The Giants are exploring the addition of “a high-profile baseball operations executive” to their front office, ESPN.com’s Buster Olney reports (subscription required). The idea would be that this new hire would allow Brian Sabean to step back from some of the team’s day-to-day operations — Sabean’s resumption of this role last offseason was “regarded as only a temporary adjustment,” and Sabean would seemingly step back into his previous responsibilities as the team’s president of baseball operations. Olney’s report raises new questions about current Giants GM Bobby Evans, as there has already been speculation about his status for 2019, though obviously San Francisco could add a new voice to the front office mix without a major shakeup of the team’s baseball ops ladder.
Some more from around the NL…
- Dexter Fowler’s season was ended after he suffered a fractured foot on August 3, though it had already been a trying year for the Cardinals outfielder, as he tells Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Fowler hit a career-worst .180/.278/.298 over 334 PA, and while he said physical injuries weren’t to blame for his struggles, “I think it was more mental health” that led to the down year. Fowler had to deal with public comments from president of baseball operations John Mozeliak about his level of effort (Mozeliak apologized for citing only Fowler as part of a larger issue within the team) and a seeming rift with former St. Louis manager Mike Matheny. The Cards have thoroughly turned their season around since Mike Shildt took over as manager, and Fowler has been excited about his team’s progress and his future in St. Louis. “Shoot, I’m watching what’s happened and I’m excited for 2019….I think that’s going to be awesome. I look forward to being a part of that,” Fowler said.
- Josh Harrison and Jordy Mercer were both removed from today’s game in the middle of an inning, so the two veteran Pirates infielders could receive a round of applause from the home crowd in what is likely to be their final game at PNC Park in the black-and-gold. Mercer is a free agent, and Pittsburgh is expected to decline its $10.5MM club option on Harrison for 2019, leaving room for Adam Frazier and Kevin Newman expected to take over at second base and shortstop next year. Harrison told reporters (including Jerry Dipaola of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review) that he hasn’t yet considered leaving the Pirates, while Mercer said is open to re-signing with the team.
- The Pirates have suffered several late-season injuries that could leave those players (Gregory Polanco, Chad Kuhl, Edgar Santana, Joe Musgrove) sidelined for at least the first part of the 2019 season, which could impact the team’s offseason plans, Rob Biertempfel writes in a subscription-only piece for The Athletic. The statuses of Musgrove and Santana are still to be exactly determined, while the Bucs already know Kuhl will be out until 2020 due to Tommy John surgery and Polanco will be out until mid-April at the earliest following shoulder surgery.
I’m guessing that ex Card Tommy Pham must resemble Fowler as his pic is posted in a story about him.
Kept reading the article wondering when it was going to discuss Tommy Pham. Ha!
At any rate, where in the world is Dexter Fowler going to play next season?? That is what position??? Ozuna and Bader are locks in 2019. Then you look at Martinez. He’s not only the team leader in average, he’s the best clutch hitter they have. At best I see him as an expensive bench player. First base, Carpenter, Adams and Wisdom are a lock there, since Mozeliak sent Voit over to the Yankees so he could kill AL pitching. Third, That’s Gyroko, Carpenter and Munoz. No where in the lineup for Fowler to play. Thanks Mozeliak for the multi million dollar bench player. Great guy, just no where to put him. I give Credit to Mozeliak or whoever found Mikolas. But including Fowler, Cecil, and several Cardinals signed to long term useless contracts, all of that bad credit goes to Mozeliak. The main rookies on the team were drafted and developed under Michael Girsch’s watchful eye as Assistant General Manager in charge of minor league development, drafting and trading. 2019 does look good unless Mozeliak screws it up by obtains Low Hanging Fruit this winter as he usually does.
RF. He’s going to play RF. Martinez is trade bait.
What about O’Neil?
He’ll need to make some serious adjustments in the offseason. His power is definitely there, but his 5.2 walk percentage, and 40 strikeout percentage is hilariously bad.
Not your point, I know, but no way the resign Adams.
@Cardinals17 same lol
i thought musgrove needs rest and no surgery…
Obvioulyly the writer hasn’t a clue. Musgrove will be ready for spring training.
Sure Giants let’s add more cooks in the kitchen!
What was the point of this comment? The Giants have had sub par seasons 2 years straight. What are they going to do? Not change anything? Ignorance.
yeah, cause that is the problem, too many good ideas coming out of the GM office.
How is it more cooks in the kitchen when the exec they bring in is simply replacing one cook
I thought this was going to be about cardinals regretting letting Tommy Pham go. I know rays are happy to have him. I think overall that’s the most under rated move this year.
Agree. There must be more to the story about the relationship between Pham and mgmt and Matheny. Can’t be just a “let the kids play” thing.
Trust me…there’s no regret.
Why should we trust you. Are you privy to those conversations withing the front office? Or is it your uncles friends dads brother knows someone who works in the front office type thing?
Bader is playing well and is 6 years younger than Pham. Pham’s success in Tamapa doesn’t mean the trade was a mistake by the Cards.
Predicable if you follow the Cards. Too may outfielders who are much younger and cheaper. And Pham’s 2018 stats with the Cards were underwhelming. Combine that with his attitude issues and the SI article and it was obvious it was only a matter of time.
I agree. Pham at this point is a better hitter than Bader, and hes done well in Tampa, but Bader is a far superior base runner and fielder. His attitude and personality has sparked this team. Plus his hitting is not bad either. Going forward I expect Bader to outplay pham. Plus we got prospects for Pham. Even with Pham gone we still have too many outfielders. I feel like theres no room for Fowler either. Also tyler O’Neill is a beast, watching him play, you can see he has to play everyday. When playing consistantly his numbers are better, it’s when he plays once or twice a week that he struggles
I think a lot of people worry about Pham’s eye problem. The fact that he’s played very well in TB doesn’t negate that.
What about the Voit deal to the Yankees??? Love it Mozeliak!!!
He’s coming down to earth. Dudes a four-A player…
Remember when Matt Adams was going to turn Freddy Freeman into a 3rd baseman?
Lmmfao! The Cardinals doesn’t regret trading Pham. Who would you rather have in CF? Pham or Bader? Lbvs
I’ll go Bader. Love the kids energy and wish Pham the very best.
Pham > Bader all day. Only reason why they went with Bader is because he’s cheaper. Also a LOT more variance and potential to crater with Bader, he might be having rookie luck. Pham the better bet moving forward.
Pham has issues with his attitude, while Bader is a big positive for team chemistry. Almost all of the moves starting with removing with Matheny and ending with the deadline deals were aimed at improving the culture and clubhouse chemistry of a vastly underperforming team, and Pham’s personality was grating with the rest of the clubhouse. The “human element” benefit of Bader over Pham has completely outweighed the numbers.
Even though Bader’s numbers have been very good and I think he will be a better player than Pham, but that’s besides the point
Bader is the more superior defender. Pham is not a good Center Fielder
Lol……. oh you were serious?
All Cards fans should have loved Pham and should wish him well. No Cards fans regret that trade (unless they could’ve got more for him).
Exactly. Way too early judge. Genesis Cabrera is a similar prospect to German Marquez, who the Rockies got from the Rays. Remember people thinking the Rays shafted them, but it turned out better for Rox; although Dickerson is raking with Pit.
They both have 2.0 WAR
It’s been fine
Evans and Sabean both need to go. Thanks for everything but it’s time for some new blood and a new approach.
Evans needs to go. Sabean knows what he’s doing.
Sabean is a drunk who got handed Posey on a silver platter and rode it out to titles. Between Sabean and Moore, there’s no worse GM who won a title out there.
Sabean was a scouting first GM, posey boosted the team in 2010 but if you pay attention to what happened 2009 – 2012 you can see that posey was a part of the story but it was also lincecum, cain, vogelsong, bumgarner pablo, torres, renterria, scutaro, etc etc that all played a big part. (I would throw zito on that list but really his great 2012 kind of just makes up for the years of sucking down the payroll).
The Giants need to just rebuild it’s the only way there guys are to old now just a massive haul for Mad Bum, posey, Crawford, and who ever else they can
Crawford won’t net a good return for them. Might as well keep him as he’s a fan favorite and the younger guys can learn from watching him play. Exact same goes to Posey. I think the only people they should trade rn are Belt, Bum, and anyone in the bullpen (Watson, Dyson, Smith, Strickland) Also need to just DFA Melancon and eat the money. He’s just costing wins right now.
“He’s just costing wins right now.”
Hate to break it to you, but the Giants season is over, so wins and losses don’t matter anymore.
It matters on the draft pick next year! Keep losing!
I agree on craw and posey- watson is a FA I believe (which sucks, should have sold him at the deadline) – dyson and smith really should have tried to move at the deadline since people were looking for relievers. I would add longoria to your list of guys to move – his contract is long but all things considered thecontractisn’t really an expensive one and someone looking for a vet might go for it.
No, Watson is 3 yr /7mil, he’s cobtrollable for 2 more seasons
The Cardinals could give up some young pitchers and hitters for Bum and Crawford. The only catch is that the Giants would have to take either Fowler or Cecil in the deal.
Please dont drink the bong water.
Pirates are pathetic. They can’t a good and devoted player like josh Harrison with a modest salary of 10 million. That’s a shame. New ownership. Where is the pirates money going? The owner ship is pocketing it. Sad
You know Josh Harrison might be the worst Pirate on the field right? That’s why he lost his job to Newman, Frazier, and Kramer? Josh has no plate discipline, very little pop and can’t really do anything like what he did the year he was an all star. Statistically speaking the Pirates are better off without Josh Harrison where that money could be used else where like signing a guy in free agency or extending someone or saving cap space for dealing in a bigger named guy (a man can dream). And you seem like one of those fans that boycotted them this season for getting rid of Cutch and Cole yet those returns were MUCH in our favor. Not to mention they are already better than the team last year.
Indeed. Love JHay but OPS south of .700.
2014 long in the rear-view.
*cough* 15-5 v AL Central *cough* *cough*
And 41-30 vs NL central which is the second toughest division in baseball slightly behind the AL West
I am sorry that you have a cold.
Agree with everything you said. This guy does sound like one of the Blame Nutting cause he’s cheap crowd. That line is constantly reinforced by the local Pittsburgh media and guys like this eat it up. No way were the Pirates ever going to resign Cole and they would have been stupid to try to extend Cutch. Would have been like Russell Martin had they extended him like the we needed to spend the money crowd wanted after 2014. The Bucs look real smart in not out bidding the Jays on that one.
I really hated to see Martin leave.He was a clutch hitter,and the Pirates took off when they signed him for two years in 2013.I was surprised that they would sign him for four years at the rate that the Blue Jays are paying him.That proved to me that they were not cheap in signing their own players.I figured that he would be good for maybe three years.He was excellent,very good,fairly good,and poor this year.One more year at $16M!
One has to give NH credit for the Cervelli trade and resigning him also.
The money went to Archer???
Harrison would probably earn 5M at most on the open market. Spoken like someone who truly knows nothing about baseball and the pirates, just spews the same crap they hear on radio shows.
Maybe he was the guy I heard call into the FAN to say that Nutting should offer (it was before the trade) Cutch an ownership stake to keep him.
I love JHay.
He brought a lot of enthusiasm to the club,and was a great teammate and good clutch player.
He was one of the reasons that they felt that they could trade Neil Walker to open second base up for him.
He was SRod before SRod in that he could play anywhere and do a good job,
Alas,he is no longer the fireplug he once was,and now gets hurt too much to be worth anywhere near $10M.His on base % has always been too low to be a good lead off man.
He would probably fit in as a utility man somewhere,but for no more than $5M per year.
Newman is NOT major league material. Mercer needs another 1 year deal with the buccos. Hurry up Cole Tucker
You know Cole Tucker can’t hit right? Like at all.
Anyone can hit better than Kevin Newman. Cole Tucker still has some time to develop.
Newman hit .302in AAA this year. ……. just sayin…..
Have you watched him in the majors this September? Not AAA. The big leagues
S-Rod
So how many guys come up and struggle at first then take off?? Yes he is struggling now but has hit in every level until now. Tucker may well make Newman expendable but for now Newman is going to be your SS unless someone else signs or there is a trade.
Mike Trout had a .672 OPS and an 89 OPS+ in his first taste of MLB action.
I guess you would have said to get rid of him, too?
Facts and reality are not anything Thor is familiar with. Good thing he works in kiddie land at Kennywood and is not the GM.
I guess we will see next year what Newman has. I don’t have high hopes
Tucker’s best statistical season’s slash line with 73 games and 329 PA
.293/.322/.377/.699
Newman’s season in Triple A (not his best statistical season with 109 games and 477 PA
.302/.350/.407/.758
Newman’s been in the system for 1 less year and proved he can hit at all levels. He needs time to settle in against the major leaguers and he’ll be fine Tucker is starting to look like a failed cause.
I think Tucker has some hope. He was playing AA ball at age 21 (he is 3.2 years younger than the average age in the league). He has had some injury issues too., He finished strong after the AA All Star game with a .281/.370/.407 line. Not too shabby considering how much younger he is than the rest of the league. I would not give up on him yet. It will be a very good problem to have if they both turn out very good. Very good trade bait to fill a hole.
Can’t be worse than what Mercer was doing at short.
I’d really like to see Harrison back in Pittsburgh for 2019, but after this season where he missed a few weeks with injury, wasn’t his normal self when healthy, and have a few prospects that can play middle infield, I can see why they would decline his option.
Fowler won’t be in RF next year, that’s O’Neill’s spot to have. Fowler is the 4th outfielder, and maybe 5th, depending on what the club does with Martinez.
Cecil and Fowler’s deals do look bad, but take them into context. At the time, the Cards thought they could compete with the roster they had + one or two additions. Didn’t work out, and the youth movement got underway.
Never liked the Cecil deal. Though I am a Cards fan, I live in Toronto and saw him blow many high leverage situations over his last two seasons here. Fowler though I was pretty excited for.
Isn’t O’Neill probably better fit to serve as a 4th or 5th outfielder?
Maybe, but Fowler is the team’s 3rd-best *RF*. I’d rather let the kid get regular reps because he’s got a longer future as a Redbird than Dex.
I mean, RF isn’t really a premium position. Dex has had a rough go of it the last couple of seasons, but I’d much prefer regular PAs of a healthy, well utilized Dexter Fowler to Tyler O’Neill if I’m trying to be seriously competitive.
I still look at the Fowler deal and see an outfielder on the wrong side of 30 coming off a career year getting a no-trade, 5-yr guaranteed deal and wonder what the hell the FO was thinking. The 4th OF was Pham/Hazelbaker in 2016. Fowler seemed to be an overreaction by management to appease the vocal BFIB, not a true baseball decision. I liked the Cecil deal a lot more at the time — less money to eat if it went bust, even as a LOOGY.
I’m guessing nobody saw the article in Sports Illustrated about the ill will Pham had towards the Cardinals. He would not sign an extension. And that’s his right. But he also criticized them for keeping him in the minors for so long. Saying he was the best player they had and he was constantly overlooked. That public scrutiny did not sit well. So once Bader proved he could play, and Pham was slumping, he was on his way out.
3rd strike. Your mom
You learn that working in kiddie land? Profound.
The Cardinals are cooked for 2018.