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San Francisco Giants: Don’t Believe Every Rumor You Hear

By Sean Bialaszek

Oct 10, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; The San Francisco Giants celebrate after San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik (12) hit a walk-off RBI double during the thirteenth inning to win game three of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball series at AT&T Park. The San Francisco Giants won 6-5 in thirteen innings. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 10, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; The San Francisco Giants celebrate after San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik (12) hit a walk-off RBI double during the thirteenth inning to win game three of the 2016 NLDS playoff baseball series at AT&T Park. The San Francisco Giants won 6-5 in thirteen innings. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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The rumor mill has only began to churn, and the San Francisco Giants are already involved. But don’t believe every rumor you come across.

28 Major League Baseball teams sit at home while the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cubs battle for the World Series crown. That means it’s the part of the year when rumors are really getting started. Free agency and trade talks will heat up, and everyone with a pulse and an eye for the game will have an opinion. There’s already rumors floating around, one of which is pertinent to the San Francisco Giants.

One of the early rumors this offseason involves the Giants making a deal with the Detroit Tigers. The proposed deal would swap the team’s second basemen, with Joe Panik heading to the Motor City and Ian Kinsler going to San Francisco in return. In addition, reliever Mark Lowe would go the Giants, while pitcher Chris Heston, pitching prospect Ray Black, and outfield prospect Steven Duggar head to the Tigers.

As is tradition every offseason, rumors like this will fly around like a moth around a lightbulb. And as is also tradition, most of these rumors ultimately amount, in the words of Giants’ announcer Mike Krukow, to what the little birdie left on the rock.

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This particular rumor comes from Johnny David, writing for sportsrageous. In said piece, David mentions comments from Tigers’ general manager Al Aliva, where he stated that the Tigers are willing to listen to offers for anyone that wears a Tigers’ uniform, even the ones that could, or maybe even should, be considered “untouchable”, like Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander.

Digging a little deeper into David’s article takes us to another article, one from a fellow FanSided site. A link will take us to the Motor City Bengals page, a website dedicated to the Detroit Tigers, where last week, Ben Rosener wrote this piece. The title of that article is “Three Potential Ian Kinsler Trades”. The first page contains this passage:

"While it still remains to be seen whether the Tigers actually deal Kinsler, here are three possible trade scenarios involving the second baseman. All three hypothetical deals would keep Detroit competitive next season."

Now, the key word to focus on is “hypothetical”. These trades, including the deal with the Giants, are hypothetical. They are nothing more than a writer tossing around ideas to get Kinsler off the payroll while helping to keep the Tigers competitive in the upcoming season. Most importantly, they are NOT RUMORS. It is just speculation.

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But that’s how things like this get started. Someone writes up a hypothetical scenario regarding a certain team or player, and someone else misinterprets it as a rumor. They run with it, saying a deal could be in the works or something is imminent.

Panik was asked about quite a bit near last year’s trade deadline. The New York Yankees, supposedly, wanted Panik to be a centerpiece of a deal for any reliever the Giants asked about. When the Giants said no, the Yankees (again, supposedly) cut off contact with the Giants. If the Giants weren’t willing to part with Panik for a guy like Andrew Miller or Aroldis Chapman, they would have to be insane to consider moving Panik for Kinsler. The Giants know what they have in Panik, and they’re going to use it accordingly.

Next: Giants: Joe Panik Should Bounce Back in 2017

Consider this an annual reminder. Not everything you hear about trades and signings is going to come true. Most of it is drivel that a small-timer uses to get some attention. Take everything you hear, literally everything, with a grain of salt. And always consider the source.

And if you’re an active twitter user, always look for that blue check mark before hitting the retweet button. Don’t fall for fake accounts!

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