I know it is still somewhat early in the season but do you see any improvements to the giants farm system year over year. Any names that could sneak into top 100 lists ?
Roger, you hear it from us all the time, THANK YOU for your rich, insightful, humorous, deep-diving content. Now, every writer thinks about it, (especially those with windshield time as they commute to Flying Squirrel home games). If you were going to write a book, what would it be about and why?
What do you make of Tyler Fitzgerald’s season to this point? For how fast he is, he hasn’t displayed great instincts as a baserunner. I’d be curious to hear if he was this way in the minors, or if he’s become more hesitant at the major league level. Also, his total loss of power has been notable. It seems to me like if he continues to play as he is, he will be more of a bench piece than everyday starter next year.
Is there reason to be optimistic about the depth of prospects coming up with how dominant the DSL and ACL teams have looked? It seems like the DSL, ACL, and even San Jose teams have put up very strong records in recent years, but that has faded away by the time those guys end up in Richmond and Sacramento. I guess my question is how much do the records of these teams matter or act as an indicator of things to come?
How would you compare Brandon Belt and Buster Posey’s first full minor league seasons to what Bryce Eldridge did last year?
Obviously Bryce will never be what Buster was (and still is) to the Giants, but if you were a betting man, would you bet that Bryce ends up with better or worse career offensive numbers than Belt?
Given the success of the lower minors specifically ACL and SJ, do you think the Giants will start moving players up after the 1st half ? Specifically Guttierez, Darby, Jordan, Christian to Eugene, then promote Level, Reynoso, Peralta to SJ? Then put Bo in Richmond! Sorry, as you can see I’m impatient trying to get the talent closer to the bigs!
Thanks as always for your work! I've got 3 questions I'll leave here, feel free to answer any or none at your leisure:
- Is there any way that a player can agree to add options to a minor league contract? It feels so weird that Matos & Luciano, as young as they are, are teetering dangerously close to the precipice of the waiver wire shuffle. In the event that they find themselves minor league free agents before they turn 25, could they agree to a contract with a team that has an option or two so that they can try and make it work in one place instead of bouncing around the league? Or would that actually be worse for the players in ways that I'm not seeing?
Do you think there is a deficit in modern baseball developing "hit first" type of players? When I think of the ideal outcome for players like Matos, Meckler and even JHL to some degree, I think of Panic & Duffy circa '14-'15, spraying line drives all over the field with a bit of pop added in. You've written convincingly about the need for strength & explosiveness in the modern game, but I can't help but feel prior FO did Matos (& maybe Meckler) a disservice by asking him to add strength & bulk up instead of leaning into his natural skill set. Every time Matos yanks a homer to left I wince a little because it feels like he'll be trying to do it again the next 20 at bats, only to end up weekly rolling over ground balls on pitches he should be trying to lace the other way. Luis Arraez is living proof that modern metrics don't quite explain everything about hitting - how many years in a row can you be towards the bottom of the league in things like bat speed & exit velo but still comfortably exceed your expected batting average before we acknowledge it's a distinct skill & not random BABIP luck.
Finally, and this one might be for the off season, but I know a lot of the focus in possible trade scenarios has been on our young pitchers, but I'm wondering how you think other teams might value Bailey? I expressed some skepticism about framing metrics in this space a few months ago, but even with his terrible offense Bailey has done a good job winning me over with his overall defensive game. Feels like any night he's as likely as not to make a potentially game changing play. Still, feels like he would be a better fit on a team like the Yankees or Cubs that could benefit from his defense while not hurting from his lack of offense. Obviously this would only make sense if we could acquire another plus MLB Caliber catcher, but just curious if you think other teams would value him like other players with similar WAR values but who get there with their bats, or if there could be a disconnect with evaluations.
It did! The thing about younger and more athletic is you have to actually have younger more athletic players developing through your system. They don’t come by magic
I was going to ask this a week ago until he started showing some signs of life, but still curious - have you heard anything about Rayner and why his power has taken so long to come back to him? Is he still not 100% from his repeat wrist injuries?
On the other end of the performance spectrum, how seriously do we need to be taking Argenis Cayama? He seems to be mowing straight through the ACL and I've heard pretty positive reviews on his stuff.
Playing off the Craig Kimbrel debacle in which the Giants were indirectly involved last week — and the way Buster has made it a point to talk about continuity and stability being in the best interest of the players — is it time for MLB to take a page out of the NFL’s playbook (three one-game practice squad elevations allowed per season) or from the NHL (30 days/10 games allowed in the NHL before a player has to go through waivers again) in the next CBA to minimize chaos for out-of-options players? Feels like the Braves, Dodgers, Red Sox, Orioles and a few other organizations have gotten into this practice of calling up or signing veteran players and then DFAing them after a single appearance to maximize freshness, which doesn’t seem fun for the players or the fans of those teams (especially when it’s a guy like Kimbrel who people are emotionally attached to).
Roger, wonder what's your take on the trade. Also, how would you or the industry rank Harrison, Birdsong, Roupp, and Whisenhunt?
Anything on Keaton Winn? I know he was put on the 7-Day IL in April but havent heard anything since
I know it is still somewhat early in the season but do you see any improvements to the giants farm system year over year. Any names that could sneak into top 100 lists ?
Roger, you hear it from us all the time, THANK YOU for your rich, insightful, humorous, deep-diving content. Now, every writer thinks about it, (especially those with windshield time as they commute to Flying Squirrel home games). If you were going to write a book, what would it be about and why?
What do you make of Tyler Fitzgerald’s season to this point? For how fast he is, he hasn’t displayed great instincts as a baserunner. I’d be curious to hear if he was this way in the minors, or if he’s become more hesitant at the major league level. Also, his total loss of power has been notable. It seems to me like if he continues to play as he is, he will be more of a bench piece than everyday starter next year.
Is there reason to be optimistic about the depth of prospects coming up with how dominant the DSL and ACL teams have looked? It seems like the DSL, ACL, and even San Jose teams have put up very strong records in recent years, but that has faded away by the time those guys end up in Richmond and Sacramento. I guess my question is how much do the records of these teams matter or act as an indicator of things to come?
I’m curious at what comparative level DSL league is? A D-1 college team? D - II or Juco team?
What else does Bo have to prove? Do you think he gets promoted after the 2025 draft ?
Buster Posey 2009 (A+ & AAA)
115 games, 497 PA
.325/.416/.531
31 2B
18 HR
62 BB, 68 K
Brandon Belt 2010 (A+, AA, & AAA)
136 games, 595 PA
.352/.455/.620
43 2B
10 3B
23 HR
22 SB
93 BB, 99 K
Bryce Eldridge 2024 (A, A+, AA, AAA)
116 games, 519 PA
.291/.374/.516
27 2B
23 HR
59 BB, 132 K
How would you compare Brandon Belt and Buster Posey’s first full minor league seasons to what Bryce Eldridge did last year?
Obviously Bryce will never be what Buster was (and still is) to the Giants, but if you were a betting man, would you bet that Bryce ends up with better or worse career offensive numbers than Belt?
.267/.357/.460
194 HR
125 wRC+
Given the success of the lower minors specifically ACL and SJ, do you think the Giants will start moving players up after the 1st half ? Specifically Guttierez, Darby, Jordan, Christian to Eugene, then promote Level, Reynoso, Peralta to SJ? Then put Bo in Richmond! Sorry, as you can see I’m impatient trying to get the talent closer to the bigs!
Thanks as always for your work! I've got 3 questions I'll leave here, feel free to answer any or none at your leisure:
- Is there any way that a player can agree to add options to a minor league contract? It feels so weird that Matos & Luciano, as young as they are, are teetering dangerously close to the precipice of the waiver wire shuffle. In the event that they find themselves minor league free agents before they turn 25, could they agree to a contract with a team that has an option or two so that they can try and make it work in one place instead of bouncing around the league? Or would that actually be worse for the players in ways that I'm not seeing?
Do you think there is a deficit in modern baseball developing "hit first" type of players? When I think of the ideal outcome for players like Matos, Meckler and even JHL to some degree, I think of Panic & Duffy circa '14-'15, spraying line drives all over the field with a bit of pop added in. You've written convincingly about the need for strength & explosiveness in the modern game, but I can't help but feel prior FO did Matos (& maybe Meckler) a disservice by asking him to add strength & bulk up instead of leaning into his natural skill set. Every time Matos yanks a homer to left I wince a little because it feels like he'll be trying to do it again the next 20 at bats, only to end up weekly rolling over ground balls on pitches he should be trying to lace the other way. Luis Arraez is living proof that modern metrics don't quite explain everything about hitting - how many years in a row can you be towards the bottom of the league in things like bat speed & exit velo but still comfortably exceed your expected batting average before we acknowledge it's a distinct skill & not random BABIP luck.
Finally, and this one might be for the off season, but I know a lot of the focus in possible trade scenarios has been on our young pitchers, but I'm wondering how you think other teams might value Bailey? I expressed some skepticism about framing metrics in this space a few months ago, but even with his terrible offense Bailey has done a good job winning me over with his overall defensive game. Feels like any night he's as likely as not to make a potentially game changing play. Still, feels like he would be a better fit on a team like the Yankees or Cubs that could benefit from his defense while not hurting from his lack of offense. Obviously this would only make sense if we could acquire another plus MLB Caliber catcher, but just curious if you think other teams would value him like other players with similar WAR values but who get there with their bats, or if there could be a disconnect with evaluations.
I'd like to retract the Bailey question. I'm excited about Devers but the whole "younger and more athletic" thing really took a hit here.
It did! The thing about younger and more athletic is you have to actually have younger more athletic players developing through your system. They don’t come by magic
I was going to ask this a week ago until he started showing some signs of life, but still curious - have you heard anything about Rayner and why his power has taken so long to come back to him? Is he still not 100% from his repeat wrist injuries?
On the other end of the performance spectrum, how seriously do we need to be taking Argenis Cayama? He seems to be mowing straight through the ACL and I've heard pretty positive reviews on his stuff.
Playing off the Craig Kimbrel debacle in which the Giants were indirectly involved last week — and the way Buster has made it a point to talk about continuity and stability being in the best interest of the players — is it time for MLB to take a page out of the NFL’s playbook (three one-game practice squad elevations allowed per season) or from the NHL (30 days/10 games allowed in the NHL before a player has to go through waivers again) in the next CBA to minimize chaos for out-of-options players? Feels like the Braves, Dodgers, Red Sox, Orioles and a few other organizations have gotten into this practice of calling up or signing veteran players and then DFAing them after a single appearance to maximize freshness, which doesn’t seem fun for the players or the fans of those teams (especially when it’s a guy like Kimbrel who people are emotionally attached to).
Question on comparing levels of play with college and Minor League system.
For example:
Last year Dylan Carmouche playing in Eugene had a K-BB% of 22.6%.
The year before he was at Tulane and had a K-BB% of 14.9%.
That seemed like a big improvement to me.
How much tougher are the hitters in A+ vs. NCAA? I guessed 50% better.