Zaidi's History of Talent Acquisition

One reasons I and others like Zaidi is his history of talent acquisition, as GM of the Dodgers and now as President of Baseball Operations for the Giants.  That is the reason I was so strongly for Sabean during the late 2000's when it seemed like I was the only one to think that of him, at least on the main Giants board.   I thought I would examine Zaidi's best acquisitions as Dodger GM, and how that looked in 2019, now that he leads the Giants.

End of an Era: Madison Bumgarner Signs With D-Backs

I heard the news today, about a lucky man who made the grade:  Madison Bumgarner signs with the D-backs for 5 years, $85M, or $17M per season, but with $15M deferred, averages $14M during contract.

Baggarly reported that the Giants went as high as 4 years, $70M.  Baggarly reported that from his talks with Bumgarner before, Arizona was clearly of interest to him because he and his wife loves the area, and has a ranch there, which they can then live at for most of the year now that he works nearby.

Your 2020 Giants: Rule 5 Draft Pick, RHP Dany Jimenez

The Giants selected RHP Dany Jimenez (again from the Blue Jays, who they took another pitcher last year) in the Rule 5 Draft, filling in their last 40-man roster spot.  As usual, they need to keep him on their 25-man roster the whole 2020 season, or they'll have to offer him back to the Blue Jays for half what they paid them (I think it's $100,000 to select him, but could be more now).

Here is what Baseball America had to say about him (got it from Hank Schulman tweet):

Fangraphs' Eric Longenhagen wrote: 

Dany Jimenez, RHP (from TOR)
Like Ramirez, Jimenez also signed late, agreeing to his first pro contract just before he turned 22. He also missed most of 2017 due to injury, and those sorts of factors combined to limit him to just 33 innings above A-ball even though he is about to turn 26. He sits 93-95, touches 97, the heater spins at about 2450 rpm, and Jimenez’s vertical arm slot makes it hard for hitters to discern the fastball and his power breaking ball from one another. I think he’s pretty likely to stick in a relief role.

Alex Pavlovic wrote about the pick:

Jimenez has a live arm and better command than you usually see from Rule 5 picks. The Giants will throw him in the bullpen mix but must return him to the Blue Jays if Jimenez is not on their big league roster. 

"We were happy he fell to us," general manager Scott Harris said. "As we talked about all week, we're trying to find talent. We're trying to find new creative ways. This isn't the most creative way but we got an arm we like." 

...

Jimenez has a strong shot at making the opening day roster and has a better shot than most Rule 5 picks of surviving. It's easier to hide a pitcher in your bullpen all year, particularly with the rosters expanding and the Giants able to carry 13 arms throughout the season. Jimenez also has more experience than Bergen did. He reached Double-A last season and dominated, posting a 1.87 ERA and striking out 46 in 33 2/3 innings.  

Harris said Jimenez has a fastball in the upper 90s. He has averaged 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings in the minors and has kept his walk rate on the high end of what's acceptable. That might play in the big leagues, giving the Giants a free reliever at a time when their bullpen is undergoing massive changes. 

The Giants did not lose anyone in the major league portion of the draft, but lost three prospects in the minor league phase:

• pitcher Adam Oller was selected by the Mets
• infielder Manuel Geraldo was selected by the Nationals
• pitcher Miguel Figueroa was selected by the Reds

These players are gone, they do not need to be returned.

Your 2020 Giants: Day 2 of the Winter Meetings

Today has been an eventful winter meetings, as Andy Baggarly had sagely forecasted about the Giants winter meetings in general, in his article on The Athletic.  Hopefully there are more to come.

Here are the moves they made today:

• Traded with Angels, taking on Zack Cozart's contract ($12.7M in 2020), and receiving their 2019 First Round pick (#15 overall), Will Wilson, SS, their #5 prospect per MLB Pipeline.  The Giants owe future cash considerations or a PTBNL
• Signed RHP Kevin Gausman to $9M contract, with up to $1M in performance bonuses

Your 2020 Giants: Winter Meetings Thoughts

With the winter meeting in gear, the following news items got the gears rolling:

• Kevin Pillar was non-tendered (estimated $10M arbitration), among others
• Bumgarner reportedly wants to return to the Giants but they haven't contacted him yet
• Giants are reportedly the top bidder for Nicholas Castellanos at the moment 

[Note: had this basically written up before events of today, signing and trade; will post separately post Winter Meetings, for thoughts on impact]