[Mick]

I’m so unimpressed with Zaidi’s people skills. John Shea at the Chronicle interviewed JD Davis and reports that Davis has had no contact from management since the Chapman signing. This is getting reported right after Crawford publicly zinged Zaidi for telling him he could come to spring training as him a non-roster invitee. The old regime certainly had its flaws, but respecting the veterans wasn’t one of them. Letting Panda have a few at bats in camp isn’t going to paper over what now looks like a fundamental leadership problem. I mean, we recently found out that Zaidi hired a dude who preferred to communicate by text.

I’m contrasting this in my head with the 49ers situation when Trey Lance lost the backup job to Sam Darnold and Shanahan offered to trade Lance to get him into a better situation and also publicly blamed himself for Lance not developing as planned.

Was thinking that same thing. Grim. Also thought of the scene in Moneyball when Billy Beane encourages the Podesta-ish character to speak directly and candidly with a ballplayer to let him know he'd been traded. Apparently that was before Zaidi's time...

On slightly different news, Susan Schlusser reports that the Giants are still in on Blake Snell. I don't know if the Yankees pulled their 6 year/$150 mms. offer, so I don't know what Snell expects or wants.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb...3a29&ei=15

I do know that with Chapman, the Giants projected total tax allocation is a sliver over $215 million, and the tax threshold is $237 million. And if they trade JD Davis, that will free up an additional $7 million. They're overloaded on infielders and young talent, so they could sign another pitcher or two.

San Francisco Giants 2024 Salaries & Payroll Table | Spotrac

They are closer ($227.7MM) to the luxury tax limit per Cot’s….

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...1520401900

Who is Cot? I'm unfamiliar with that source.

[Mick]

I’m so unimpressed with Zaidi’s people skills. John Shea at the Chronicle interviewed JD Davis and reports that Davis has had no contact from management since the Chapman signing. This is getting reported right after Crawford publicly zinged Zaidi for telling him he could come to spring training as him a non-roster invitee. The old regime certainly had its flaws, but respecting the veterans wasn’t one of them. Letting Panda have a few at bats in camp isn’t going to paper over what now looks like a fundamental leadership problem. I mean, we recently found out that Zaidi hired a dude who preferred to communicate by text.

I’m contrasting this in my head with the 49ers situation when Trey Lance lost the backup job to Sam Darnold and Shanahan offered to trade Lance to get him into a better situation and also publicly blamed himself for Lance not developing as planned.

Was thinking that same thing. Grim. Also thought of the scene in Moneyball when Billy Beane encourages the Podesta-ish character to speak directly and candidly with a ballplayer to let him know he'd been traded. Apparently that was before Zaidi's time...

On slightly different news, Susan Schlusser reports that the Giants are still in on Blake Snell. I don't know if the Yankees pulled their 6 year/$150 mms. offer, so I don't know what Snell expects or wants.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/mlb...3a29&ei=15

I do know that with Chapman, the Giants projected total tax allocation is a sliver over $215 million, and the tax threshold is $237 million. And if they trade JD Davis, that will free up an additional $7 million. They're overloaded on infielders and young talent, so they could sign another pitcher or two.

San Francisco Giants 2024 Salaries & Payroll Table | Spotrac

They are closer ($227.7MM) to the luxury tax limit per Cot’s….

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1...1520401900

Who is Cot? I'm unfamiliar with that source.