The Giants are an enigma to me. They are financially well positioned. The stadium is bought and paid for, and the team has no other debt. They have a monster development property across from McCovey Cove in what used to be a stadium parking lot, known as Mission Rock Development, that is about to provide significant cash flow.
Mission Rock Development has been 15 years in planning, changing development partners throughout. Through the real estate meltdown and Covid, the Giants finally teamed with veteran builder Tishman Speyer. The 28 acre neighborhood will eventually have 1,200 apartments, eight acres of parks and 1.7 million square feet of commercial space.
The first residential phase, 283 apartment building (The Canyons), opened in June of last year). There are also four commercial buildings in the first phase, with Visa moving their global headquarters to their 13 story 300,000 square foot complex. They will take occupancy early 2024.
Suffice to say, the Giants have a cash cow, and yet they cannot seem to sign any highly paid free agents. I am not buying that they will not play for SF because of the City. Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland…all have city issues and concerns. Most big cities do. So it has to be something else.
The Giants lost a handful of free agents.
- Joc Pederson
- Alex Wood
- Scott Alexander
- Roberto Perez
- Brandon Crawford
- John Brebbia
- Jacob Junis
- Sean Manaea
None of them were irreplaceable.
This was the year the Giants told their fans, and anyone else who was listening, they were going to go all in. This was the year. They told everyone that they had enough payroll room to sign both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. We know how that turned out.
Okay, there were still enough high quality free agents that the Giants could sign to make a difference. I always thought that SF was the perfect spot for Cody Bellinger. He could roam CF better than anyone they have, and he would probably lead the league in triples.
Nope! Instead, on 12/14/23, they go out and overspend on 25 year old Korean CF, Jung Hoo Lee. Lee is a terrific bat to ball skills player, with limited power, especially at Oracle. We will have to see how his surgically repaired ankle fares in that expansive CF. MLBTradeRumors predicted Lee would sign 5 years and $50MM. Instead, they signed him to a 6 year $113MM deal.
Most reports I have seen say that Ha Seong Kim was a better hitter coming out of Korea than Lee. Kim was a non-factor his first year with San Diego. Although he has had back to back excellent seasons with the Padres. The issue is that Kim signed a 4-year $28MM deal with a mutual option for a 5th year vs. Lee’s extravagant largesse. Comparisons have been drawn between the KBO and AA level baseball.
On 12/23/23, SF signed backup catcher Tom Murphy. Murphy was an excellent backup catcher to Cal Raleigh in Seattle. He is certainly an improvement over Joey Bart, who has zero options remaining, and last year’s Rule 5 draft, Blake Sabol.
On 01/05/2024, the Giants engineered a trade with Seattle that will be more of a benefit to the Giants in 2025 and 2026 than 2024. They traded Mitch Haniger back to Seattle with RHSP Anthony DeSclafani in exchange for LHSP Robbie Ray. Ray is rehabbing from May 2022 TJ surgery. He will not be available until the second half. And he will probably be on an innings limit thru the end of the season.
On 01/18/2024, the Giants signed hard throwing RHP, Jordan Hicks, to a 4 year $44MM contract. What is odd is that the Giants are going to move Hicks back to the rotation, where he has not been very good whenever attempted. I am predicting right now that Hicks will end up back in the bullpen.
There is still time in the offseason, but one would think that the Giants would go all in on LHSP Blake Snell. His price may come down to where the Giants will sign him. The Giants have actually been fairly successful with improving mid rotation starters. Maybe the Giants look to add Michael Lorenzen or Mike Clevinger to fill out the rotation. LHSP James Paxton?
Jordan Montgomery remains a free agent, but it is not very likely at all that he will come out west. Cody Bellinger needs to get off his asking price, but is probably too late for SF to sign him. The other remaining top free agent linked to SF is 3B, Matt Chapman. He makes perfect sense for SF. J.D. Davis is the incumbent 3B, but he could be moved to the bench or packaged in a trade. There are no true prospects ready to assume 3B in their MiLB system. The QO is undoubtedly hurting Chapman.
The Giants have lots of payroll space for this year, but next year Michael Conforto ($18MM), Ross Stripling ($12.5MM), Alex Cobb ($8MM), and J.D. Davis ($6.725MM) will all be off the payroll.
As of right now, the Giants roster looks:
1B – LaMonte Wade, Jr.
2B – Thairo Estrada
3B – J. D. Davis
SS – Marco Luciano
LF – Michael Conforto
CF – Jung Hoo Lee
RF – Mike Yastrzemski
C – Patrick Baily
DH – Wilmer Flores
Bench:
C – Tom Murphy
INF/OF – Brett Wisely
OF – Heliot Ramos
OF – Austin Slater
Starting Rotation:
Logan Webb – RHP
Ross Stripling – RHP
Kyle Harrison – LHP (22 year old rookie)
Jordan Hicks – RHP
Keaton Winn – RHP (26 year old rookie)
Relievers:
Camilo Doval – RHP
Tyler Rogers – RHP
Taylor Rogers – LHP
Luke Jackson – RHP
Ryan Walker – RHP
Sean Hjelle – RHP
Erik Miller – LHP
Tristan Beck – RHP
RHSP Alex Cobb, had surgery to repair the torn labrum in his left hip on Oct. 31. The 36-year-old right-hander now has five anchors in his hip. He hopes to begin his throwing program very soon. He expects to be fully returned to the rotation at the All Star Break. With Cobb and Ray both due back in the 2nd half of 2024, their rotation will be improved. But they could sure use a pitcher with the ability of Blake Snell.
As of right now, the Giants #2 SP is Ross (Dodgers going full villain mode) Stripling. The Giants were #26 in team OPS, #27 SLG, #24 OBP, and #28 BA, and have done nothing to significantly improve…yet. J.D. Davis was the Giants’ top RBI producer (69). Wilmer Flores was the sole Giants hitter with more than 20 HR (23).
The Giants are in a much better position to improve more than any other team in the NL West. If they do not find the ability to spend on their roster, they will be more in a position to be holding off Colorado for the bottom of the Division rather than challenging Arizona and San Diego.
Maybe the Giants players should just shut up about the Dodgers, and maybe SF management should spend more time in trying to improve their roster rather than promoting a Mickey Mouse Hat giveaway event on June 30 with the Dodgers in town. Just another way for the second division Giants fans to rub in that the Dodgers have not won a full season WS since 1988. The 2020 WS is often referred to as a Mickey Mouse Championship. I think that will go as well as the San Diego Jumbotron Video of Clayton Kershaw last year. Funny I do not hear any trolling of the Giants by LAD personnel. Obviously the Dodgers are in the Giants head.
Next – Arizona
Way too early predictions have the Dodgers favorites to win it all.
The West will finish looking very much like it did last year. The O/U for LA wins will be at or over 100 again and on January 20th I will take the over.
The Mickey Mouse hat giveaway shows how clueless they are. The Dodgers are in LA and the Angels are a stones throw from Disneyland yet claim to be in LA. And they fell for it!
I think every team should wear Mickey ears when the Angels play them to remind THEM of where Anaheim is.
Giant fans should be embarrassed by that pathetic projected lineup.
Dodger fans should sit back and laugh at the embarrassment.
F em. They’ll finish 20 games+ behind us.
Hader to the Cheaters, 5 years for 95 million. There bullpen is loaded again. some great arms at the back end . At least Hader did not sign wth a NL team.
Go Dodgers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
All I know about San Francisco is that driving a big rig in the bay area is a total nightmare. The Giants are not going to be a threat to the Dodgers. Arizona maybe. The Padres have lost a lot too and have not really replaced any key players. The Dodgers will have one of the best starting lineups in the game, but I do not care much for the bench. Jeter Downs DFA’d by the Yankees.
Nice summary Jeff.
The Giants current lineup is patchwork and resembles a AAA team. I don’t think any position player on the Giants could start on the Dodgers. And probably only Webb, Doval, and Rogers could make the Dodgers MLB staff. I also agree that the signing of Lee seems like a big overpay. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them sign either Bellinger, Chapman, or Snell as they could use all three of them. But they are all Boras clients and some reports say that Snell and Bellinger are seeking $240 million contracts. I don’t blame the Giants for passing on those prices, but they will need additions to even compete for a wild card.
Jeff, I saw a video on X of Dodger prospect Jaron Elkins, and outfielder drafted out of high school. Will he be playing in AZ this summer? Kid has a great swing.
Does anyone have the new Dodgers prospects rankings from publications that make people subscribe to see it? If so, can you share them here please?
MLB.com has published their top 10 catcher prospects. The #1 (Ethan Salas, San Diego) and #2 (Samuel Basallo, Baltimore) catcher prospects, are both teenagers who reached AA at the end of 2023. Salas is the Padres top prospect, and Basallo is the O’s #2 prospect behind uber prospect Jackson Holliday.
The Dodgers have two top ten catcher , prospects. Diego Cartaya (22), who reached top 10 overall and #2 catcher prospect, dropped to #10 MLB.com catcher prospect, and out of top 100. The 2nd LAD catcher prospect is Dalton Rushing (23). He is the #5 catcher prospect and is in the top 100 for both Baseball Prospectus (#36) and Baseball America (#50). He is the LAD top prospect.
Two 2023 catcher draft picks reached the top 10 catchers. Boston’s Kyle Teel is #5, and KC’s Blake Mitchell is #7.
9 of the top 10 catchers remain from 2023 in some order. The one newcomer is the Cubs Moisés Ballesteros (20). Ballesteros, who also reached AA, replaced NYM catcher prospect Kevin Parada.
The Top 10 (ETA)
1. Ethan Salas, Padres (2025)
2. Samuel Basallo, Orioles (2025)
3. Jeferson Quero, Brewers (2024)
4. Harry Ford, Mariners (2025)
5. Kyle Teel, Red Sox (2025)
6. Dalton Rushing, Dodgers (2025)
7. Blake Mitchell, Royals (2027)
8. Moises Ballesteros, Cubs (2026)
9. Edgar Quero, White Sox (2025)
10. Diego Cartaya, Dodgers (2025)
Maybe the Giants need to hire Boras to create a brochure that sells SF with the same enthusiasm as he does for his clients.
SF is not a hitters park. They should be trying to recruit pitchers and defenders with the defenders having speed and ability to hit doubles. Pitching and defense and pesky offense.
Sometimes I feel like some are cup-half-full people and some are cup-half-empty type people. Based on which one we are we tend to see what supports that feel. I also think that based on the issue people that were half full types can be half empty types. That’s where introspection becomes useful.
I knew when I wrote the article on the Giants that I was running a risk. I was hoping that everyone would comment on the Giants and not the City. I think everyone has stated their opinion on the status of San Francisco as a City. None of us are going to change whatever ails any city. It is a lightning rod topic to be sure. Everyone has said their piece. So can we now just get back to Baseball?
Thank you!
Check this out!!!
https://twitter.com/santiagouuuu/status/1748763231164756200?s=20