Giants trade Jackson, Gearrin to Rangers | The Score

JACKSONVILLE - This is a net gain for the Giants in that it opens up an opportunity for Duggar that he would never have received with Jackson blocking him. Jackson never really got his bat going enough to justify continuing reps, Duggar should be able to produce at Jackson's level. If Chris Shaw is called up next (or Shark/Cueto is moved) you'll know we're playing for the future, but that shouldn't be in the cards right now.

Gearrin was not going to get meaningful opportunities, especially when Strickland gets back. Moving Blach and Holland to the bullpen sealed his fate.

Losing Bahr is not a great loss to the system overall, they just drafted three or four guys with the same or better potential. I would rather see them accumulating prospect rather than shedding them, but losing the # 27 prospect (per mlb.com) from a system that is not very highly regarded would not seem to equate to the tragic loss that some of the "prospects are better than parades" crowd would have you believe. It's the cost of shedding salary.

from thescore.com
https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/1568505

The Texas Rangers have acquired outfielder Austin Jackson, reliever Cory Gearrin, and minor-league right-hander Jason Bahr from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for a player to be named later or cash considerations, the teams announced Sunday.

Jackson, 31, is coming off a bounce-back year as a part-time player with the Cleveland Indians and signed a two-year, $6-million deal with the Giants this past offseason. The journeyman has failed to replicate his 2017 brilliance, posting a .242/.309/.295 slash line over 59 games prior to the trade.

Jackson has been told not to report to the Rangers for a couple days as the team pursues another potential trade involving the outfielder, according to reports from Jon Heyman of Fancred and Gerry Fraley of the Dallas Morning News.

Meanwhile, Gearrin gives the Rangers some bullpen depth in an attempt by San Francisco to get some luxury-tax relief. The right-hander owns a 4.20 ERA over 30 innings this season, and is due the balance of his $1.675-million salary.

With room on the 40-man roster, the Giants purchased the contracts of 24-year-old outfield prospect Steven Duggar and 28-year-old reliever Ray Black.

Duggar impressed out of spring training, but wound up not making the club as San Francisco had a deep collection of outfielders. With Jackson coming off the roster, Duggar's promotion from Triple-A - where he owns a .775 OPS with four homers and 11 stolen bases - made sense.

By taking on roughly $5.25 million in payroll obligations, the Rangers also received Bahr, a 23-year-old pitching prospect. The right-hander ranks as the 27th-best prospect in a weak Giants farm system, per MLB Pipeline. In 16 innings as a starter at High-A, Bahr is authoring a 1.69 ERA.

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2018 MLB Mock Draft v 2.0 | FanGraphs Baseball

For this projection for the Giants to make any sense, you almost have to assume they envision Buster Posey's days behind the dish being numbered. Otherwise, collegiate 3B Alex Bohm might be a better pick from a proximate need standpoint. Singer would not be a disappointing pick for me but Swaggerty would certainly be an eyebrow-raiser giver Duggar's spring showing and visions of Heliot Ramos dancing in Giants fans heads.

from FanGraphs.com
2018 MLB Mock Draft v 2.0 | FanGraphs Baseball:

2. San Francisco Giants – Joey Bart, C, Georgia Tech Bart has long been connected to the Giants. They’ve scouted him arguably as much as any team has scouted any player this spring, and in recent weeks, he’s emerged as the heavy favorite at this pick, with Singer and South Alabama CF Travis Swaggerty representing backup options. GM Bobby Evans and other top club execs saw Mize (at Vanderbilt) and Bart (at Georgia Tech) two weekends ago while the team big-league team was in Atlanta playing the Braves. Skyscraping Kentucky RHP Sean Hjelle is a target in the second round. 

'via Blog this'

The college pitchers, Singer, McClanahan, Gilbert appear to be falling somewhat and my guess is that hurts the Giants more since given the 25-man roster construction re: age, they would seem to crave more immediate help.

I like  Hjelle with the second pick, but you have to see who falls, especially among the college arms.

Giants 2018 Prospects: Hitters Edition

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Last week I posted my analysis of the Giants pitching prospects as I view them today.   https://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2017/12/giants-2018-prospects-pitchers-edition.html

Today, we'll look at the hitting prospects.

Currently, LF looks like SOSDD. If it's not Jarrett Parker v. Mac Williamson 2.0 (Yuck), the best hitting prospect I see is Heath Quinn and I'm not sure he would rise to perhaps the Andrew Susac level as a hitter. Not bad, but not enough. The light should have gone on for Parker and Williamson for that matter. It hasn't.

Of the two CF prospects, I like Duggar's approach over Brian Reynolds. The power potential for Reynolds, is not quite like Parker/Williamson, etc. but one of them has to take command of the position soon.

Aramis Garcia looks the part of a solid backup catcher, but I thought he would hit better than he has to date. He is 25+, so you have to see what you have there, or he moves from prospect to suspect.

On the infield, I like C.J. Hinojosa's hitting approach better than his overall results, which means utility IF at best. The same for Kelvin Beltre at 3B, and it's even harder to be a utility IF at 3B. Jacob Gonzalez flashes the same signals as Beltre, with a smaller sample size. It is good to see a young HS hitter display an advanced, patient approach.

I saved the best for last.

Chris Shaw has a chance to be an elite power hitter. Not quite an advanced hitting approach like Brandon Belt and not quite the same production as Adam Duvall, but maybe a crazy, lower case cross between Belt and Duvall, if that makes any sense. He's a keeper. DO NOT TRADE!!

Heliot Ramos has as good a chance of being the 5-tool type super-star player the Giants have been looking for out of their farm system for many, many years. Also a keeper. DO NOT TRADE!!

It seems as if either Duggar or Reynolds could be included as filler in a trade with Beede / Stratton for either McCutchen or Billy Hamilton. If that's the case, I'd prefer they kept Duggar, but not so much that I would walk away from McCutchen.

It seems like the Giants are leaning towards adding a FA and trading for a piece. DON'T lose the 2nd round pick in this years draft, it appears to be loaded with pitching. Plan A is trade for McCutchen and sign Jay Bruce. Plan B is sign CarGo and trade for Billy Hamilton. See the drop-off? One is a Plan to Contend, the other is a Roadmap to Oblivion.

Anyway, to review the hitter:

+ Propsects:  Chris Shaw, Steven Duggar, Heath Quinn and Heliot Ramos 

                      

?? Prospects:  Aramis Garcia, C.J. Hinojosa , Brian Reynolds, Kelvin Beltre and Jacob                                         Gonzalez 

I don't have any negative prospects here since none of these guys really came with great expectations. WYSIWYG's