R.I.P. Francisco Liriano; Barry Zito: 7 years, $126 million.
The Giants have many, many, many holes in their team and a poor farm system. They were ranked #18 out of 30 by BA in 2006, and that was including Matt Cain in the mix. Now he's with the big league team. The team was 24th in all of baseball in runs scored last season, and they start the following players as of today(age in parentheses):
C Bengie Molina (32)
1B Rich Aurilia (35)
2B Ray Durham (35)
SS Omar Vizquel (39)
3B Pedro Feliz (31)
LF Barry Bonds (42)
CF Dave Roberts (34)
RF Randy Winn (32)
Why would you waste $126 million on one guy. Will the Giants win a World Series between 2007 and 2013? It's hard to imagine. It could happen, but it will have to happen sometime near the end of the contract, because the current lineup isn't close, and it's ancient. The only guy with power on that team is Barry Bonds, and he's crumbling faster than Weetabix. In my opinion, a team willing to invest $126 million over 7 years would be better off putting that money into international signings, player development, and multiple low cost/short term players to keep the fans coming.
If your $126 million turns into 2 top notch pitchers, and 3 regular Major League everyday players that will team with the excellent Matt Cain, you can position yourself as the best team in the division for the decade of the 2010s. If you fail to make the playoffs almost every one of the next 7 seasons, you've basically just pissed away a huge chunk of your organization's resources for nothing. Then again, this is the team that traded Francisco Liriano, Boof Bonser, and Joe Nathan to the Minnesota Twins for A.J. Pierzynski and cash. OH MY GOD!!!!
Sorry, I have to type that everytime I see it in print. Imagine Liriano, Cain, and Bonser fronting the Giants rotation for the next 10 years with Nathan closing. Three minor league contracts that will be top MLB pitchers for the next decade.....It's no wonder they signed Zito. It makes perfect sense now.
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Liriano, Cain, Bonser, and Nathan
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3 comments:
Well, Liriano was coming off 2 straight years cut short by injury, and Nathan had exactly one good half-season in the bigs.
The trade looks bad now, but back then it wasn't so bad.
But imagine Cain and Liriano now, man...
If Cash can't get Jackson or Montero then perhaps it is time to consider other trades. Kouzmanoff, Linebrink + sounds good and we can spin Linebrink for propects. All I am saying is that we have two very deep areas right now. Right handed pitchers and right handed relievers.
Karstens
Rasner
White
Sanchez
Hughes
Clippard
These are all RHP and all are close ,if not, major league ready. Adding Owens, Nippert, or Ohlendorf is just piling on. Morever we have no place to put them, as the AAA rotation is set. Do you release White and Rarstens to make room?
Britton
Bean
Beam
Veras
Cox
Whelan
Patterson
Clagget
These are all relievers who project to make the Majors. We have depth in these areas, we don't need to trade to add to these areas. Focus on C and IF. If however Cash can spin say White and Nippert for hitting prospects more power to him.
In addition Loretta will be our best utility man in years.
I follow you b/c, but none of them are guaranteed to be legit starters for the Yankees. By piling on you increase your chances that one of them may be for real. Beyond that you also increase your ability to trade young pitching for a great veteran. That's the chip in Cashman's hand now.
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