Giants add Gennett, deal others.

The trade deadline trades that one might have thought that Farhan Zaidi would have been making even a month ago didn't occur, but that didn't mean that the San Francisco Giants stood idle at the deadline as the team attempted to add to their offense for their post-July playoff try and yet still moved some players to gain for the future as well.

The one trade that added to the current roster could be a major addition with some luck as the Giants sent the always ambiguous "Cash Considerations" to the Cincinnati Reds for veteran second baseman Scooter Gennett.
Gennett (29) has struggled to a .212 average without a homer in sixty-six at-bats after missing much of the season with a severe groin strain suffered in an Arizona spring training game.
While Gennett has been having his problems at the plate since returning to the Reds lineup, his previous two seasons in Cincinnati saw his hitting leap forward after what had been an average career with the Milwaukee Brewers with averages of over .290 in both seasons, a combined total of fifty homers and 189 RBI.
Gennett will likely replace Joe Panik at second base, mainly because I cannot imagine the Giants bringing Gennett in, only to sit him behind Panik, who is hitting just .231 as of this writing,
Gennett is a free agent at the end of the season, but to add a potential All-Star level bat for what seems to be as simple as paying Gennett (who is making just under ten million for 2019) his salary for the rest of the season is a low cost in talent terms and well worth the risk even considering his recent struggles.

The Giants didn't only make trades to add to the rosters, they made three to add talent to their upper minor league levels-all of these trades would send away relievers, but none of the top relievers were moved as both Will Smith and Tony Watson would stay after being mentioned often as trade bait for contenders for months.
The Giants have drafted well over the last two seasons and their lower-level teams have several potential quality players, but their AA (Richmond) and AAA (Sacramento) are downright bereft of position players.

The first of these trades would see San Francisco trade pitchers Drew Pomerantz off the main roster and Ray Black from AAA Sacramento to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for AAA shortstop Mauricio Dubon.
Dubon, a 25 year old from Honduras and the third-rated prospect in the Brewers system, was acquired by Milwaukee from Boston in 2016 and made his major league with the Brewers earlier in July, batting twice before being returned to AAA San Antonio, where Dubon was hitting .297 with 15 homers and nine steals this season after missing much of the 2018 season with an ACL that was torn during a rundown.
Dubon was carrying a 23 game hitting streak when that injury occurred and seems to be ready to see if his bat will play in the big leagues.
Dubon's glove is not reported to be an issue and his hit tool has always thought to be above average and while some questioned his power, his 15 homers in a pitchers park might be a sign that despite the juiced ball, Dubon could be growing into having at least average pop.

Drew Pomerantz was signed in the off-season to be a back of the rotation arm and in 17 starts struggled to a 2-8 record with an ERA over five.
However, the lefthander had pitched well in his four appearances since moving to the bullpen, allowing only one hit in five innings and Milwaukee must have liked what they've seen, considering what they gave for a reliever that can return to free agency at the end of the season.
Ray Black has always been a player that showed a lot of talent but never seemed to get a break, either from the Giants or injury, Black, who throws over 100 MPH, never was able to have that breakthrough.
The 29-year-old pitched only two innings for the Giants this season, allowing one run as he spent most of the season in AAA Sacramento, where he was 1-0 with a 5.23 ERA in 23 innings, where as always, Black struck out plenty of batters, this time 36 of them.
I'm sorry to see Ray Black leave, but perhaps it was time for Black to have a chance somewhere else.
Besides that, I'll always have that great Ray Black story.

The Giants would also move reliever Mark Melancon to the Braves for two pitchers.
Melancon, who signed a big contract in 2017 when the Giants were expected to contend and instead finished with the worst record in the National League,was then injured, managed to bounce back with two solid seasons, although he received closer money ( a total of sixty-two million) to be a solid reliever in a non-closing capacity.

The surprising part of this trade was that San Francisco managed to make Atlanta pick up the final year of Melancon's contract in full at fourteen million dollars for 2020.
That alone makes the trade worth making, but the Giants added a prospect in Tristan Beck, the Braves fourth-rounder in 2018 from Stanford.
Beck has started eight games for Atlanta's High A team in Florida with a high ERA of 5.65 but has struck out 39 in 36 innings for the Fire Frogs.
Beck's a little old for that level (23) and those struggles are a bit concerning, but Beck has good command and is pretty polished as a college product and considering he was part of Atlanta's taking all of Mark Melancon's contract, he's well worth a flier.
Beck has not been assigned anywhere as of this writing, but my guess is he'll be sent to High A San Jose.
Veteran Dan Winkler was tossed into the deal as well as a reclamation project.
Winkler pitched very well for Atlanta in 2017 and 18 but has not pitched well this season (2-1 4.98 ERA) and was sent to AAA Gwinnett, where he pitched just as bad (0-1 4.86 ERA).
At 29, relievers can be quite inconsistent and capable of bouncing back as well as falling apart, so even though Winkler is arbitration-eligible over the winter, one never knows if Winkler can be turned around in either the short or long term.

The final of the deals was with the Minnesota Twins as one of those reliever reclamation projects that worked out as the Giants sent Sam Dyson to Minnesota for three minor leaguers.
Dyson, who was dominant for Texas in 2015 and 2016 and then flew off the rails in 2017 with an ERA of over ten before being acquired by the Giants, tuned a bit and returned to his previous level (4-1 2.47 ERA in 49 appearances), so gambling on relievers that have fallen on hard times can be a lucrative proposition when such pitchers work out.
The 2017 addition and subsequent revitalization of Dyson paid with three players that are far from sure things, but if one works out, the gift keeps on giving.

The main addition appears to be 25-year-old outfielder Jaylin Davis, who has broken out into prospect status with four excellent months between AA Pensacola and AAA Rochester with a combined 25 homers and a .298 average between the two Twins affiliates.
Davis does have issues with strikeouts as he has fanned 110 times already this season and the big question is this- is the power legit or is it a product of the juiced baseball with AAA using the exact same baseball as the major leagues?
The answer to that question will determine whether Davis can contribute to the big club or will be just another AA/AAA hired gun.

Kai-Wei Teng is pitching well at the low A level (Cedar Rapids) with a 4-0 record and an ERA under two in eight starts, plus at 20 Teng is young for the level, so he appears that he could be a surprise in the making.
Teng may very well be, but his strikeout rates aren't excessively high (49 in 50 innings) and this could be a case of a polished pitcher with good breaking stuff overwhelming young hitters that doesn't hold up as the pitcher rises to other levels.
Strikeouts per innings pitched is my favorite stat when looking at the lower minors because usually if you aren't missing bats in low A, pitchers don't start missing them at double or triple-A.
Still, those are strong numbers and Teng is someone to at least keep an eye on.

The other player is also a pitcher, but this one is the proverbial shot in the dark with 19-year-old Dominican native Prelander Berroa, who has made seven starts in the Twins Appalachian League team in Elizabethton.
Berroa has an ERA of over four and a half but has struck out 37 in 31 innings, but his 2018 numbers in the Gulf Coast League are what raises eyebrows with 41 K's in 29 innings, an ERA of 2.43 and allowed only eight earned runs.
The numbers aren't deep enough yet to know for sure, but I wouldn't be ready to cast Berroa as just a throw-in, he could eventually be what stands out from this trade.

One has to like what the Giants were able to do considering their fringe contender status.
They added a possible All-Star level bat for the cost of paying him for the final two months of the year., added a potential eventual starter in the infield, dumped an expensive contract and added three interesting young arms as well.
No complaints here considering what they traded and what they had invested in those assets, I think the Giants did well for what they wanted to accomplish.

Pirates send Jordan Lyles to Brewers

The Pittsburgh Pirates have lost their last eight games, fallen into last place in the National League Central and taken any slim hopes of a wild card charge off the table.
What that losing streak also did was save the Pirates from being deluded into thinking that the team was a playoff contender and making a trade to shore up an effort destined to fail as it did last season and the Pirates have started the process of moving players, if the offer strikes them as fair.

Pittsburgh traded righthander Jordan Lyles out of their rotation to the team that allowed him to test free agency after last season in the Milwaukee Brewers.
In return, Pittsburgh received an interesting prospect in minor league righthander Cody Ponce.

Lyles was 5-7 with an ERA of 5.36 and has pitched poorly in the month of July, as he pitched longer than four innings in only one of his four starts.
Lyles was the scheduled starter for tonight's game against the Reds, which he was obviously pulled from.
Lyles pitched well for the Brewers in the eleven games that he appeared for them after Milwaukee acquired him from San Diego around last year's trade deadline, but all of those appearances were in relief.
Pittsburgh decided to install Lyles in their rotation with mixed results and considering that Lyles was under a one year contract and would be a free agent at the end of 2019, I think Cody Ponce is an interesting return for Lyles.

Cody Ponce was the Brewers second-round pick from Cal-Poly in 2015 and was progressing up the ladder as a starter until struggling last season at AA Biloxi to a 7-6 record with an ERA over four.
Returned to the Shuckers this season and used from the bullpen, Ponce has an ERA of 3.29 in 27 appearances and 38 innings, striking out 44 and walking twelve.
At 6'6 and 240 pounds, Ponce has the type of frame that makes you think that could hold up under the use that relievers deal with and still be durable.
Relievers often can a little longer to develop as many times they have been failed starters in a system before learning to convert to a relief role.
Ponce was assigned to AA Altoona and is the type of player that is worth a shot-especially with a free agent that you likely aren't interested in retaining.
It'll be interesting to see Ponce's progression in a new system and manner of pitching.

Cleaning out the inbox-Baseball Version

On a beautiful day for baseball (and the Giants home opener),it's time for an all baseball cleaning out the inbox!

ESPN discusses an opinion that Buster Posey is now the best defensive catcher in the game.
For years,the Cardinal backstop Yadier Molina had gotten that nod,but with the advent of the numbers crowd and their interest in catchers pitch framing abilities,I can see where Posey has risen to the top of the heap.
Between his offensive numbers and defensive capabilities,Posey is the best catcher in the game.

Two articles from the SABR Baseball Card Blog grabbed some attention.
The first dealt with former Pirate fireballing southpaw Bob Veale.
Veale was one of more overlooked pitchers of the 1960's with the Reds Jim Maloney and was one that few wanted to face due to his power arm and sometimes less than accurate control.
Veale also wore glasses and the article shows his various Topps cards and the different looks in the them....

The other article deals with the 1968 Topps baseball game insert set.
The game was built with Topps packs as one card was found in each 1968 pack.
I never played it as a game,but I did always like the cards and tried to collect them as much as I could.
In this years Topps Heritage set,there is a similar set available as short print inserts with the current players.
It's a nice touch and I'm going to try to get that set sometime...

The baseball hall of fame brings a pair of links to the party with one writing about well-traveled outfielder and designated hitter Rico Carty.
Carty had two interesting facts in 1970 as he won the batting title hitting .366 as an Atlanta Brave and as the first player to be voted as an All-Star game starter as a write-in candidate and only one of two ever (Steve Garvey 1974 was the other).
Carty was also a DH for the Indians and put together three strong years in Cleveland.
Carty's knees was the main reason that he became a DH and that wasn't uncommon for the first era of the hitting specialist that saw so many aging stars that could still hit,but not field or run keep a place in the game.

The second was really interesting as it took an in-depth look at the move that Bud Selig managed to buy the Seattle Pilots after just one season (1969) in Seattle and move the team to Milwaukee.
It discusses the Pilots problems,how Milwaukee filled their interim time after the loss of the Braves and all the maneuvering that landed the Pilots in Wisconsin.
One thought to ponder when you play the what if game is what would have happened had Selig never brought baseball back to Milwaukee.
How many of all of these changes to the game would have been different with someone other than Bud Selig as the commissioner?

Hardball Times writes about the career of the recently deceased Bill Hands and does so through his baseball cards.
Hands was an excellent number two starter for the Leo Durocher led Cubs of the late 60's and early 70's and it shows one of those awful Topps airbrushing jobs with Hands shown in a painted over Twins uniform,yet clearly pitching at Wrigley Field long before interleague play was in place.
Hands passed at the age of 76.

We wrap up with the Petaluma Press Democrat writing about their hometown resident and San Francisco Giant home game host Amy Gutierrez.
Gutierrez enters her tenth year doing Giants games and even though I'm not always a fan of sideline reporters,Gutierrez rarely enters the field during the game,stays on the outside for the most part for her new segments and then does the postgame interview.
She does an excellent game of blending into the AT&T Park experience and meshes well with Mike Krukow and Duane Kuiper as part of the best local broadcast crew in the game.
Gutierrez talked about her time with the Giants,her children's book series and the issues that come with the job with raising two children.

Cleaning out the inbox

Time for an inbox cleaning and we'll start with an ESPN article on the final victory of the career of Sandy Koufax 50 years ago on the final day of the 1966 baseball season.
The victory over the Phillies gave the Dodgers the National League pennant by one game over the Giants and the article discusses the game along with the impact on the 1966 pennant race...
The card to the left,is my actual Koufax card from 1965....

I've written many times about Jim Bouton's book Ball Four,but I've rarely,if ever mentioned the failed TV show based on the book and starring Bouton in 1976 on CBS.
Vice sports goes into detail on the show that lasted just five episodes.
I remember watching it as an eight year old,but honestly don't remember many specifics,other than former Raider Ben Davidson had a co-starring role.
The show takes place just before Bouton decided to make his big league comeback in 1977/78 and I would think that would have been unlikely to happen had the show been a success...



The New Jersey Devils season is a little over two weeks away and the Devils made a move to upgrade the defense as the team signed Kyle Quincey from the Red Wings to a one year contract.
The 31 year old Quincey played with the Wings for the last five years and scored four goals with seven assists last season in Detroit.
Quincey should challenge for one of the third pairings on the blueline.

A surprising,but welcomed move saw the Milwaukee Brewers moved their High A affiliate to Carolina with the Mudcats.
The Brewers had been with Brevard County of the Florida State league,but that team was sold to the Atlanta Braves and then moved.
Most observers thought that of the two remaining teams,the Colorado Rockies would win out with their low A (Asheville) and AA (Hartford) being closer to Carolina making more sense for the Rockies than being in the California league.
However,the Brewers won out and gave guys like me another new team to graph in the CL next season....

Joe Plum sends this from Atlas Obscura of a 40 year old Hermit Crab.
I used to try to keep Hermit Crabs and as much as I liked them,it was very hard to keep them alive for long.
If I remember right,I think I even had a few given to us by Joe!!!