San Francisco Giants: An Offseason Simulation Rebuilds Giants’ Roster

I was able to pull off four major trades that allowed us to reload on some prospects, and shed some pieces that honestly needed moving.

The first major trade that went through was trading away Madison Bumgarner. Honestly, I couldn’t decline the deal offered. In our simulation, here is how the Bumgarner trade went down:

Not a bad deal. But hold on, because in our simulation, Acevedo isn’t even in the system any more. But with an offer including two top 100 free agents, and another solid pitching prospect, it’s hard not to re load the farm system with that group. Heller is also a big league quality reliever that is just forced out of the picture in New York due to the depth they have in their bullpen.

The next deal I swung was for a legitimate outfielder, and I was able to get him for the relative cheap:

Mac Williamson likely will never become an everyday big league outfielder. Joey Gallo is an established one that can play good defense in center field, and hit 40 homers. Gee! Sounds like a solid trade. Most also would agree that Hunter Strickland is on his way out anyways and needs a change of scenery. Pairing him and Stratton in here for one of the Rangers top pitching prospects in Hans Crouse, further stocks up the minor league farm system, while adding to the big league system. Crouse struck out 62 and walked 19 in 54 innings this season at the A-level. The 20 year old likely wouldn’t figure into the big league picture until 2021 or later.

It could be argued that if Samardzija or Anderson earned a rotation spot in 2019, Stratton could potentially be the odd man out. Don’t worry though, I still revamped the rotation. We still have more to get to!

One of the better moves in the trade market made was getting Joe Panik a change of scenery, and getting rid of more than half of the Jeff Samardzija contract. The Giants in this sim would only be on the hook for $9 million dollars a year for the remaining life of the contract. Just a bit less than half, and it opens up a spot for someone who can actually contribute.

In return, we get a corner infield prospect in Craig that’s close to the big league level, and just came off of a season where he hit 20 homers and brought in 104 runs in double-a ball. He strikes out a lot, but welcome to the new MLB. Also, Kevin Kramer is a nice and versatile infielder who can play 2B, SS, and 3B at a competent level, and has a solid right handed bat to match. He will likely be the Pirates opening day second baseman in 2019, and would be a great combo with Alen Hanson as versatile infielders.

The final trade was me just channeling my inner Jerry Dipoto and making another trade for trades sakes:

I told you Domingo Acevedo wasn’t going to be around for long. We packaged him and Chris Shaw as the main headliners to get a real ace in Zack Greinke. I know, I know. We traded Madison Bumgarner, so why go get Greinke instead? My honest answer was that I was channeling Dipoto and really wanted another veteran ace to get into the staff. The Giants wanted Greinke a while back though, and didn’t land him. This time, they get him, and for cheaper than his actual salary as the Diamondbacks are chipping in about $7m a year in for the last three years of his contract.

Why do it? Well, Greinke is around for only three years and nothing more, allowing the Giants to develop the current cache of starters I loaded up the farm system with. Almost every starter added to the farm system has a better chance at being a big league starter than Beede, hence why he became expendable. Shaw is hard to part with as you’ll see it later forced me into a last minute expensive one year contract for a fourth outfielder. However, I think that free agent better serves the Giants than Shaw for the one year he’ll be there. Also, Shaw is who he is. No high average or OBP, just hits a lot of homers and strikes out a lot. We’ll see what happens in real life, but I don’t expect Shaw to be even 2/3 as good as Joey Gallo.

Alright! So those are the trades, and it’s left me with a few holes, so here is how I filled them in free agency.