The legacy of the even year still lives. 2014 proved again to be another strange year for the San Francisco Giants, as they won the World Series for the third time in five years. While they were not the favored team to win the championship in 2010, 2012, or 2014, the Giants still found ways to come together and win. With injuries and players’ inconsistencies, it was hard for the Giants to find the right move.
Giants’ General Manager, Brian Sabean, has been deemed with the daunting task of building a championship team.
The Giants have had prized prospects in the past, such as current MLB pitcher for the New York Mets, Zack Wheeler — and then how can we forget about Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Madison Bumgarner, and Buster Posey? To allow the Giants to advance where they are today, they had to call up their MLB-ready talent, or risk their prospects in trades.
While the Giants have relied on calling-up homegrown talent to and moving prospects with trade deadline deals, that has seemed to weaken the farm system pool. That is the reality of being a successful team — but it is important to replenish the pool. Once you take from the farm, you have to give back to it.
Being viewed as a parched minor league system, it has a handful of scouts saying the Giants lack depth — which hinders their odds of landing big names with trades. The Giants do not want to part with their big league ready players and are hesitant to spend big on the free agent market (unless your name is Pablo Sandoval or Jon Lester).
In the 2015 offseason, Giants were active in the trade market and were linked to players such Justin Upton and Cole Hamels. What held those trades up was disinterest (Upton), or the Giants lacking the value that the other teams would want in return (Hamels). As a result, San Francisco missed out on these big time names.
Now with value, how do scouts and experts come up with these farm system rankings? In all honesty, they seem to be rankings to keep people busy.
If the Giants had prospects with value that the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies would be looking for in return, would the deal still get done? We don’t know.
There are a lot of prospects every year in baseball, but there are few gems who are already candidates for the fast track to the majors. We can’t always find a Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Matt Harvey, Kris Bryant, Byron Buxton, etc., but there are good players still out there.
Prime example — In 2011, the San Francisco Giants selected Joe Panik with their first pick in the draft. In 2014, Baseball America’s Top 10 Prospect rankings for the Giants had Joe Panik at number nine.
During this past year, Giants were dealing with an issue at second base when Marco Scutaro went down for the season with a back injury — what turned out to be potenitally career-ending. Unfortunately, second base opened up and most fans were pulling for the Giants to make a move.
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Joaquin Arias could not be trusted to play everyday, and was seen as a utility man. A highly coveted name at the trade deadline was Tampa Bay Rays’ Swiss army knife (ability to play different positions) — Ben Zobrist — who the Giants were highly interested in. The price appeared to be too high, but Sabean made a move… to the farm. The Giants called up their only MLB-ready middle infielder to come in, and that was Panik.
Panik went on to be an offensive force, getting on base and being crafty with the glove. Panik solidified himself batting second in the lineup going forward, and ended up making one of the biggest defensive stops for the Giants in the 2014 playoffs. Panik was a vital piece to the Giants winning the World Series — set aside from one of the greatest postseason performances ever, by Bumgarner.
Panik was a number nine prospect in the Giants farm system? Well, he certainly didn’t play like it. Looks like the “experts” got that prediction wrong.
Panik wasn’t the only prospect to see action and playing time, as Hunter Strickland, Andrew Susac, Matt Duffy, and Juan Perez helped play a part to help the Giants capture their third World Series title.
While the idea of a farm system ranking is unique, it is such a waste of time. The front office of the Giants and their scouts know what they are doing.
These rankings by experts are used to keep fans engaged, and give the fanbase something to look forward to.
Right now, Giants have some young talent who have been invited to Spring Training, or are currently on the roster. These players include: Ty Blach, Clayton Blackburn, Chris Heston, Cody Hall, Derek Law, Steven Okert, Adam Duvall, Daniel Carbonell, Mac Williamson, along with Perez, Duffy, Strickland, and Susac.
Prospect rankings do provide a sense of structure, but they don’t necessarily help determine the value of a prospect. Hype is easily created from these rankings and if one player doesn’t pan out as anticipated, is that on the coaching or the rankings system?
The Giants have employed a staff, not just in the Major League, but in the minors as well, to help coach their players. Giants have a system that works and they know what players are impressing and moving along. Value is created by the coaching staff and their franchise.
Should we anticipate a change to the way prospects are ranked? No. But does it create an advantage for some teams? Yes it does. Rankings are a tool used by the media and baseball to draw ratings and control the setting. While the Giants are ranked low, it certainly stings a little to see the defending champions be valued so little, as they were able to dig up players that helped contribute to their success in 2014.
Rankings do not seem important to the recent World Series champions. Spring Training is now back, and the Giants are focused on one thing — playing baseball.