San Francisco Giants: Possible Free Agent Outfield Targets

With the news of the San Francisco Giants not picking up the options for both Nori Aoki and Marlon Byrd, it seems likely that the team will be active in this year’s free agent outfield market. Although upgrading the pitching staff will clearly be the Giants’ primary objective heading into the off-season, this move signals that GM Bobby Evans will be aggressive in upgrading the roster beyond just the rotation.

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Speaking with Giants beat writer Andrew Baggarly, Evans laid out his thinking on the current outfield situation:

“We’re aware pitching is a concern and there are a lot of ways to address that, (but) we’ll need to look at our outfield,” Evans said. “We can’t have an offseason without ways to improve ourselves (there).”

Evans mentioned Gregor Blanco, Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence, “but that’s only three outfielders. In a perfect world you’d like (Mac) Williamson and (Jarrett) Parker to show up in the spring and give you a reason to put them on the club. You don’t necessarily build your plans around them (doing that). So we’re going to need that depth.”

That’s about as assertive as you’re ever going to hear a Giants front-office member get with regards to off-season plans. With that in mind, let’s take a close look at the team’s outfield options heading into free agency.

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