HIilarious take on a Giants hot stove rumor

[Matt]

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2015/1 ... s-gonzalez

[Mike Dunn]

Dreaming is what off seasons are for.

I loved this line:

Hunter Pence caught his nose on a car antenna while jogging

[Borealis]

Hunter Pence caught his nose on a car antenna while jogging

Or more likely, riding his scooter to cross the street from his condo to the ballpark...

Pretty hilarious article and an unlikely trade. Sure, they need a LF and, sure, the need a CF - Pagan can't stay healthy for more than 60% of a season at this point. If Blanco leaves in free agency - and he's been an extremely valuable guy off the bench, then Pence will be covering the entire OF.

Please, oh, please - Not Heyward. He's HORRIBLE! Of all the OF options floated about, the only one I'd care for is the one who played across the Bay originally - Cespedes.

Plus, I doubt the Giants move Beede - they need starting pitching, badly, and Beede may not be far away.

[Arroyos]

Stop worrying, Michael. Just look at history. We know that ANY moves the Giants make in the early months of 2016 will be blessed. It's an even numbered year, man. SF can do no wrong.

See you in the World Series. Can you get me seats?

[Matt]

Hunter Pence caught his nose on a car antenna while jogging

Or more likely, riding his scooter to cross the street from his condo to the ballpark...

Pretty hilarious article and an unlikely trade. Sure, they need a LF and, sure, the need a CF - Pagan can't stay healthy for more than 60% of a season at this point. If Blanco leaves in free agency - and he's been an extremely valuable guy off the bench, then Pence will be covering the entire OF.

Please, oh, please - Not Heyward. He's HORRIBLE! Of all the OF options floated about, the only one I'd care for is the one who played across the Bay originally - Cespedes.

Plus, I doubt the Giants move Beede - they need starting pitching, badly, and Beede may not be far away.

Not a Heyward fan either. In 3 yrs he will be useless dead weight. Not big on Cespedes either. Gordon might be a fit if we get him on a reasonable 3 yr deal. I worry about CF though. Please don't make us suffer through another year with the man of glass, Pagan.

[Borealis]

Please don't make us suffer through another year with the man of glass, Pagan.

Yeah... I'm afraid we've one last swing with Pagan. It's so too bad he's gonna all 'Camacho' on the Giants - their with and without Pagan splits are staggering. Blanco has been mostly a servicible replacement, but there's been no word (unless I've missed something on page 9) on his FA status. All we know for sure is it won't be Gary Brown...

[Matt]

Pagan should be a bench player at this point in his career. On a girls slow pitch softball team.

Dexter Fowler would be slightly interesting as a 4th outfielder. Hell, he will be guaranteed to at least start the 130 or so games that Miss Pagan is not available.

[Mike Dunn]

Apparently Cueto to Giants, 6-year deal pending physical. Didn't see a price tag. Six years seems huge for a guy with an injury history.

[Borealis]

Apparently Cueto to Giants, 6-year deal pending physical. Didn't see a price tag. Six years seems huge for a guy with an injury history.

$130M, with two opt-outs... Ridiculous...

[Lions]

Opts outs are the cost of doing business with the top FA's these days. I think most teams are hoping that the players will play well enough to exercise it, and that they'll then have the restraint to let them go. That didn't work out too well for the Yankees. It's almost certain to backfire on other teams, too.

[Matt]

I don't see Cueto as having unreasonable injury risk. In 6 of his 8 mlb seasons he has made 30+ starts. In ATT park he puts up some more sub 3 era seasons and pitches in a few more world series games.

[Coqui]

Opts outs are the cost of doing business with the top FA's these days. I think most teams are hoping that the players will play well enough to exercise it, and that they'll then have the restraint to let them go. That didn't work out too well for the Yankees. It's almost certain to backfire on other teams, too.

I don't know that anyone has really been burned by an opt-out clause yet. I assume Frank is referring to the Yankees' second signing of A-Rod. I look at it differently - doubling-down after a player opts out is a second decision that doesn't indict the first signing.

For that matter, I think that second A-Rod deal wasn't a horrible one for the Yankees - maybe not a bargain, but he's put up 24.5 WAR, and thanks to his suspension (he lost over $22M thanks to his suspension), he's "only" been paid ~$213.9M ($6M attributable to a HR milestone already achieved). That's $8.73M per WAR, as compared to the generally accepted average $/WAR value of free agents of $7M per WAR. Add in that the $7M/WAR figure is probably going up this postseason, and that A-Rod is owed merely $21M per year for the remaining two years of his contract*, and there's a chance that the contract could actually pay off. After all, A-Rod was worth 3.1 WAR last season, which in market terms is worth at least $21.7M.

* - Nota bene that those additional $24M in bonsues tied to A-Rod's presumed home run chase are looming. From Cot's:

$30M marketing agreement based on home run milestones, paying $6M each for reaching 660, 714, 755 and tying (762) and breaking (763) major league HR record

Given A-Rod's notoriousness, those bonuses aren't great.