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San Francisco Giants: Four free agents they must avoid

By Daniel Sperry
SAN DIEGO, CA - SEPTEMBER 23: Carlos Gonzalez #5 of the Colorado Rockies can't make the catch on a double hit by Austin Hedges #18 of the San Diego Padres during the sixth inning of a baseball game at PETCO Park on September 23, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - SEPTEMBER 23: Carlos Gonzalez #5 of the Colorado Rockies can't make the catch on a double hit by Austin Hedges #18 of the San Diego Padres during the sixth inning of a baseball game at PETCO Park on September 23, 2017 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /
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San Francisco Giants
HOUSTON, TX – OCTOBER 21: Todd Frazier #29 of the New York Yankees fields a hit by George Springer #4 of the Houston Astros during the third inning in Game Seven of the American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park on October 21, 2017 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images) /

Todd Frazier

Frazier is someone I’m actually waffling over the idea of. I think he’d be decent on a small contract, but not for a big money/lot of years contract.

In the AL, he’s protected from a whole lot of criticism because he can play as a DH. What do most want from their DH? Homers. What does he do? Hit homers. Todd Frazier isn’t the consistent presence in the middle of a lineup of a contender, and he likely never will be. Despite his 20+ homer seasons every year since 2014, and really 2012 since he hit 19 in both 2012 and 2013, his career average is nowhere near threatening enough to be a middle of the lineup presence in San Francisco.

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Frazier has a career .244 average, and has only had an average above .250 twice in his entire career. He’s also never had over 100 RBI. The closest he came to that mark was 98, and that was with 40 homers. HOW DO YOU NOT BRING IN 100 RUNS AND HAVE 40 HOMERS?! Some of that is due to dudes on base. But Frazier has barely 30 homers IN HIS CAREER w/RISP. Compared to 110 career homers as solo-shots.

So the only way you can live with that as a team is by his fielding being good enough at third base. The surprise here? He’s actually a halfway decent third baseman. He has a career dRS of 30 and a UZR of 27.9 at third. That’s pretty impressive.

So while Frazier wouldn’t be entirely convincing at the plate, his defense would be pretty good. The biggest concern for me though is that average and numbers with runners in scoring position over his career. It’s significantly lower than his career average, or his average without any runners on. Some would say that proves he’s not as clutch of a hitter that you would demand out of a middle of the lineup guy, and I tend to agree with that notion. However, the fielding might be good enough to live with.

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The biggest thing on Frazier for me is this: There are going to be overall better third-baseman available, for just as much. It’s that simple. We’ll see if the Giants actually believe Frazier would be bad, but for me, I’d rather spend the money on Moustakas.

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