3 Things To Improve All 30 Teams — The San Francisco Giants
Finishing the 2021 season with a record of 107–55, the San Francisco Giants had the best record in the powerful NL West and in all of baseball. With the departures of Kris Bryant, Kevin Gausman, Donovan Solano, Jose Quintana, and Alex Dickerson, and the retirement of first ballot Hall of Famer Buster Posey, it will be extremely difficult for the Giants to repeat the surprising success they had last year. Today’s piece will cover ways in which they will try to mitigate the decline more so than how they can improve upon last year. A strong addition to the rotation, an up and coming former top prospect, and a new power bat are all good places to start. Most important of the three being…
1. Keep Carlos Rodon Healthy For 30+ Starts
You may recall that one of the ways to improve upon the White Sox 2021 season was to re-sign Carlos Rodon. Well, the Giants beat them to it. For a 2 year, $44 million deal, the Giants got their ace. Coming off of a 2021 in which he pitched to a 2.37 ERA with 185 strikeouts and a 183 ERA+ over 132.2 innings and 24 starts, Rodon will easily slot into the front of the Giants rotation. The trick now is to keep him there all season.
Debuting for the ChiSox on April 21, 2015, Carlos Rodon has now pitched in the Major Leagues for 7 seasons. Of those, minus the shortened 2020 season, he has made 30+ starts in a single season a whopping total of 0 times. The most starts he has ever made in a single season is 28 in 2016. That year was also the year in which he pitched the most innings in a season in his career at 165, the only time he has qualified for the ERA title.
Coming into his age 29 season, he is still in his prime, but nearing the end of it. The Giants need to do everything they can to ensure that he stays on the field for the entire season, and hope that he picks up where he left off last season absolutely dealing. Should that happen, the Giants could actually save 2 wins from coming off their total.
2. Hope Joey Bart Is Ready To Be The Guy
With the retirement of Giants legend Buster Posey still fresh, the Giants will now have to rip the bandaid off and insert Joey Bart into the everyday lineup behind the plate. The 2nd overall pick in the 2018 draft has played 197 games of minor league ball since being drafted and had 845 plate appearances. He’s hit to the tune of .287/.348/.512 with 39 homeruns over that time frame. In 2021, his minor league ball was all AAA. He hit .294/.358/.472 with 10 homeruns over 279 plate appearances and 67 games. He’s spent enough time in the minors and has shown that he is ready for Big League ball.
Coming into his age 25 season, he definitely has some big shoes to fill. He’s got the average and gap power to match up with Posey, but the on base will see a decline. Fully expect Bart to come out of the gate slowly, but once he gets comfortable and has a month or two under his belt, he’ll take off and be a top conteder for the NL RotY. Having him at catcher would take some 1 win off this year, but a healthy Rodon saves that with 1 more to spare.
3. Have Joc Pederson DH
Earlier this month, the San Francisco Giants signed free agent Joc Pederson to a 1 year, $6 million deal. Being in need of a DH now that the NL can utilize that position, Joc Pederson fits the role perfectly. Coming into his age 30 season, he is a career .232/.332/.462 hitter with 148 homeruns over 2,582 at bats and 885 games. Not the greatest numbers, but he’s easily the best slugger on their roster.
Already having one season of 30+ homeruns under his belt, Joc will be looking to climb that splash counter in right higher and higher as the season progresses. In 2022, expect him to lead the Giants in homeruns with somewhere between 28–32. Should this come to be, the Giants would only lose 3 games off their total as opposed to a much worse alternative.
With Carlos Rodon staying healthy for a full season, Joey Bart stepping up and being the new catcher, and Joc Pederson DHing the Giants would potentially only lose 2 games off their 2021 total. This would give them a 2022 record of 105–57, dropping them out of the NL West lead, but still giving them the top Wild Card spot.
This has been the 23rd entry in our series in which we take a look at all 30 teams individually and see what we can do to help them out for the 2022 season. Previous entries include the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Atlanta Braves, the Baltimore Orioles, the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago White Sox, the Chicago Cubs, the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Guardians, the Colorado Rockies, the Detroit Tigers, the Houston Astros, the Kansas City Royals, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles, the Miami Marlins, the Milwaukee Brewers, the Minnesota Twins, the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, the Oakland Athletics, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Follow me on Twitter @TroyBrock1993 for updates and other sports musings. Next up will be the San Diego Padres!
