Giants frontman Farhan Zaidi is still exploring trade opportunities, per Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group (via Twitter). The recent additions of Gerardo Parra, Craig Gentry, and Yangervis Solarte, after all, aren’t likely to form the backbone of the next World Series champion in the Bay. Still, they fit as puzzle pieces in Zaidi’s strategy to build the organization’s depth while maintaining future roster flexibility. They’re particularly high on Solarte, whom they see as a switch-hitter with above-average contact skills and 15-20 homer potential. His ability to play all over the field should keep him getting regular at-bats, Crowley writes in the Mercury News, and the Giants are optimistic about the potential returns. Per his word, Zaidi has focused on building depth and flexibility thus far, extending more than 20 invites to major league camp and avoiding any long-term roster obligations. Of course, Bryce Harper remains at large, and the Giants have emerged as a potential suitor. One would think Harper would be the type of foundational piece who could buoy the type of depth Zaidi is amassing, but Zaidi knows that even a talent like Harper isn’t a cure-all. For now, Harper remains one avenue among many open to Zaidi. In that sense, he fits Zaidi’s plan perfectly. Let’s check in on a couple other notes from around the league…
- New Reds manager David Bell won’t assign the “closer” label to Raisel Iglesias, as the Reds are buying the new fad gripping bullpens league-wide of role fluidity, per the Athletic’s C. Trent Rosecrans. Put simply, the Reds plan on using Iglesias to help them win games. If that manifests itself through an appearance in the 7th or 8th, so be it. Still, the Reds anticipate Iglesias getting the bulk of save opportunities. Jared Hughes, David Hernandez and Amir Garrett could be called upon to close out games when Iglesias is unavailable. Traditional thinking has kept bullpen arms in well-defined roles in part because of the supposed psychological benefits of “knowing your role” – otherwise known as clear expectations. Bell and the Reds staff plan on communicating often with the bullpen crew, making sure that they are aware of their roles, even as those roles prove more dynamic than in year’s past.
- It’s probably better for players overall if Luis Severino and Aaron Nola go year-to-year through the arbitration process, writes Joel Sherman of the NY Post, but therein lies the quandary for players weighing the risk/reward of securing their own long-term futures against market growth. While setting high arbitration annuals and reaching free agency at the earliest possible moment might technically be the best thing for the player market overall, Severino’s prudent personal decision to lock-in the first significant payday of his career makes a lot of sense from a personal standpoint. His future value was always going to be vulnerable to injury or further uneven performance such as his struggles at the end of last season. The competing interests of individual security v. collective wealth is a disadvantage the players’ union will face continually in the lead up to CBA negotiations in 2021. Yasmani Grandal represents the best recent example of the other side of this issue, as he took a one-year deal over multi-year offers in part to keep establishing higher AAVs for catchers.
Grandal overplayed his hand and lied to save face. I do it all the time at work.
Haha this guy gets it
dionls. Are you a bitter Mets fan? Grandal held out and took less for the good of the Union. It is a players right to hold out for a bet.ter offer
How would taking less be good for the union?
Holding out and not quickly taking low offers is the leverage players have.
lol Grandal did not take less for “the good of the union”… Grandal turned down a $17.9 million qualifying offer & signed a 18.1 million contract… if Grandal was only concerned about creating a higher average salary for catchers, the $17.9 would have worked too… Grandal and his agent misread the market and Grandal got lucky Milwaukee offered him a deal
Lol at Grandal holding out for the good of the union. Many lols.
He held out for the biggest payday, i’m sure. Nothing wrong with that but call it what it is.
He tried getting more money, and failed. So he took a shorter deal now with hopes of getting a bigger multiyear deal next year. When faced with failure, he is pretending that he did something noble for others. Don’t want to get political but he is really taking a stance that you has been seen in the news the last few years (do something self serving, fail, pretend it was a victory and something noble for others)
So he shorted himself because he knew it could possibly help his co-workers in the future? You on drugs?
James. Exactly he spoke like an angry Mets fan.
Why can’t they understand that in the rare instance that Mutt and Jeff put the money on the table, most legitimate stars walk away because they simply don’t want to play for such a losing organization?
How many teams have not won a World Series since 1986? Sure there are others, however when you add the additional qualification of whether they are in a major market then the Mets really stand out.
He got to play for a team that has talent and will now be even closer to post season certainty. He still signs a contract for one year that is very rich and if tue brewers go deep and he is
Holding an mvp trophy he will get whatever he wants.
The Mets sign good players who do not attract attention from winning teams.
AD check
Jay Bruce check
Todd Fraizer check
Cespedes multiple check
Cano-another losing franchise mistake*
Can you imagine bragging how little it cost the Mets because the fans ignorantly bury the costs built in for other losing contracts?
This guy net out of pocket makes the first half of his contract seem like paradise. They’ve got the worst 5 years of his career—which has been sliding before the PED scandal. All in $30 million per season.
Grandal turned down what was reported to be a 4 year/$60M deal thinking he could do better. When no one offered him more money he took a short term deal with a higher AAV and said it wasn to make sure he doesn’t lower the AAV for future catchers. That is a load of nonsense. Longer deals generally have a lower AAV than shorter term deals. Teams are willing to give players more money for shorter deals as it drastically reduces their risk.
What a shocker that this was written by someone with the word “yank” in his name.
Lol you actually believe that
He will never say it but Grandall didn’t want ny and he wanted to go to a talented team that knows their going to win and he had confidence in a 1yr deal for next year,not buying that union Mumbo Jumbo
Truth, and it’s clear which side the media is taking.
I love this site still spinning it like Grandal got what he was seeking this Winter.
The American Way! It’s gotten me this far, as well.
Yeah, nice spin on Grandal.
What’s going on with Harper? All I keep seeing is that he’s celebrating because he’s picked a team and all they have to do is iron out the last part of a contract and still nothing.
As said by a minor DC radio guy looking for attention and/or relevance
It’s still the same guy whose been first about a lot of the Harper info and right about it.
where have you read Harper is ironing out details? That would be a major story if he was even sniffing a contract from any team
https://www.google.com/amp/s/nesn.com/2019/02/bryce-harper-rumors-star-free-agent-finally-has-made-his-decision/amp/
I just can’t for the life of me think he is actually going to pick the Giants. And I love my Giants. But, this is Boras being Boras. I love SF too but there is just noway. Boras caused the commotion necessary to get some more dough more likely than not. It has to be the Phillies or dark horse SD. Too much money involved and the Phillies have a future now. Padres will soon. Possibly the Giants can but not anytime soon. I hate this reality but it is reality. I hope I am wrong but my gut says 90 percent chance this has been all Boras static.
I would think Harper would want to go to a hitters park if at all possible…I see the fit in SF, but for the team, not him…
Yeah it’s all over the web. From Sports Illustrated to Bleacher Reports. Cryptic reporting but Phillies and Giants have been alluded to.
My 2 cents, just my opinion, is that Zaidi’s spending on “lesser” OF guys is an indication that Harper is gonna be a Giant. If not, Zaidi is smart enough to know that Gentry, Parra, etc aren’t going to be enough to keep butts in the seats and make the Giants competitive for a Wild Card spot…
Zaidi doesn’t want Harper at all, and he’s made that clear. Baer wants Harper. Buster wants Harper. Bochy wants Harper. The fans want Harper. In total, Zaidi is the only one who doesn’t want Harper, and I think by the end of it all, Baer will do what he wants to do, regardless of what Zaidi thinks. I do think they’ve made it clear to Zaidi that they’re going to go all out for Harper, which is why he’s not spending money on guys like Marwin and instead spending money on guys like Gentry, because the organization has made it clear that they want to use their money for Harper.
Zaidi is smart with creating more competition with all these guys. But they’re keeping one spot open for Harper. I think if he wanted to sign with philly he would have done it before Christmas. He wants to be close to family and on a competitive team. Too many things with injuries went wrong with the giants the last two years to say that their MLB roster isn’t competitive.
baseball1600. You made that up. You go by good sources.
It’s called inference. I said “I think” I never said my comments are 100% true, but I’ve known this front office for a while now and I’d assume based on recent events that what I said is the case.
Didn’t you know you weren’t allowed to give your opinion on the internet?
There’s nothing but “lesser” Of guys out there. After Harper the top of the market is guys like Adam Jones and Cargo. Not world beating talents anymore. The giants OF desperately needed OFers of any variety. I don’t see any correlation between signing a guy like Parra and Harper. Point blank the Giants need guys like Parra because their OF looks like a AAA OF at this point. There’s no depth and you’re relying on guys like 28 year old Mac Williamson and Chris Shaw, a first round pick with minor league numbers that don’t support a good major leaguer.
This Free Agency system over the last 2 years is an eye opener. 2 All Star caliber players are holding up the signings of multiple, not championship players, but MLB A-players. Some won’t get signed even if they contributed positively last season. Some won’t get signed because of age, no matter how good of a season they had last year. With that thought in mind. With the owners going to the youth replenishment scenario, the 32-38 and over players are toast. The PGA has a senior tour. Why can’t the MLB have a Senior League for 34 years and up. Even a player like Matt Holliday could still play in that league.
For example——- If the Cardinals had a Senior League Team, they could have one of those players on the 40 man roster.
So you’ve played MLB for 8-10 years, likely made enough to be set for life, but lets ride a bus to Birmingham and play for $500 a week in a senior league.
Because no one would watch a bunch of past prime baseball players. All those guys could sign in the Indy league if they still had a burning desire to play while making nothing. The PGA tour is also a “nonprofit” organization as well. At least that’s what they claim to be for tax purposes….
The worst part of the year to year angle is that this isn’t about team budgets for payroll. The only question involved is how much of the player budget can go to a single player.
This is about the players union trying to create haves and have nots instead of trying to represent the interests of the majority of their members.
Screw the union
I can never fault a guy for securing his family’s financial future by taking a nice contract rather than risking it all in case of severe injury. Pocket $10 mill. after tax and you can live off $400-$500k a year for life. Easy street!
The so-called “traditional” role of closers and playing batter to batter left/right matchups is relatively new in baseball if you consider that until LaRussa anointed Eck as the the A’s closer in 1987 the game employed a variety of endgame options and “firemen,” which was the name of the award to a league’s top relief pitcher.
This current trend seems to bringing the game the full cycle. Maybe we’ll see another Elroy Face or Hoyt Wilhelm.
Bruce Sutter in 1977 was the 1st 9th inning closer.
I’ve always wondered why firemen left. I’m glad it’s coming back
Right, and John Franco had 29 Saves in 86
Zaidi is building a team like the Dodgers. Seven million moving parts and nobody at one position to keep any momentum going. He will have Bochy who can manage unlike 3/2 remove Dave.
You guys are trying hard to connect Bryce to the Giants. There’s been no update in the Harper front.
Harper will end up a Yankee. Every day that passes, increases odds
Reports just came out that he’s rounding 3rd on a contract with the Phillies and could announce it soon.
I’m a Phan, and I’m not feeling it..I’d love to see him own that right field seats..
If in fact Harper does pick the Phillies, do not be surprised to see them still in on Machado..
this is still baseball where anything can happen…
@ xabial…..Buzz, wrong!
Harper won’t go the the Giants, because they won’t offer Harper a long term deal. Grandal, won’t get a big contract ever. He’s average catcher. Dodgers won’t win the world series because they won’t make it to the world series. I’m tired of hearing about Manny or Harper. Sign already!! Also NO ONE IS WORTH A 10 YEARS.
I want Harper he is my favorite non giants player
You have terrible taste.
As a Giants fan myself I do not think one player is the cure all and Harper is going to sign wherever the biggest $$ signs are. I just don’t want them to take on any more foolish bloated contracts like Longoria etc..