Giants Winter Meetings buzz: Trade talks, a Scott Boras meeting and $7 cups of coffee – The Mercury News

LAS VEGAS–The Winter Meetings are billed as the ultimate destination for baseball’s deal-makers, a hub where executives and agents lock themselves in hotel rooms late into the night to negotiate, strategize and take care of business.

The reality, however, is far different from the public perception.

If you’re the type that enjoys exchanging pleasantries, shaking hands and discussing over-priced restaurant options, the lobby of the Mandalay Bay resort and casino was the place to be this week.

The front of the Las Vegas strip offered team officials, media members and fans alike the opportunity to gather, spend $17 on a drip coffee and breakfast sandwich at Starbucks and watch Marlins Man do radio interviews and take selfies with every passerby. Guests walking the casino floor couldn’t miss the MLB Network television set, which provided more than 45 hours of live coverage from Mandalay Bay, 40 of which was devoted to four analysts reading their own tweets on the air.

It was as compelling as it sounds.

Even Farhan Zaidi, the new Giants president of baseball operations who is lauded for his ability to do business face-to-face, downplayed the hype of the Winter Meetings. Zaidi said some of the conversations he had with rival executives and agents weren’t exactly substantive, but that was fine for a Giants contingent blending new faces and old.

Zaidi did make the most of his time, meeting with several agents including Bryce Harper’s representative, Scott Boras. The pair met Tuesday night in a Four Seasons suite a few hundred yards away from where Zaidi initially thought Boras’ camp set up. After knocking on the wrong hotel room door, Zaidi frantically walked away hoping he didn’t disturb an unsuspecting guest and eventually found the right suite.

The next morning, Boras stood in front of a large Christmas tree at Mandalay Bay, offering his annual state-of-the-Boras-union update to dozens of media members who could barely hear a word he said.

By the time I caught a ride to the airport Thursday, the Giants had made three additions to their major league roster this week: outfielder Michael Gerber, outfielder Drew Ferguson and pitcher Travis Bergen. If you knew any of those three names before the Winter Meetings, you’re qualified to read your own tweets live on MLB Network.

In failing to see sunlight between my arrival on Sunday and departure on Thursday, I picked up a few interesting nuggets of information and a much greater sense of where the offseason is headed for the Giants. Here’s what I learned.

–Zaidi does not appear to feel pressure to win immediately. The Giants are not currently involved in discussions with most high-profile free agents, partially because a few free agent additions aren’t going to turn a 73-win team into a playoff contender. It sounds like some of the players the Giants will bring in this winter could join the club on one-to-two year deals, so that the team maintains payroll flexibility in 2020 and beyond.

–Former general manager Bobby Evans was at the meetings, presumably looking for his next job. A few members of the contingent representing the Giants were not aware Evans was in Las Vegas. Evans has a tremendous work ethic and could help an organization in its scouting department or as a senior advisor.

–Last August, the Giants informed top pitching prospect Shaun Anderson that he would be called up to face the Mets in New York. Those plans changed shortly thereafter and Anderson has yet to make his big league debut. It’s possible the Giants wanted to maintain 40-man roster flexibility for this winter because they don’t need to protect the right-hander until next offseason.

–The Giants are receiving a lot of calls about their relievers, particularly left-hander Will Smith. After the Mets signed Jeurys Familia to a three-year, $30 million deal and the Dodgers signed Joe Kelly to a three-year, $25 million contract, Smith could be a steal for a club willing to part with an asset via trade. Cardinals first baseman and outfielder Jose Martinez has been discussed as a potential fit, but while Martinez still has four years of control left, he’s a below average defender who may struggle in larger outfields in the National League West.

–Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports reported that Bruce Bochy strongly considered playing Madison Bumgarner at first base in September. That’s true, but Bochy ultimately knew he couldn’t risk another Bumgarner injury. Is there a way to get Bumgarner more at-bats? If the Giants use openers or have tandem starts next year, Bumgarner could be used a pinch hitter early in games so the club doesn’t need to burn one of its bench players.

–Speaking of Bumgarner, the Giants are listening to trade offers but haven’t come close to dealing their top pitcher just yet. If Bumgarner stays injury-free during the first half of the year, it’s possible the return at the trade deadline could be bigger than it is right now. But why wait until the trade deadline? If the right offer comes along in late June or early July, Zaidi could seize the opportunity.

–Should the Giants hold onto their most attractive trade assets, they could be a big seller at the 2019 deadline. Smith, Tony Watson and Sam Dyson would all be candidates to be flipped for prospects, allowing the Giants to expand their talent pool heading into 2020 and 2021.

–The Giants are eager for top prospect Joey Bart to learn from Buster Posey and excited to have the pair spend time together this spring. The organization believes Bart has all the physical tools to be a great major league player, but there’s some work to do on calling games and understanding the nuances of various in-game situations and they think Posey will be a fantastic mentor.

–Though the Giants were impressed with Zaidi during the interview process and with his reputation around the game, several members of the front office contingent were pleased to learn Zaidi was more involved with decision-making in the Dodgers front office than they previously thought. While Andrew Friedman technically served above Zaidi as the president of baseball operations, decisions were made in a collaborative process and Zaidi has already demonstrated his creativity since he’s taken over in San Francisco.

–This was my first Winter Meetings as a beat reporter and early in the week, I realized I was fairly over-matched. Plenty of media members from around the sport have been covering these meetings for a long time and they understand how the process works, who you need to talk to and where the good information comes from. One way I made up some ground? Discussing the exorbitant price of coffee. A large cup of coffee at the Mandalay Bay Starbucks went for $7 and even folks who take their family to Disneyland every offseason couldn’t believe it. No one wants to sound like a complainer, but it worked as an icebreaker.