The Winter Meeting promise to be a busy time where we will really be able to gauge what our new Giants’ overlord Farhan is up to. For now, though, today’s post will be an interaction with Andrew Baggarly tweets.

1.

The #SFGiants goal this offseason, to put it simply, is to stockpile talent. Making sure they have actual outfielders and starting pitchers will be important, too. Mailbagg: https://t.co/ebVacabwMe

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) November 29, 2018

Not much to add to here, but this sort of sets up the rest of the post so here we go…

2.

The Giants know there are a lot of options at second base but they still view Joe Panik as a talented player. He still could be part of a trade this winter, though.

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) December 1, 2018

One of the hot rumors, or at least as close to hot as we’ve gotten so far, was that the Giants would non-tender Joe Panik and dip into what is a fairly deep free agent pool at the second base position. However, they kept sweet Joe in the fold, signing him to a one-year, $3.8 million contract.

I love Joe Panik, but he has not materialized as an everyday player the way it once appeared back in 2014-2015 when he burst on the scene and helped the Giants win a World Series. He followed that up with an All-Star appearance and a Gold Glove, but has had a hard time staying on the field.

In particular, it seems like he hasn’t been the same since getting hit in the head back in 2016, which totally makes sense but is incredibly sad.

Baggs suggest that keeping Panik may set up a future trade. Once all the FAs are off the board, someone with a need may come calling. I wonder, though, if the Giants will try to find a platoon parter (hello Jonathan Schoop) and limit Panik’s usage, or even try him out at some other positions and use him as a super utility player.

3.

Hunter Strickland and Gorkys Hernandez are now free agents. Will Smith, who was tendered a contract, is the lone remaining unsigned arbitration-eligible player.

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) December 1, 2018

The other big non-tender news comes here. First, Gorkys damn near led the team in home runs last year, which says way more about the Giants than about Gorkys. You can seemingly pick 15-homer-a-year outfielders off of trees these days, so he is the definition of expendable.

Second, the big story is moving on (finally) from Hunter Strickland. On the surface this is an odd move: he was a decent closer in the first half of 2018, and one of the few Giants’ pitchers with good velocity.

BUT, he was a hot head, caused all sorts of chaos, and never turned that velocity into the type of dominance that deserved investment. He was the ultimate tease, and I’m glad he will be someone else’s problem.

4.

Can’t wait to read all the stories that begin, “The Giants paved the way to sign Bryce Harper on Friday, when they officially kicked Hunter Strickland to the curb.”

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) December 1, 2018

Yeah, not happening.

5.

Former Blue Jays GM and Mets special assistant J.P. Ricciardi is in discussions to join #SFGiants front office as a senior advisor/special assistant, sources tell me and @Ken_Rosenthal. Discussions not finalized, but progressing.

— Andrew Baggarly (@extrabaggs) December 3, 2018

Finally, here’s a bit of front office news. J.P Ricciardi is someone I respect, even though he tried to fleece Brian Sabean for Tim Lincecum at one point (also, Tim Kawakami gets a lot of stuff right, but he really blew this one).

I don’t know that I trust J.P. to run a team, but his thinking could be a good foil to Farhan. Ricciardi seems more aggressive and so maybe they bring a nice balance to each other. Anyway, I think it would be a good get for the Giants and another move away from the Bobby Evans era.

Thank you Andrew Baggarly for being awesome, and next week’s post should have some interesting stuff to chew on as the meetings get started!