Is there one?
As we reach the temporarily quiet part of the MLB offseason, it’s worth taking another look at what the San Francisco Giants have — and haven’t — addressed. They entered the offseason with two pressing needs: a shortstop and a starting pitcher. They’ve firmly addressed the latter, inking Willy Adames to the largest contract in franchise history, and they’re attempting to address the latter by putting themselves in the driver’s seat of the Corbin Burnes sweepstakes, and trying desperately to court Rōki Sasaki. Even if the fail in those two attempts, it seems inevitable that the Giants will add a starting pitcher at some point in the next few months.
After those two needs, the Giants really only had two other positions worth trying to upgrade: first base and right field.
First base remains a bit of a mystery. Buster Posey, Bob Melvin, and the rest of the crew keep saying good things about LaMonte Wade Jr. and Wilmer Flores, and for good reason. Yet at the same time, the beat reporters keep suggesting that the Giants will try to upgrade the position … also for good reason.
They haven’t been tied to the big names (Pete Alonso and Christian Walker) at all. And they haven’t even been tied to the lesser names (Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Rizzo, and Carlos Santana) at all either, though I’m not sure anyone has been. Nearly everyone who covers the Giants — including our own Bryan Murphy — has suggested that they trade for Josh Naylor, but all the actual rumors surrounding a seemingly inevitable Naylor trade fail to mention the Giants.
Right field is, in some ways, an ever bigger mystery. On the one hand, the Giants seem to have a safer plan there than at first. Making Mike Yastrzemski a near-everyday outfielder alongside Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos is a completely sensible plan. Letting the youngsters — Grant McCray, Wade Meckler, Marco Luciano, and the favorite, Luis Matos — battle in Spring Training for a fourth outfield spot is a sensible plan. Including Jerar Encarnación in there somewhere is a defensible plan.
And yet, the Giants don’t seem committed to the plan … yet they don’t appear committed to an alternate, either. On the surface, they seem done with their outfield movement. But on Thursday, hidden in the middle of a long article updating the offseason shenanigans across the league, ESPN’s Jeff Passan — the most trusted name in MLB reporting — casually dropped this nugget:
For teams in search of an outfield bat, the Mets’ Starling Marte, Cleveland’s Lane Thomas, San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski and the Los Angeles Angels’ Taylor Ward are there to be had.
It’s not the first time that Passan — or other reporters — have mentioned that Yastrzemski is available. And while you can certainly understand the reason for the Giants not being too attached to a $9.25-million 2-WAR player who is 34 and has an extensive injury history, it’s not clear what the alternative is.
The Giants have made no noise around the big free agent outfielders who remain out there, Teoscar Hernández and Anthony Santander. And given the contracts they’ll likely receive (plus the Qualifying Offer penalties), the age they are, and the defensive shortcomings each has, I’d be fairly surprised if the Giants have much interest. But if not them, then who? Would the Giants be chaotic enough to trade an outfielder away just to trade for one back? Would they be savvy enough to wait for someone’s price to drop, and grab them on a cheap deal? Would they be outside-the-box enough to try something whacky, like gifting Joc Pederson a glove for Christmas? Would they be dumb enough to shed a little bit of payroll and give the job to an unproven youngster?
Apropos of nothing, Max Kepler — a 31-year old who has been below-average offensively in three of the last four years, and who was worth 1.0 WAR last year — just signed a one-year, $10 million deal.
Keeping Yastrzemski is certainly the most likely outcome, despite the smoke and rumors. It’s hard to imagine the Giants moving him unless someone really wants him, or unless they have something much better lined up. And neither of those things seem very likely.
But it’s also a story that’s very much worth monitoring as the offseason continues.