Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Bochy, Sabean, and news




M.C. O'Connor said...

Both Affeldt and Ramirez are free agents after this season. It would be weird to pick up a guy's option (Affeldt) for a relatively high price ($5M) and then dangle him as trade bait. I'm not sure many other clubs value LOOGYs like the Giants do, so I imagine it would be Ramirez on the block. We'll see. The original rumor appears to be from Ken Rosenthal who is usually pretty solid.

Like you say, you have to move talent to get talent.

nomisnala said...

Who is going to want to pick up Affeldt for 5 mil a year, besides the giants?

Zo said...

Someone who needs a lefty in the pen. And has someone to trade that is in the $3 - 6 million range. That's chicken scratch for any ML team.

And by the way, if anyone is stressing about trades/signings or lack thereof, just think about how you now can consider watching Sunday night baseball without Bobby Valentine's inane drivel.

M.C. O'Connor said...

I like Bobby V. He's a relentless self-promoter, and a motormouth, but he's smart and insightful when he gets around to actually talking baseball. I've often thought about the guys in the game I wish I could have an hour with just to learn from, and I must admit the blabbering egoist from Connecticut would make the cut. He LOVES Brandon Crawford, by the way, but that's not surprising from a former shortstop phenom. Did you know he was married to Ralph Branca's daughter? (Gotta love Wikipedia.)

That being said, I'm not sure the Sawx made the best move. I think Bobby V would be a great manager for a young, rebuilding club. (On the other hand, he likes the spotlight and he'll get it in Boston.) Amazing to me is how small the managerial pool is and how rarely fresh names get fed into the hopper. I love the Cardinals going with Mike Matheny who has ZERO managerial experience! Ballsy move, but so many people speak so highly of the guy it is easy to see why they took a chance.

Coming back the Giants, I can understand their desire to keep the continuity with GM, manager, and assistants. Baseball is a long haul game--long season, long road to the bigs, you know what I mean. It is interesting to still have Sabean who presided over the drafts of guys like Cain and Lincecum and then get to watch them develop from prospects into real ballplayers. That's rare. I think they'd like to keep Bochy, Rags, Wotus, etc. around forever. Hard to argue with that when you ask yourself "who out there would be better?"