KeithStone53151

Decent and cheap is the key. The Giants are in penny pinching mode, very little space under the luxury tax. If the Giants made a trade with us for Broxton, I wouldn't be surprised if they asked us to eat most of salary this year even though it's only a league min. I don't think anyone is trying to say he's going to get us a top 5 prospect from them or anything, even from that farm. I think we can get some upside though, some younger players that may or may not develop.

What has he shown that gives any indication that he can start? You had people wondering if he could start when he was drafted. Medeiros improved his WHIP from 1.94 in 2016 to 1.31 in 2017 as a 20/21 year old in high A. He also reportedly had improved stuff, I had read previously in 2016 that he dialed things back to try and harness better control. He will be 21/22 this year and like to open either in high A or AA. He also logged 128 innings of pro ball experience The biggest issue I saw with Medeiros last year was the big inning. It was amazing how often he'd allow a combined 5-6 walks or hits and 4 of them would score, especially considering he was pretty good at keeping the ball in the park. That blew up his ERA and made it look much worse than it rightfully should have been. For a purely statistical comparison, Zack Brown pitched to a 1.32 WHIP in Wisconsin last year...had a higher hr/9 rate...and finished with a 3.39 ERA in Wisconsin. That's more along the lines of what I'd expect with that WHIP, 4.98 is unusually high. I think Medeiros is heading into 2018 significantly underrated considering the improvement he made. If he can make more incremental improvements, I suspect we'll easily see it in bottom line results for him this year.

There is no single stat that defines a player. Pointing solely to OPS+ isn't enough. I suspect many on this board want a guy that makes contact and doesn't strike out much to offset much of our strikeout-heavy offense. Harrison has a lower OBP than one might like, but also a higher average and doesn't strike out much. A single > a walk, and the career 280ish avg he has is pretty good even though it's fairly empty. Harrison is probably a marginal upgrade over a perez/sogard platoon, and his best year doesn't even touch what Villar might do. Since trading for Harrison likely means he's getting significant PT at 2b, I'd probably prefer to roll with Villar and have Sogard/Perez as the fallback than trade for Harrison. I also generally don't see that much of a gap between Harrison and Walker. Walker might be a small notch higher than Harrison due to slightly higher OBP and SLG, but he also gives up some ground with a lower avg, less speed, worse defense. I personally don't see a reason to make a move at 2b at all.

Did you even bother to look at how they got to their 0.1 WAR projection, or just stick with the classic "find one stat that supports my opinion and ignore all evidence to the contrary" line of thinking? Fangraphs projects him to hit .213 avg, .312 BABIP, and .376 slugging. All 3 of those are significantly lower than anything he's done in his career to this point. It's almost like fangraphs literally drew numbers out of a hat, as there is no basis for him putting up numbers like that. And as far as his defense, he was a plus defender according to metrics in 2016 and a negative value in 2017. This goes to show how useless defensive WAR metrics are as his defense didn't significantly change from 2016 to 2017. He's an above average defender in CF with that speed, athletic ability, and arm. I think a line of 220/300/400 with 20 SB and above average defense is the minimum production you get from Broxton next year...which is worth more than 1 WAR for those that love that stat. If his BABIP gets closer to his career norm into the 350 range, he's probably an 800+ ops guy and a solid regular on any team. I personally would be inclined to keep Broxton if it weren't for Phillips/Brinson, those guys are the only reason he's expendable. And just to add a note, McCutchen has been told he'll play a corner spot in SF. So they still needs a CF.

I'd like to think the Brewers should have one for sure at each of outfield and 2b, potentially could see 2 at each position though. I don't think Erceg sneaks into the 3b list and we aren't really close anywhere else.

2 of those 3 years for Harrison are option years, options that I would think are unlikely to be picked up as they are above market value(approx 10 million apiece). Only 1 year guaranteed. It's tough to justify giving up much value for Harrison considering Walker is still available and very few teams have a need at 2b.

Age is a much more significant factor to speed guys than power or contact guys. And you are completely discounting Broxton's power. I get there's been a power surge, but Broxton put up 20 HR in about 3/4 of a season worth of at bats. On the offensive side, Broxton is far superior even if he has the same season he did last year. But you forget that Broxton still has upside if the right hitting coach can get things to click for him. And Broxton made a couple bonehead moves on fairly routine plays that likely impacted his defensive ratings. That may still happen, but he's right up there as a defender with Dyson...especially when you consider he has a much better arm and Dyson likely slowing down as he ages. Look at May and June of 2017 splits to see what Broxton is capable of. That's an upside nobody in FA except maybe Cain can even touch. I feel like so many people look at the k rate and WAR and completely discount Broxton as a valuable piece. He's no world beater and I don't expect one of their top 5 prospects in a deal, but we can probably get an arm or outfielder with upside or something like the Lind return if they have talented 17-18 year olds.

https://www.mlb.com/news/2018-top-10-right-handed-pitching-prospects/c-264702134?tid=151437456 I was initially disappointed to not see Burnes sneak into the back end of this listing, then I saw McKenzie at 9th. It's incredible how stacked the minors are with stud RH SP.

I think Broxton makes so much sense for the Giants. He has the big time speed to cover a ton of ground, not as much as Hamilton but the latter will cost far more in prospects and more in salary as he's already in arbitration. Also with Broxton, I don't think that park will suppress his power much. Most of his HR were not cheap. I know it isn't often, but if he connects...it's going a long way. With Broxton in CF I would say they have plus outfield defense with McCutchen and Pence. Disagree. The Giants are almost always in the top 10 in lowest K%. Usually right around the top 5 for the past decade. Why would they want a guy that strikes out 35% of the time? Now, if he costs them basically a throwaway prospect, sure. On the Giants website, McCutchen is now listed as their starting CF with Parker in LF. They can go out and Dyson who is probably a better defender for cheap. If Dyson costs them $2 million, maybe they'll have to do some sort of trade where they trade trash for trash to save $1 million or something, but all of these options are probably superior to trade for Broxton, which they barely have any ammo left to trade for even though I don't think he's worth too much on the market. Maybe Dyson is more expensive but there are a handful of guys that are on the market right now that are fast and can be had for nothing. Or, there are probably several guys riding the bench for teams or sitting buried in AAA that are fast like Broxton and can muster a .700 OPS. I'd argue that Gorkys Hernandez who the Giants currently have might make more sense because his style of play fits AT&T park better and he's fine on defense as a CF. Personally, I'd rather take the guy that's 27 and produces at a significantly higher clip over the 33 year old guy who relies purely on speed and isn't productive...but makes contact. Dyson is a 250/325/350 slash line and 25-30 SB, but only if he's part of a platoon as he's dreadful against LHP. Broxton has the big K rate but he makes enough contact to be productive. The only free agent that is clearly ahead of Broxton is Cain. I'd put Gomez/Maybin/Jay in the same value class, but they all get it done differently. The rest are worse than Broxton. Those 3 guys I listed made 8-10 million last year, that's not a sum the Giants can pay and stay below the luxury tax. They could probably opt to grab Austin Jackson, Bourjos, or Dyson if they wanted for less...but they are sacrificing significant production in doing so.

If there are no significant changes to the MLB roster, we will likely have to cut loose one of Aguilar/Perez. As you've noted, Perez's versatility isn't as critical given we are carrying 4 OF of which 2 can play CF well. If we go the simple/obvious route of trading spare parts for what we can get and keeping the roster intact, I would anticipate both Broxton and Perez being dealt.

I think Broxton makes so much sense for the Giants. He has the big time speed to cover a ton of ground, not as much as Hamilton but the latter will cost far more in prospects and more in salary as he's already in arbitration. Also with Broxton, I don't think that park will suppress his power much. Most of his HR were not cheap. I know it isn't often, but if he connects...it's going a long way. With Broxton in CF I would say they have plus outfield defense with McCutchen and Pence.

Deciphering GM speak is far from an exact science, but there are definitely takeaways from hearing what they have to say. Stearns generally doesn't comment on specific players. The most common thing I've heard from him is he's active on multiple fronts but nothing is one phone call away. He also made a comment to haudricourt implying that we likely won't make any enormous FA signings, I forget the exact quote. I buy most of that. If we did sign Darvish, he could easily say that the price came down to a point that was worth the investment. Either way, he's good at leaving wiggle room so he isn't downright lying to the media.

No way are the Yankees trading Torres. Zero chance. Maybe Adams, but I don't think I'd give him up if I were the Yankees. I'd probably try to push Sheffield on us along with another good piece or two. That's probably not worth Shaw though.

I don't think Broxton has value to a contender. A 2nd division team in a rebuild looking for a flyer they can flip for prospects, one that can give him consistent playing time in CF? That team might give up a flyer worthy return. We shouldn't expect to get top 10 prospects or anything unless it's from the Angels or something.

Looks like Bryan Reynolds heading back as well. I think this is a good deal for the Pirates.

If the Giants are going all in, wouldn't they want Smith in their pen? Yeah that's about where I figure the Giants are. I wouldn't be surprised to see them try and compete for 1-2 years and then trade posey, let Bumgarner walk in FA, and do a full rebuild.

I doubt it, Pence and now McCutchen are the only reasonable or better outfielders on that roster. So Crick is bullpen arm with significant team control, I feel like him alone is a very solid return for 1 year of McCutchen. Bullpen arms are skyrocketing in value, savvy move by the Pirates there.

Kyle Crick is part of the deal.

As far as we know, Jim Bowden is the only guy who reported anything. Others picked up on it and started talking. Jim Bowden loves player movement. To be more specific, Jim Bowden talks constantly that teams who happen to be .500-ish or under, or who are in small markets, or who are (or should be) rebuilding, should do nothing other than trade good players to large market or good teams. Personally, I can't stand Jim Bowden. For a team at the stage in the rebuilding process that the Brewers are, signing Mike Moustakas and trading Travis Shaw makes zero sense. Such a move would add huge and needless cost for a player who's older, not necessarily any better and actually probably a little worse, and too similar of a hitter to way too much of the rest of the current roster. Again, per Haudricourt on Twitter this a.m. (boldfacing is mine): What I have learned about Stearns and Co is that they "check in" on nearly every available player, just to make sure they know cost. Very big on due diligence. Doesn't mean it will happen. All Bowden said is that the Brewers "checked in" on Moustakas. The "2+2" he puts together is pure Bowden-like (annoying) conjecture. I'll agree that Bowden is the only guy making these connections on Shaw, but more people have connected us to Cain. Generally speaking I wonder if we might make a move to add salary and trade a vet for prospects. I still think it's unlikely, I expect us to move Broxton and one of Perez/Aguilar and that's about it.

According to this guy, Ramos also isn't in the trade. This feels like it's going to be a bad deal for Pittsburgh.

Giants are out on Cain/Martinez, but still need another outfielder. Also Beede not part of the deal, which should be fairly obvious as 1 expensive year of McCutchen is not even close to worth Beede.

I oddly think Jimmy might come back better than before. Nobody in the game works as hard as this guy, he's like a machine. I am wondering if he might show up to spring in much better physical shape along with already throwing.

I'm trying to come up with what they might give up for one year of McCutchen. I doubt Shaw, Beede, or Ramos are moving, and I don't think the Giants have much for spare parts at the MLB level. Maybe they take an outfield prospect like Bryan Reynolds and a low level pitcher with upside?

My first thought, there goes the primary landing spot for Broxton. Giants send right hander Kyle Crick and OF Bryan Reynolds in exchange for McCutchen and $2.5M cash. Crick was once a top 100 prospect before being slowed by injuries and ineffectiveness. However, he rebounded the last year and posted solid number with SF over 29.1 innings. The switch hitting Reynolds hit .312 at A+ ball with 10 HR. He is a former 2nd round pick (2016) He was the Giants 4th ranked prospect (in a weak system). Edit: Added trade details to post.

Is he trying to learn world-class whining techniques?