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International Amateurs

We just completed our monthly private practice with many young international amateur free agents who we hope can aid our club in the coming years. It was great to meet the players in-person and get to know them better, and I was able to improve my scouting assessment on all invitees.

None of the players exceeded my previous expectations.

However, a few invitees left me disappointed as they did not appear to match my previous assessment, although they may still end up being future stars:

Frank Cervantez, 16 year-old CF out of Dominican Republic
Lean and athletic, Frank Cervantez hails from San Juan de la Maguana, Dominican Republic. He has excellent strike zone recognition. He has raw above average power. He is a great threat to steal a base. Cervantez can be a second division starter at center fielder.

Jorge Castaneda, 16 year-old CF out of Dominican Republic
Lean and athletic, Jorge Castaneda hails from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He is expected to have a very disciplined eye at the plate and be among the best in the league at drawing walks. He grades out as an above average runner on the basepaths. He has decent power now and has the chance to have above average power in the future. Castaneda is projected to be an above average, everyday big league player.

Personnel

The Giants quickly filled out their coaching personnel, with the majority locked up for 5 years.

• MLB Bench Coach – Jake Walsh
• Rookie (ACL) Manager – Gerado Salas
• Rookie (DSL) Manager – Porter Hodge
• Rookie (DSL) Pitching Coach – Junior Navas (2 Years)

Awards

Colin Stewart is rewarded for reaching his 10th World Series and winning his first NL Pennant with the Manager of the Year Award, his 1st in the NL and 11th overall.

The Giants have a couple of Great Gloves, Joel Hudson winning his second at SS with Germains Curtis capping a great rookie year in RF.

The voters don’t think his season was the best of the Giants rookies, though, as Steve Boyd finishes runner up to unanimous NL Rookie of the Year Whiskers Gregory.

Rickey Martino earns the Reliever of the Year Award after his very impressive 1.86 ERA season with Juan Peralta finishing second in the voting. They both finish head of legendary CL Pat Black, who in recording 37 SV this season overtook Mariano Rivera to lead the all-time list with 658 SV.

AL Great Glove LF A.J. Terry KC
NL Great Glove SS Joel Hudson (2) SF | RF Germains Curtis SF
AL Platinum Stick 3B David de Anda (3) KC | CF Mike Gronkiewicz (4) KC
NL Platinum Stick
AL Manager of the Year Hector Figueroa (3) KC
NL Manager of the Year Colin Stewart (11) SF
AL Reliever of the Year Jared Baynes KC
NL Reliever of the Year Rickey Martino SF
AL Rookie of the Year SP Juan Landa COL
NL Rookie of the Year CF Whiskers Gregory CHC
AL Cy Young Greg Moehring NYY
NL Cy Young Alfredo Barajas NYM
AL MVP CF Mike Gronkiewicz (2) KC
NL MVP RF Chase Needam ARI

Pre-Arbitration Extensions & Trades

The Giants didn’t give out any multi-year deals ahead of arbitration but did sign most of the expected players to one-year deals. They made two trades with Juan Peralta’s arbitration figure too rich for the Giants so he was traded to the Reds for a prospect pitcher. Jake Clark was receiving a lot of interest in trade offers and, being Rule 5 eligible but not someone Stewart wanted on the 42-man roster, when the Mariners offered a solid RP prospect for Clark and another MiL FA Kiyoshi Hayashida Stewart was happy to give his blessing.

Saturday, November 8th , 2053
Traded 26-year old RHP Juan Peralta to the Cincinnati Reds, getting 25-year old minor league RHP David Machado in return.
Tuesday, November 11th , 2053
Signed RP Jong-hun Hong to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $1,750,000.
Signed RF Germains Curtis to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $1,800,000.
Signed 1B Kevin Dobbs to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $2,500,000.
Signed RP Josh Parker to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $2,500,000.
Signed CL Rickey Martino to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $2,000,000.
Signed SS Joel Hudson to a 1-year contract extension worth a total of $3,000,000.
Traded 31-year old minor league RHP Jake Clark and 24-year old minor league 3B Kiyoshi Hayashida to the Seattle Mariners, getting 22-year old minor league RHP Dan Namken in return.

Arbitration & Qualifying Offers

The only major decision made by Stewart was not offering arbitration to Alejandro Dilillo, who hits free agency despite putting up 1 WAR as a back up Catcher.

Friday, November 28th , 2053
C Alejandro Dilillo was not offered arbitration, becomes a free agent.
RP Estivinson Nosrati was not offered arbitration, becomes a free agent.
LF Juan Zetino was not offered arbitration, becomes a free agent.
RP Arturo Bello was not offered arbitration, becomes a free agent.
Sunday, November 30th , 2053
RP Joe Manley becomes a free-agent.
2B Jesus Otero becomes a free-agent.

Transactions

The first day of free agency saw the Giants make a relatively big trade with DH/OF Mike Berger and SP/RP Donte Lebeaux joining veteran MiL FA Mike Asbury in a package for C Juan Ramos from the Angels. Ramos is an elite Catcher who finished 8th in Framing and 4th in wRC+ (right behind Jesus Castro). He is in the second year of a 4-year $31.5m contract with the final year a PO. This signing gives the Giants a strong Catching corps, likely with the result that they will pay more for their starting C (Ramos at $6.6m) and less for their back up (Castro at $3.5m) than they would have done by retaining Dilillo.

Tuesday, November 4th , 2053
Signed international amateur 2B Luis Ocasio out of Dominican Republic to a minor league contract.
Monday, November 10th , 2053
Signed international amateur SS Luis Coto out of Dominican Republic to a minor league contract.
Sunday, November 30th , 2053
Placed LF Frank Calleja on the secondary (42-man) roster.
Placed LF Gianvito Heaton on the secondary (42-man) roster.
Placed 2B Juan Magana on the secondary (42-man) roster.
Placed SP Greg Ward on the secondary (42-man) roster.
Traded 29-year old LF Mike Berger, 35-year old minor league RHP Mike Asbury, and 25-year old RHP Donte Lebeaux to the Los Angeles Angels, getting 28-year old C Juan Ramos in return.
CF Ed Janiczek was designated for assignment and placed on waivers.

Minor League Promotions

Offseason promotions saw several 50 overall or better potential prospects taking the next step on their journey to the big leagues.

Sent 3B Ramiro Corona from Rookie League San Francisco (DSL) to Rookie League San Francisco (ACL). 2053 International Amateur
Promoted SP Luis Burgos from Rookie League San Francisco (ACL) to Class A San Jose. 2052 International Amateur
Sent SS Juan Mendoza from Class A San Jose to High-A Eugene. 2053 2nd Round
Sent SP Jahsiiyah Garza from Class A San Jose to High-A Eugene. 2053 1st Round
Sent SP Chris Varrone from Class A San Jose to High-A Eugene. 2052 2nd Round
Promoted SS Jovaugh McCarron from High-A Eugene to Double A Richmond. 2051 2nd Round
Promoted 1B Mike Marez from High-A Eugene to Double A Richmond. 2050 2nd Round
Promoted SS T.J. Racey from High-A Eugene to Double A Richmond. 2049 10th Round
Promoted SP Amari Pappillion from High-A Eugene to Double A Richmond. 2053 3rd Round
Promoted CL Jeremy Polycarpe from High-A Eugene to Double A Richmond. 2049 13th Round
Promoted SP Jorge Rodrguez from Double A Richmond to Triple A Sacramento. 2047 International Amateur