2024 Rosterbation

[LHG]

We may know by the end of the year where Yamamoto lands. His posting is expected to happen in the next few days and MLB teams have 45 days to come to an agreement before the posting is closed.

Orix Buffaloes Approve Posting Of Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Shortly after losing Game 7 of the Japan Series to the Hanshin Tigers, the Orix Buffaloes announced this morning that …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

Meanwhile, it remains unknown whether either of Manaea or Conforto will opt out. Both decisions, as well as the Cobb option, have to be decided by tomorrow evening.

Ross Stripling Exercises Player Option With Giants

Right-hander Ross Stripling has exercised his $12.5MM player option for next season, per Danny Emerman of KNBR.com. Stripling, 34 this …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

 

[LHG]

Cobb, no surprise, has his option picked up. Manaea, mildly surprising, opts out. Now just waiting on Conforto's decision.

Giants To Exercise Club Option On Alex Cobb; Sean Manaea Opts Out Of Contract

The Giants intend to exercise their $10MM club option on Alex Cobb's services for the 2024 season, according to Jon …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

 

[sf1giantfan]

I’m ok with both decisions, even though with the hip surgery for Cobb I think it is a wise (and cheap) investment to bring him back.

I never cared for the signing of Manaea, and he proved it with his early starts. He was put into a multi pitcher position because of his poor performances. He did pick up later in the season in that role but to me not enough, so I want a rookie or a new signing to replace him.

 

[calsnowskier]

Cobb, no surprise, has his option picked up. Manaea, mildly surprising, opts out. Now just waiting on Conforto's decision.

Giants To Exercise Club Option On Alex Cobb; Sean Manaea Opts Out Of Contract

The Giants intend to exercise their $10MM club option on Alex Cobb's services for the 2024 season, according to Jon …

www.mlbtraderumors.com

In a vacuum, it is good that Manaea is opting out.

But what is the political fallout? Manaea is in a position where opting out is a real risk. And he chose that over remaining a Giant.

 

[LHG]

I’m ok with both decisions, even though with the hip surgery for Cobb I think it is a wise (and cheap) investment to bring him back.

I never cared for the signing of Manaea, and he proved it with his early starts. He was put into a multi pitcher position because of his poor performances. He did pick up later in the season in that role but to me not enough, so I want a rookie or a new signing to replace him.

In a vacuum, it is good that Manaea is opting out.

But what is the political fallout? Manaea is in a position where opting out is a real risk. And he chose that over remaining a Giant.

That eventual pickup in performance, along with the frustration over his role (what was promised vs. what actually happened), I think, pushed him to opt out. I don't think he was happy with how he was used. Wasn't there some rumors that both he and Stripling were promised roles in the rotation, only to get bounced around in different roles, and that made both unhappy?

 

[calsnowskier]

That eventual pickup in performance, along with the frustration over his role (what was promised vs. what actually happened), I think, pushed him to opt out. I don't think he was happy with how he was used. Wasn't there some rumors that both he and Stripling were promised roles in the rotation, only to get bounced around in different roles, and that made both unhappy?

That is kinda the genesis of my comment.

If he ends up getting more than 12M on a 1 year pact or a longer deal, maybe the Giants can get away from this without much damage. But if he ends up taking a financial hit, it won’t look good for the Giants.

As far as he and Strip being pissed about their rolls, I have zero sympathy for them. They both sucked ass and EARNED their demotions.

 

[LHG]

That is kinda the genesis of my comment.

If he ends up getting more than 12M on a 1 year pact or a longer deal, maybe the Giants can get away from this without much damage. But if he ends up taking a financial hit, it won’t look good for the Giants.

As far as he and Strip being pissed about their rolls, I have zero sympathy for them. They both sucked ass and EARNED their demotions.

Word gets around. I wonder what kind of damage this does for the Giants on the free agent market. ("FZ lies. Make sure you get your role in the contract" or "They better overpay to get you").
If I remember correctly, both pitchers weren't given much time to settle into the starting rotation. In fact, wasn't one of them relegated to bulk pitcher at the start of the season?

 

[tzill]

So, while I'm happy Manaeuuuugh opted out, I'm disappointed that Forto opted in.

1/2 ain't bad I guess.

 

[LHG]

I didn't notice this until someone at MLBTR pointed it out, but Conforto's 2021 and 2023 seasons are very close to identical.

2021	28	NYM	NL	125	479	406	52	94	20	0	14	55	1	0	59	104	.232	.344	.384	.729	100	156	14	12	0	2	3	*9H/D
2023	30	SFG	NL	125	470	406	58	97	14	0	15	58	4	0	53	106	.239	.334	.384	.718	99	156	12	7	0	4	4	*97DH

 

[tzill]

I didn't notice this until someone at MLBTR pointed it out, but Conforto's 2021 and 2023 seasons are very close to identical.

2021	28	NYM	NL	125	479	406	52	94	20	0	14	55	1	0	59	104	.232	.344	.384	.729	100	156	14	12	0	2	3	*9H/D
2023	30	SFG	NL	125	470	406	58	97	14	0	15	58	4	0	53	106	.239	.334	.384	.718	99	156	12	7	0	4	4	*97DH

Might be exactly what he is now: a league average LH platoon OF who is only a mediocre fielder.

As a 1 WAR player, he is way overpaid for 24. At least he's off the books EOY and might be a minor trade piece.

 

[tzill]

Looking at the Giants' projected group of position players for next season:
Catchers (2) - Bailey*, Sabol*
IF (7) - Flores, LWJ, Estrada, Davis, Luciano*, Fitzgerald*, Schmitt*
OF (5) - Yastrzemski, Slater, Haniger, Conforto, Matos*

*MiLB options remaining

Using this to highlight some of the roster's inherent inflexibility with players under contract/team control and why it might make some sense to trade from that group to create opportunities for improvement.

 

[Stokes1931]

Looking at the Giants' projected group of position players for next season:
Catchers (2) - Bailey*, Sabol*
IF (7) - Flores, LWJ, Estrada, Davis, Luciano*, Fitzgerald*, Schmitt*
OF (5) - Yastrzemski, Slater, Haniger, Conforto, Matos*

*MiLB options remaining

Using this to highlight some of the roster's inherent inflexibility with players under contract/team control and why it might make some sense to trade from that group to create opportunities for improvement.

That's four OF over 30+. How exactly are the Giants supposed to get younger and more athletic with that logjam in the OF? All four of the over 30+ OFers were injured for a significant amount of time in 2023. And FZ is hoping they will get healthier in 2024? Not seeing it.

 

[calsnowskier]

That's four OF over 30+. How exactly are the Giants supposed to get younger and more athletic with that logjam in the OF? All four of the over 30+ OFers were injured for a significant amount of time in 2023. And FZ is hoping they will get healthier in 2024? Not seeing it.

That’s why they need to dump Haniger and/or Conforto in a trade, essentially as negative value transactions.

Further, I have assumed they will offer Arb to the whole Arb class this year, but maybe they let Slater walk. That will be sad to lose him, but he may be a roster crunch casualty.

 

[LHG]

That's four OF over 30+. How exactly are the Giants supposed to get younger and more athletic with that logjam in the OF? All four of the over 30+ OFers were injured for a significant amount of time in 2023. And FZ is hoping they will get healthier in 2024? Not seeing it.

Giants Pursuing Rotation Help, Outfield Upgrades

Giants president Farhan Zaidi says he'll seek starting pitching and more athletic outfielders this winter. Get more details at MLB Trade Rumors.

www.mlbtraderumors.com

 

[Stokes1931]

Giants Pursuing Rotation Help, Outfield Upgrades

Giants president Farhan Zaidi says he'll seek starting pitching and more athletic outfielders this winter. Get more details at MLB Trade Rumors.

www.mlbtraderumors.com

Excuse me, but I'll it when I see it.

How's the decision process, LHG? Proverbs 3:5-6

 

[Sandisfan]

Some writer at CBS sports web site has the usual big names going to the usual places but has a 25 year old outfielder from Korea Jung-hoo Lee going to the Giants. I am not familiar with him and have doubts we get anything other than guys like we got this last off season.... that is the usual suspects with a lottery chance of something good.

 

[LHG]

Some writer at CBS sports web site has the usual big names going to the usual places but has a 25 year old outfielder from Korea Jung-hoo Lee going to the Giants. I am not familiar with him and have doubts we get anything other than guys like we got this last off season.... that is the usual suspects with a lottery chance of something good.

He has been mentioned in passing on a couple of posts here. Basically, he is putting up some good numbers in the KBO league (although his numbers this season weren't that good, his worst season since 2019 but still pretty decent). My concern is that KBO hitters usually see at least a 100 point dip in OPS moving from KBO to MLB. He is only 25 so there is still some upside so maybe he turns out to be slightly better than Conforto (and still an upgrade compared to Haniger's 2023 season). I don't know what to expect with him.

Jung Hoo Lee Korean Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

Jung Hoo Lee Korean Leagues Statistics including batting, fielding, prospect rankings and more on Baseball-Reference.com

www.baseball-reference.com

 

[calsnowskier]

He has been mentioned in passing on a couple of posts here. Basically, he is putting up some good numbers in the KBO league (although his numbers this season weren't that good, his worst season since 2019 but still pretty decent). My concern is that KBO hitters usually see at least a 100 point dip in OPS moving from KBO to MLB. He is only 25 so there is still some upside so maybe he turns out to be slightly better than Conforto (and still an upgrade compared to Haniger's 2023 season). I don't know what to expect with him.

Jung Hoo Lee Korean Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

Jung Hoo Lee Korean Leagues Statistics including batting, fielding, prospect rankings and more on Baseball-Reference.com

www.baseball-reference.com

To be more culturally educated, his family name is Jung or Lee?

 

[LHG]

To be more culturally educated, his family name is Jung or Lee?

 

[LHG]

Not a great comparison, but he is the only Korean hitter the Giants have signed in a while (or ever), is Jae-gyun Hwang. He was older (29) when signed and his career wasn't as consistently good as Lee has been, but he had posted OPS over the 3 years prior to the Giants signing him of .864, .870 and .964. The Giants went on to give him a mere 18 games with the big league club, where he posted an OPS of .459, but his AAA numbers, .785 OPS in 98 games, was a bit underwhelming. He landed back in Korea in 2018 and posted an OPS of .885.

There have been a few other Korean hitters who've come over to the big leagues in the past 10 years. The two that I can think of off the top of my head are:
Jung Ho Kang - Signed by the Pirates in 2015 at the age of 28, he had been phenomenal in his last 3 seasons in the KBO, .973, .876 and 1.198. His 1st two seasons with the Pirates were pretty good (.816 and .867) but hardly what he did in the 2 of those last 3 seasons in the KBO. His baseball career came undone due to personal issues, playing only 68 games at the MLB level since 2016 and another 16 games in the minor leagues. He never returned to play baseball in Korea.
Ha-Seong Kim - Kim is closest in age to Lee when he signed with an MLB club, being 25 when the Padres signed him for 2021. However, Kim's offense was a bit lower than Lee's, with a career OPS of .866 in the KBO. That career OPS was due to a fairly consistent run by Kim between 2015 and 2019, where his OPS never went above .880 or below .832 in those 5 seasons. His OPS did jump to .921 in his last KBO season. In this 3 year MLB career to date, he has posted an OPS of .622, .708 and .749.

My take is to expect a Korean hitter's OPS drop at least .100 points in a transition to the MLB. I think it would be fair to expect Lee to post an OPS around .750 to .800 in 2024. That means Yastrzemski like production. I don't know what his defensive abilities are so I'm not really convinced he would be a good signing (unless it means Haniger is gone).