San Francisco Giants front-office anticipating an active free agency period

GM Bobby Evans, CEO and President Larry Baer, and manager Bruce Bochy of the San Francisco Giants held the end-of-the-year press conference on Monday as a preview for what to expect during this offseason. Of anything to take from their responses, the most important is the fact that the Giants are absolutely anticipating a very active free agency period–particularly with the pitching staff.

With guys like Tim Hudson retiring and Ryan Vogelsong, Tim Lincecum, and Mike Leake all possibly on their way out via free agency, the pitching staff in 2016 may look a whole lot different.

As quoted by Alex Pavolic of CSN Bay Area, GM Bobby Evans said, ““We recognize our needs, starting with our pitching, and that’ll have to get addressed.”

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Evans will have to look not only at free agency, but also at possible trades with guys like Andrew Cashner, Stephen Strasburg, and C.J. Wilson all eligible for free agency after the 2016 season. Without a doubt, the main objective this offseason is to add another top-of-the-rotation guy with ace Madison Bumgarner in the attempt to keep up with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

According to Chris Haft of MLB.com, Evans said this about trying to compete with the Dodgers:

“We don’t want to keep up with them,” Evans said Monday during the Giants’ annual season-ending news conference. “We want to pass them.”

Some players can can certainly fit this role would be David Price, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann, and even Zack Greinke (although he is not expected to opt out of his contract with Los Angeles).

Chris Haft also reported that Evans, Baer, and Bochy addressed the Mike Leake and Tim Lincecum situation. The front-office would like to see how Lincecum responds to his hip surgery. As for Leake, although reports have indicated that both he and the Giants have mutual interest in retaining the 27-year old, nothing is imminent.

The fact of the matter is, and I mentioned this in a previous article, the Giants staff absolutely needs to get younger. San Francisco had one of the oldest rotations in the league at one point with Hudson, Peavy, and Vogelsong, and now it is time to move on from the past and focus on the future.

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Without the insurmountable amount of injuries, who knows where the Giants would be right now. Nevertheless, injuries occur every year, and San Francisco has the financial ability to be able to sign or trade for some pitching stars in order to combat these potential injuries.

The Giants reportedly have around $40 million to spend on free agents this offseason, which is more than enough to resign Leake and add a top-tier starting pitcher. Whatever the Giants’ front-office decides to do, you can bet that the starting rotation is now officially under reconstruction.