The All-Star break is nearing, and many believe it ridiculous that the last-place Giants have 3 All-Stars in the game. What's more ridiculous? The Giants' belief that they should be buyers at the trade deadline. They should not.
Let's start with the obvious. The Gants suck right now. They just got swept by the 4th place Mets. They've lost 16 of their last 19 games. Brandon Belt can't hit, Matt Cain can't pitch, and Jeremy Affeldt just admitted that right now, he stinks. Injuries have caused this team to crumble. Ever since Ryan Vogelsong went down, it's been a spiral of injuries, with extended absences from Angel Pagan and Pablo Sandoval as well. Right now, the team we're putting out on the field feels very much like a minor league team, having seen the likes of Juan Perez, Cole Gillespie, Jake Dunning, Mike Kickham, Nick Noonan, and Tony Abreu all get significant playing time as the starters succumb to the injury bug. The Giants are in reverse right now, and there's no stopping it until Sandoval, Pence, and Belt get out of their slumps and Zito, Lincecum, and Cain get back on track. By the time everything starts clicking again, the Giants will probably be out of the running for the NL West crown. Which is why I'm advocating selling.
The second reason is because our farm system is week. We have few impact prospects and Baseball America ranked the Giants organizational depth at 28th out of 30 teams. The last few years, GM Brian Sabean has essentially traded away key parts of the farm system each year at the trade deadline. Granted, it did help the team win 2 championships in 3 years, but it left San Francisco's farm system brutally pillaged. It's time to replenish.
This is the year to do just that. The Giants simply aren't playing well and it'll be very difficult to win the division, even though the Giants are just 7 games out. I don't think they can win a championship with the pieces they have right now. It's time to trade.
Going down the roster, it's not hard to find tradeable parts. Hunter Pence would be valuable to a team in need of a right handed outfield bat, but he's going to need to break out of that slump to boost his trade value before the deadline. I would be extremely sad to see Pablo Sandoval go, but from a business point of view, the Giants should probably trade him for a prospect before his weight begins to become more of an issue than it already is and starts to ruin his hitting. Plus the team that gets him gets him for two years, not one, so it wouldn't be a rental, making a trade more attractive on the other end. An intriguing possibility is trading away Tim Lincecum, the former 2-time Cy Young winner. He would serve as a decent middle or back-end of the rotation guy for a contender who needs starting pitching. He could even come out of the bullpen, as he showed in the World Series last year. Tradeable relievers include Chad Gaudin, Javier Lopez, and Jose Mijares.
To be honest, the only guy out of the aforementioned that I would be sad to see go is the Panda. As a fan, I wouldn't mind the loss of the others and I would welcome the multitude of prospects they would bring in.
What do you think? Should the Giants be buyers or sellers?
Let's start with the obvious. The Gants suck right now. They just got swept by the 4th place Mets. They've lost 16 of their last 19 games. Brandon Belt can't hit, Matt Cain can't pitch, and Jeremy Affeldt just admitted that right now, he stinks. Injuries have caused this team to crumble. Ever since Ryan Vogelsong went down, it's been a spiral of injuries, with extended absences from Angel Pagan and Pablo Sandoval as well. Right now, the team we're putting out on the field feels very much like a minor league team, having seen the likes of Juan Perez, Cole Gillespie, Jake Dunning, Mike Kickham, Nick Noonan, and Tony Abreu all get significant playing time as the starters succumb to the injury bug. The Giants are in reverse right now, and there's no stopping it until Sandoval, Pence, and Belt get out of their slumps and Zito, Lincecum, and Cain get back on track. By the time everything starts clicking again, the Giants will probably be out of the running for the NL West crown. Which is why I'm advocating selling.
The second reason is because our farm system is week. We have few impact prospects and Baseball America ranked the Giants organizational depth at 28th out of 30 teams. The last few years, GM Brian Sabean has essentially traded away key parts of the farm system each year at the trade deadline. Granted, it did help the team win 2 championships in 3 years, but it left San Francisco's farm system brutally pillaged. It's time to replenish.
This is the year to do just that. The Giants simply aren't playing well and it'll be very difficult to win the division, even though the Giants are just 7 games out. I don't think they can win a championship with the pieces they have right now. It's time to trade.
Going down the roster, it's not hard to find tradeable parts. Hunter Pence would be valuable to a team in need of a right handed outfield bat, but he's going to need to break out of that slump to boost his trade value before the deadline. I would be extremely sad to see Pablo Sandoval go, but from a business point of view, the Giants should probably trade him for a prospect before his weight begins to become more of an issue than it already is and starts to ruin his hitting. Plus the team that gets him gets him for two years, not one, so it wouldn't be a rental, making a trade more attractive on the other end. An intriguing possibility is trading away Tim Lincecum, the former 2-time Cy Young winner. He would serve as a decent middle or back-end of the rotation guy for a contender who needs starting pitching. He could even come out of the bullpen, as he showed in the World Series last year. Tradeable relievers include Chad Gaudin, Javier Lopez, and Jose Mijares.
To be honest, the only guy out of the aforementioned that I would be sad to see go is the Panda. As a fan, I wouldn't mind the loss of the others and I would welcome the multitude of prospects they would bring in.
What do you think? Should the Giants be buyers or sellers?
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