Stunning prequel to The Garko Backlash, followed by The Garko Redemption. Also playing: The Alderson Conundrum and The Bumgarner Rejection.
What say the critics? Dave Cameron of Fangraphs, lead us off, good sir:
Barnes is a high price to pay for an average-ish first baseman like Garko. He is under club control for 3+ seasons after this one, but as an arbitration eligible player this winter, he’s about to stop being cheap, and he’s not the kind of player you want to be spending significant money on. The Giants will pitch this as more-than-a-rental, but finding a RH first baseman who can hit a little bit isn’t that difficult, and whether Garko will be worth much more than his arbitration salaries going forward is a real question.
Cameron spends a lot of time arguing that Garko isn’t much upgrade over Travis Ishikawa, but he never once mentions Garko’s splits. Garko crushes left-handed pitching. When a lefty is on the mound, Garko is a huge upgrade. He also fails to note that the Giants are trading from strength. They can afford to trade a high-upside starting pitcher who is at least two, maybe three or four years away from the majors.
The Chronicle’s Ray Ratto spends several paragraphs of blog space to tell us it wasn’t a blockbuster deal. He looks forward to a bigger trade coming next.
ESPN’s Keith Law calls Garko a “minor upgrade,” Barnes a “modest price,” and urges the Giants to get another right-handed bat, but I couldn’t get further without subscribing to ESPN Insider. Soy tan cheapero.
Over at the McChronic, reader/poster Missing Barry does a nice job calculating Garko and Barnes’s projected values relative to salary, with vigorous debate in the comments thread.
I’ll add more links to this post as the day goes on, and when Garko makes his debut tonight with a game-winning three-run homer, I’ll let you know what I think of the trade.
