San Francisco Giants: Four Questions Every GM Candidate Must Answer

The first question any candidate should be asked when it comes to the roster is whether they see Madison Bumgarner as a trade chip or an ace to build around.

There is merit to both.

After two seasons out of the playoff hunt, the Giants are in need of a rebuild. Bumgarner is clearly their best trade chip if they decide to go with a full rebuild and can give the Giants a great return on prospects from a team that feels they are one pitcher away from a championship.

However, if the Giants are able to hold onto their ace, they can build a team around him and have a pitcher they know will be able to lead them into October.

There are three options:

1. Trade him before the season starts.
2. Trade him at the deadline.
3. Sign him to an extension.

Trading him has some flexibility because with a low salary next season ($12 million) and Bumgarner still young (29 years old) there will be plenty of teams willing to give up prospects before and during the season. They may even get a better return if they wait until the deadline and let teams that are fighting for the playoffs overpay to get him.

Extending him does two things for the San Francisco Giants:

1. Keeps their best player in orange and black.
2. Takes pressure off their entire pitching staff.

Rookie pitchers Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez had strong seasons, but to expect them to become the top two pitchers in the rotation is asking a lot.

Keeping Bumgarner allows for them slot Rodriguez and Suarez one slot lower in the rotation and keeps the pitching staff strong.

For all the struggles this season, the staff was one of the best in baseball the second half of the season.

Buster Posey is possibly the greatest catcher in team history. That being said, the biggest question facing the three time World Series champion is if he will continue to catch in 2019.

Posey will eventually move to first base. That seems to be the overriding assumption from baseball experts, beat writers and even the Giants front office over the last couple of years.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that Posey should move to first base next season.

He is currently recovering from hip surgery that he needed after injuring his hip back in May.

If Posey is healthy and if his bat can get back to an elite level, the decision might be an easy one. However, his bat has been better when he has played first and the next GM might decide his bat is worth more than his defense.

In 88 games as a catcher this season, Posey hit .291, but his slugging percentage was only .383. Because of the injury to his hip, his numbers weren’t much better as a first baseman.

However, last year, when Posey was healthy and hitting well, his power improved dramatically at first base vs catching.

Posey is still a gold glove catcher and his ability to work with the pitching staff, frame pitches, throw runners out and and field is position are all vital to the team’s success since his permanent call up in 2010.

Those skills will certainly be up for discussion as the GM candidates discuss Posey’s future with the San Francisco Giants.

After the GM’s are asked about the San Francisco Giants Hall of Fame battery, they will need to address the infield.

Brandon Belt, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford and Evan Longoria are all facing uncertain futures for different reasons.

Belt, Crawford and Longoria are all signed to long term deals. There are limits to how many teams would even be interested in trading for them with the money they are still owed.

Panik, who is still in arbitration, had a difficult year and may be a question mark to remain an everyday player.

The team may look to trade Belt to clear room for Posey at first base.

They may trade Panik as well to a team who thinks he can still be the gold glove second baseman. He showed an ability to hit over .300 in 2015, yet he has become a .277 career hitter after some injury plagued seasons and his value has dropped as a result.

Crawford is the most likely to stay because of his elite glove, but if the next GM commits to a full rebuild, he may be moved for prospects.

Longoria has the longest financial commitment as he will not be a free agent until after the 2022 season. If the Giants do want to turn this roster upside down, they may try to move Longo to clear payroll and create flexibility.

The infield under performed in 2018 and when a player doesn’t perform to their baseball card, it limits the trade options for the next person in charge.

How the next boss will determine how best to navigate the infield will be crucial in fixing a lineup that was dreadful the last two seasons.

The Giants have not had a strong farm system for the last few years and that has been a big issue on the field at the major league level.

That being said, they still had some exciting years from four rookies. Dereck Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez, Reyes Moronta and Steven Duggar all looked like players that could be a big part of the future of Giants baseball.

Rodriguez was one of the best pitchers in the entire National League during the second half of the season and he put himself in the conversation for the Rookie of the Year award.

Suarez didn’t get the attention D-Rod did, or even the fanfare when he was called up that Tyler Beede did, but his steady performances throughout the year made him a pitcher the Giants could count on every fifth day.

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Moronta showed flashes of being as good as any relief pitcher on the team and is clearly a talent that could pitch in the ninth inning soon.

Duggar was only in the big leagues for a short time and eventually missed out on finishing the season due to injury. What he did do in that time was showed enough with his glove and bat to have many in the organization believe he could be their center fielder of the future.

All four could be kept as the building blocks for the Giants teams in 2019 and beyond. They also could each be traded to revamp the depleted farm system once and for all.

The Giants have the tenth pick in the draft in June and have seemed to have struck gold with their last two first round picks. Joey Bart and Heliot Ramos have both shown superstar potential, albeit in the low levels of the minor leagues.

We looked at Giants who were the most likely to stay in the organization in 2019 last month.

However, if the new GM decided to trade Bumgarner, Crawford, Belt, Panik, Rodriguez, Suarez, Moronta, Duggar and others, the rebuild would be in full swing. It would also mean the 2019 season would essentially be lost before it’s begun.

That isn’t something the Giants ownership and front office has done at any point in the last 25 years. They also have not fired someone in the front office in the last 25 years until this year. Evans being fired was the first domino and there will certainly be more.

How the next GM answers these questions will dictate the direction of the franchise and determine who will be offered the job.