That is such a miserable game. By 2013, my Giants were 150-12. And Lincecum signed a 10 year/ 70 million dollar extension. And I rule 5 drafted the other 4 pitchers in my rotation, and they all had ERA’s under 3.5.

Great concept, way too easy.

I agree that such a trade is unlikely to happen, as I mentioned in my original comment.But my point is that I would trade Matt Cain and Randy Johnson — and perhaps throw in Henry Sosa, as well — for the chance to acquire a potential superstar talent such as Rick Porcello or Clayton Kershaw.How great would it be to have three potential superstar pitchers in Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner and either Porcello or Kershaw?The Giants never had a shot at Kershaw, who was drafted three spots ahead of Tim Lincecum in the 2006 draft, but they could have taken Porcello instead of Tim Alderson had they been willing to pony up Buster Posey-type money to do so.
IMO they made a mistake by not going that route. Porcello is being paid $8 million for his first three seasons (with this being the third). He is already in the majors and after a poor first start, yielded just a single run in seven innings yesterday. Porcello is 20. Kershaw just turned 21.Clearly it makes more sense to spend $9 million per season on Edgar Renteria than to spend $8 million over three years to guarantee having Porcello, who many considered to be the best high school pitching prospect since Josh Beckett. (Just try to leap over THAT sarchasm! :)
I think the Giants have made many good decisions the past three years. I think there are several they could have done far better on, beginning with the Barry Zito signing, obviously.But really, if the Giants had spent $8 million on Porcello instead of $128 million on Zito, they would be FAR better off. It appears the Zito decision was Peter Magowan’s, and I doubt too many of his baseball people were recommending it. Any who were should probably be let go.
One thing that is frustrating is that the Giants seem to be a year behind in some cases.
When Tim Lincecum came up, I felt the Giants should have tied him up for a decade. A year later the Rays did almost precisely that (nine years) with Evan Longoria — and did so at a bargain price that will give them two more years than the Giants have Barry Zito for barely a third of the cost.
At virtually that same time, I felt the Giants should open up their pocketbooks to sign Porcello, particularly when he was available at #22 overall. A year later the Giants did open their pocketbooks to sign Buster Posey, giving Buster the largest pure bonus of any player drafted — ever.
Baseball’s dynamic is constantly changing. At one time it was making shrewd trades that got teams ahead. Then it became top free agent signings. Now it is keeping one’s payroll costs down by building a home-grown roster that can provide bargains such as Tim Lincecum’s Cy Young winning season at just $405K last year.
The Giants have done a good job of that the past three years. Had they ponied up for Porcello, they could have done even better.

I would still be recommending trading Cain and Johnson for Kershaw — but the Giants would already HAVE Porcello. If the Giants were somehow able to make that trade for Kershaw, can you imagine a future rotation of Lincecum, Bumgarner, Porcello, Kershaw and ANYONE else (even Barry Zito)?