Locked On Giants – Daily Podcast On The San Francisco Giants

On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick answers San Francisco Giants questions submitted by listeners on Twitter. Among the questions asked and answered are: Do you see the Giants trying to make a move to get Francisco Lindor? What do you think about Trevor Bauer? Do you think he'd be a good fit? Should we expect anything out of Tyler Beede in 2021? Who's the odd-man out in our current rotation if we sign a free agent starting pitcher? If the Giants fall out of contention but Brandon Belt is healthy and performing well, do you think he waives his no-trade clause to build up value for free agency? Should the Giants be looking to trade Mike Yastrzemski in the next couple years? More years of control will net a better trade and he isn’t getting younger. All that and more on today's Locked On Giants!

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick casts his ballot for the 2020 All-MLB team, in honor of the still-undetermined U.S. Presidential Election. Fans are allowed to vote once every 24 hours through next Friday, and there are three Giants who made the cut. Not all players are eligible to receive votes; only those who had great years appear on the ballot. Are any Giants likely to win the award? Will Ben be a homer and cast a vote for every Giant who's a finalist? Find out who he thinks is deserving of winning the prestigious honor of being named to the All-MLB team in 2020.

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick reacts to MLB Trade Rumors' Top 50 Free Agents with Predictions. It's always fun to see this annual list from MLBTR, and this year was no different. Ben looks through each of the top 50 to see who MLBTR thinks is a good fit for the orange and black. Kevin Gausman was ranked as a top-10 free agent, and MLBTR expects him to return to the Giants by accepting the qualifying offer. Relatedly, they expect the Giants to be suitors for pretty much all of the top starting pitchers available to sign. The Giants are also linked to numerous top relief pitchers, which also makes sense, but they're not listed as suitors for any left-handed infielders, which Ben thinks is a mistake. Tommy La Stella, specifically, is a great and obvious fit for the Giants because he crushes right-handed pitching and is capable of playing third and second base.

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick talks about the San Francisco Giants' decision to extend the $18.9 million qualifying offer to Kevin Gausman. Gausman was always a borderline case to receive the offer, and the fact that the team decided to do so is a good sign for Giants fans. It means several things. First, it means that the Giants have serious interest in bringing back Gausman in 2021 at the very least. Gausman is a candidate to accept the offer, which would bring him back for one year at an $18.9M salary. But we've also heard reports that the Giants are working on a multiyear deal with Gausman, and the qualifying offer is just a contingency. If Gausman rejects the offer and signs with another team, the Giants will receive draft compensation. The second thing that this decision indicates is that the Giants might not be afraid of spending money this offseason, at a time when people around the game suspect that teams are going to be very careful with spending this winter in the wake of the ongoing pandemic that has hurt teams financially. Because Gausman is a candidate to accept the lofty one-year qualifying offer, this signifies that the Giants will not be afraid to spend in order to improve their team this offseason.

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick answers questions from listeners about the San Francisco Giants. Among the questions asked and answered are: Do you think the front office is confident the offensive success the Giants had in a 60 game season will translate over a 162 game season? Which current minor league Giant will be the first to make their debut in 2021? Could Jake Lamb or Alex Wood be free agent options? When will we hear if anyone claimed Brad Hand? What are the chances we have both Posey and Bart on the big league roster full time this upcoming season considering Bart's 2020 performance? Do you think the 2021 Giants’ best offensive player will be on the roster by the end of this year? All that and more in the latest installment of the Giants mailbag on the Locked On Giants podcast.

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, Ben Kaspick talks about a couple of surprising decisions made by the St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Indians. The Cardinals declined Kolten Wong's $12.5M club option, opting instead for the $1M buyout. Wong had been a mainstay in St. Louis ever since his rookie year in 2014. He's an excellent defender and base-running, and solid against right-handed pitching. Wong becomes a free agent, and should be someone of interest to the Giants. Moving on to the Indians' decision, they placed elite relief pitcher Brad Hand on outright waivers, despite him being controllable for 2021 for just $10M. The Indians are hoping to save $1M by not having to pay for his buyout. The Giants, in need of veteran relief help, should absolutely claim Hand, but they could face stiff competition and they are not high on the waiver priority list, which is based off league and record. These two cost-cutting moves involving quality players hint at greatly decreased spending this offseason.

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick talks about the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series amidst Justin Turner's positive COVID test and subsequent reckless behavior. The game itself was quite compelling, with Rays starter Blake Snell dominating into the sixth inning. Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled Snell while he still appeared to be cruising, and immediately reliever Nick Anderson gave up the tying and go-ahead runs. Cash's decision to pull Snell was highly controversial and reignited talk among analysts like Alex Rodriguez about how "cybermetrics" are ruining the game. After the Dodgers won, it came out that Turner was removed late in the game due to a positive Covid-19 test. This was shocking in and of itself, but what made matters far worse was that Turner came onto the field during the Dodgers' celebration and even took off his mask to pose for pictures. He also embraced several teammates. Turner's reckless behavior put a stain on the Dodgers' first title in 32 years.

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick answers questions from listeners submitted on Twitter. Among the questions asked and answered on this edition of the mailbag: Is Tyler Anderson really worth going to arbitration with? Somewhere around $3.5M for a 4.36 FIP and 5.93 xFIP seems inefficient. Could that money be spent elsewhere for more production? Should the Giants pursue Joc Pederson? With how well the giants outfield played last year, would a left-handed-hitting infielder who could play the outfield like Jurickson Profar be a better fit than Pederson? Any ideas on some viable paths for improving the bullpen?

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick talks about the three World Series games over the weekend between the Dodgers and the Rays. Game 3 was an easy win for the Dodgers behind ace Walker Buehler. Justin Turner set the tone with a first-inning home run, and it was all LA from there. Game 4 was a wild back-and-forth affair, with runs being scored in eight consecutive half innings, a World Series record. The Dodgers held a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, but Kenley Jansen surrendered a two-out single to Brett Phillips with runners on first and second that was destined to tie the game. But two runs scored after Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, and Will Smith combined to botch the play and allow Randy Arozarena to score from first despite falling down between third and home. Having tied the World Series at 2-2, the Rays seemed destined to carry the momentum of their wild win in Game 4 into Game 5, but the Dodgers again set the tone early, scoring two in the top of the first, and they held on to win a tight 4-2 game. They're now one win away from their first World Series title since 1988.

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On today's Locked On Giants podcast, Ben Kaspick answers San Francsico Giants questions submitted by listeners on Twitter. Among the questions asked and answered are: Which Giants player is most likely to win the "Kevin Pillar Award" this coming year - a player non-tendered, traded, or outright released that objectively helps the Giants but fans are up in arms about? Even though Even Longoria didn’t have a great offensive season, would you expect him to do better in a larger sample next when the analytics suggest he had a solid offensive year and may have been unlucky? What are your thoughts and the stats on Brandon Belt being up for a Gold Glove Award? Could Joey Bart be moved to first base or DH permanently? With Farhan trading and drafting catchers left and right I don’t see why we would need to have Bart back there when he looks like a liability defensively. Do you think the fans had any influence on Farhan Zaidi ultimately promoting Joey Bart this season? Do you think Bart would have been promoted this season if the fans were more knowledgeable about minor league development and not rushing prospects?

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Today's episode is brought to you by Built Bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.

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