Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi discussed several topics with reporters (including the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea and NBC Sports Bay Area’s Alex Pavlovic) earlier this week. Some notable highlights…
- Kevin Gausman returned to San Francisco after accepting the one-year, $18.9MM qualifying offer, though the two sides also had some negotiations about a multi-year contract. However, Zaidi said those talks are “on the back burner right now” while the Giants explore other offseason business. “We’ve obviously got other things that we’re looking to accomplish….I could see that being something we revisit, but I don’t think anything there is imminent,” Zaidi said.
- In terms of what else the Giants are working on, pitching continues to be a focus. According to Zaidi, “we’re in a better position to role the dice on additional pitching moves now that we have Gausman in the fold, bringing us veteran certainty to the front of our rotation.” Position player additions aren’t as much of a priority given how well the Giants lineup performed in 2020, though in the wake of that success and the more hitter-friendly renovations made to Oracle Park, Zaidi said that free agent batters and their representatives have shown more interest in coming to San Francisco.
- While Zaidi’s first two years running the Giants’ front office have been defined by his many acquisitions of rather unheralded or under-the-radar players, the team is looking to expand that scope this winter. As Zaidi said with some humor, “it’s not a prerequisite to be injured or come off a down year for us to sign somebody….I wouldn’t limit our opportunities to just bounce-back guys.”
- There isn’t any new information on Brandon Belt’s recovery from heel surgery, as Zaidi “it’s a little too early to tell right now” if Belt will be ready by the time Spring Training camp opens. “Everything we’re hearing is positive, but I don’t think that we have a firm timetable or target date yet,” Zaidi said. As Pavlovic noted, Belt’s heel problems caused him to miss most of Summer Camp but it didn’t hurt him during the season, as Belt hit an outstanding .309/.425/.591 over 179 plate appearances.
- In other injury updates, Zaidi said star prospect Heliot Ramos (oblique) and outfielder Austin Slater (right flexor strain) are both expected to be healthy for the start of Spring Training. Outfield prospect Alexander Canario, however, will miss the start of the minor league season as he recovers from recent shoulder surgery.
Giants seem to be suspended in irrelevance . They need to shake things up.
An old, and bad take
He obviously doesn’t follow the giants as they’ve been shaking things up ever since Farhan took over
They are just turning over mediocre players.
Ah yes, an invaluable contribution from the “that’s a bad take” guy.
Oh here we go again with “invaluable contribution“ dude tearing someone down.
You guys are extremely troubled by this. I don’t understand why. You make out to be the biggest problem in the world. It is not as big of deal as you make it. Get over it. Damn.
If they are irrelevant, why are you commenting?
It’s the Baseball Gods getting what’s owed to them. They won 3 titles when they were nowhere near the best team in baseball.
You are wrong… they were the best TEAM in baseball.! Maybe not the best talent, but team wise, they were.
Give me a break. They had one of the best pitching staffs I’ve ever seen. Sprinkle in a superstar like Posey with a top notch defense and you have a pretty darn good team.
On the contrary….all 3 WS teams rank in the bottom 10 lineups to ever win a WS….look it up….u will find that all 3 of their WS winning lineups rank in the worst 10 to ever win a WS….
2 of the years they were a WC team which means they weren’t even the best team in their own division over a long 162 game season….
It takes skill to win your division over a long 162 game season and it takes a ton of luck to win the WS in a short series….everyone knows that anyone can win the WS once they make it to the playoffs if everything clicks right and they get lucky bloops from scrubs etc….
True talent is what a team dies over the 162 game season….the Dodgers were better than the Giants even in the years the Giants won the WS….but the Giants outplayed them in the playoffs a much smaller sample size where anything can happen….
In the NFL the best team usually finishes 14-2….and scores 500 pts etc
Now a WC team that finishes 9-7 can win the SB even if they barely made the playoffs….the best team in the NFL is still the team with the 14-2 record that lit up the scoreboard not the lucky team that got hot in the playoffs….
As far as one of the best pitching staffs ever….lol
Braves- Maddux Glavine Smoltz
Phillies- Halliday Lee Hamels Oswalt
I mean the Giants had a good pitching staff but the Phillies has a better staff plus an all-star lineup with Rollins and Utley and Howard and Rolen and Abreu all of whom were better than the what the Giants ran out there day to day….
The Giants had heart and a ton of lucky hits from guys that no other teams wanted….everything went their way from lucky hits to lucky calls….they were facing elimination multiple times and still found ways to win against teams that were far superior in the Rangers and the Tigers and the Phillies etc….
That said….they had a good run but they aren’t your typical WS dynasty team that is overpowering and blues teams away….they won by having heart and luck and Bochy….without Bochy they win 0 WS….guaranteed
Your typical powerhouse WS teams stay good for years then rebuild or retool….
The Giants were good every other year and backed into the playoffs one of those years by winning on last day of season and needing 2 other teams to lose which happened….that is luck in itself….then they failed to unload aging players and now they are in a phase where they have no studs left and a mid tier farm….
Your jumping around to several different small examples and attributing 3 championships to “lucky hits” is laughable at best. I like how you were only able to name 2 pitching staffs that you think are better, and I don’t think that Phillies staff was better…they were simply more hyped. Not diminishing them, but they were topped by the Giants multiple times that year – not luck. By what metric were they ranking the bottom 10 lineups? That sounds like some made up editorial that some guy just made up for fun.
The Giants had great performances from some great players, and you sound pretty damn salty like a Dodgers fan that thinks performing in the regular season and choking in the playoffs should get you some kind of participation trophy. I’m curious, when a boxer beats someone that was “supposed to win” do you not recognize them as the champion either? Oh they just got lucky to beat that superior guy head to head.
You really think people care. Damn. Get ove it.
I see that coming next season 2022… They will have a number of players off the books…. Plenty of cash to spend…. we are rebuilding this organization slowly but surely.
Indeed. 4 consecutive below .500 seasons in a row will do that.
They’ve become an irrelevant sort of non factor in the NL West.
If they irrelevant, why do you need to comment.
…obviously because of a burning and yet “irrelevant sort of non factor” need.
The “big market” Giants might bring back Belt and Gausman…wow really throwing their money around. If Belt was released and signed by a good team, he’d be a bat off the bench
Belt is under contract for 2021.
Look at this years free agent class and next years free agent class, tell me which class you’d spend your money on
Not arguing that. Arguing the last decade plus.
For his whole career he has and OPS+ of 122 and brings a gold glove caliber defense every year. Respect what the man has done and not because you don’t like him.
Belt was one of the best hitters in the league in the covid shortened 2020 season. On which team exactly is he a bench only option?
Last year, Belt Benefited from the ridiculously small Covid 19 ‘ Small sample’ season. It’s the opposite effect that the short season had on truly great players like Arenado or Yelich.
For one to say Brandon Belt is now suddenly a great hitter because of his numbers over 60 games you’d have to concede that Arenado and Yelich are suddenly poor hitters given their performance over such a small sample of games.
Only Giants fans try to make this ‘Look a Belt now’ argument. It’s complete nonsense
Over the course of 162 Belt would surly have been mediocre like he’s normally been the last few years.
Belt is honestly one of the most undervalued players in the game. He doesn’t put up insane home run or power totals like most 1B’s do, but he totals an average number of longballs a year, hits a ton of doubles, gets on base and provides good defense at first base. So far, 2019 has been the only bad year of his career.
hard90:
Wow. you know nothing about baseball, and one would guess, nothing much else, either.
Through 2019, omitting Belt’s excellent 2020, Belt had an OPS+ of 120. If you knew anything about stats you would know that an OPS+ of 100 is league average, and a 120 is 20% better than league average.
Also, Fangraphs has his career wRC+ at 123. You don’t get it that high on one good year
One might call league average mediocre. But if you knew anything about baseball you would know a lot of teams would be happy if a significant portion of their roster were league average hitters.
Most knowledgeable baseball fans knew Belt was one of the most underrated players in baseball. I’ve never said “look at Belt now”, I’ve always said, just look at his park-adjusted numbers
Belt had a career WAR of 23 going into the 2020 season.And Fangraphs has him at 55 DRS for his career
Also, if you knew anything about stats, you’d know career numbers are based on total career PAs and ABs. In other words a shortened season has much less impact than a full season does. Belt’s 2020 season accounts for only 4% of his career stats. So your implication of one good season affecting his numbers totally fails.
mlb1225:
Agreed. The less insightful among us don’t understand park effects, or they discount it. Belt doesn’t post awesome stats because he has played in pitcher-friendly park that is particularly punitive against LHHs. His excellent 2020 just might be due, at least partly, to the changes the Giants made to the park, making it less biased toward pitching.
Just don’t let him face Kershaw.
bellybombs:
“Just don’t let him face Kershaw.”
What’s your point? That, as a lefty, he doesn’t hit well against the best lefty pitcher of the last decade?
Are you that clueless about baseball not to know that just about every hitter has a pitcher that’s kryptonite? Like how Justin Turner has 1 hit in 25 PAs against Jon Lester? Or how Mike Trout has as many hits as SOs (5) in 32 PAs for a line of .185/.313/.185 against David Price? Or maybe how Mookie Betts can’t hit Marco Estrada of all people. Betts has a .129/.250/.194 line in 36 PAs.
Please. If you want to post something negative about Belt then try to post something of some validity. Otherwise, that was a pathetic attempt at best.
While your point is fair about hitters and having dudes they can’t hit, Belt’s struggles against Kershaw are such that he’s notoriously benched in games that Kershaw pitches.
That’s not so much a knock on Belt’s overall ability as it is recognizing his struggles against one particular pitcher, which every hitter has.
There was a game this season where Belt started against Kershaw but Belt had a huge game the night before so he started. It was a mistake. Belt has never hit Kershaw well and he shouldn’t have started. Put that on the long list of things the Giants could have done differently that might have netted them one more win and a playoff berth. It’s a long sad list.
JohnJasoJingleHeimerSchmidt:
What’s your point? Yes, Belt as a LHH, struggles against the best LHP, if not the best overall pitcher, of the last decade, who just happens to be very tough against lefty hitters. Joey Votto, a better hitter than Belt is 5 for 25 with 4 walks and 13 SOs against Kershaw.
The fact that better hitters, like Trout, Betts, and Turner, all struggle against particular pitchers, makes Belt’s struggle against Kershaw somewhat moot.
At the very least, struggling against Kershaw does not make him a mediocre hitter, as was previously asserted. That was the whole point.
davemlaw”
There is certainly no guarantee, that had someone else started for Belt, that the Giants pick up the win. I think a much bigger factor in them not making the PS is the collapse of the bullpen, especially Trevor Gott. He cost them wins that they reasonably could have had.
August 14th Gott gave up 5 runs in the 9th against the A’s. It went to extras and they lost 8-7. The next day Gott blows a save giving up 4 runs in the 9th, Giants lose again to the A’s 7-6. Two days later he blows another save against the Angels giving up 2 runs in the 9th, Giants again lose 7-6. Gott finishes the year with an ERA of 10.03.
Plus losing 3 out of 4 to SD in the last series of the year hurt them badly. I really don’t think we can blame Belt starting one game against Kershaw for missing the PS.
I think it’s time to switch to decaf, or go to sleep.
I agree with you. It doesn’t reflect on Belt’s ability as a hitter, nor does it make him mediocre. But it’s a fact, and even a little bit of a running joke, that Brandon Belt cannot seem to hit Clayton Kershaw.
We can acknowledge this fact and also acknowledge that Brandon Belt is a really good hitter. As a guy who has pretty undoubted staked his claim on the Brandon Belt fan boat, it’s perfectly acceptable to recognize he can’t hit Kershaw.
I never denied that Belt can’t hit Kershaw. My point was that fact is irrelevant, and not unusual even among the best in MLB.
Jesse, you love to talk as if you have credibility but by doing so you reveal you have none.
Here we go, yo. Here we go, yo. So what’s, so what’s, so what’s the Canario.
I for one, appreciate the Tribe reference.
Giants are going to be pretty good in a few seasons. Once Belt, Crawford, Cueto and Posey come off the payroll and their top prospcts are in the majors, they’ll be back in it.
Sooo once the have a completely different team? Sounds about right.
It’s almost like the current team is getting older, are on expiring contracts and they’ll have money to fill holes that those old veterans will be leaving behind and don’t have prospects to put. If you expect guys who were around when they won the WS in 2014 and went to the playoffs last in 2016 to still be around, you’re going to be let down.
Are you calling me a troll?
Giants have one of the best offensive farms in baseball, what their farm lacks is any decent pitching prospect outside of Corry. I guess Farhans strategy is to only put his chips into hitters when it comes to the farm, and spend money on pitchers. I expect them to contend in 2023.
‘One of the best offensive farms in baseball?’ …..haha. Dude you need to prove that. Post a link.
Last I checked , Giants farm , while improving is still just league avg or maybe slightly above. Highest ranking by any reputable scout site I’ve seen is 12th outta 30 teams
San Francisco 2020 offense
According to OddsSharks, 7th best offense in MLB: https://www.oddsshark.com/mlb/offensive-stats
According to ESPN, 6th best offense: https://www.espn.com/mlb/stats/team/_/table/batting/sort/OPS/dir/desc
According to Baseball Reference, 5th best offense: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2020.shtml
According to TeamRankings, 4th best offense: https://www.teamrankings.com/mlb/stat/batting-average
@SignWongTradeSolano: You are correct the major strength of the farm is positional players. But, as evidenced by the 40 man adds this week to protect from the rule 5 draft, it seems the pitching prospects are starting to develop quite nicely. Whoever heard of Caleb Baragar at this time last year? He looks like a nice piece moving forward. Now Santos, Castro, Doval have been protected and Santos will be on the upcoming fangraphs top 100 list.
last time I checked there were 26 guys on the roster
Their prospects actually have to pan out. If you assume 2 of their top 100s are difference makers (which is pretty generous) they are still multiple pieces away. Not to mention their lack of pitching.
The Giants offense last year was really good in a small 60 game sample but counting on them to put up similar numbers this year isn’t a sure thing. They have the money to go after Springer or Ozuna and it wouldn’t really block any of the OF prospects that are still years away. Hard to argue how it would hurt the offense to add a superstar level talent like either of them and the Giants have money. I’m pretty sure the fans would be interested to see one of those guys in a Giants uni so it could also help with ticket sales.
The last 2 years have been understandably rebuilding years so I get it why they didn’t spend a bunch of money on Harper, Rendon, Machado, Cole, or other elite FA’s. This year would be 3 years in a row if they choose not to splurge and bring in a ligit superstar to anchor either the lineup or the rotation.
My question at that point would be does Farhan even know how to do anything other than what he has done the last 2 years? Is he capable of evaluating high level talent and determining which FA’s are worth investing Mookie or Bryce money into? Can he find talent in the international market or put together a trade like the Dodgers did for Mookie? How about a signature move like the Padres getting Tattis or Seattle fleecing the Mets for Kelenic?
Yaz and Dick have been better than expected but they are older and have their own warts so can’t really say those were signature moves. Giving Gausman a QO was clearly an error in judgment and not trading him or Smyly or anyone else at the deadline last year wasn’t very strategic at the time or in hindsight. I don’t think I’m alone as a Giants fan in wondering if there is an actual direction FZ is taking this team. If there is it is hard to see at this point and I’m hoping it becomes clearer after this offseason.
It would be nice to see the Giants get a premium free agent bat, knowing that so many contracts expire after 2021. Springer would be great and easily moved to a corner OF spot after a few years. If the Giants don’t augment the team with a big bat this offseason it means 2022 could be a very rough year but that could be part of the master plan.
I think Farhan has done a fine job given the team he inherited. Given the shortage of starting pitching I think giving Gausman the QO was a good idea. Not trading him at the deadline when the team was in the hunt for a playoff spot was the correct decision; lot’s of Giant fans were really excited about that possibility. Smyly was hurt at the deadline, therefore untradeable. I do believe Farhan had every intention of trading those guys when they were signed. But given the offensive explosion, shortened season and expanded playoffs I’m glad they went for it.
It really would be great to see SF bring in a big bat like Springer or even Ozuna (depending on the DH situation).
When you look at things, Posey has been the Giants only reliably solid bat since Bonds left–even then, his last couple of years have been trending in the wrong direction, prior to taking 2020 off. Now, you could argue that Belt has been a quality offensive player for SF–his career numbers are better, I bet, than most would guess–but he’s far from an elite player, aside from this year.
Will be a interesting to see how the Giants play this offseason.
There is a better class of free agents and a better choice of bats next winter, and it’ll be more pressing as they see Crawford, Belt, Posey, and Cueto’s contracts all expire.
There are 4-5 decent options for hitters: Realmuto, Springer, Ozuna, LeMahieu. The rest are littered with a bunch of red flags, or don’t serve as a position of need for the Giants in 2021.
If I’m Zaidi, I work on the rotation and supplement the offense by trying to find more guys like Solano/Ruf. Maybe a few more Jason Vosler-type players.
The rotation and bullpen need the most immediate help.
Are there are current giants who will be on the next good team? By “good” I mean not hovering around .500 but actually contending for a playoff spot in a normal field of 5-6 per league. Maybe Dubon? Maybe Webb or Beede?
Are there *any*
Sorry I made a mistake. I’m guessing you’ve never done that before. I promise I’ll do my best to never make a mistake again.
Webb and Bart for sure.
Dubon maybe
Beede will probably fall off
Could see Yaz and Dickerson stay as veterans
Posey will probably be their backup catcher of the future if he doesn’t retire.
Posey isn’t going to be a back up catcher. He’ll sign somewhere as a starter once his contract is up next year.
Posey isn’t a starting catcher anymore, he can’t catch a full series without needing a day off or playing. 1B, and his bat doesn’t offset for that.
You don’t know that.
This is correct. Posey will play somewhere else before he accepts a diminished role.
Players don’t think like fans. Haha. Posey has a limited amount of time left in the game. He will spend that time wisely. With or without the San Francisco Giants
@signwong might be right about Posey not being able to handle everyday backstop duties going forward. Therefore, I could see him sign a two year backup role contract with the Giants after this upcoming season. Don’t forget, he’s got kids who have gone to school and lived their whole lives in the Bay Area and he and his wife do a lot of community work (childhood cancer, etc.). Not so desirable to pack up your family of six at this stage and move to “wherever.” He’s a forever Giants IMO.
People are making a lot of assumptions about Posey based on his 2019 season in which he was still recovering from off-season surgery on his hip. And it was his hip injury that he tried to play through in 2018, accounting for those two subpar seasons.
Up through 2017 he had an OPS+ of 135. In 2018-’19 it was 95. Maybe he doesn’t bounce totally back, but the Giants were excited about Posey in 2020 before COVID. I don’t expect him to return to his MVP form, but I certainly see him posting better numbers than he did in 2018-’19.
And as to the number of games he catches, look around the league. Because of analytics, no team asks their catcher to play the position as much as they used to. Yadi Molina is unique, and no team is going to expect anyone to mimic his workload. Back-up catchers have become increasing more valuable because teams are resting their starters more often.
I could be wrong, and maybe Posey never really recovers from the hip issue, but I expect him to be a major contributor in 2021 since he’s had all of 2020 for recuperation and physical therapy.
LOL Webb and Dubon are not good players. They just look better with the Giants lack of talent. This team is 5 years away.
Dubon is a good player. League average bat with above average defense in centerfield and second base and can handle himself at shortstop. Nobody is saying he’s a star or anything, but a solid utility player.
@mlb1226: Dubon is not a star currently. His approach at the plate took a dramatic positive turn this year, so I am pretty positive on him. No longer taking stupid swings at pitches he can’t drive. His ops was above 800 the last 6 weeks after he made these adjuments and so I see him as a breakout candidate next year.
Zaidi was almost nothing with the Dodgers, and they have only improved since he left. He was basically nothing to them. I look forward to seeing these idiotic Giants fans calling for his head well before they are competitive.
He helped sign Muncy, but other than that, it’s hard to tell what he did. Friedman and the player development guys are what makes the Dodgers what they are
Friedman made multiple statements over the years about Zaidi’s crucial ability to scout and develop talent—both pro and amateur. He was very important to international signings and in the draft. There are several players that the Dodgers drafted during Zaidi’s time, and several AFA signings that they may not have made without Zaidi’s input.
To suggest that Zaidi wasn’t important to the Dodgers is asinine and shows that you’re just looking to make stupid statements so someone will pay attention to you.
You’ve made this comment under a variety of different handles and accounts. And every time you’ve made it, you’ve been proven you have no idea what you’re talking about. It’s clear you have some odd vendetta against Zaidi. Did he steal the girl you liked in high school?
Why are Giants so sensitive? It’s annoying.
Farhan is a talented executive but make no mistake, Andrew Friedman Ran LA just like Theo did in Boston or Cash in NY. Farhan was part of a group of executives in LA along with Antholoulos who is now in Atlanta.
Talk about a petty hateful person. What is your real issue?
What Farhan meant to the A’s and Dodgers isn’t important. What he means to the Giants is important, he got rid of the Melancon Contract, brought in an exciting player in Yaz, and has built a farm which was ranked 10th by baseball America at the beginning of last season, when it was previously in the high 20’s in terms of rankings.
I believe 7 of the top 10 were drafted/signed by Evans and Sabean. All it took was a few years for them to mature into top 10 prospects which had nothing to do with FZ.
Hunter Bishop, Sean Hjelle, and Patrick Bailey are the only 3 that FZ is responsible for. Giving credit to Farhan for the state of the farm system is ignorant at best. Only time will tell but my money is on Luciano, Ramos, Bart, Matos, Corry, Toribio, and Canario over Bishop, Bailey, and Hjelle to become stars at the major league level.
It’s true that Zaidi wasn’t responsible for bringing in a lot of the Giants’ top prospects.
However, he clearly has done something, as the farm system jumped from the bottom 5 to near the top 10 almost overnight.
That doesn’t happen simply because a few of the players “matured”. There is an obvious organizational element that can attributed to Zaidi that has led to the farm system taking huge steps forward in 2019 and 2020.
There’s no denying Zaidi’s impact on player development. It’s been a key skill of his in both LA and Oakland.
@JohnJasoJingleHeimerSchmidt
Since Farhan has left, the Dodgers won a franchise record 106 games in 2019 and a World Series this year. It’s also worth noting that before he and Friedman came, Colletti and Logan White left the team in great shape in the farm
This thread is so misguided. Giants fans are caught up in ‘ who drafted who’ which is stupid.
It’s about DEVELOPMENT. Not draft picks
Because LA posts a winning record most years , they are picking last or near last in the draft. Yet, they have a Top 5 farm system. How can that be? Because LA develops players better than most organizations.
Zaidi will do the same in San Francisco but that sort of new development infrastructure will take several more years to produce results
hardgo. You are using circular logic. Making the facts suit the theory. Scouting players to draft is part of it.
Amusing how people commenting on this article don’t want to give the Giants and specifically Belt any credit for the “small sample size” of the COVID-shortened season but here it is the Dodgers getting credit for the World Series win when evaluating post Zaidi performance.
The logic is not strong with most of you, and your feelings are getting in the way of good argumentation.
Not that it’s the be all, end all, but MLB has Hunter Bishop as number 66 in the top 100 prospects, and only 6 spots behind Ramos. So Bishop is ranked higher than Corry (94),, plus Matos, Toribio, Bailey, Hjelle, and Canario, all of whom are unranked.
I know this isn’t proof, and the Giants will be lucky if half of them develop, but the source is better than you or me.
hard90 Needs to Die.
Fred:
Are you so new to baseball not to know that what teams achieve in one season is primarily due to what they did 3 to 5 seasons previously?
And to suggest that Ned Coletti did a good job, and Zaidi didn’t, is patently absurd. Coletti was removed because he put the Dodgers in a terrible financial situation, taking on contracts like Carl Crawford’s, trading for Hanley Ramirez, and giving out expensive extensions to guys like Andre Ethier. Coletti cost the Dodgers $150M in CBT penalties.
You don’t like the Giants? Fine. But don’t make up stuff about how Coletti was such a great GM and how Zaidi is not. You are ridiculous at best.
Not difficult to rise in the prospect rankings when:
A) your team has decent draft slots for a few years
B) Teams ahead of them blow prospects in trades to contend
C) Previous regime was still contending for championships, or trying to for 8 seasons
Still too soon to assess Zaidi. He hasn’t been good and he hasn’t been bad.
That’s patently ridiculous., The Dodgers and Yankees, who are perennial contenders, as well as the Rays and Braves have consistently remained as top farm systems, despite adding players and winning games.
There are also teams like Baltimore and Kansas City who have been terrible for several seasons now, have pretty weak farm systems.
For what it’s worth, aside from a handful of players, Zaidi didn’t really *add* a whole lot to the farm. So the rise in rankings correlates more with organizational changes and player development changes than it does the ideas you brought up.
Were you a part of that front office? You can’t just make stuff up.
Do most folks who reply to Giants news on MLBTR dislike the Giants? The negativity is striking. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this past season. Farhan has to be given kudos for hiring Kaplan and the coaching staff. Their emphasis on development even with veterans did wonders for the offense.
Mostly people who are salty of the Giants early 2010s success, so they laugh at their inevitable failure which every team goes through at some point or another
Negativity? The Giants just booked their 4th consecutive losing season. What are people supposed to say?
Most MLBTR commenters are voicing the truth
Giants fans aren’t used to that. They certainly don’t get it from the local Bay Area writers.
From what I can see , most Giants fans seem to live in some sort of isolated alternative reality where win loss records , advanced statistical analysis and any sort of counter opinion outside their little orbit is viewed with contempt .
Another poster a few weeks back likened Giants fans to MAGA fans. It’s true
@hard90 yes. negativity. pure, deep, unadulterated negativity. TONS of negativity.
There is some troll who regularly posts simply “lol giants” on every article, regardless of the content of the article.
There are people who complain about every move Zaidi makes – spending money? “what a waste! you should tank and rebuild!” not spending money? “what a dirt bag cheap owner! “ picking up bounce back candidates? “what a pitiful wash rinse repeat tactic! “ any article about Pablo Sandoval had guaranteed 20 fat jokes. Even in the comment on this thread, there is someone who said that the Giants struggles are some sort of karmic settling of score for winning the World Series 3 times because they had bad teams and I guess they think they didn’t deserve it.
How on earth can you say that none of that is negative?
Sure there are some old school folks who haven’t updated their fan cred to include sabermetric math nerddom membership card, or keyboard warriors who pretend to be GMs, or budding ice-cold MBAs who always talk about the bottom line and don’t care about the people or tradition or the sport itself, just the money. Those fans who haven’t joined the money train are just loyal lifers and sometimes homers who just want to love their players and their team and enjoy the game, even if it means losing. They didn’t win for a very, very long time and still fans loved them.
The Giants just recently transitioned away from one of the longest tenured GMs and upper level decision makers who were old school too. But the new generation of leadership is here, and they are updating processes and doing it methodically, team-wide. It’s a hard shift, and difficult adjustments are slowly moving through the culture.
Settle down. It’s okay for people to care about their team the way they want to, just as you have the right to care your way. No need to make emotional stereotypical political comparisons.
hard90 Needs to Die.
When the Giants were as good as they were for many years, it’s really fun for the trolls to come and kick them while they are “down”.
It’s kind of like Nebraska football. People love to trash them now, but they would commit any number of federal crimes to achieve what they did back in the day.
The Giants might have been the most talked about baseball team in a decade, and that REALLY bothers people.
No it doesn’t.
This is laughable. No one cares about any past success the Giants had
Really. This is a Typical comment from a whiny, isolated, self entitled fan base. It’s actually disturbingly narcissistic
I got news for you:
No one cares about the Giants
I’ve got news for you: Some of us do care for the Giants, and we understand they’re rebuilding on the fly, and that FZ is doing a pretty good job of it. We also understand childish venom versus intelligent commentary—about any team.
@hard90 Damn dude. You are taking this way to personally. Why do you need to attack every one here? We get it. You don’t like the Giants, or their fans. Move on. Go see a shrink. It’s only a game.
hard90 Needs to Die.
It seems you do, in fact, care about the Giants. Based on the fact that you comment on literally every post about them on this site.
And speaking of “disturbingly narcissistic”, which account is this for you now? 4th? 5th? You are so desperate to be listened to that you’ll say ridiculously outlandish things so someone will pay attention to you.
I feel bad for trolls like you. I really do. Because you wouldn’t do this if you had meaningful relationships in your life or if you had people who were genuinely interested in your well-being.
Trolling is a cry for help. Go find it dude.
It’s 99% one guy – he was 27ringsbitches and I think now goes by hardgo, like we don’t see it’s the same guy. He has multiple accounts, logs in with different ones, and upvotes his comments or writes similar takes.
I think Will Clark hooked up with his mom or Barry Bonds didn’t wave to him once. It takes a serious level of pathetic to use that much effort posting negativity on a sports team comments board.
“He has multiple accounts, logs in with different ones, and upvotes his comments or writes similar takes.”
You have to be a real loser to waste that much of your time to troll.
As a Dodger fan, I would be completely fine to see the Giants remain stuck in irrelevance for the next decade or so.
That aside, don’t forget that FZ came into the job with a slew of albatross contracts to a core that is/was on the wrong side of 30. Throw in a barren farm system (Baseball America has them ranked 26th/27th in MLB at the time of his hire) on top of that as well. Let’s see what he does after this year once the rest of the bad contracts come off the books and he can finish the housecleaning by clearing out Cueto, Belt, Posey, Crawford et al. I believe Baseball America ranks their farm around 16th-18th range now. Just wait and see.
bahahahaha:
As a Giant’s fan it pains me to say this, but congratulations on the WS title. The Dodgers were clearly the best team in 2020, and it is as valid as the title in any other year.
What’s also clear is FZ deserves some credit for the Dodger’s success.
I do think you are underrating the Giant’s farm though. MLB had them at 10th at the beginning of the season, but devalued them down to 13th in their mid-season rankings. Plus they have 5 guys in the top 100 prospects.
I also think not all of the guys you’ve listed will be cut loose, specifically Posey and Belt. They could possibly be extended on less expensive deals, since they could continue to be productive going forward.
Belt is a possibility, but probably not Posey. Some other team will offer him a contract to be a primary catcher. Plus there’s no absolute need to extend or sign him to another deal with Bart and Bailey unless they plan on moving one to somewhere like first/third base or left field.
Bailey is a number of years away, and how his development goes might make him a non-factor,
But I wouldn’t bet either way on Posey.at this point. He is the face of the franchise, and hugely popular, more so than Bum or Lincecum, or any one else from the last decade. That’s factor, but the determinant will be his health and production.
IMO it will come down to how well he bounces back. If he’s fully healthy, and rehabbed from the surgery, and is something close to his former self, they absolutely will extend him. If he’s only so-so then they probably will let him walk.
Huge credit to Zaidi. Not sure if any executive has built up as much goodwill without the goods as much as him. Very hard to do.
Giants are not as far away as members of the media would have you think. Of course, there are different levels of competing. There’s competing for a low playoff seed. There’s competing for 90 wins, for the division, and then finally for a world series. Giants next year will have a chance at competing for 90 wins, if they fill out the roster with the right guys. I assume there will be a veteran relief pitcher signed + more to the rotation. People need to realize we weren’t 100% trying to win as many games as possible, it was a developmental year. A guy like Gott will not get many opportunities this year without performance.