Following their 2014 World Series win, the San Francisco Giants missed the playoffs in 2015 with an 84-78 record and second place finish in the NL West. While many of the core pieces were still in place from their three recent World Series rings, some tinkering would need to be done as several players were retiring (starting pitcher Tim Hudson and lefty reliever Jeremy Affeldt) or hitting free agency (two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, outfielder Marlon Byrd, and starter Ryan Vogelsong). My first priority was to fill out a rotation behind Madison Bumgarner, Matt Cain and Jake Peavy. Second was to add a run producer to the middle of the lineup. With more than $56 million coming off the books, free agency was the preferred option for rounding out the roster.
Step 1: Tendering Contracts
- Nori Aoki (5.5) – Picked up option
- Tim Hudson (12MM) – Retired
- Jeremy Afeldt (6) – Retired
- Everth Cabrera (2.4MM) – Non-Tendered
- Hector Sanchez (1MM) – Non-Tendered
- Marlon Byrd (8MM) – Declined option
- Ryan Vogelsong (4MM) – Non-Tendered
- Alejandro DeAza (5MM) – Non-Tendered
- Tim Lincecum (18MM) – Outbid FA
- Brandon Crawford (5.7MM) – Arbitration
- Brandon Belt (6.2MM) – Arbitration
- Yusmeiro Petit (2.4MM) – Arbitration
- George Kontos (1MM) – Arbitration
Step 2: Trades
A few trades were proposed by rival GMs but I didn’t bite. A few inquired about my shortstop Brandon Crawford, but I see him as an essential part of my team. In my view, this team doesn’t have a lot of spare parts, but rather a solid core with a few holes to fill to return to the playoffs. Free agency, with a plethora of starting pitchers, was the way to go.
Step 3: Free Agency
I missed out on bringing back Tim Lincecum. The two-time Cy Young award winner earned 18 million in 2014, and as much as he’s a core player on this team, at this stage of his career he is no longer a front end starter and not worth that kind of dough. With Bumgarner, Cain and Peavy already in place, I looked at the midlevel starters, and then turned my attention to a few middle of the order bats to balance out the lineup.
Daniel Murphy, 3B – $14 MM – The Giants could really use a couple of good lefty bats balance out a middle of the lineup that features Buster Posey and Hunter Pence. Murphy will slot in at 3rd base, his natural position, pushing the young Matt Duffy to the bench or a possible trade.
Alex Gordon, LF – $15.1MM – Gordon is a huge pickup. His defense strengthens the outfield and his stick bolsters the lineup. This addition pushes Nori Aoki and Gregor Blanco to the bench, giving us a very deep outfield – necessary given Angel Pagan’s injury history.
Emilio Bonifacio, IF – $4MM – Bonifacio provides some solid infield depth with a versatile glove, solid bat and some speed.
Brett Anderson, SP – $12MM – The lefty starter proved that when the pressure is off he can deliver as a solid mid-rotation starter, as he did behind Clayton Kershaw and Zack Grienke in LA. Pitching at the backend behind Bumgarner, Cain and Peavy would afford him the same comfort zone.
Yovani Gallardo, SP – $13MM – While I could have stuck with Chris Heston an Yusmeiro Petit at the back of the rotation, I still had money to spend and this team wants to get back to the playoffs. Having a truly five-deep rotation will help them get there. Gallardo bounced back after a rough start in Texas last season. With pressure off at the back end and a return to the National League, Gallardo should return to form.
The Results:
The Lineup:
- Angel Pagan, CF
- Alex Gordon, LF
- Buster Posey, C
- Daniel Murphy, 3B
- Hunter Pence, RF
- Brandon Belt, 1B
- Brandon Crawford, SS
- Joe Panik, 2B
- Pitcher
The Bench:
- Andrew Susac, C
- Gregor Blanco, OF
- Matt Duffy, IF
- Emilio Bonifacio, IF
- Nori Aoki, OF
The Rotation:
- Madison Bumgarner
- Matt Cain
- Jake Peavy
- Brett Anderson
- Yovani Gallardo
The Bullpen:
- Sergio Romo, CL
- Santiago Casilla, SU
- Javier Lopez, SU
- Hunter Strickland, MR
- George Kontos, MR
- Chris Heston, LR (Spot Starter)
- Yusmeiro Petitt LR (Spot Starter)
Thoughts:
San Francisco is a team to watch in 2015. Winners of three World Series in a five year span, they still have many of their core players in place, money to spend on free agents and the other teams in their division all seem to be in flux. With moves like these – strengthening the lineup with Murphy and Gordon and replacing Hudson and Lincecum in the rotation with Gallardo and Anderson – this team will be the favorite to win the National League West and make some noise in the playoffs.
Very very nicely handled offseason. I don’t think the Giants are the best team in the league but you did a good job.
Clearly you have no idea what you are talking about. Matt Duffy will be runner up to the Rookie of the Year award. He displayed an excellent bat with pop, a knack for timely hitting and an excellent glove. Murphy is nowhere on the Giants radar.
The utility position will be Kelby Tomlinson. He is also working on gaining outfield experience in Arizona right now.
The outfield will probably be Pence, Pagan, and Parker in 2016. Parker brings that left handed bat with home run potential. Blanco will either be the fourth outfielder or replace the aging Pagan. Add Williamson and Tomlinson to the mix and Belt in a bind. It also sounds as if Aoki and the Giants are still talking.
The pitching staff is a mess. Beyond Bumgarner and Peavy, you have only Heston as a healthy returning prospect. Your reference to Cain being in the rotation mix clearly indicates you did not see the Cain of 2015. Cain will be offered a spot but he will have to be healthy to get that spot. (That is a 21 million dollar if) Peavy is a bulldog but he also spent half of the year on the DL.
The fact that you state Tim Lincecum will demand 18M as a free agent is ludicrous. He is recovering from hip surgery and will not throw for much of the winter. Someone will offer him a low salary with multiple incentives. No one will offer him 18M outright.
The Giants will go after Leake because he fits their ballpark and their infield. He is a ground ball pitcher and the Giants have ground ball eaters in Belt, Panik, Crawford, Duffy and Tomlinson. Three of these men will be either 1 or 2 in the Gold Glove awards.
Clayton Blackburn, Ty Blach, Chris Stratton and yes Tim Lincecum will all get invites to spring training. My guess is Blackburn will stick. My guess is Lincecum returns with an added tick to his fastball and he will stick. (if he is healthy).
Now to the free agents. I have already mentioned Leake and Lincecum. The Giants will target second tier starters in Johnny Cueto, Yovany Gallardo and Scott Kazmir. Obviously their number one target is Leake. One of the three, Cueto, Gallardo or Kazmir will be most welcome.
This club will contend. If Pence is healthy and returns to form they may win the West. If Parker supplies the power 30-40 HRs then they will win the West. However, Parker may also supply 250 Ks during the year. He is the question mark. Belt, Posey, Crawford, Duffy, and Pence will all hit for average and add 1525 Hrs each. Panik will hit for average as will Pagan and Blanco. This team will make the playoffs in 2016.
It’s clear from your comments that you don’t understand what’s going on here.
30 people took over as the GM of the 30 MLB teams and did the offseason in a week. This is not a prediction of what will happen in MLB — this is what would happen if these 30 people were in control.
Read here for more details.
“Parker 30-40 HRs”, really? Did you miss your Comedy Central audition? You also missed the BB 101 for dummies! These two relatively expensive FAs will solve a lot of problems for Los Gigantes(hee-gan-tes):
Leak and Jason Heyward. Heyward is twenty six yo. A great defensive OFer that can play all three OF positions. Guess what? He also plays a decent 1B if needed.Add one more he has a terrific strong arm, hello? With his powerful bat that short RF fence would be a great incentive.
Thank you
Editor’s Note – Please do not capitalize words in your post, as that is a violation of our Comment Policy
Thank you
Jarrett Parker MLB Line
49 At Bats
.347 Average
6 Home Runs
14 RBIs
21 Strike Outs
OPS 1163
MiLB Line
434 At Bats
.283 Average
23 Home Runs
74 RBIs
164 Strike Outs
OPS 889
Elliot, thank you for the feedback. This was merely a project among Mets bloggers. I was alooted the SF Giants at random with a short period of time to throw together an offseason plan. I do not profess to be a Giants expert, but I think I have accurately assessed them as a team that could return to the playoffs with a few smart moves. Similarly to the Mets, they clearly need to add a middle of the order bat but it’s not clear at what position. Murphy is versatile and could play 1st, 2nd or 3rd where the Giants currently have solid players but not high priced stars like they have at some other positions. At Matt Cain’s salary, if he’s healthy, which he is, he will be in that rotation. I agree with you that the rotation needs to be addressed which is why I signed two staters. It really sounds like you disagree with me on just one point of many, so why all the vitriol?
My apology Matty Met.
I did not know this was an exercise played by several Mets fans. Again my apology.
I was following Giant Trade Rumors and your post popped up. There was no explanation.
I will say this. Duffy will be better than Murphy next year as he was this year. As a rookie he batted very close to 300 and hit about 15 homers. His glove and hustle lit a fire with Giant fans. Remember he spent the first 30 games on the bench while McGahee floundered.
It is very sad to see the condition of two very fine pitchers in Cain and Lincecum. Both carried the Giants through the doldrums and they were rewarded by management for their past contributions. Both are consummate professionals and great club house teammates. You never heard them complain through the first three years of their careers about the weak run support they received. Lincecum was remarkable. I would love to see him return to some form. But, he has battled this hip issue for some time. All pitchers seem to fall off the end of the world when they get older.
The Giants have a young core. They always sit on their money and reward those who come up through the ranks. I don’t see them going after Heyward because he will rock the bank. The Giants will chase Leake and at least one more free agent pitcher.
For the person who spoke about Parker. You clearly did not watch the last month of the season. It is a small indicator and wishful thinking. However, he is a big time power bat with the K’s that go with it. Ebb
Despite coming at this post from out of the blue Elliot, I think your assessment of the Giants in reality is dead on, even if it really didnt suit the original post. Im a Mets fan, but see enough other games and consume enough general news to think that pretty much everything you said made sense. One thing is for sure, Duffy is better than Murphy right now. And Murphy is not a third baseman no matter what we hear about it being a natural position, a position he hasnt manned seriously for ages. He is too slow and has too weak and inaccurate of an arm to be any kind of decent third baseman. His defense is bad at second, but it would be atrocious at third when he really has to hurry to make string accurate throws.
Aoki seems like an easy option pick-up, yet the real Giants just declined. I wonder if the concussion issue is lingering.
This is a very formidable team.