12 Comments

I'm curious about your thoughts about the Rule 5 protections for Randy Rodriguez and Jose Cruz over the last two years. What's the threshold to make this a successful strategy for a relief pitcher coming off a standout Low-A performance? My read: to become a high-leverage reliever early in their big league career (a very high bar). Not only are Rodriguez and Cruz taking up valuable 40-man spots, but they're also burning some of their three option years that Farhan has coveted for relievers. Clearly, these Rule 5 protections signal the Giants must've either felt these pitchers were close to MLB-ready (despite no experience beyond Low-A) or would quickly become impact relievers once they made the big leagues ... or both. Otherwise, they'd risk exposing them. When making the decision to protect Rodriguez and Cruz, where do you think the Giants set the bar for their outcome?

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Completely agree - I really can't see that any team would have picked them up as Rule 5 drafters and retained them in the 40-man.

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Patrick Bailey has become a fascinating case for the organization. Based on the coverage by you and others as late as heading into spring training, it seems shocking that he’s already earned a Triple-A promotion. Some thought he shouldn’t even get assigned to Double-A until he mastered High-A pitching! Farhan & Co. must’ve had much more conviction about Bailey’s offensive ability than analysts did. And now, the narrative has morphed into a big league promotion this season seeming “inevitable,” in your words. What explains the gap between the Giants’ and analysts’ views of Bailey heading into the year? And more importantly, what’s the likelihood the Giants stick to the old adage of a prospect needing several hundred upper minors at-bats before reaching the bigs? I sense you’re concerned Bailey might be getting fast-tracked prematurely. Especially in light of Joey Bart’s rocky first few years in the show, I hope the Giants give Bailey ample time to refine his game without the pressure of the brightest lights.

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I've often heard that only 8-13% of guys in the minors make it to the major league level. Including what you've seen this spring, if you could try to identify the 10% of players across all levels that have the best chance to make it to the majors at some point in their careers, what are the areas of strength of this subset of players (not the entire organization)? And alternatively, what are the areas of need from this group (not positionally, but attributes, e.g., left handed power, etc)?

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Why is Blake Rivera repeating AA or at the very least, why not get a call-up when he’s dominating that league?

And, on that note, what’s with Vaun Brown’s rehab process? Luciano jumped right to AA—why does Brown need to make stops in A ball?

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Two questions: 1. What adjustment (if any) should we be making to college guys' numbers in Low-A? Especially thinking of older players like Bertrand, Howell, Higgins, O'Tremba, basically anyone born before 2000.

2. Does it concern you that San Jose has just 7 of your top 50 guys and nobody above #29 Gerelmi Maldonado? Does this mean the current wave of guys in AA/AAA need to have a good amount of success, because the next wave is maybe underwhelming? Or is it too early to tell?

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Roger - love the mailbag! Thoughts on Fitzgerald now that he's at Sac. Do you think he could be in SF next year and at what position? Seems like there are a number of infielders on the cusp!! Thank you!

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Great to see the footage of Crawford (Reggie version). Have the Giants given any indication of when/if we might see him in SJ?

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Given that the big team is having problems in the bullpen, who are the arms you see as most likely to b looked at as an in house solution? As of now I know they pulled up Waites regardless of his somewhat dicey start to the year

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I’d like to know about the Waites decision?

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Is Meckler that new-fangled AI baseball playing robot--thingy?

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Latest MLB Pipeline mock draft has the Giants taking SS Matt Shaw (I'm still tipping SS Tommy Troy from Stanford) - do you see 2023 reversing the last couple of years and being position player heavy? And who is your pick at this early stage?

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