The wild 2022/23 MLB offseason is winding down. Most free agents who hadn't signed before the new year have found new homes over the last couple weeks, including longtime Giants' first basemen Brandon Belt.
Farhan Zaidi addressed the media last week after Belt officially ended his Giants' tenure by signing a one-year deal with Toronto. We got, more or less, the same rhetoric Zaidi provided after the Taylor Rogers' conference call on December 30th.
He essentially said they don't anticipate making any other major league free agent additions before spring training. However, he did keep open the door for potential middle infield help as well as bringing in some more catchers to battle it out for an opening day roster spot. It also was made clear that they plan on entering the season with LaMonte Wade Jr. being the main replacement for Belt at first base.
So, with everything pretty much set at this point, it's time to take a look at what the Giants 26-man opening day roster will look like.
Catchers- Joey Bart, Austin Wynns
As of now, it would appear Wynns has a leg up over rule 5 draftee Blake Sabol to be the second catcher. Sabol would need to rake in spring, and more importantly, show the ability to handle himself behind the plate in order to change that. Again, we could see another name or two added to the competition, but the Giants are banking on Joey Bart taking a big leap in his second full season as the starter.
Infielders- LaMonte Wade Jr. 1B, Thairo Estrada 2B, Brandon Crawford SS, David Villar 3B, JD Davis 1B/3B
This is the area on the team which has the most question marks. They appear ready to hand third base to Villar and hope that his strong finish in September was a sign of him acclimating to major league ball after a rough start. Davis should also get some looks there vs some tougher right-handed pitching.
Crawford and Estrada have a lot of pressure on them to tighten up the defense up the middle. Craw finished the year on a roll but largely had one of his worst defensive seasons in 2022. Estrada was one of the team's most steady offensive performers last season and hopefully he continues to grow on both sides of the ball in his sophomore season as a full-timer. The tough part is the Giants don't have much in the way of backups to the middle infield spots at the moment, so expect these two to get all the work they can handle early on.
At first, we should see mostly a platoon of Wade and Davis with Flores' role being the primary DH vs. lefties. It's been a tale of two seasons for Wade. After a strong 2021 debut with the Giants, the 29 year-old was never able to get healthy in '22 and didn't contribute much when he was on the field. He'll lead the strong side of the platoon and very well could hit at the top of the order if he can regain that form from two seasons ago. Davis played well for the Giants last year after coming over from the Mets and, between 1B and 3B, I expect to see him in the lineup a lot.
Outfielders- RF Mitch Haniger, CF Mike Yastrzemski, LF Michael Conforto, OF Austin Slater, OF Luis Gonzalez
The Giants are hoping that solidifying the corner spots and letting Yaz settle into center full time will yield better results than the outfield defense showed last season.
Haniger and Conforto are guys who could be big impact players, as long as they can stay on the field. Haniger is viewed as a solid defensive right fielder, and Conforto will move to left to take some pressure off his surgically repaired shoulder. Both should be fine out there on the corners, but the real reason they were brought in was to hit in the middle of the batting order. There is a lot riding on the two newest Giants' additions and their performance will go a long way toward determining the overall strength of this lineup.
I also am holding out hope for a Yaz rebound. It's been a tough couple of years for Yaz since his MVP-caliber short season in 2020. He's had some injury issues that have limited him during that span but he still has that potential to hit 20+ home runs while providing an OPS around .800 with plus defense.
Slater and Gonzalez are depth pieces. Slater still rakes lefties and likely will get the call in center whenever the team is facing a southpaw. Gonzo arrived with a bang last year and was hitting over .300 into June, but the league made adjustments and he mostly struggled in the second half. Still with options, he's someone who could be on the fringe of making the team, depending on how spring goes.
DH- Joc Pederson LF, Wilmer Flores 1B/3B
I list these guys as DH's because the Giants hope their exposure to the field is limited this season. Pederson had an all-star year in 2022 for the Giants and he'll head up the strong side of the DH platoon, likely hitting somewhere between 3rd and 5th in the batting order. Flores could see some time at first base on occasion but the Giants view him more of a DH at this point.
Starting Rotation- RH Logan Webb, RH Alex Cobb, RH Ross Stripling, LH Sean Manaea, RH Anthony DeSclafini, LH Alex Wood
I listed six starters because that's where the Giants are heading into spring. I don't think they will run a 6-man rotation, but if all these guys are healthy and throw well in spring, we could see that out of the gate until it sorts itself out.
Webb heads up this group, and right now it would appear Cobb would get the ball in game two in New York, but after that it's really anybodies guess as to the order of the rotation. I doubt Manaea and Stripling signed here with the idea they'd be coming out of the bullpen so my guess is that if one of the guys listed is moved to relief for a while, it would be either DeSclafini or Wood.
Again, these sort of things usually sort themselves out during spring. Who knows whether DeSclafini will even be ready to take on a full load early on after missing nearly all of last year? It's a good problem to have though. Hopefully with the depth they have now, we won't be relegated to nearly as many John Brebbia and Sam Long starts as we were last year. The Giants also hope to get even more depth at some point in 2023 with the expected arrival of MLB's top left-handed prospect, Kyle Harrison.
Bullpen- RH Camilo Doval, LH Taylor Rogers, RH Tyler Rogers, RH John Brebbia, LH Scott Alexander, RH Cole Waites, RH Jakob Junis, *RH Luke Jackson (starting year on DL)
With Rogers' arrival and a May/June return to full effectiveness by Luke Jackson, the bullpen should be in a much better spot than they were a year ago. Both should help solidify late inning leads with Rogers taking some of the pressure off Doval being the only guy they're comfortable with in closing situations. The questions lay with the rest of this bunch.
Tyler Rogers' ERA was a little inflated last year but he should be fine, especially if the Giants can deploy him as more of a situational guy rather than in a main set-up role. Brebbia was strong in his first full year removed from Tommy John surgery. Alexander did well being used as the main left-handed reliever down the stretch. Waites has a power arm and arrived last year but he's only thrown a handful of big league innings and has some control issues still. Junis pitched very well as a starter last year but with the depth they have now, most of his work should come in long relief.
Heading into the spring, they have essentially all their 26 spots filled. They'll be holding auditions for their second catcher and have a vacancy in the bullpen until Jackson is ready. That's about it, barring unforeseen injuries.
Not a perfect roster by any stretch, but competitive. They should put forth a lineup with significantly more upside than they had last year and the starting pitching depth, despite not being as flashy, should anchor the team.
My hope is that the young guys, Villar and Bart, really assert themselves as lineup mainstays. Not saying these guys have to be the next Posey or Belt but the Giants absolutely need some of their homegrown position guys to step up this year. They need foundation in that lineup that they can build with. Most of their starting lineup will likely be gone in a year or two. These two have the clearest path to leading that next wave and had stretches where they looked very good last season.
I'm also low-key excited about the outfield, particularly offensively. It will be nice not needing to hit Brandon Crawford or Luis Gonzalez in the middle of the lineup this year by default. Haniger is my pick to lead the team in home runs. Conforto could easily slot into that huge lineup void that Buster Posey left behind after 2021. Overlooked after missing last season and coming out of an off-year in '21, it's easy to forget how good this dude is. His career .824 OPS and 124 OPS+ are nearly identical to Posey's (.831 and 129), and he's only entering his age-30 season.
It's not the roster we were all envisioning in November, and certainly not as recently as mid-December. Still, if you put the free agency misses over the last 2 months aside, and address the simple question whether or not they're a better team heading into spring than they were in October? I think the answer is yes.
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