Jon Lester a Giant?

[tzill]

 

[jingo]

Must be getting old. When I woke up this morning, I thought it was Monday. But Nightengale says that they MET late Monday night.....Note to self: when I wake tomorrow morning, send Nightengale a message asking him what the winning Mega numbers are.....

 

[SFGRTB]

This sounds more promising than the "Giants getting serious consideration" tweets. The latter to me sounds like Lester's party trying to get the other teams to drive up their price. The former actually makes it seem like progress is being made.

In any case, we should find out tomorrow.

 

[calsnowskier]

Assuming this does not become another "Zito", I agree that this is more optimistic news than "The Giants are all-in" or "The Giants are getting aggressive".

Give me specifics, like "Bochy spent time with him", or "Huddy is giving the hard-sell" or "Posey has had face-to-face time tying to get him to sign". This is info I can do something with. "Aggressive" or "all-in" are BS terms.

 

[Montalban]

Assuming this does not become another "Zito", I agree that this is more optimistic news than "The Giants are all-in" or "The Giants are getting aggressive".

Give me specifics, like "Bochy spent time with him", or "Huddy is giving the hard-sell" or "Posey has had face-to-face time tying to get him to sign". This is info I can do something with. "Aggressive" or "all-in" are BS terms.

Something about Lester gives me trepidation. I'll be concerned whether he can do what he did in Boston a couple of times.

 

[calsnowskier]

Something about Lester gives me trepidation. I'll be concerned whether he can do what he did in Boston a couple of times.

That's where the "Assuming..." part of my post came in. Signing ANY SP to a long-term deal is a risk. Even if the guy is home-grown (see Cain, Matt).

 

[Montalban]

That's where the "Assuming..." part of my post came in. Signing ANY SP to a long-term deal is a risk. Even if the guy is home-grown (see Cain, Matt).

I'm to the point where I'm saying if we get him, OK, if we don't, that's OK too. We certainly could use the "good" Jon Lester, I just don't want the mediocre Jon Lester.

 

[jeep99tj]

Upside to Lester becoming a Giant which I hope happens. He'll be pitching in a pitchers ballpark, no DH plus competing with MadBum to be the ace which I think will make MadBum better as well. It will cost some money and possibly one more year then anyone wants but I do think the upside will out weigh the downside. 16-11 last year with a 2.48 ERA could only be better in Frisco.

 

[calsnowskier]

Upside to Lester becoming a Giant which I hope happens. He'll be pitching in a pitchers ballpark, no DH plus competing with MadBum to be the ace which I think will make MadBum better as well. It will cost some money and possibly one more year then anyone wants but I do think the upside will out weigh the downside. 16-11 last year with a 2.48 ERA could only be better in Frisco.

A few assumptions...

1) The Giants know more about the Giants financial situation and the potential of any players beyond 2 years away than we do.
2) Our "window" will be "closed" in 2-4 years.

Assuming these things, I will trust any signing they make. Who am I to legitimately complain about them anyway when they clearly have more info and have a track record of making the best decisions of any org in baseball, regardless of what each decision specifically may look like?

If our window is only for another few years, who cares if we have an albatross or two on the payroll after? It will give us something to talk about in the lean years, at least.

 

[Montalban]

There it is.

A few assumptions...

1) The Giants know more about the Giants financial situation and the potential of any players beyond 2 years away than we do.
2) Our "window" will be "closed" in 2-4 years.

Assuming these things, I will trust any signing they make. Who am I to legitimately complain about them anyway when they clearly have more info and have a track record of making the best decisions of any org in baseball, regardless of what each decision specifically may look like?

If our window is only for another few years, who cares if we have an albatross or two on the payroll after? It will give us something to talk about in the lean years, at least.

There it is.

 

[Mays-Fan]

We lost on Lester.

Giants Out Of Running For Jon Lester ? MLB Trade Rumors

8:21pm: The Giants were called by Lester earlier tonight to inform them that he was signing elsewhere, assistant GM Bobby Evans told reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of the Bay Area News Group). As Evans put it, “We did not receive a rose.”

 

[Montalban]

We lost on Lester.

Giants Out Of Running For Jon Lester ? MLB Trade Rumors

8:21pm: The Giants were called by Lester earlier tonight to inform them that he was signing elsewhere, assistant GM Bobby Evans told reporters (including Alex Pavlovic of the Bay Area News Group). As Evans put it, “We did not receive a rose.”

I'm not even a little bit surprised. I was pretty sure he wasn't coming here. No big deal.

 

[SFGRTB]

I think the thing that worries me most is the Giants thought the hole in the rotation was significant enough to most most of their cards on the table to fill it. It's early in the offseason still though. Time to move on.

McCarthy+Headley+OFer

FWIW, Evans said Giants like Upton, but would only consider him if they lost out on Lester.

 

[calsnowskier]

I don't mind so much on losing out on Lester, in a vacuum. The problem I have is that now it opens the door to Santana, and surrendering the #19 pick.

I would be more OK with McCarthy or Masterson, or if we have to go the QO FA route, go for Scherzer.

 

[Reefer]

I think the thing that worries me most is the Giants thought the hole in the rotation was significant enough to most most of their cards on the table to fill it. It's early in the offseason still though. Time to move on.

McCarthy+Headley+Upton

FWIW, Evans said Giants like Upton, but would only consider him if they lost out on Lester.

I don't mind so much on losing out on Lester, in a vacuum. The problem I have is that now it opens the door to Santana, and surrendering the #19 pick.

I would be more OK with McCarthy or Masterson, or if we have to go the QO FA route, go for Scherzer.

I think McCarthy/Headley/Upton is a combination that would make the Giants competitive next year. Upton is a long shot to me though, but the idea of acquiring a power hitter in his prime is exciting. I think they want more of a top of the rotation starter than McCarthy, but that type of pitcher may not be available to them.

I'm curious to see what Lester ends up getting. Scherzer turned down $144, is rumored to want $200. Don't see the Giants making that happen. I agree on Santana, if you are surrendering the 19th pick, then it should be Santana/Melky or Scherzer. Just Santana is not worth it IMO.

With the Giants finishing runner up in Pablo, Abreu, Tomas, Lester, and I think they said that about Castillo as well, it tells me that they are likely not willing to go over what they believe is good value. On the other hand, they have to realize what that feels like to the fan base to continually be excited about the prospect of adding an impact player and ultimately be disappointed when they sign elsewhere. The world champs need to make a statement, but at the same time be fiscally responsible. Not sure if that is possible in this FA market.

 

[tzill]

I don't mind so much on losing out on Lester, in a vacuum. The problem I have is that now it opens the door to Santana, and surrendering the #19 pick.

I would be more OK with McCarthy or Masterson, or if we have to go the QO FA route, go for Scherzer.

If by "Santana" you mean "Big Game James," I disagree.

We need a solid 200 inning type guy. Bum is a stud and Cain "should" be fine, but Huddy's 39 and Timmah is broken.

#1 priority is to fix that rotation. Before 3b, before LF.

 

[calsnowskier]

If by "Santana" you mean "Big Game James," I disagree.

We need a solid 200 inning type guy. Bum is a stud and Cain "should" be fine, but Huddy's 39 and Timmah is broken.

#1 priority is to fix that rotation. Before 3b, before LF.

No. By "Santana", I mean Santana. There have been quite a few rumors over the last few days that the Giants have been laying the ground work with Santana as a possible Plan B.

Since you brought up Shields, though, I would place him in about the same class as Santana. I am ONLY interested if the Giants get him AND another QO FA or two. Him alone would be a bad signing.

 

[Montalban]

Lester to the Cubs today. It amazes me that free agents do not want to play for the Giants. They have the best stadium, the Bay Area is a nice place to live and the Giants have the best team concept in baseball and a winning tradition.

It tells me that most of today's players, despite what they say in public, do not care about winning; its about getting paid.

 

[calsnowskier]

Lester to the Cubs today. It amazes me that free agents do not want to play for the Giants. They have the best stadium, the Bay Area is a nice place to live and the Giants have the best team concept in baseball and a winning tradition.

It tells me that most of today's players, despite what they say in public, do not care about winning; its about getting paid.

It is a business. This is their career, and they only have a small window to be able to make as much as they can.

Also, California taxes are quite prohibitive. I am not sure about the accuracy, but on KNBR yesterday, they sais that assuming the Giants had offered the same contract to Sandoval, taxes would have been approx. 7M more had he signed with SF. I am not sure KNBR understood how taxes work for athletes, though (taxes are applied for where the game is played, not for where the players team is based).

Finally, just because we love the Giants does not mean that every player does too. Lester has a history with Epstein, and I think that if Lester believes there is any chance for the Cubs to win, he wants to be a part of breaking the curse. That would be a legit draw, I think.

 

[Montalban]

It is a business. This is their career, and they only have a small window to be able to make as much as they can.

Also, California taxes are quite prohibitive. I am not sure about the accuracy, but on KNBR yesterday, they sais that assuming the Giants had offered the same contract to Sandoval, taxes would have been approx. 7M more had he signed with SF. I am not sure KNBR understood how taxes work for athletes, though (taxes are applied for where the game is played, not for where the players team is based).

Finally, just because we love the Giants does not mean that every player does too. Lester has a history with Epstein, and I think that if Lester believes there is any chance for the Cubs to win, he wants to be a part of breaking the curse. That would be a legit draw, I think.

Something to be said about quality of life though as well. Although Chicago is a fantastic place, I would rather raise my family in the B.A. Besides, how much money does a guy need? When its up there around 150 mil, I would think that 7 Mil doesn't mean a whole lot, but that's just me.

It just seems to me that this organization has so much to offer yet never attracts a free agent of any significance.