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Giants hit winter meetings eager and open to deal

After missing out on the trade that would have shook up San Francisco, and injected new life into the Giants lineup for years to come in the form of Giancarlo Stanton, the Giants will now shift focus to the free agent market, with four players supposedly atop their meetings' wish list.

Those four players, as reported by the Boston Globe and NBC Sports Bay Area, are third basemen Todd Frazier and Mike Moustakas as well as outfielders J.D. Martinez and Lorenzo Cain. The one guy not listed who they did inquire about earlier in the offseason is Jay Bruce. It they;re wanting to get the best guys at each position they will somehow try to land both Martinez and Moustakas, though Moustakas rejected a qualifying offer, meaning in order for the Giants to sign either him, they'll have to forfeit some pretty valuable draft positioning. That being said, the Giants may be open to taking that risk if they could indeed get Moustakas on terms that they feel is fair and without having to overpay. Both Martinez and Moustakas are All-Star caliber ballplayers still very much in their prime whereas Frazier isn't quite the all-around talent Moustakas is and while Cain is a terrific center fielder and a solid .300 bat with a little punch, I don't think that is what the Giants really need at this point. They need a guy who they can pencil in to hit around .300 with 35+ HR's and 100 or so RBI's for the entirety of his contract, health permitting, and Martinez is the only outfielder that could provide that

The disappointment of missing out on Stanton has pretty much passed, and I'm more than ready for these winter meetings to kick off and for the Giants to make some move finally that will show what direction they're panning on going in 2018 (and beyond). Again, if they leave Florida at the end of the week without any new additions or having made any significant progress on some players, then it could signify 2018 as possibly a pseudo-rebuilding year in which they'll still have the pitching and some of the core guys like Posey, Crawford, Pence and Panik on the roster. All of those guys are coming off less than stellar seasons and not offensive campaigns any of them are really happy with, so the Giants could just hope those guys rebound. If not, they'll start playing the young guys, and plot for next winter's offseason which could potentially feature baseball's top-3 all-around player.

The Giants have a decent amount of money coming off the books next season and they most likely will be looking into joining the Bryce Harper sweepstakes (unless he re-signs in DC). With the Giants showing they would have been perfectly willing to take on Giancarlo Stanton's contract, we can only imagine what the Giants would be willing to offer Harper. Pence and Span coming off the books alone frees up roughly $30M/year, which I;m sure the Giants would be more than happy to offer Harper, but as the case with Stanton showed, the big question would be "would Harper want to come here anyway?". The Giants have been a bottom-3 team in baseball the last year and a half (despite making the playoffs in '16), so they're in a spot right now in which they aren't necessarily the top choice to come to for star players so they better get this thing back on track quickly if they want to be able to woo free agents into coming aboard and players with no-trade clauses more than willing to waive them to join SF. Just remember how happy Hunter Pence was when he joined the team! (which was amazingly 6 1/2 years ago now.. wow how the time has flied since the early stages of that Giants run...)

So yes, this is going to be a telling week and one of the most influential winter meetings the Giants have been at in quite some time. And, if I were to guess at who, if any of these guys will end up Giants by the end of the week, my guess would be Lorenzo Cain and/or a lesser free agent like a bench option or mid-reliever.I just get a bad feeling on Cain, and I really don't want him. Same with Moustakas, especially with the draft pick. While Cain brings strong defense to center and brings some average and speed but not a ton of big power. Cainer will still give you 12-15 jacks per year, but I honestly don't see him doing much more offensively at AT&T than Denard Span did in 2017, but he'd be a much better defender. Worth giving up the high draft choice to obtain him though? I really don't think so.

Moustakas too has some strong qualities and attributes, but your looking at a left-handed bat coming off a career power year and has never been a big power guy before that, so chances are, his left-handed pop doesn't translate at AT&T as expected and he becomes another version of Brandon Belt. I say that jokingly, but only halfway. Moustakas would probably still carry some decent numbers and is a helluva a third basemen, but again, too lose a high draft pick when you really have to rebuild your system, on a guy coming off a career year and has been largely average aside from that may not be the best move.

Anyway, keep checking back here over the next few days as we'll be here to post any happenings from the meetings. Even if nothing significant happens, we'll have the recap at the end of the week, and I'm sure you can guess what that will be talking about. I mean, we're hitting mid-December and the team has yet to make a single move. Granted, they certainly have tried there best on a couple of guys and it has been a strangely slow offseason all-around, not just with the Giants. The Stanton trade though, is expected to get things going... Lets sure hope so!

Extras: I did want to mention that, although there are four names the Giants seem to only be interested in and linked to publicly, that doesn't mean they won't be inquiring about other players too while in Florida, players we may not even be expecting or thinking of in the slightest. For example, I know they've expressed interest in Milwaukee slugger, Domingo Santana (OF) who's just turned 25, and I didn't know anything about that nor did that name even cross my mind when assessing potential trade options for the Giants (as he's a young stud who hasn't even realized his potential yet and is under team control for years to come). Travis Shaw may not be available but he's a guy from the Brewers I have though about who'd be a great fit at third base coming off a career, 30+ HR season.. Santana is mighty intriguing though and after looking more into him it's no surprise the Giants inquired about him. He possess a lot of similar skill-sets as Giancarlo Stanton and even better in a lot of ways outside of the ridiculous pop Stanton has. Although he won't hit quite as many jacks, Santana hit for an equal or even higher average, steal more bases and has more versatility in the outfield. Plus Santana is just 25 years of age and hits right-handed as well, making AT&T Park less likely to cut into his power numbers... So keep your eyes and ears open as many more names could trickle though the rumor mill over the next 72 hours.

Comments

Anonymous said…
JD Martinez was not eligible to receive a Qualifying Offer (QO) since he was traded from Detroit to Arizona during the season. He is not tied to draft pick compensation.

https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-qualifying-offer-rules-explained/c-259650658

I'm not as excited about adding Lorenzo Cain who is tied to draft pick compensation and will be 32 when next season begins. I don't know what Domingo Santana, Jackie Bradley or Billy Hamilton will cost trade wise, nor do I know if the Giants have what it takes to gain either, but I'd much rather pursue those options. McCuthchen on the right deal wouldn't be all that bad either. Or try to sign Carlos Gomez for cheap.

As for 3rd base I may consider Moustakas worth giving up picks for only because he is hitting his prime at 27 years old, but Frazier is roughly the same player offensively and better on defense and has no strings attached.
Anonymous said…
Why can't we get Carlos Gonzalez? I always wanted him to be a Giant and I didn't even know he was a free agent until reading the ppost below this one. He's a 40-home run potential hitter with good defense in left and good average? Do they think hes finished cuz he was hurt last year? I think some team is gonna get a steal, prolly STL, they always get those types of guys and they kill it for them.

He'd be great here though. And I would love to get Moustakas for 3B too and then get a burner for center field like Hamiolton or someone like Dee Gordon even though we can't get him now since he already got traded. I'm drawing a blank for other speed center fielderz but they need a speed guy for att park.
Anonymous said…
Sabean says they won't be signing anyone with a qualifying offer, they want to keep those draft picks and draft the next super team next year. So no to Moustakas I think - someone suggested a nice cheap 3B with potential is Solarte in San Diego, and some good young speedy OFs are Brett Phillips in Milwaukee, Clint Frazier in NYY - all are surplus to their teams now and could be traded for. I think the Yankees are hot for Samardjiza, so maybe trade him and a prospect for Clint Frazier and Chad Green. Tyler Beede could get Brett Phillips, and Mac Williamson might bring Solarte. There's your speedy OF with some pop, and a 3B to compete with Arroyo - all under the CBT threshold, save your money and your draft picks for next year!
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