Even with the signing of Alex Wood last week, the Giants continue to navigate this free agency through a slow and methodical approach. None of their additions this winter have been huge signings or names that necessarily jump out at you, but if all goes well, they could be some of the biggest bargains of the winter.
If your worried about the injuries/ineffectiveness that plagued him throughout the 2019-20 seasons, he did his best to alleviate that concern by throwing very well last postseason for the Dodgers. That included 2 perfect innings vs. the Rays in the decisive game 6 series clinching victory. It reminds me, granted on a much smaller scale, of how Gausman looked terrific out of the bullpen for the Reds at the end of the '19 season before the Giants signed him. We all saw how well that turned out for them last summer. I'm not saying Wood is the next Gausman, but he's got the ability to be that good, and if worse comes to worst, you slide him into the bullpen and take him the Drew Pomeranz route.
I do really like this signing. And one way or another, I think it will look very good for them by the end of the season.
Now, on to the next order of business. With Wood and DeSclafini in tow, the rotation isn't in as much need as it was coming into the offseason but it could still use some depth for sure. They have five starters they can pencil in to start the season, but there are question marks that surround almost all five of those guys, so adding another veteran (or even two) to come in and compete would make a lot of sense.
We've seen them linked to Cole Hamels, Julio Teheran, Anibal Sanchez and most recently, Jake Odorizzi. Of that group, Teheran and Odorizzi, I think, would offer the most potential upside. Teheran was terrible in has transition to the AL last summer with the Angels, but again, it was such a wacky year that I'm willing to give players with strong track records a second chance and Teheran fits that bill. Odorizzi would probably have been one of the top free-agent arms of this class had he not ran into injuries last year, so you can obviously see the draw there. Hamels has always been a very good pitcher when he's healthy, even as he enters his later 30's, but the injury and missed 2020 definitely raises a red flag.
In this day and age, I would lean toward the sure fire offense Rosario would bring. He can play all three outfield positions, including center field, adequately, but I think that if the Giants brought him in we'd be seeing a ton of Yaz in center being flanked by Dickerson and Rosario on the corners. He'd immediately become the favorite to lead the team in HR and RBI and that right there would make him the more attractive option of the two.
The Giants are absolutely going to have to hit to keep up with the Dodgers and Padres in 2021 and while their offense looked much better than we all expected last season, they need to prove that wasn't a two-month mirage. Rosario, and even to a lesser extent JBJ, would both help in that respect, so I'm all for it. Aside from being the better fit offensively, I also feel Rosario would be inclined to take that one-year, prove it deal after not being tendered a deal with the Twins. JBJ could get a multi-year deal based on his ability to anchor center field, but it's really any ones guess as to how this market plays out down the stretch.
Another big bat would be awesome, but their primary objective should be to make sure they have more pitching depth than they had during last year's 60-game schedule. Imagine if they had to get through another 100 games with that same bunch?
They certainly have some more work to do, and they know that. And with spring training reporting on the horizon, I'm expecting the whole league to be much more active over the next 30 days.
Comments
Of course it just be super NuTz if Giants threw out 2 year 60miL deals for both Bauer and Ozuna.....yeah I know, super reaching!
I would take Baeur in an instant. Fun guy to watch, good personality that would probably fit in great in this city, plus he looks like one of those guys who's just getting better with time, even though he's now 30.
I too am surprised they couldn't match or exceed the offers for either Pederson or Rosario. I really liked the potential of Rosario especially on this team. Pederson doesn't quite offer the offensive upside that Rosario does, although he does have just as much power. I think Bradley is pretty much there last option for the outfield unless they want to go into the next tiere and look at guys like Brian Goodwin, Brett Gardner or Nomar Mazara. Goodwin 2 years ago would have made some sense. Mazara is still very young and has huge power potential but doesn't really have a position and was pretty dreadful last summer.
We'll see, I definitely could see them grabbing a couple last second bargains, but the options, especially in the outfield, are diminishing pretty quickly.