The Giants Baseball Blog

 We've officially entered 2022 and despite their being no end in sight for this player lockout, spring training workouts are tentatively scheduled to start in 6 weeks. Obviously, the mid-February reporting dates for MLB clubs is in jeopardy of being pushed back if no agreement is made within the next couple weeks, but I'd imagine talks to start heating up here in January. Although the two sides are a ways off in discussions, I don't think anybody wants to risk pushing the season's start date. Once business is back to normal we should expect a flurry of moves similar to what we witnessed at the end of November. The Giants, as they stand now, have at least two big needs that they still would like to address once this thing ends. Those two glaring needs are a top-of-rotation starting pitcher and a middle of the order bat most likely in the form of an outfielder. Of course if the universal DH is brought to the NL like anticipated, it would open up another avenue for them to...

 The Giants made a few crucial signings that barely beat the collective bargaining agreement's expiration at the start of December and they weren't the only ones. We've gotten used big named free-agents waiting things out over the past few years. Bryce Harper didn't pick his new home until a few days before spring training in 2019. This year however, players signed with much more urgency as both organizations and upper-echelon free agents wanted to have as much clarity as possible before the impending work stoppage. Gone are the top free agent starting pitchers, including Max Scherzer, Kevin Gausman, Robbie Ray and Marcus Stroman. Also off the table are many of the premiere offensive talents such as Marcus Semien, Corey Seager, Starling Marte and Javy Baez.  The good thing for teams still looking to improve before the '22 season is that this free agent class entered the offseason as one of the deepest in the sports history. Despite the flurry of expensive signings, ...

Bucking the trend of slower paced offseasons the MLB has gone through in recent years, this is maybe the busiest couple weeks I've seen in a while. With teams and players both wanting clarity on their future before a potential lockout later this week, we've seen big names sign much quicker than they have in years past.  Unfortunately for the Giants, that has included the departure of their ace over the last two seasons, Kevin Gausman. The 31 year-old inked a 5-year/$110M deal with the Blue Jays on Sunday, which got #SFGiants twitter in a frenzy I was definitely under the impression that the Giants had Gausman as their number one priority this offseason, but I think they became skeptical on matching the length other teams were offering. He's been great since dawning a Giants uniform in 2020, but giving a guy who's on the wrong side of 30 and has just one really good full season under his belt, that kind of deal is a big risk. Gausman's style of pitching doesn't...

 We're a few weeks into the offseason, and while the return of Brandon Belt is the only thing of significance to happen on the player movement front for the Giants, things could be heating up soon.  The impending labor stoppage looming next week could slow things down for bit, but the Giants hope to get " at least one or two things done " before that happens. They've been connected to a few marquee hitters atop this free agent class and the one that could make the most sense is all-star second basemen, Marcus Semien.  Semien fits the Giants mold of what they like to do both offensively and defensively. He has the ability to play both shortstop and second base at high-caliber levels and he finished fourth in the AL in home runs last season with 45. He'd bring a premium power bat to the Giants and is a guy that's right in the middle of his prime. The Giants have Tommy La Stella slated to head up second base as of now, but I think the idea when they signed him la...

The Giants offseason got started immediately after the World Series with a bit of a gut punch to the fan base. Buster Posey announced his retirement, which didn't surprise a lot of people close to the organization, but it certainly made this offseason a lot more complicated. First off, I can't really think of much to say about Posey that hasn't been said over the last week. I do, however, want to express my appreciation for the future hall-of-famer. He's been incredibly fun to follow and root for. He's also been arguably the most valuable asset to the Giants over the last decade-plus than perhaps any other player in baseball has been to their respective squad. He had a storied career and gets to go out on top and I'm happy for him. I had heard rumblings that this was a possibility and you could almost see the writing on the wall during his interview following the NLDS loss to the Dodgers... Good luck Buster, wish you the best in your next endeavor, and thanks fo...

 We've had about a week to digest the rough loss to the Dodgers in the NLDS and it's about time to start shifting our focus towards the offseason. It seems like every winter we head into is a crucial one for the Giants but this one is easily the most important of the Farhan Zaidi era. Both Gabe Kapler and Zaidi spoke in a season ending press-conference on Monday at Oracle Park where they fielded questions regarding their priorities in the coming months. Before they can even delve into the free agent or trade market this winter, they have to first deal with their own impending free agents. Two of those guys are Brandon Belt and Kris Bryant, who were both talked about on Monday. In terms of Belt, it looks pretty clear that the Giants probably won't want to go too long with him, and he very well should get a bigger offer on the open market should he get there. Farhan did seem to hint that the Giants were leaning toward offering him the qualifying offer, which if accepted would...

 It certainly wasn't the way you wanted to see it end, on a check swing that I think everyone, even Dodger fans, could agree that Wilmer Flores indeed checked his swing. However, as Buster Posey said postgame, "there's no good way to end it." The Giants hung with the Dodgers throughout this whole series and were a big hit or two away from taking it. They were able to come up with those big moments in the regular season to hold off and win the west, but they didn't get enough of them when it mattered the most. First off, once again, I want to mention how sick Logan Webb is. This guy came into this season just trying to crack the starting rotation and stick around. He figured it out pretty early on and was one of the best pitchers in baseball for the final four months of it. That did not slow down in the postseason, as the youngster held the Dodgers to just 1 run on 9 hits and a walk over 14 2/3 innings (with 17 punch-outs). He willingly placed his nasty sinker, his...