Evan Longoria joins Giants, but still plenty to do

The Giants finally made their first big splash of the offseason, and while it was a far cry from a Giancarlo Stanton or Manny Machado trade, the move does makes them a better team then they were prior (how much so remains to be seen). The club doesn't appear to be stopping with just Evan Longoria either.

With numerous holes remaining, especially in the outfield, the Giants now appear as if they're ready to go all out in attempt to compete again in 2018 and turn around, in one offseason, a team that was two losses shy of 100 in 2017.

On Tuesday night the attempt officially began with the Giants and Rays striking the deal for Longoria. The trade sent Denard Span and Christian Arroyo as well as lower level minor league pitchers Stephen Woods and Matt Krook to Tampa for the star third basemen. Although still young players with upside, neither pitcher was very highly ranked in the Giants minor league system, so losing those two doesn't sting too badly. Losing Christian Arroyo, however, was a big one as he was one of the organizations most bright young players with a ton of potential and still just 22 years of age. The issue with Arroyo though, is that he;s much more valuable as a shortstop or second basemen at the major league level, and the Giants have those spots covered for years to come. He had more than a cup of coffee with the Giants in '17 and had a decent couple of weeks after his call-up, but his average started to plummet over time and then he got hurt and never really was much of a factor after that. In 124 at-bats, the 22 year-old hit just .192 with 3 jacks, 14 RBI and just 9 runs scored with the big club. Sure it was his first cup of coffee in the show but I just don't think the Giants were confident in him being their third basemen of the future and that made him expendable in a trade. He was one of the teams biggest trade chips so that tells me that a package headlining him wasn't going to fetch a talent higher than Longoria.

Enough about the guys the Giants sent away, lets talk about the guy we'll be watching man the hot corner for the club for multiple seasons to come. Since coming into the league in 2008, Evan Longoria has been one of the best, most consistent all-around third basemen in all of baseball. The 32 year-old is a 3-time all-star, former rookie of the year, 3-time gold-glover and has finished within the top-10 of AL MVP voting four times in his 10-year career. That being said, he hasn't made the all-star team since 2010, but that can be attributed in large part to the AL being stocked with a lot of high end third basemen over the last 6-7 years. Looking at his most recent bodies of work though, Longoria has shown he's still got a lot of punch in that bat and his 2017 gold glove award proves he's still at the top of the game on the defensive end. His full season average slash line over his career is a very respectable .270/29/101/.823 with 38 doubles but I believe the defensive aspect of his game is what pushed the Giants over on him. If they signed Todd Frazier, the Giants would have gotten their 20-30 home run threat, but would not be getting the average that Longoria will hopefully provide nor the gold-glove caliber defense.

Now, while the newest Giant has had a remarkably consistent career, some people are worried he's in the middle of his offensive decline, as he's sported an OPS over .800 just once in the last 4 seasons. That season, however, was the 2016 season which he blasted a career-high 36 big flies, drove in 98 and rocked 41 doubles to get to a .840 OPS. He had a pretty pedestrian 2017 by his standards though, with a slash line of .261/20/86/.737. The HR and RBI totals from last season though would still have led the '17 Giants squad, which is a testament to how badly they needed to bring in some consistent power and run production.

My thoughts on the deal after marinating on it over the last couple of days though are mostly positive. I do think he'll keep his 20+ home run potential despite moving into the more pitcher friendly yard and division plus his defense certainly isn't about to fall-off anytime soon. I also don't think they necessarily overpaid to get him, although losing Arroyo could effect what this team looks like when they do start to inevitably move into that younger makeover. By all accounts, he's a tremendous club house presence, and hopefully joining a perennial contender will sort of give him a second life and rejuvinate his bat a little bit and get his power production numbers up a little bit. Even if he repeated his 2017 season in '18 though, I don't think anyone would call this trade a bad deal for the Giants (unless Arroyo goes on to become an all-star with the Rays within the next few seasons). I would love to see him back up around 25+ HR and 100 RBI as well as getting his OPS back up around or above .800. As far as whether or not this deal was a good one or a bad one I'll answer that question like this; if the Giants go on to win another tittle that Longoria plays a big part in or even helps them stay perennial contenders over the next handful of seasons, then this move will be deemed successful. So let's just wait to see what else the Giants have in store and what kind of product they put on the field next year.

So the Giants finally got the ball rolling with their offseason and it's given us an idea as to where this team considers themselves for the next few seasons. They obviously are considering themselves contenders for 2018 and at least a few seasons after that as well and they're not about to take their foot off the gas pedal in terms of looking for additional upgrades for this roster. With the dealing of Span, it now leaves the Giants with Hunter Pence as the only major leaguer with everyday playing experience at this level meaning they're going to need another couple of outfield additions at least, especially with Pence being so injury prone the last few seasons and maybe not even being an everyday player in 2018. As of now, he'd be their starting right fielder, and I do think he'll be in the starting lineup somewhere on opening day. I believe that if the Giants can get enough depth on their outfield roster though, it would allow Boch to use Pence a little more sparingly in '18 which would hopefully result in a fresher, healthier and more effective outfielder.
 
As far as potential partners for Pence in that outfield, one names is becoming more and more close to joining the Giants with each passing day, and that player is Jay Bruce. The agent for Bruce has said the 31 year-old's top choice is San Francisco, by a long shot, and if they Giants can maybe get him to take a little less money then it would cost them to obtain maybe Adam Jones or Andrew McCutchen, then they very well may go that route. I'm not as high on Bruce though as I am the other two guys mentioned as he's a low average, low on-base left handed power guy who sort of relies on 35-40 HR seasons to contribute to his team and not a whole helluva lot else. The worry here is that playing in AT&T would obviously cut down on his power numbers, maybe significantly enough to make him a risky add. Bruce also is seeking a 4-year deal and the Giants have made it clear they'd prefer no more than 3 years. So there are still some hurdles if the Giants are indeed going to sign the slugger, but he certainly seems like he's going to be the big free agent signing for the club at the moment, although we all know how quickly things can change in this game (just look at how the Marlins and Giants had a deal in place for Giancarlo Stanton, only to have the outfielder decline the deal after mulling it over).

Even if they did add Bruce though, it would still leave the Giants with a gaping hole in center field, and the newest name brought into the mix to potentially fill that void is Jacoby Ellsbury. I'm not sure if the Giants have any interest in the aging Yankees center fielder, but he specifically mentioned them as a team he'd prefer a trade to if he is indeed dealt out of New York's crowded outfield. Ellsbury just doesn't make sense for the Giants though, as he's essentially a much more expensive, older version of Denard Span, granted he still does play a decent center field. I'd just assume go with their young in-house option, Steven Duggar, who's a very good center fielder and appears to be showing more offensive prowess over time. If they went that route they could support or supplant Duggar with a cheaper free agent option like Jarrod Dyson. Billy Hamilton has been on their radar as well but Dyson is basically a more refined version of Hamilton with a better plate presence, granted he's not quite the speed demon Hamilton is, he's close.

There are a lot more names than those mentioned in this piece out there who the Giants are looking at, have looked at or will look at. Right now the name ringing the most bells since the Longoria add and the team finally showed their intentions for 2018 is Jay Bruce. So don't be surprised if we're back here before Christmas talking about a newly inked left-handed slugger. If they do add Bruce, which the baseball world sure feels will come to fruition, then you'd then be looking at a lineup like the one below. A starting eight that would still has big question marks in left and center, but not a terrible looking bunch on paper, especially the top-6 hitters (although ideally they could find a leadoff hitting outfielder, drop Panik to second and move Belt down into the bottom third):

2B Joe Panik (L)
1B Brandon Belt (L)
3B Evan Longoria (R)
C Buster Posey (R)
RF Jay Bruce (L)
SS Brandon Crawford (L)
LF Hunter Pence(R)
CF Steven Duggar (L)