Rafael Devers to the Giants

Some miscellaneous thoughts on the trade that sent Rafael Devers from the Red Sox to the San Francisco Giants:

• Many Boston fans are calling this a salary dump and that the Red Sox owner is just a cheapskate who doesn't care about winning any more. The sad part is if John Henry ever sells the Red Sox - he'll make billions doing it. 
• In Rafael Devers defense - who knows what the Red Sox front office or ownership promised him before he signed that big 10-year contract. He could quite simply be pissed that they broke their word to him. Knowing how Boston has treated other players - I wouldn't doubt if this was the case.
• Dodgers' ace Clayton Kershaw on the Devers trade.
• Waiting for the Boston Globe's Bob Hohler to do a hit piece on Devers now. This has been John Henry's MO in the past.
• Reminder that not only did the Red Sox scapegoat and move on from players - they also scapegoated and moved on from Theo Epstein, Tito Francona, and after his team won the 2018 World Series GM Dave Dombrowski. The only common link is John Henry.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Interesting look at Quantum Biology. I think this field will have major breakthroughs in the next decade.

- A true American bad ass!

- Guy who reverse-engineered TikTok reveals scary things. "There's a reason governments are banning it. Don't use the app. Don't let your children use it. Tell your friends to stop using it. It offers nothing but a quick source of entertainment that you can get elsewhere without handling your data over to the Chinese government. You are directly putting yourself and those on your network (work and home) at risk."

- Heh Heh

- San Francisco Giants will not have fans at the park this season. The Giants and any team that follows suit should not share in any gate revenue when they play on the road. The reasons for following MLB keep getting fewer and fewer. 

- Canada becomes first to lose AAA rating at Fitch

Thanksgiving Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!... I don't know why I thought of this but is part of I-70 in St. Louis still designated as the Mark McGwire Highway or did people come to their senses? I'm curious about that... Heh heh - all your base... Now that San Francisco has re-signed Aubrey Huff - it will be interesting to see what happens with Giants uber prospect Brandon Belt who has posted better minor league numbers than Buster Posey. I could easily see Belt being a mid-season callup and the Giants moving Huff to the outfield or maybe even 3rd if Kung Fu Panda continues his struggles... Daniel Radcliffe is Harry Potter... I did not see signing Victor Martinez or Adrian Beltre as the main priority for Boston this offseason. I think the Red Sox main priority this offseason should be signing Clay Buchholz to a longterm deal. Yes he has a few more arbitration years available but if he puts up one more season like 2009 (which I think he will) then it will be better for the team longterm to wrap him up now... "It is proposed that happiness be classified as a psychiatric disorder: Major affective disorder, pleasant type"... Just for the heck of it - I did a three-team 10-point tease on the three NFL games today. Just seemed right and now I won't have to worry about doing anything else all day...

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- The Lincecum F*** Yeah song - I swear to God that this song was stuck in my head all day yesterday - Awesome

- Benoit Mandelbrot - RIP

- Olsen Twins Pizza Song slowed down - I couldn't turn away

- Dogs playing poker at the last supper

Pick of the Day

Today's pick of the day is the Giants with Matt Cain starting for a mythical $50 at -$135 to win a mythical $37.

Record 2-2 -$19

Team Snapshot - San Francisco Giants

Last season the Giants were 72-90 and this offseason the Giants have been quietly busy trying to improve on that. They added Randy Johnson to bolster the starting rotation, Jeremy Affeldt and Bobby Howry to bolster the bullpen and Edgar Renteria to bolster their standing among Colombian fans I guess.

C - Begie Molina is pretty solid behind the plate. Not the most flashy of players but solid.

1st - Travis Ishikawa is the starter as of now and he could be good, very good or simply replacement level. The Giants will roll the dice on a couple of young players and 1st base seems like one of the spots they will gamble on.

2nd - The Giants will be looking at a youngster at 2nd as well. It could be 26-year old Kevin Frandsen, 26-year old Eugenio Velez or 23-year old Emmanuel Burriss. None of these guys excite me. It wouldn't surprise me if all three are out of baseball in 5 years.

SS - The Giants added Edgar Renteria as a free agent. I'm not a fan of this move. Will anyone be surprised if Renteria's skills completely fall off a cliff this season? If it happens in San Francisco will anyone actually notice? Another reason to dislike the move is because it unceremoniously shunts Omar Vizquel into retirement and Vizquel deserved better than that.

3rd - Going with another prospect it looks like 22-year old Pablo Sandoval will open the season as the starting 3rd baseman.

LF - Fred Lewis looks like he'll be the starter and at 28-years old he's one of the older players we've discussed so far.

CF - The over-paid but always hustling Aaron Rowand is the starter. The never-have-to-ever-pay-for-a-beer-in-Boston Dave Roberts is the back-up.

RF - Randy Winn lead the Giants last year among positional players in Win Shares. He had 22. For the Giants to be successful in 2009 - Winn will need to duplicate that number (very possible since this is Winn's free agency year) but be 3rd or 4th on the team with that same number.

Starting Pitching - This is the key to the teams success. Tim Lincecum has to be Tim Lincecum and produce another Cy Young worthy season. He's followed in the rotation by youngster Matt Cain, oldster Randy Johnson and hipster Barry Zito. That's 6 Cy Young Awards total among those 4 starters. Add in a healthy Noah Lowry and you potentially have a pretty imposing starting rotation.

Bullpen - Brian Wilson had 41 saves last year but he also had a 4.62 ERA. The Giants will probably be involved in a lot of low scoring, close games (because their starting pitching is good but the offense is weak) and the bullpen is an obvious key to their success. To bolster the pullpen the Giants have added Jeremy Affeldt and Bobby Howry.

The NL West could be wide open this season. The three keys for the Giants (in order of importance) are:

1. Starting pitching. They need to get strong seasons from their starters and they need for the starters to remain healthy. If healthy then the starting pitching alone gives them hope.

2. They need for some of the "kids" to be successful. Whether it be 1st, 2nd, 3rd or LF - they need at least two players to emerge as well above average for them to contend for the NL West.

3. They need the bullpen to keep them in games and they need Brian Wilson to emerge as a true closer.

I really can't see any free agent that could substantially alter the team but having said that the team may need to sign just one more free agent to give them flexibility because the Giants really don't have the farm team depth to make a good trade mid-season. Then again - chances are much higher that they will be sellers and not buyers come the All-Star game so maybe they should just save the money and see how the kids perform.

Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

You want to know why the Orioles are in first place in the AL East with a 6-1 record? Going into today's games the Baltimore Orioles have used 8 pitchers in relief and only Greg Aquino among those 8 has allowed an earned run (he has allowed 2 in 1 and a third innings). That's 7 relievers with 0.00 ERA's. They have only allowed just 3 runs all season from the 7th to 9th innings. That's why they have been winning... Jason Kendall is leading the NL in batting with a .522 average. Is it too early to ask if he'll be able to hit .400 in a season? No? Well is it too early to speculate if he'll break Hugh Duffy's single season mark for batting average? Duffy hit .440 in 1894. Kendall's got that topped by over 80 points at the moment... I'm frankly surprised that the Giants have managed to win 3 games already with that line-up...

Hideki Matsui to Giants?

The hot rumor has the Yankees sending Hideki Matsui to the Giants for pitcher Jonathan Sanchez. My take on the rumor? I hope its true. Matsui is one of the few Yankee batters who Red Sox fans fear. I'd be glad if the Yankees traded him away for a young pitcher who basically would be middle relief help for the 2008 Yankees. If this was any other team but the Yankees - a move like this would be classified as a "salary dump". My guess is that if there is any validity to this rumor at all - then acquiring Sanchez would just be to include him or another Yankee pitching prospect into a sweetened deal for Johan Santana. It is more probable that nothing becomes of this rumor.

Mike Lowell

OK - this will probably be my last post on Mike Lowell until he signs somewhere. I was curious what teams would be in need of a 3rd baseman who will bring Gold Glove caliber defense, a veteran presence and potentially 20 HR but would cost about $50 million over 4-years.

I thought the best way would be to look at this division by division.

AL East - The Red Sox obviously want him back but for a 3-year deal. The Yankees supposedly have A-Rod back in the fold and I doubt if Lowell really wants to switch to 1st right now. The Orioles have Melvin Mora signed up till 2009 and they need to get younger not older. Forget the (Devil) Rays. Mike Lowell rakes the ball in Toronto but they already have Troy Glaus and his no trade contract to deal with. So that just leaves the Red Sox as a probably landing spot for Mike Lowell.

AL Central - The Indians have Casey Blake and Andy Marte supposedly waiting in the wings. I doubt they make Lowell a better offer than the Red Sox. The White Sox could do something but they already have Joe Crede who has not yet turned 30 at a third the cost and Josh Fields waiting in the wings. They won't make an offer to match the Red Sox. Kansas City? They have two young stud 3rd baseman. Why would they need an old one? The Tigers have Brandon Inge signed up till after the 2010 season. I don't see them making a play. The Twins wouldn't even offer Torii Hunter a 4-year deal. Sure they could use Mike Lowell but they will be getting younger when they trade Johan Santana - why would they need a high priced veteran on their limited budget? I see no potential suitors for Lowell in the AL Central.

AL West - The Angels have Chone Figgins, Dallas McPherson and Brandon Wood potentially to man the hot corner. Sure they were interested in A-Rod but that is because they need a big bat to protect Vlade Guererro in the line-up. Lowell doesn't fit that bill but Miguel Cabrera would. The A's have too much tied up in Eric Chavez to be involved in the bidding. Same is true with the Mariners with Adrian Beltre. Jon Daniels wants the Rangers to get younger so a deal for Lowell is improbable. I see no potential suitors for Lowell in the AL West.

NL East - The Mets have David Wright, the Nationals Ryan Zimmerman and the Braves have Chipper Jones. That leaves the Phillies. They have Wes Helms under contract until 2009 but he's cheap. The Phillies could use a veteran presence like Mike Lowell but do they outbid the Red Sox is the question. Lowell has hit the ball very well at Citizens Bank Park in the past and the Phillies could use a big splash signing. Philadelphia is a very real potential landing spot for Mike Lowell.

NL Central - The Cubs have Aramis Ramirez, the Brewers have Ryan Braun (and Bill Hall), the Reds have 24-year old Edwin Encarnacion, the Astros have Ty Wiggington at a cheap price and the Cardinals have Scott Rolen (but they would love to be rid of him). That just leaves the Pirates and the odds of the Pirates out-bidding the Red Sox are as great as Dennis Kucinich winning the White House. I don't see any potential suitors for Lowell in the NL Central but that could change if the Cardinals off-load Scott Rolen.

NL West - Mark Reynolds is just 24 and a keeper for the Diamondbacks. The Rockies have two young stud 3rd baseman - so scratch them. The Padres have young Kevin Kouzmanoff. The Dodgers have Nomar for one more year and I doubt they would out bid the Red Sox. That leaves just the Giants. The Giants have Rich Aurilia under contract for one more season but at short money. They could potentially try and make a splash with Lowell - especially with Barry Bond's money coming off the books. Brian Sabean has proved time and again that he's not afraid of signing older players. The Giants could be the real wildcard in the pack. If they are the only team to offer Lowell a 4th year and that's a sticking point with Lowell then the Giants could win the bidding by default.

So I see three real suitors for the services of Mike Lowell. The Red Sox have an offer on the table for 3-years and Lowell will probably give the Red Sox the option to meet any offer. Pat Gillick of the Phillies is on record as saying the Phillies are only interested in spending free agent money on pitching and pitching should be their number one priority. However, if they start to lose out on on starter after starter who refuse to go to Citizens bank Park on their own volition - then they may want to make a splash with Lowell. I think San Francisco would be Lowell's third choice of the bunch. When you look at it logically - it adds up to Mike Lowell re-signing with the Red Sox.

EDIT: Lyford has a very good post on Mike Lowell's numbers. He comes to the same conclusion that a 3-year deal is OK but a 4-year deal would not be. I agree.