Cow town is the ringer.
Who knows what’s really going on, but the Giants appear to have completely fucked up the MadBum situation, starting in July. They’ve had more than 5 months to *do something* (sign him mid-season when he was pushing for no trades, or trade him at the deadline, or negotiate for something now). That, coupled with releasing Pillar (who could have been a nice transition player during the rebuild and who his team mates seemed to rally around), kinda has moved the needle away from “Young Z Knows What He’s Doing” to “Man, management has a shit-ton of work to do in the next couple of months…. Or maybe I’m just grumpy ’cause my apartment lost power during the night and this morning I had to cold shower and shave in the dark….
Z’s greatest triumph so far is the Melon-dump.
Need to see some more of that…
getting rid of Skinny Rick Ruschel was also quite a coup, especially if Kat’s boy Davis turns into anything
Ohio St taking it right to rim and scoring at will inside. Lead Heels by dozen at Chapel Hill with 10 minutes to go.
Not keeping Pillar is a signal that they are not keeping Bum either. Why would they, and why would he stay? lets say we are competitive in 2020, more so in 21. is Bum at 34 going to be the guy? Likely not. better to save that money and sign the the hot guy in 21/22…Sad but logical..
The Tim Ryan gaffe is disappointing. He’ll learn from it, hopefully. It’s weird how some broadcasters can say certain things and seem oblivious to the impact. I’m thinking of KNBR’s Krueger and P-Con, too.
The German dude does a nice job covering Elvis Costello’s “Beaten To The Punch.” In German, it’s “Eine Nasprellung Vorn.”