San Francisco Giants- Make or Break Offseason
The San Francisco Giants are one of the most successful sports franchises of the 21st century. Having won 3 rings throughout 5 seasons, 2010, 2012, and 2014, the future was looking bright for San Francisco until it wasn’t…
The present-day Giants aren’t looking as bright as they did a decade ago. The face of the franchise, Buster Posey retired after the abnormal 2021 season where the Giants won the most games in baseball with 107 wins. Star pitcher Madison Bumgarner lost his stride with the Giants and is now a free agent. The longest-tenured Giant, Brandon Crawford just signed with the St. Louis Cardinals.
It’s safe to say it’s the end of an era.
Right now, the Giants are in an interesting position. They aren’t bad but they aren’t that great. The NL West isn’t that competitive anymore since the Padres traded Juan Soto and let Josh Hader go. So, the Giants still have a shot at the playoffs.
The Giants would’ve had a shot at winning the division if they weren’t in the National League (NL) West, dominated by the Dodgers. But after the free agency the Giants had, second place is within reach.
The Giants started their offseason by signing KBO superstar Jung Hoo Lee. The deal is 6 years with an overall salary of 116 million dollars. Lee is known for his amazing skills in centerfield and the fact that he walks more than he strikes out. Lee is projected to have a strikeout rate of around 11.3 percent, which is in the same range as 2-time batting champion Luis Arraez.
While Lee isn’t known for his power, he is known for his bat-to-ball skills and great on-base percentage. Lee will be batting in the Giants’ leadoff spot this year, hopefully, he can hit well against MLB pitching.
The next big move the Giants made was trading for former CY Young award winner Robbie Ray in a trade with the Mariners.
The Giants gave up outfielders Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani. Haniger and DeSclafani had lackluster 2023 seasons for San Francisco, with Haniger being the most disappointing of the two considering he had the best prior stats.
I believe they made this trade because both teams hope the past forms of these players will come back.
Robbie Ray was the best pitcher in the American League in 2021 but hasn’t gotten back to that form since.
Haniger was also amazing in 2021, getting to the 100 RBI mark with an alright batting average of .253.
With DeSclafani being traded to the Minnesota Twins at the end of January, this deal is just a one-for-one swap with Ray and Haniger. Both players had great seasons in the past but haven’t been able to live up to the hype since. So, it’ll be interesting to see what both players do on their new teams.
But it’s a solid move for the Giants. Even if Ray doesn’t reach the CY Young caliber stats he did in 2021, he’ll be a great middle-of-the-rotation guy who will get some outs when he needs to.
Lack of pitching was the Giant’s biggest issue last year. They have their ace in Logan Webb, but after losing Kevin Gausman to the Blue Jays, their rotation hasn’t been the same.
So, the Giants went out and signed Jordan Hicks to a 4-year 44 million dollar deal and Blake Snell to a 2-year 62 million dollar deal, with Blake Snell being the most impactful out of the two signings.
Snell won two CY Young awards throughout his career, including one this past year. Blake Snell waited until the last week of the offseason to decide which team he wanted to spend the season with — he chose San Francisco.
This decision was a little surprising but when you think about it, it was bound to happen. San Francisco was in desperate need of another star starter so Logan Webb wasn’t the only intimidating guy in the pitching rotation. The Giants did the smartest thing and signed the best pitcher on the market.
While this deal is a “prove yourself” deal rather than a long-term deal, Snell could decide to sign back to San Fran long-term and hopefully make this Giants pitching rotation a very fearsome one in the future.
Jordan Hicks is a relatively small name.
Hicks, a flamethrower long relief pitcher who topped out at 104 mph in multiple appearances on the mound for the Cardinals, served as their closer until he lost the job to Ryan Helsley. While Hicks is famous for his powerful fastball, he’s known to give up runs from time to time. So, his high ERA will be something to keep an eye on when he takes pitches for the Giants.
The Giants decided to transition Hicks into a starter (I can’t say I’m a fan of this decision). I believe Hicks won’t be able to slow his fastball down enough to be a starter. He’ll either blow his arm out throwing fast for several innings or won’t be able to find a speed that works for him and give up a lot of runs.
The Giants had two more big signings: 3rd baseman Matt Chapman and DH/OF Jorge Soler.
Both are equally impactful signings in a lineup that desperately needs home run bats. Jorge Soler is a power hitter having hit 48 home runs, the most in the American League during the 2019 season. He’s well known for his 3-run home run in game 6 of the 2021 World Series that gave the Braves the lead in a game they eventually won.
Soler won the World Series MVP that year. Having a power bat like that in San Francisco will be huge. This team hasn’t had a good power hitter since Barry Bonds nearly two decades ago.
Matt Chapman is an amazing signing for San Francisco.
While he’s not known for his bat, he’s guaranteed to get on base a good amount of time and reach double digits in home runs. Chapman is known for his gold glove defense at 3rd base and won 4 gold gloves and 2 platinum gloves in his career.
After finally getting some offensive and pitching help, the Giants should be have a great season and have great luck for years to come.
