Bryce Harper signs with Phillies, thankfully not LA

The winter long Bryce Harper watch finally came to an end Thursday, as the slugging 26-year old outfielder chose to play in Philadelphia for the next 13 years, agreeing to a deal that will pay him $330M over that span.

Immediately after the deal was announced, it was made public that the Giants were indeed serious on Harper, so much so that they actually offered him a deal that would have paid him slightly more annually than what he got from the Phillies, but it was for 12 years and not 13. The Giants offer was said to for $310M over those 12 years which would have given Harper an overall annual value of $25.5M. The deal he signed is only about 1/2 a million less per year than that, but it does show you that it wasn't just all about the money. I always knew it would have been a long shot for the Giants to ink him, and was very surprised at the offer they did give him, but I was fearful he would land in LA and even with their late push, that luckily did not come to fruition. To tell you the truth, I was fine either way with whether or not the Giants got him. If they did, then he would have been a great young centerpiece to build around into the next decade. However, by missing out on him, it opens up the possibilities for the Giants' future, and doesn't handicap them in terms of pursuing urgent needs as they hopefully improve over the next couple of seasons.

So after the Giants missed out on Harper, they could look to one of the remaining veteran outfielders to come in and shore up one of the open three spots, or they simply could move forward with the group they currently have. There are still a few options out there that could help boost their outfield, such as Carlos Gonzalez and Adam Jones, but more than likely, the bunch they have now is the same bunch that will break north with the club at the end of March and there have been some bright spots early on. The first that jumps out at you after only a handful of games is 2018 first round pick, Joey Bart. The 22 year-old backstop has gotten plenty of opportunity early on, appearing in 4 of the 5 games thus far and is tied for the team lead in hits with four over seven at-bats. Two of those four hits have been for extra bases, including his first big fly of the spring on Thursday. Despite him being relatively inexperienced at the minor league level, he's a kid the Giants could fast track do to his advanced plate approach and his impressive power. When your a team that didn't have a single guy hit 20 home runs for you a season ago, you look to whatever power you can find and Bart has looked early on like he is indeed the real deal.

Aside from the bright young catcher, Evan Longoria has had a couple of nice games to start things off, as he's 3/4 with a big fly of his own. Longoria is a key part of the Giants offense and if he can stay healthy and rebound after a relatively sub par, injury-riddled season in 2018 then it could be a big boost to the Giants offense. Longo has always been a guy you can pretty much pencil in for 20+ home runs and 80+ RBI, so hopefully he gets back to that threshold in 2019, if for no other reason than to boost his possible trade value come July. Joe Panik and Yangervis Solarte are the other two guys who should be on the opening day roster who have gotten off to a solid start. Both are hitting .500+ with a big fly through the first week of spring.

As far as some of the pitchers we'll be watching closely, Jeff Samardzija gave everyone a breath of fresh air with a great start to his spring, tossing 2 shut-out innings, allowing just a hit while striking out two. He's another guy who could be moved at some point if the Giants feel they can get a decent return for him. The two youngsters who will be in the rotation to start the year (barring injury) have each gotten their springs underway as well. With Andrew Suarez tossing two shut-out innings himself, and Dereck Rodriguez throwing 1.2 innings allowing a run and 4 base runners. The newest addition to the rotation mix, and a guy who I really think will battle Samardzija for that fifth spot in the rotation is lefty Drew Pomeranz. We talked at length about Pomeranz after he signed and how he could wind up being a bigger steal than Derrick Holland was prior to last season, and he showed a glimpse of why in his first start in a Giants uniform. He threw 2 strong innings, surrendering a run on two hits while striking out two.

Extras: As far as the battle for the closers role, it really hasn't gotten going yet, as the two favorites, Will Smith and Mark Melancon, have yet to appear in a Cactus League game yet... Buster Posey has looked and felt well in the first couple weeks of spring, and he's on track to being catching in early March like the team had planned...