San Francisco Giants Offseason Breakdown
Say Hey! It’s finally baseball season again! With a long winter off season finally over with (for the most part), it’s time to recap some of the big additions, as well as the subtractions from the lineup.
Lets start with the notable players that have left the Giants this offseason. Arguably the face of the franchise since the 2010’s World Series runs, Brandon Crawford, is now a St. Louis Cardinal. This one hurts like a mug to me. B-Craw has been the shortstop of the Giants for honestly as long as I can remember, so it doesn’t feel right seeing him in another uniform. However, the time was right for him. With the emergence of Casey Schmitt, Marco Luciano, and the addition of another name we’ll get into later, there was no space for Crawford in the lineup. While his defense is still stellar, his offensive production has slowed down tremendously since his monstrous 2021 season. As much as we all wanted him to stay a Giant for life, everyone knew this move was coming.
There were multiple starting pitchers that departed The Bay as well. Alex Wood and Ross Stripling were both traded to the A’s, Anthony Desclafani was traded to the Mariners for another name we’ll talk about in a bit, and Sean Manaea is now a New York Met. Honestly, I’m not mad about any of these subtractions. Ross Stripling never showed out for the Giants last year, Alex Wood was a stud one time through the lineup, then got blasted every time. Anthony Desclafani was never someone I thought was a quality pitcher either. He had some quality starts don’t get me wrong, but he never showed up when he really needed to, which is why I’m fine with offloading him. Manaea was quality at the end of the season, but the Giants rotation was never solid for all 162, and that’s where Manaea wasn’t showing up. If you ask me, I think (without injuries), the rotation is much more solid this year. Lets talk about that.
The rotation so far in spring training has been pretty solid. They’ve taken some pretty big hits, with the losses of Keaton Winn, Carson Wisehunt, and now Sean Hjelle, there are some questions as of right now. Our key 2 guys, Logan Webb and Kyle Harrison have looked pretty decent as of late. Webb has been getting knocked around a little bit, but I know he can turn things around once April hits. Kyle Harrison is looking like a stud, which is great to see after his Major League debut’s last year. There’s also some new kids on the block for the 2024 season. Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks were welcomed to the Giants squad this winter, and I’m stoked about it. Jordan Hicks has primarily been a reliever over the course of his career, so it should be interesting to see how he can develop from a bullpen guy to a multi inning starter. All I know is that he can throw fast enough to burn the casing off the baseball, and I’m very excited.
Now for the big dawgs. Farhan finally went out and got some players over the off season. The big contract was rewarded to KBO superstar, Jung Ho Lee. The Giants locked him up for 6 years, $113 Million. This is huge, as the last player to earn over 100 million was Barry Bonds. To have a player locked up for more than 3 years is a great feeling. I feel like J.H.Lee is going to be a great leadoff man and one of the most consistent hitters on the team. He might not be the home run guy, but when the offense has been struggling for a few years, it’ll be nice to have a little bit of relief knowing that there is a consistent contact hitter in the lineup.
The big bats made their way to the Bay as well, with Jorge Soler, known homerun powerhouse, and Matt Chapman, one of the best third basemen in the game. Jorge Soler should hopefully become the first Giants player to hit more than 30 homeruns since Barry Bonds. Joc Pederson and Mitch Haniger both hit 30 at some point in their careers, but couldn’t get the job done in the DH position, so having Soler in that spot gives me and a lot of other fans some hope for monstrous homerun shots.
Matt Chapman is on the Giants with a “3 year deal” thats more like a one year deal with the chance to stay for another 2. Not a huge fan of the contract, and I can guarantee that Chapman isn’t either. Not too sure as to why this was the contract that was settled upon, but it is what it is. The defense at third base has been skyrocketed with the arrival of Chapman, but the bat is a little tough to navigate. He hasn’t been at his O.G. form for a few years, but word on the street says he is gunning to get back at it and provide some major power back into the lineup. Not too sure where the third base depth chart stands now, but I’m assuming J.D Davis won’t be a Giant for much longer.
Hopefully that clears up some of the offseason jargon that’s been going around and makes things easier to understand. I’ll be doing a lot more Giants posts, and less football and basketball, all while keeping those topics still circulating. Keep an eye out on my YouTube channel for some game reactions if they can ever televise a spring training game, otherwise it’ll be during the regular season.
Thanks for reading, and peace out!
