Giants sign Gausman - 1-year/$9M

[homer]

I'd be more than happy giving Alex Wood a "prove it" deal.

[BrewBalls]

$9 mil seems a bit steep for this early for a bounce back candidate. I'm perfectly fine allowing Stearns to wait it out until February and take a flyer on any of the following who still haven't signed: Taijuan Walker, Alex Wood, Julio Terehan, Aaron Sanchez, Josh Lindblom, Wade Miley, Drew Smyly and Matt Moore

You can't be serious, right?? They need a LEGIT #2 at worst, none of those guys are even solid #4's. How do any of them improve the rotation significantly?? They might as well light their money on fire.

I never said the Stearns shouldn’t look to sign someone like Ryu, Keuchel or even Roark. Or trade for another starter (i.e. Price, Ray, Boyd, Kluber). My point was simply stating that I wouldn’t be so quick to drop $9MM on a bounce back candidate when you can likely find someone similar later in the offseason for less to compete in ST for a spot in the rotation since Burnes, Peralta, Lauer and Houser all have options

[liveforoctober]

$9 mil seems a bit steep for this early for a bounce back candidate. I'm perfectly fine allowing Stearns to wait it out until February and take a flyer on any of the following who still haven't signed: Taijuan Walker, Alex Wood, Julio Terehan, Aaron Sanchez, Josh Lindblom, Wade Miley, Drew Smyly and Matt Moore

You can't be serious, right?? They need a LEGIT #2 at worst, none of those guys are even solid #4's. How do any of them improve the rotation significantly?? They might as well light their money on fire.

 

We have seen enough from Stearns and his FO to know that they don't want a #2 pitcher in the same way you want one. They want to acquire someone who will perform at the level of a #2 pitcher and I think there IS a difference in those two things.

 

Traditionally acquiring a #2 pitcher would be signing someone who has a track record of good success under most conditions. Those guys cost a lot of money. Stearns and Counsell believe (and have proven depending on your opinion) that circumstance, situational usage, skillset matching, etc can squeeze value out of guys. In theory, you can get a guy like Brent Suter and squeeze tons of value out of his skillset by limiting exposure, piggybacking with an alt skillset, throwing him against free swinging lineups, etc. You can increase value from guys like Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Lyles and Junior Guerra by doing the same.

 

Obviously it isn't always pretty. Shaw was a great example until he wasn't. Chacin was a good example until he wasn't. Jeffress was a unique but good example until he wasn't, etc

 

The point is, the only way we are going to sign a guy like Ryu is if Stearns and Co think we are getting him at a surplus value. If we are signing him for the money of a "#2" and Stearns believes we can extract the value of a "#1". If he doesn't believe he is getting surplus value ... the poster above you is 100% serious and those are the names we will be sifting through. Stearns will sign the guy he believes Counsell can extract a "#3" out of.

[mattyo]

$9 mil seems a bit steep for this early for a bounce back candidate. I'm perfectly fine allowing Stearns to wait it out until February and take a flyer on any of the following who still haven't signed: Taijuan Walker, Alex Wood, Julio Terehan, Aaron Sanchez, Josh Lindblom, Wade Miley, Drew Smyly and Matt Moore

 

Stearns and co. will be looking at guys of this level, especially now that the two top FA pitchers have gone.

[BrewBalls]

$9 mil seems a bit steep for this early for a bounce back candidate. I'm perfectly fine allowing Stearns to wait it out until February and take a flyer on any of the following who still haven't signed: Taijuan Walker, Alex Wood, Julio Terehan, Aaron Sanchez, Josh Lindblom, Wade Miley, Drew Smyly and Matt Moore

You can't be serious, right?? They need a LEGIT #2 at worst, none of those guys are even solid #4's. How do any of them improve the rotation significantly?? They might as well light their money on fire.

 

We have seen enough from Stearns and his FO to know that they don't want a #2 pitcher in the same way you want one. They want to acquire someone who will perform at the level of a #2 pitcher and I think there IS a difference in those two things.

 

Traditionally acquiring a #2 pitcher would be signing someone who has a track record of good success under most conditions. Those guys cost a lot of money. Stearns and Counsell believe (and have proven depending on your opinion) that circumstance, situational usage, skillset matching, etc can squeeze value out of guys. In theory, you can get a guy like Brent Suter and squeeze tons of value out of his skillset by limiting exposure, piggybacking with an alt skillset, throwing him against free swinging lineups, etc. You can increase value from guys like Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Lyles and Junior Guerra by doing the same.

 

Obviously it isn't always pretty. Shaw was a great example until he wasn't. Chacin was a good example until he wasn't. Jeffress was a unique but good example until he wasn't, etc

 

The point is, the only way we are going to sign a guy like Ryu is if Stearns and Co think we are getting him at a surplus value. If we are signing him for the money of a "#2" and Stearns believes we can extract the value of a "#1". If he doesn't believe he is getting surplus value ... the poster above you is 100% serious and those are the names we will be sifting through. Stearns will sign the guy he believes Counsell can extract a "#3" out of.

I would say Alex Wood has produced at a #2-3 level when healthy. Unfortunately he just can’t seem to stay healthy. He’s basically a younger version of Rich Hill who is dominant when he is healthy enough to be on the mound. Speaking of Wood and Hill I’d be happy signing either pitcher to a one year deal.

[Oxy]

 

We have seen enough from Stearns and his FO to know that they don't want a #2 pitcher in the same way you want one. They want to acquire someone who will perform at the level of a #2 pitcher and I think there IS a difference in those two things.

 

Traditionally acquiring a #2 pitcher would be signing someone who has a track record of good success under most conditions. Those guys cost a lot of money. Stearns and Counsell believe (and have proven depending on your opinion) that circumstance, situational usage, skillset matching, etc can squeeze value out of guys. In theory, you can get a guy like Brent Suter and squeeze tons of value out of his skillset by limiting exposure, piggybacking with an alt skillset, throwing him against free swinging lineups, etc. You can increase value from guys like Gio Gonzalez and Jordan Lyles and Junior Guerra by doing the same.

 

Obviously it isn't always pretty. Shaw was a great example until he wasn't. Chacin was a good example until he wasn't. Jeffress was a unique but good example until he wasn't, etc

 

The point is, the only way we are going to sign a guy like Ryu is if Stearns and Co think we are getting him at a surplus value. If we are signing him for the money of a "#2" and Stearns believes we can extract the value of a "#1". If he doesn't believe he is getting surplus value ... the poster above you is 100% serious and those are the names we will be sifting through. Stearns will sign the guy he believes Counsell can extract a "#3" out of.

 

Bingo. Great post. Instead of banking on 1 mediocre guy for $9M to suddenly find it, you need to spread out your risk and sign 3-5 guys on MiLB contracts with an invite to big league camp. Or else you sign a Josh Lindblom type for $3M/yr. Pitching is just too volatile. Put your money into well rounded position players and fill in arms where you can and constantly trade for high upside very young arms who may develop into aces.