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You're the GM! Giants Edition

by John Sickels on in News


You're the GM! Giants Edition

Not a great year in San Francisco. You're only five games out, which seems respectable until you remember that the first place team is ONE game over .500. Having your best player on the DL most of the season didn't help of course, but even so you shouldn't be too happy about the way things have gone.

Planning for '06, let's take a look at your position players. Bonds is Bonds, still the best hitter in baseball, assuming he's healthy, but he may retire after next year. Alou can still hit, but is an age and health risk. Durham is solid and should remain so. Vizquel is fading offensively. Corner players Feliz, Snow, Niekro, and Alfonzo all have significant weaknesses. Randy Winn is good. What are your plans to boost the hitting attack?

On the pitching side, you have a very good starter in Noah Lowry. Jason Schmidt can be overpowering but is erratic. Brett Tomko is, well, Brett Tomko, brilliant at times but certainly not someone you can count on for consistent above-average performance. Kirk Rueter? Blech. Do you trust Hennessey and Correia as full-time starters? Is Matt Cain ready to start next year?

The bullpen is as problematic as the rotation. Hawkins and Benitez are hardly stalwarts of consistency. Eyre and Munter did good work in middle relief. Can they handle larger roles?  

Basically, this team has some talent, but is extremely dependent on Barry Bonds, and much of the supporting cast is aging and/or inconsistent. How competitive do you think you will be in '06? Who is on the trade block? What are you looking for in terms of free agents? And what are you going to do with the farm system?

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Bonds
I think you play for next year since it's the last year you have Bonds.  Upgrade the bullpen, look to the minors for some bench strength, and trade the prospects in the low minors for something that can help in 2006.  Plan for 2007 to be pretty bad.

by cunningt on Sep 22, 2025 10:51 AM EDT   0 recs

suggestion for future your the gm!s
maybe put out the teams in the order they are eliminated from the playoffs?  get a sense of what the teams' weakness are from playoff play, and build from there

by forage on Sep 22, 2025 11:00 AM EDT   0 recs

Options Aren't Pretty
Go hard after Washburn and Burnett.  Off Schmidt to Florida for Carlos Delgado (and nose around to see if they'll toss in a prospect). If not throw money at Paul Konerko. Let Snow go and RIP. Pick up Winn's option but don't go overboard on a long-term extension. Simply cut Edgardo Alfonzo if you can't pay anyone else to take him.  Put Matt Cain in rotation. Resign Tomko if you can get him cheaply for a year or 2 as your #5 (otherwise try to plug in Hennessy or someone like Matt Kinney).  Sign or trade for one good OF bat who could poach all the non-starts coming from Bonds and Alou (a Kevin Mench type of player -- perhaps even the return of Jose Cruz, Jr. if very little money is involved).  Do NOT let Scott Eyre depart as FA.

Hire someone to pour over the rulebooks to see if there's anyway to annul the AJ trade (or if the Twins feel they got too much out of it and just want to give back Francisco Liriano back as a goodwill gesture, for, say, Kevin Frandsen, Todd Linden, Dan Ortmeier and Merkin Valdez).

Pray the Armando Benitez will luck into another 2004. Pray in general. Enjoy watching the money roll in as SRO crowds cheer on Barry's pursuit of Hank.

by Roger on Sep 22, 2025 11:21 AM EDT   0 recs

There are two courses of action
A) Sign free agents for next year (Brian Giles) and try to make one last run with Barry

B) Go the way of the indians circa 2002 and blow it up.

The problem with option B is the Giants don't have the prospects at high enough levels that could be deemed ready by 2007 or 2008.

Also, the veterans we have aren't young like Cleveland's were in 2002 so getting a top prospect is unlikely.

No matter what direction we go in I'd like to see the following things done this offseason;

  1. Bring back Tomko at a similar contract he had this year
  2. Make Hennessey your 5th starter and trade Kevin Correia for a very healthy mule.
  3. Decrease the number of Bats for Pedro "Mr .300" Feliz, especially those in which he hits in front of Bonds
  4. Pray Durham stays healthy and trade him at the deadline if 2006 becomes a repeat of 2005
  5. Make a decision with Lance Niekro, either give him 500 at bats and see if he can play or trade him for a relief pitcher.  With all the depth we have at first base in the system (Ishikawa & EME) option #2 seems likely.  JT's not a great hitting option, but if his price tag stays low (around 2 mil) I don't think he's hurting the team that much.
  6. Let Cain start the season in the rotation.  He deserves it, let's avoid a Delmon Young type problem here.

by sfjg85 on Sep 22, 2025 12:39 PM EDT   0 recs

2 Problems
They're locked into players/contracts at so many positions that the only place they could go after a FA is 1b.  That eliminates people like Giles, and really pretty much anyboyd but Konerko, and makes cutting ties with Snow imperative.

by Roger on Sep 22, 2025 1:10 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Options
If they don't pick up Winn's option then they can get giles.  Durham also has an option but I'd rather get rid of Alfonzo

by sfjg85 on Sep 22, 2025 6:36 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

The sunk-cost fallacy is at work here
It's unrealistic to expect Sabean to let Winn go just like that, because he gave up too much to feel like he got only a few months out of him, and because Winn's done well since joining the team. If Winn has his average season next year, you would be correct in saying that he's not worth the money he'll be given, and I agree that Winn should be let go if we're playing GM from this point on, but he's the CF. Ideally, the Dodgers don't offer arbitration to Milton Bradley, the Giants decline Winn's option, and then sign Bradley to play CF and bat third so Durham can lead off.

by deadteddy8 on Sep 22, 2025 7:06 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Sabean made it clear...
That Winn was not a rental type player.  Winn was a player for 2006 as well as this year.

by WalrusMan on Sep 22, 2025 7:18 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Also
he has a player option at 3 or 3.5. I wouldn't be suprised to see him exercise it if the Giants didn't.

by irwin on Sep 22, 2025 7:43 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

New Direction
I would fire myself in hopes of the Gigantes hiring a new GM that would draft in the first round, and attempt to grow some hitters in the system.

by dvail on Sep 22, 2025 1:16 PM EDT   0 recs

agree....
I thoroughly agree with this statement though with the Giants and from what I have heard, Sabean doesnt really run the draft it is guys like Dick Tidrow and Jack Hiatt that need to be fired.  And please stop giving away 1st round picks in order to sign guys like Michael Tucker!!
Sabean, stop giving away our 1st round draft picks!!

by z4 landshark on Sep 24, 2025 1:37 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

You have to go for it
Barry only comes around once, and they've been going for it since 1994 with him here.  2006 is the last year for Barry, Sabean, and the Barry show.

They gain $2.5M from contracts leaving less raises owed, including picking up Schmidt's option and letting Hawkins go.

They will need to spend more money to win, and the first thing Sabean has to do is show up in Peter McGowan's office and say, "Look.  You wouldn't let me sign Vladi and it cost us a world championship.  You've got to loosen up the purse strings in advance of taking Barry's $18M salary off the books next year."

Assuming he says yes, the first order of priority is a #2 starter.  AJ Burnett or Kevin Millwood would be great.  Then they'd have a rotation of:

Schmidt
New Guy
Lowry
Cain
Hennessey, Correia, Kinney

The dream deal would send Alfonzo to the Mets for Trachsel, who has a $2.5M option.  The Mets seem to like Fonz, but such a deal seems unlikely.

Then you need to shore up the bullpen.  You're stuck with Benitez.  You should resign Eyre, who will take a home town discount to stay.  You can live with Taschner as a second lefty.  You can probably live with Tyler Walker and maybe Scott Munter, but you need to pick up a good mule in the pen.

You need to pick up a solid fourth outfielder to play behind Bonds, Winn and Alou.  This will be a 400 AB guy, because both Bonds and Alou will miss a significant number of games.

Then you need to pick up a real man to play first.  Niekro is not going to take you to the promised land.  You can live with Feliz batting sixth or seventh and playing third.  Vizquel and Durham are set, and, if you can't unload Fonzi, then he can be an expensive backup at second and third.  

The first baseman is the key acquisition.  If you can get Delgado, he would be ideal.  Konerko is probably second choice.  This leaves you with a pretty strong lineup:

Winn
Durham
1st Baseman
Bonds
Alou
Feliz
Matheny
Vizquel

25 Man roster:

Pitchers
Schmidt
New signee
Lowry
Cain
Hennessey or Correia or Kinney
Benitez
Eyre
Taschner
Munter
Walker
New righthanded relief horse

Hitters
Bonds
Alou
Winn
New 400 AB outfielder
New fifth outfielder signee @MLB minimum
New first baseman
Durham
Alfonzo
Vizquel
Feliz
Matheny
New backup catcher @MLB minimum
Niekro

by 3Com Park on Sep 22, 2025 1:27 PM EDT   0 recs

Alou has already expressed that...
Next season he is going to return Durham to the 1 hole and slide Winn into a more power hitter's role.  He's been hitting well since he came over, so I like the deal of that.

by WalrusMan on Sep 22, 2025 1:37 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Winn a power hitter?
He's 31 and until this season, he never hit more than 14 HR in one season.  If I was a Giants fan, I would not be happy with Winn being treated as a power hitter.  This season is more of an abberration than anything else.  Even so, he only has 17 HR this season.  That does not scream power hitter to me.  Is Joe Randa a power hitter too?

by count sutton on Sep 22, 2025 1:57 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

well
he isn't a leadoff hitter either. Ideally, he is a backup.

by irwin on Sep 22, 2025 1:59 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

No, not really a huge power hitter...
But the more people in front of Barry we can get to get on base (Durham, Vizquel, Winn) the better.

by WalrusMan on Sep 22, 2025 4:11 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Actually I thought
he said exactly the opposite, that he'd thought about returning Durham to No. 1 but wouldn't because Winn's doing so well there.  Given Ray's inability to run much anymore, it makes sense to put him int he 3 spot in front of Bonds (the happiest little spot in the whole league).

I'd say you're very optomistic predicting 17 wins for Schmidt. That's in the ballpark of his career best, and he just doesn't seem to be getting better at this point.  

They have to commit themselves to cutting some of the dead wood though.  No matter how much it hurts they have to pitch Fonzie (they might have been able to afford Vladdy if they hadn't pitched 8mil a year overboard on this stiff) and they need to trade Feliz for whatever value he has and that's maybe a decent bullpen arm. And they have to resist the urge to resign Snow.  You can't bring in valuable bats if you refuse to get rid of these space eaters on the roster.

by Roger on Sep 22, 2025 2:02 PM EDT to parent up   0 recs

Yeah 17 is very optomisitc...
But I'm saying what I hope he could perform at his best.  17 is very doable, especially if we get a lot of runs next year.

I highly doubt Snow is going to be leaving.  Even if he stays, he probably won't be a starter, but he'll be a defensive input.  I don't know how many times I've seen Niekro botch a ball that Snow would have just gobbled up.

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