With Moore Gone, the San Francisco Giants Should Continue to Shed Payroll

It almost seems inevitable now that the San Francisco Giants are content with shedding payroll, and setting up for a big offseason next year.

I could be completely wrong, and the Giants could go and out sign a big free agent and trade for another bat to compete in 2018. But I personally think they should try to patch work this thing for a season, and then make a big slash next offseason.

The San Francisco Giants have a number of bad contracts they should be looking to move. And if they can move Matt Moore, they can move anyone.

The biggest ticket items would be pitchers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija.

Cueto is coming off one of his worst seasons, so its probably not wise to sell low on him.

Samardzija makes a lot more sense and they really should be pushing to move him. He’s owed nearly $60 million over the next three seasons, so moving him could clear up a lot of space; although we’d probably have to throw in some money in any deal.

I think the Giants can still compete in 2018 without Moore and Samardzija, but they still might have to go out and sign a veteran pitcher to a one-year deal.

Hunter Pence and Denard Span are obvious candidates to be moved. I think the Giants front office want to keep Pence and trade Span, but I don’t think there is much of a market for Span, and we wouldn’t get much of anything in return. I could see the Giants ultimately DFA’ing Span at some point.

Both Span and Pence come off the books after 2018, so it’s not imperative that we trade them to setup for next offseason. Still, it would be nice to see what we can get for them and open up some playing time for our young outfield prospects.

I would even consider trying to move the contracts of Brandon Belt and Mark Melancon. Neither has a high value right now, so it’s probably not worth moving them for what we’d have to include money-wise, and what we’d get back in return.

Next: The San Francisco Giants Should Wait on Short-Term Solutions

The point is, if the Giants are looking to clear salary for next offseason, there are plenty of opportunities. They have several bad contracts they’d love to get rid of, and they should be looking to do so this offseason and as the 2018 season begins.