Value

I was talking to a friend earlier today, as usual we were debating prospects and various minor league systems. We then came to a stalemate. The question proposed: "Would you rather have Cahill or Bumgarner?" My A's amigo argued that Cahill was more of a refined product, is more likely to reach that ceiling and also has a substantial ceiling himself. I argued Bumgarner has a significant edge in potential and also has put up dominating numbers thus far to back it up and the argument that "he has a lack of secondary pitches" is baffling considering he's opening the season in AA and he already has a major league average slider and a promising change-up.  This led me to another question......."If you were a general manager and you were given the choice          money aside) to start your career with either the talent in the Giants or A's organization, who would you choose?

Let's dive in at the major league level, at the major league level I think it's safer the two most valuable commodities reside at AT&T park nothing against the A's but Lincecum and Cain are two of the more valued commodities in baseball today just ask opposing general managers. Two starting pitchers that are south of the age 25 and are proven frontline starters at the major league level are scarce. Throw in the fact that one of them just won his first cy young award and is arguably the best pitcher in baseball and the other has emerged as a strong #2 and has not even yet realized his potential and your talking about the San Francisco Giants. On the other side of the bay you have two very different players in Matt Holliday and Justin Duscherer both are veteran players whom have firmly established themselves as all star caliber players. However, Holliday doesn't figure to be in Oakland past this year thus damaging his overall value but it's still substantial enough to net a top prospect a solid back of the rotation starter and a closer. Duscherer isn't quite is valuable but as a number two starter he still figures to have a good amount of value especially given his team friendly contract. Well, this one is clear the Giants have the two most valuable pieces as far as the major league teams are concerned. Look no further than what the A's got in return for Dan Haren, then think of what Tim Lincecum could net the Giants on the trade market. 

Let's not get to ahead of ourselves however, we must realize as a team  you have to take the whole picture into account this favors the A's due to the fact that though they may not have players of tremendous value currently at the major league level they have many young players that could net a decent return..........part 2 TM

Brian Sabean

As everyone here knows over the years I have been one of Brian Sabean's harshest critics however what he has done over the past two years or so has drastically changed my opinion of him and the organization. In my opinion the Giants very well could be in the best shape compared to any other national league organization. Let's put it this way the Giants have without a doubt one of the best farm systems in the game and the wallets to match. The Giant's will likely be one of the least effected teams by the recession because of the affluent Bay Area, there will still be a good amount of fans at games and a fair amount being spent on merchandise. They figure to field a competitive team in 2009 and beyond and a large number of their top prospects figure to at least be in AA by next season. The one glaring problem with the Giants is their lack of homegrown positional talent. But the times are a changing' out of their projected opening day lineup four of the nine were developed by the Giants in Lewis, Sandoval, Ishi and Frandsen. And three of the five members of the rotation were also developed by the Giants. 

The past two seasons Sabean has shown a newfound dedication to the farm system as well. Sabean learned through the years that patching gaping holes on the field with ban-aid veterans was not a consistent way to win year in and year out. Unfortunatley Sabean started this re-building while competing formula about three years to late.  Since putting an emphasis on building from within Sabean has flushed the system with a mixture of high ceiling talent with polished players that are ready to contribute at the major league level. If there's any quip I have with the Giants minor league system, it's the fact that the Giants have drafted "hard sign's" in recent years in the later rounds. My point being is that the Giants haven't really taken a gamble on high school draftees whom declare their going to school or draft eligible college sophomores I believe that you should draft them if there's no better avaiable talent and best case scenario you sign them and add the equivalent of a 1st or 2nd round draft pick to your system worse comes to worse you lose a 20th round draft pick.

As I look at the Giants system as it currently stands there's plenty of reason for optimism I see a possible all star catcher who could put up Russel Martin numbers offensively and whom scouts believe has the tools to be a gold glove worthy defensive catcher. I also see a pair of two teenage pitchers, one who has the chance to be the ace of a major league staff, one who is only a year away from being a member of a major league pitching staff and who can be a frontline pitcher as well. The one thing all three of these pitchers have in common is that they are only a year and a half away from the major leagues. All three are high ceiling talents that have been our system for only a year and a half (Bumgarner, Alderson) and Posey for six months. Given our resources we can also afford to hold onto these players long past their arbitration years ......sorry Jay. All I'm saying is that there's plenty of reasons to hold your head high if your a Giants fan. 

Manny Ramirez and the Gigantes

Yes, I know everyone is tired of hearing about the Giants and Manny Ramirez however, earlier today something very interesting was leaked via Fred Lewis of all people. Bobby Evans the Giants president of player personal assured Lewis that he would be in the lineup regardless of they acquired Ramirez. This would make one figure that if acquired that either Winn or Rowand would be dealt. If given the choice I would prefer to get rid of Rowand because he still has 4/48 million left on his contract and he would seemingly offset the Ramirez acquisition. Most likely scenario I could see is Rowand being shipped to the Yankees who still desperately need a center fielder. I could see a straight up swap Rowand for Swisher (Swisher has a big contract as well) but rather than netting Swisher back in return I would rather just have the Yankees eat the contract and we net a marginal prospect in return. At the same time if we did acquire Swisher for Rowand are lineup could look like this........Winn Renteria Sandoval Ramriez Lewis Swisher Molina Frandsen and the pitcher. That lineup features a lot more "thump" than any we have seen in years but it also features many slow veterans I would prefer to keep the money saved from dumping Rowand and slotting ISHI/Phelps at 1b if we do sign Ramirez. But then again if we do sign Ramirez and dump Rowand and put Winn in center for a year we have a much improved club offensively and if Ramirez signs for 2/36 3rd year club option for 18 mil we come out on top. So we would have a lineup that looks like........Winn Renteria Sandoval Ramirez Lewis Molina Ishi/Phelps Frandsen and the pitcher. Just some food for thought if we dump Rowand, Manny for two years wouldn't be all that bad.

Series of Posts Discussing Giants and the NL West......

is being pushed back due to the fact that, a more appropriate time to do such a series would be Spring Training either way I'm going to make some posts about Angel Guzman and Buster Posey

The Others....

Hello faithful on a slow moving January morning I've decided t try and size-up the competition to really see where our San Francisco Giants stand and the chance of them actually bringing home the NL West Division Title this is going to be a four part series to stack ourselves against the competition today we'll start with the Rock's and see who has the superior: Rotation, Bullpen, Outfield, Infield, Catcher and Team Defense and from there we'll see who the superior team really is. 

ROTATION

This is where we have a clear advantage........LINCECCUM CAIN SANCHEZ JOHNSON zito........compared to Cook, Francis, Jimenez, Marquis, Smith. This is the way I see it the Giants have a clear #1,#2 two very good number 3 starters and a number five starter. The staff also has 3 cy young award winners on the staff and can potentially be the best staff in baseball if things break right it's also very plausible to say Cain, Sanchez and EVEN Lincecum can all take steps forward this season. I see the Rockies staff as a very good number two in Cook another number two in Francis a number 3 starter in Jimenez and two number 4/5 in Marquis and Smith. When it comes down to it theres not much competition let's put it this way in one 3 game series the Giants could throw Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez/Johnson (depending on preference) and the Rocks' would throw Cook, Francis, Jimenez don't get me wrong that's a decent group of arms but the Giants are head and shoulders above in terms of talent and production. Lincecum very well could be the best pitcher in baseball next season and Cain has a very good chance on being better than anyone on the Rockies staff and Sanchez will be most likely close to Cook and Francis in terms of production and perhaps better. There's not much of a debate about this give me the Giants in landslide. ADVANTAGE: GIANTS (on a side note this is how I see the rotation next season) 

Lincecum 18-4 210 IP 255 k's 2.45 era

Cain 15-8 220IP 190 k's 3.45 era 

Sanchez 13-9 185 Ip 175 k's 4.2 era

Johnson 12-10 170 IP 155 K's 3.7 era 

Zito 9-13 200 Ip 135 K  4.55 era

Anyway I gotta Run LAX TIME! Post Tommorow

O' Boy

"NOW BATTING #99 MANNY RAMIREZ!!" Oh Renel your crazy, what are you talking about Manny wearing the creme', orange and black? Wait, what if Renel's right? What if Manny is really roaming left field at AT&T like a water buffalo in search of a watering hole, dare I say fat contract? According to Denver Post writer Troy Renck the Giants have been actively pursuing the Disgruntled Slugger. And have also contacted Scott Boras numerous times. It makes a lot of sense on manny accounts (pun intended) but there are also plenty of reasons why it does not make sense.

As perviously disscussed the Giants have solidifed their bullpen as well as strengthen their starting pitching this offseason. They also figure to upgrade their offense regardles of any moves they make due to the fact that they have defensive liability Edgar Rentira pencilied in at SS (Giants had the second worst offensive output from SS last year only Orioles had worse) they also get a full year of Pablo Sandoval whom they only got 131 ab's out of last year. Aaron Rowand also figures to bounce back from his worst season in multiple seasons and a platoon of Killer Ishi and Josh Phelps figures to be more productive than Bowker/Aurillia. So adding arguably the greatest right handed hitter of our generation to that mix would only strengthen our lineup obviously but, theres a lot to consider.

We currently have an outfield that is more crowded than a community swimming pool on the fourth of July. With Lewis, Rowand and Winn figuring to log the most innings in the outfield and with Roberts and Shierholtz on the bench we already have five outfielders. So, it would be in our best interest to move an outfielder if we were to sign Ramirez. The most obvious piece to move would be Randy Winn who has 1 year left on his contract and has consistently hit .300 while providing above average defense in right field. His value will never be higher after putting up a .306/.336/.426 line to go along with 25 sb's 10 hr and 62 rbi's from the 2 hole. Winn should be able to bring back a B prospect and an organizational filler. At the same time we have to realize Ramirez will most likely comman at leat a 2/32 million dollar contract and most likely an option year if he reaches 1000 ab's in the first two years of his contract or 200 rbi's in 2 seasons in San Fran. Ramirez also brings an average line of .314/.411/.593. At the same time we must realize that Manny's best days are behind him and at 37 he on a steady decline even if he hit 37 home runs and raked in 121 runs and hit .332. I still think it's very plausabile to see him hit .300/.400/.525 with say 30 home runs and 100 rbi's. Which would justify the price tag but given the current glut of outfielders we have I don't know if it's the wisest acquisition ecspecially because let's not kid ourselves Ramirez would be a very short term solution to our great need for a bat. I won't deny the fact that we need a bat like no other but at the same time I'm not convinced it's worth 32 million dollars to pre-maturely try to win not only the west but the world series.
The idea of signing Manny is very intruiging due to the fact that it's plausible to say we would perhaps one of the best teams in baseball once you factor in our pitching. Yes, our lineup would still be hovering average but at the same time I expect our pitching to be well above league average think elite. The ability to throw Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez/Johnson in a 5 game series is as good as any team in baseball can match which instantly makes us serious contenders once we reach the postseason. At the same I have a big problem commiting the large quantity of money we already have to a very short term solution. Lets say we sign Ramirez to a 2 year 36 million dollar contract. We have already commited 21 million dollars to four players that don't figure to fit into our plans beyond next 2 seasons in Johnson (8), Howry (4), Renteria (18) and Affeldt (8) so we have roughly 38 million dollars committed over the next two seasons from these players. And 25 million dollars commited for the 09 season just from these four players. So if you were to add Manny to that mix you would have 43 million dollars commited to next season just from this offseason alone. And don't let me start in about Zito's contract let alone Rowand. My point being, is that were spending a good chunk of change currently and unless you really believe were World Series Contenders with Manny I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole.