29 Oct 2021 02:19:10
Giants Offseason

Pick up Posey's option
Re-sign Brandon Belt 1/18.4 (qualifying offer)
Re-sign Kevin Gausman, 4/84
Re-sign Alex Wood 2/20

Non-tender Alex Dickerson

Sign:
Noah Syndergaard, 2/20
Mark Canha, 3/45
Chris Taylor, 4/72
Hector Neris, 2/16

Trade:
Acquire RHP Elieser Hernandez from MIA for C Joey Bart

Acquire RHP Cole Sulser from BAL for RHP Manuel Mercedes and LHP Nick Swiney

Lineup (with DH)
2B- Taylor/La Stella
RF- Yastrzemski
C- Posey
1B- Belt
DH- Ruf
LF- Canha
SS- Crawford
3B- Longoria
CF- Duggar/Slater

Rotation:
Webb - Gausman - Syndergaard - Wood - Hernandez

Bullpen
Doval (R) - Rogers (R) - Sulser (R) - McGee (L) - Leone (R) - Neris (R) - Alvarez (L) - J. Garcia (L)

1.) 29 Oct 2021
29 Oct 2021 04:53:16
Why offer Belt the QO when you have an elite everyday 1B for ~$2.5 million already? Just banking on recouping a draft pick if he declines and signs elsewhere?!

2.) 29 Oct 2021
29 Oct 2021 13:07:35
If they get the DH (which I think will happen), there's plenty of ABs to go around. Having TWO first basemen who have over 140 wRC+ is always a great problem to have.

3.) 29 Oct 2021
29 Oct 2021 15:42:31
Exactly. In this scenario with the DH in the NL, it's going to fascinating to watch Ruf put up a 5 WAR season at 36 y/ o. Does he get MVP votes? Kapler will finally be able to unleash the beast from his shackles.

4.) 29 Oct 2021
29 Oct 2021 17:56:18
It'll be great to see "weak side platoon player" Darin Ruf outperform Jose Abreu AGAIN. For the second year in a row.

But hey, the White Sox will pay nearly 8 times that amount to get worse production.

And therein lies the difference between the Executive of the Year and the runner-up: extracting comical amounts of value out of guys like Darin Ruf for almost no money or long-term commitment.

But hey, I think giving up legitimately good talent for Craig Kimbrel, and giving 18M to Dallas Keuchel, 8M to Adam Eaton, and extending Jose Abreu so he can be worse than a part-time, weak-sided platoon first basemen in 200% of the plate appearances, I guess that's really good right?

I mean, at least he made sure that he never hits arbitration with any of his players! That's worthy of a Hall of Fame spot if you ask me.

5.) 30 Oct 2021
29 Oct 2021 19:30:10
I commend the Giants GM for finding a superstar playing in Korea, and here you go again attacking Rick Hahn. This has to be getting personal.

Don't forget about Hahn being an abhorrent human being because of his inability to overrule his boss. Oh, and he allowed the team to compete against the Cleveland In*ians, thereby condoning their team name. Awful. That could hurt his HOF chances due to the character clause.

He also traded a generational talent for James Shields - don't sell him short.

"extracting comical amounts of value out of guys like Darin Ruf for almost no money or long-term commitment"

Hahn has literally never done this one single time. He was granted good players from a genie who he very easily traded for highly regarded prospects. Then those new players became good in the majors based on pure luck alone. In fact, Zaidi started this "sign bad players, make them good" trend. Let's recognize greatness before us.

6.) 01 Nov 2021
01 Nov 2021 14:39:34
"In fact, Zaidi started this "sign bad players, make them good" trend. Let's recognize greatness before us. "

I mean, the Los Angeles Dodgers are kinda the team they are because Andrew Friedman let Zaidi do what he did in Los Angeles.

That's right, one of the most talented baseball teams in MLB History is where they are because of Farhan Zaidi. So as much as you exaggerate, it's probably more true than you're comfortable with.

7.) 01 Nov 2021
01 Nov 2021 15:34:19
I laugh about you mocking me for the Indians nickname. You're the only one getting your panties in a twist over it. Frankly, I don't really care. I think baseball has a lot more issues than a poorly contrived caricature of a people group.

Some of them include:

-Allowing low-character individuals to keep having jobs in baseball. Rick Hahn was literally okay with his team hiring TLR, he even praised it later on. He also reportedly really wanted A. J. Hinch, who led one of the biggest cheating scandals in baseball history.

-Taking advantage of low-income and disadvantaged minorities through pre-arbitration deals that limit those individuals' ability to make more money later on. What would Tim Anderson make through arbitration right now? More or less than 9M? (Hint: the answer is WAY, WAY more than 9M) . The White Sox knew that Anderson, Moncada, and Jimenez would get way more expensive for them down the road, so they took advantage of them and offered them upfront money knowing those players had next to no leverage to turn down those offers. It's interesting how they didn't do this with Lucas Giolito or Andrew Vaughn. Could it be that those guys come from upper-class households and thus had leverage in turning down deals? No way. That could never be the case.

Now, I'm not suggesting that the White Sox are the only team doing this. I would never. But according to you, they "revolutionized" it.

Once again, look through the players that have historically sign these deals. Other than ones with high-variance and low-expectations (i. e. Scott Kingery, Evan White), the over-whelming majority are non-white players or players from lower economic environments.

I don't think that's merely coincidental. And before you say it, yes, the Giants have their history with doing this, although they have typically reserved this practice for pitchers (i. e. Bumgarner, Cain, Lincecum), and they haven't done it for several seasons now.

To the White Sox, this is what Hahn gets praised for: taking advantage of zero-leverage players.

But yes, let's cover our eyes and think that a team's nickname is the big problem!

8.) 02 Nov 2021
02 Nov 2021 04:51:44
Yes. I distinctly remember the White Sox holding their young players at gun point without food and water for long periods of time and forcing them to sign $70 million contracts. This scandal will be greater than the Astros.

Guys like Moncada and Robert were obviously struggling after the respective $32 million and $26 million signing bonuses they got out of Cuba were running out. Hahn clearly took advantage. I suppose maybe in snooty San Francisco those would be considered low socioeconomic incomes, but otherwise I think those guys were able to narrowly get by pre-extensions. Luis Robert’s new Naruto-wrapped Lamborghini Aventor is a good signal of that, I’d say. Poor guys.

I guess Hahn’s moral compass is much worse than yours when your alternative is to pay the organization’s minority players the least amount possible for as long as possible.

Did Zaidi get a ring last year from the Dodgers as a result of him being the only reason why they won? I guess the Giants said thanks to their rivals for giving them the most influential executive in baseball history by losing to them when it counted. That was nice.

9.) 05 Nov 2021
05 Nov 2021 13:14:38
"Did Zaidi get a ring last year from the Dodgers as a result of him being the only reason why they won? "

He didn't. But reportedly, he received a nice gift from Andrew Friedman as a recognition of what he helped build. No indication of what that was. To be clear, Zaidi has taken teams he runs to more World Series than Rick Hahn EVER will. 2017 and 2018, he was there. 2020, just 2 seasons removed, the Dodgers were back.

Again, this is more than Ol' Ricky can say.

10.) 05 Nov 2021
05 Nov 2021 13:32:57
"Yes. I distinctly remember the White Sox holding their young players at gun point without food and water for long periods of time and forcing them to sign $70 million contracts. "

Yeah, maybe refrain from mocking Charles Johnson and his stupid donations when you yourself don't understand the nature of systemic racism that is rampant in the game, especially through pre-arb deals.

The idea that "they aren't hurting" is so hilariously off that you can't possibly think you're being serious.

If I told you that I could either pay you $100M over the next 6 years, or $50M, but I'm willingly pushing to pay you $50M, you'd be rightfully livid. You wouldn't care that $50M is "enough to live on" when you could literally make 50-100% more money over the same period of time.

The White Sox know that Robert, Moncada Jimenez, Anderson didn't have the leverage to turn down $50M. They knew those guys couldn't afford the risk of going year-to-year in arbitration and possibly facing non-tender if they tank. So they offered money way, way lower than the projected value to those players, knowing they'd accept.

Again, ask why Lucas Giolito, who grew up in an area where the average household AGI is over $400K or Andrew Vaughn (avg. household AGI is over $150K) weren't signing those deals? Or Dylan Cease ($128K)? Sense a theme here?

The White Sox are literally taking minority, low-economic class players and limiting their earning potential through pre-arb deals that are 100% to the benefit of the team, long term. They do this, again, knowing that the players have no leverage to turn it down.

They are willingly and actively manipulating and limiting the earning potential of minority players. In fact, it's almost a sure bet that if the White Sox have a young, talented minority baseball star, they'll sign them to one of these deals.

And I fully expect them to do the same with Cespedes and Oscar Colas.

They LOVE manipulating the earning power of minority players. It's just what they do.

11.) 05 Nov 2021
05 Nov 2021 13:37:24
That nice gift was an early trip to Cabo while the Dodgers went to the NLCS.

12.) 05 Nov 2021
05 Nov 2021 16:05:40
What did TLR do to celebrate his one playoff win? My guess: probably did a bunch of Jaegerbombs and drove Robert's Lambo all across the greater Chicago area.

It's just what he does.

13.) 05 Nov 2021
05 Nov 2021 17:51:09
Joking about DUI? Ahhhh.

14.) 07 Nov 2021
07 Nov 2021 12:08:56
I mean, which would you rather see: someone joking about a guy getting multiple DUIs, or someone willingly hiring a guy with multiple DUIs.

You have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees, so I'm not surprised by you feigning some level of disgust here.

The White Sox just comically overpaid for another under-performing white guy, and they won't pay minorities even close to their value in arbitration. They also knowingly and willing hired Tony La Russa.

Maybe point your anger that way.

15.) 08 Nov 2021
08 Nov 2021 10:51:15
The Giants better not sign a single white player this season. Seeing that most and their good players are already white, you have to question whether their intentions. Are they even targeting minorities? Or is Charles Johnson's directive clear?

16.) 08 Nov 2021
08 Nov 2021 14:00:16
LOL. Are you being intentionally obtuse, or is this something that comes naturally for you? I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here, but you're making me lose faith.

If you can't see how pre-arb deals for Latino and minority players are evidence of systemic racism throughout the game, I really don't know if I can help you. And you should probably stop trying to move this to Charles Johnson, who literally HAS NOT MADE A SINGLE DIRECTIVE TO THE GIANTS IN OVER A DECADE. Greg Johnson made it explicitly clear that Charles Johnson just acts as principal owner and hasn't been in a board meeting in years. His voice is worthless to the Giants.

Even Zaidi and many within the Giants front office spoke up in regards to Johnson's questionable campaign donations. Zaidi then assured that he's not heard a directive from Charles since he started, and Bobby Evans confirmed the same thing.

Unlike Jerry Reinsdorf, who willingly hired a horrible human being and his entire front office just went along with it.

The Giants will likely sign white players. They'll probably sign minority players. They just picked up Jay Jackson's 2022 option, despite them not exactly needing him in 2022, if you want just one example.

This isn't to say that the Giants don't have their own set of issues, but they've also acknowledged it and publicly stated their desire to get better and work against their own prejudices.

Meanwhile, Rick Hahn just overpaid Craig Kimbrel by 100-200% of his actual value, but desperately seeks to underpay his own minority players. There's not a single public statement made from him about systemic racism. Not one.

He's one of just three GMs/ PBOs who haven't made a statement of anything across the game. And his own personnel decisions when it comes to which players they acquire, play, and for how much, make it evidently clear why that's the case.

17.) 08 Nov 2021
08 Nov 2021 14:22:05
"Are they even targeting minorities? Or is Charles Johnson's directive clear? "

Should someone tell Charles Johnson he employs multiple black players (Jackson, Davis, Wade)? Or nearly a dozen Latino players? Or a Muslim president of baseball operations? Or a black coach? Or a, gasp, female coach?

Man, his directive was heard loud and clear by the organization. They clearly don't employ any minorities!

Seriously, you sound ridiculous.

But as they say, a hit dog will holler. And you are definitely hollering right now.

18.) 10 Nov 2021
10 Nov 2021 04:40:43
“ If you can't see how pre-arb deals for Latino and minority players are evidence of systemic racism throughout the game”

This will remain the most idiotic take on this site for a long, long time. You are literally arguing for the alternative which guarantees that players are paid the league minimum for the first 3 season followed by 3 seasons where they are paid a % of their marginal revenue product. The club assumes ZERO risk from year to year.

The players have all the power in the world to turn down these massive extensions no matter their race, because at worst, they’re paid a league minimum value that is more than 88% of American households make. They can still get plenty of food on the table. Usually, players in the position to accept these deals are well on their way to making millions of dollars through their arb years. They don’t need the extension to become millionaires.

People inherently don’t want their compensation to vary from year to year based on performance, it’s why the compensation smoothing phenomenon is real. These deals greatly benefit both sides at the moment they are signed, but this should be obvious because THAT’S WHY THEY’RE MUTUALLY AGREED UPON IN THE FIRST PLACE. Some work out great for the players and some work out great for their teams.

“Should someone tell Charles Johnson he employs multiple black players (Jackson, Davis, Wade)? Or nearly a dozen Latino players? Or a Muslim president of baseball operations? Or a black coach? Or a, gasp, female coach? ”

LOL! This is the Giants version of, “I have a black friend, I can’t be racist. ”

Of their projected started nine, the Giants have one minority player. Pretty despicable if you ask me. You voluntarily support this team?

19.) 14 Nov 2021
06 Nov 2021 14:26:03
"The White Sox know that Robert, Moncada Jimenez, Anderson didn't have the leverage to turn down $50M. "

Again, Moncada and Robert had humungous signing bonuses in their back pockets. They had all of the leverage in the world. The White Sox guaranteed Tim Anderson $25 million after 398 games of an 86 wRC+. He wasn't considering if he was ever going to be worth $100 million+ at the time, he was trying to survive in the league and the Sox guaranteed him life changing money. He'll end up making $52 million from the contract. How obtuse and out of touch can you be?

Since TA's extension he's hit .322/ .349/ .495 with a 127 wRC+ and is one of the faces of baseball. It's not racism, lmao, it's a smart investment. If Anderson was confident enough in himself that he'd ascend to stardom like this, he could simply turn it down and still make more than 99% of Americans do over the course of 6 years. He also got a $2.2 million signing bonus out of a junior college, so he would have been a very wealthy human being either way.

"If I told you that I could either pay you $100M over the next 6 years, or $50M, but I'm willingly pushing to pay you $50M, you'd be rightfully livid. You wouldn't care that $50M is "enough to live on" when you could literally make 50-100% more money over the same period of time. "

What? the $100 million is not guaranteed. You could could play terribly and get non-tendered or sustain a career-altering injury and walk away only having made 1-3 years of league minimum. Both sides are taking a risk with a pre-arb extension. If it was as easy as choosing $100 million or $50 million, there would never be a contract extension. But it's not that simple. Players in general would rather have their contracts be guaranteed year to year rather than it being based on their performance even if means sacrificing some total dollars. It's called compensation smoothing.

Don't mention Chris Sale or Aaron Bummer tho and their pre-arb extensions with the White Sox. They don't fit your convoluted narrative so they don't count in this instance.

The Braves did the same thing with Albies and Acuna, is their FO racist too? How about the Brewers with Freddy Peralta? Yankees and Aaron Hicks? Cleveland and Jose Ramirez? Cardinals and Carlos Martinez? Philly and Odubel Herrera?

Boston tried to extend Mookie Betts tried numerous times but he bet on himself and it paid off. All of the player listed above, including the Sox players could have done the exact same thing.

So now if any club signs a minority player to an extension, they are racist. And again, your alternative is to pay them the league minimum for as long as possible before only giving them a percentage of their market value through arbitration. Which option is manipulating earning power again?

"Again, ask why Lucas Giolito, who grew up in an area where the average household AGI is over $400K or Andrew Vaughn (avg. household AGI is over $150K) weren't signing those deals? Or Dylan Cease ($128K)? Sense a theme here? "

They are trying to extend all three, but none of them are as wealthy as Robert or Moncada were before they signed their extensions. But again, you're advocating that the team guarantee the white players more money. You're shooting your own argument in the foot.

This is a terribly embarrassing argument by you. How you continue to get worse is beyond me, and everyone else on this site.

20.) 14 Nov 2021
14 Nov 2021 19:36:47
"Of their projected started nine, the Giants have one minority player. Pretty despicable if you ask me. You voluntarily support this team? "

Once again, a hit dog sure does holler. Your desperate attempts to hide the systemic racism that is RAMPANT in the White Sox front office, as well as the incredibly low moral character of their executives. I'd probably try and use a lot of words to try and defend it as well, especially if I knew how horrendous they truly were.

Seriously, I'm beginning to think your character is that of TLR's with these defenses.

I kind of feel bad for you.

21.) 15 Nov 2021
15 Nov 2021 13:31:39
You're saying that I'm hiding the theoretical systematic racism in the contract extension market (a tremendous stretch at that, and you still have yet to address my rebuttal of the alternative to an extension for these minority players), yet your team's blatantly racist owner is off the hook because "oh, he's not really involved".

It's very convenient for you.

You're not looking for a discussion, you're looking to point the racism finger, which is usually reserved for someone who lacks other defendable arguments.

TBH, an argument that the current CBA contractual control structure is "racist" would have been better than the contract extension market where both sides literally have to agree.

22.) 17 Nov 2021
17 Nov 2021 16:34:44
LOL. Yes, we're talking about the DECISION MAKERS in these cases.

Charles Johnson doesn't make any decisions for Giants personnel issues. Rick Hahn and apparently, Jerry Reinsdorf do.

Charles Johnson doesn't get a pass for being a grimy creep, but when we're talking about racism as it pertains to a ballclub, you might be able to deduce that a non-involved owner shouldn't be considered, don't you think?

Again, your character is that of trying to throw someone else into the mix to try and minimize your awfulness. It's a bad look for you, but I'm not surprised in the least bit.

You're supporting a racist team who also doesn't care that their manager is a drunk and risked people's lives. Maybe focus on that before trying to throw complete non-sequiturs into the fold.

23.) 18 Nov 2021
18 Nov 2021 14:49:57
Ok Nate, we can just pretend that the Giants' largest shareholder makes absolutely zero decisions regarding what the organization does. That totally makes sense. I'm sure the team's chairman, Johnson's son, shares some of the same views as his daddy too. Does he also have nothing to do with decision making?

It's just one big racist family business out in San Fran.

Surely they have a saint of a CEO, right? Nope. Larry Baer gets physical with his wife on occasion, but soon Nate will tell us that he also doesn't have anything to do with the team's operations or decision-making.

What was that you said? "your character is that of trying to throw someone else into the mix to try and minimize your awfulness. It's a bad look for you, but I'm not surprised in the least bit. "

The irony, LMAO.

Maybe I should start making the argument that TLR doesn't actually make any of the calls from the dugout, that it's Miguel Cairo and Tony is just there for show. That way he's off the hook!

24.) 01 Dec 2021
01 Dec 2021 19:33:30
" I'm sure the team's chairman, Johnson's son, shares some of the same views as his daddy too. Does he also have nothing to do with decision making? "

He has, on MULTIPLE OCCASIONS, made it known that he doesn't hold any of the same political views as his father. We've been over this. And when Charles was making those donations, it was pointed out that he is merely a silent partner, who continues to just rake in the money. Nothing more. He literally hasn't been a part of the board meetings, whose minutes are publicly available, in years.

As for Larry Baer, he served a several month, unpaid suspension for his actions. He has sought the help he needs, and been very forthright, publicly, about his short-comings.

Did Tony La Russa even get a punishment from his own team? Nope. They tried to HIDE THE INFORMATION and pretend like they didn't know. They paraded him like he was this excellent manager.

Do you need reminded that their second choice was a guy CAUGHT IN ONE OF THE BIGGEST CHEATING SCANDALS IN BASEBALL HISTORY?

The White Sox couldn't wait to hire a piece of _____ as their team's manager. Hahn had his choice. Jerry had his.

Turns out, the drunk driver got picked over the cheater. But yes, that's so much better than a silent partner.