[lex24]

A local writer thought stoman was very possible

  3 years 75 mill.  Opt out after year 2.  In today’s game he’s an innings eater.  Would have played well in SF. Wonder how hard they tried…..

I don't know who the local writer was but I don't believe SF was in the mix once things got serious. $71 mm guaranteed with an additional $4 mm possible in escalators.

I suspect you are right.  But does that suggest a problem?  Are the Giants only interested in bargains? Or, perhaps the Giants feel he’s too much like DeSclafani and Cobb-  basically a sinker/ slider guy.

Stroman is only 30 (turns 31 in May), remarkably durable (32+ starts in four of the last five seasons that he played - he opted out of 2020), and coming off a strong year, so a three year deal would seem to be pretty safe.

He's not everyone's cup of tea but SF did express interest to his agent and had to know that the price tag would be in this range. If the Giants only want reclamation projects or didn't want a ground ball specialist then they wouldn't have been involved at all, one would think.

Stroman is a New Yorker who has spent his entire career in the East and initially made it known he wanted to stay in New York (interest not reciprocated) and then put out tweets indicating that he was interested in Boston or Chicago. So maybe he was only going to consider a west coast team if they paid a premium?

In any case Zaidi clearly follows the Andrew Friedman philosophy of sticking to a number, and in this market and in this era it's perfectly reasonable to build around a journeyman rotation, a deep and effective bullpen, and a powerful hitting attack. But if that's the plan then the Giants need 1) about seven of those types of starters, not 4-5, because you can't count on any of those types being very good, 2) additional elite hitters because their best 2021 batters have either retired or are due for major regression.

I'm not sure who the additional starters should be but Zaidi's track record is very strong. I assume that he's looking at guys like Tyler Anderson or Danny Duffy. On offense adding Suzuki seems obvious but there is a lot of competition. Castellanos and Schwarber are very good hitters and intriguing possibilities assuming that the universal DH is implemented. Beyond that I assume that Zaidi will be monitoring guys like Conforto who could potentially end up settling for a short term deal if a real market for their services doesn't develop.

Personally I love the idea of signing Rodon who is a 28 (soon to be 29) year old left-hander with genuine premium ability. Even on a one- or two-year deal he will be very expensive and could produce nothing due to injury, but it's an upside play with tremendous upside. As per my earlier post, high revenue team like the Giants should not be afraid to spend money and have the wherewithal to take calculated risks like this one, but that's just me.

Good post.  Appreciate yours insights. Biggest concern to me is RH hitting. Castellanos would be a great add. I assume he (and Schwarber) are going to wait until Universal DH comes into CBA. Which will increase their value.

[lex24]

A local writer thought stoman was very possible

  3 years 75 mill.  Opt out after year 2.  In today’s game he’s an innings eater.  Would have played well in SF. Wonder how hard they tried…..

I don't know who the local writer was but I don't believe SF was in the mix once things got serious. $71 mm guaranteed with an additional $4 mm possible in escalators.

I suspect you are right.  But does that suggest a problem?  Are the Giants only interested in bargains? Or, perhaps the Giants feel he’s too much like DeSclafani and Cobb-  basically a sinker/ slider guy.

Stroman is only 30 (turns 31 in May), remarkably durable (32+ starts in four of the last five seasons that he played - he opted out of 2020), and coming off a strong year, so a three year deal would seem to be pretty safe.

He's not everyone's cup of tea but SF did express interest to his agent and had to know that the price tag would be in this range. If the Giants only want reclamation projects or didn't want a ground ball specialist then they wouldn't have been involved at all, one would think.

Stroman is a New Yorker who has spent his entire career in the East and initially made it known he wanted to stay in New York (interest not reciprocated) and then put out tweets indicating that he was interested in Boston or Chicago. So maybe he was only going to consider a west coast team if they paid a premium?

In any case Zaidi clearly follows the Andrew Friedman philosophy of sticking to a number, and in this market and in this era it's perfectly reasonable to build around a journeyman rotation, a deep and effective bullpen, and a powerful hitting attack. But if that's the plan then the Giants need 1) about seven of those types of starters, not 4-5, because you can't count on any of those types being very good, 2) additional elite hitters because their best 2021 batters have either retired or are due for major regression.

I'm not sure who the additional starters should be but Zaidi's track record is very strong. I assume that he's looking at guys like Tyler Anderson or Danny Duffy. On offense adding Suzuki seems obvious but there is a lot of competition. Castellanos and Schwarber are very good hitters and intriguing possibilities assuming that the universal DH is implemented. Beyond that I assume that Zaidi will be monitoring guys like Conforto who could potentially end up settling for a short term deal if a real market for their services doesn't develop.

Personally I love the idea of signing Rodon who is a 28 (soon to be 29) year old left-hander with genuine premium ability. Even on a one- or two-year deal he will be very expensive and could produce nothing due to injury, but it's an upside play with tremendous upside. As per my earlier post, high revenue team like the Giants should not be afraid to spend money and have the wherewithal to take calculated risks like this one, but that's just me.

Good post.  Appreciate yours insights. Biggest concern to me is RH hitting. Castellanos would be a great add. I assume he (and Schwarber) are going to wait until Universal DH comes into CBA. Which will increase their value.