Giants tender contracts to all five arbitration-eligible players

The budget conscious team opts to keep five talented players in the fold. Smart!

Thanks to Alex Pavlovic’s reporting, we now know the final piece of the puzzle as the San Francisco Giants head into the meat of free agency.

Tonight was the non-tender deadline for arbitration eligible players, and last month I looked at the four key ones who were eligible: Mike Yastrzemski, Camilo Doval, LaMonte Wade Jr., and Tyler Rogers. I forgot about Austin Warren, a reliever who was on the team last season and pitched 10.2, mostly in September. He was a Super-2 player, meaning he will hit the arbitration process four times, presuming he’s able to pitch at a major league level.

Anyway, in last month’s post I concluded that Buster Posey should bring the main four back:

That’s $24.3 million on four players who might generate somewhere in the range of 3-6 WAR. That’s not a lot of money to spend on depth for the 40-man or at the very least retain some trade pieces if the season unravels again.

As Pavlovic notes, Yastrzemski and Warren signed 1-year deals each, Yaz for $9.25 million (per Mark Feinsand) and Warren for “an MLB deal” (per Justice de los Santos). The major league minimum is $760,000, so for the moment, let’s assume that’s “an MLB deal.” That’s $10.01 million on a couple of players who provide solid depth. For the other three, all we know is that the team has offered them a contract, the details of which will be worked out between team and agent or else decided by an arbiter.

The Yaz deal is off by just $250,000 from MLB Trade Rumors’ initial projection (they have put together a very good formula for predicting arbitration outcomes) and while it doesn’t save the Giants very much money in their alleged quest to shrink payroll, it’s a figure that looks really good on a spreadsheet when paired with that major league minimum.

Think about it: if you’re a major league GM who is trying to get as much “surplus value” out of a roster as possible, Yastrzemski, basically a 1.5 to 2-win player, with a $9.25 million salary entered into a spreadsheet next to a league minimum player projected to provide 1.5-2 WAR has a lot of surplus value suddenly. That’s $10 million for 3-4 WAR. That major league GM in search of surplus value on the payroll might even be the Giants’ GM!

But beyond the payroll intrigue Yastrzemski’s agreement provides (as a trade piece or simply as a 26-man roster reinforcement), let’s not forget that he’s a real culture fit for the organization. Will it be enough to keep him on the roster rather than turn him into a trade chip? Probably. For one thing, it might be weird for Buster Posey to trade away a former teammate he clearly respects; and, for another thing, if the Giants’ beatwriters are any sort of indication, then the team has a pretty good idea of the shape of the roster already (barring a last minute Juan Soto deal, of course). Before this last bit of arb news was posted, Alex Pavlovic provided this analysis:

This is mostly speculation, but Pavlovic is, of course, far more informed about the Giants’ thinking than I am (or hope to ever be), so, I think there’s probably something to this. We know the Giants were reported to have been shopping at least Yaz, LaMonte Wade Jr., and Camilo Doval, so anything’s possible, but if all else fails and the Giants are “forced” to hold on to these guys, it won’t be a bad thing. These are all solid to good players.

So, good news and a positive night. There was always the possibility that one or two of these guys weren’t tendered contracts or else traded. There was also the possibility of the Giants simply not renewing contracts with pre-arbitration players who are on the 40-man roster as a way to clear space (David Villar, Sean Hjelle, Spencer Bivens, Ethan Small, Blake Sabol, Brett Wisely), but nothing like that happened.

Ahem. I published too soon.

Tearing it down with reckless abandon would scratch an itch in the pleasure centers of some fans, but supplementing and replacing parts of the roster has always made the most sense. This team is certainly frustrating and mediocre, but you can see that they’ve taken teeny tiny steps forward every year. Buster Posey has demonstrated a commitment to maintaining a chunk of the status quo, which I think will help those steps forward continue and, coupled with his vision, maybe even help pick up the pace.