How the San Francisco Giants Find the Next Derek Holland

Yangervis Solarte is the first player that strikes me as this type of player. He is a switch hitter who has played professional innings all over the diamond. Marwin Gonzalez might be out of the Giants price range at this point, but Yangervis Solarte is the closest you can come to being a “poor man’s version” of Gonzalez. Solarte’s last two seasons may have hurt his value, but in the past he had three consecutive seasons with an OPS+ over 100 and his versatility is something Farhan Zaidi seems to covet. Although Solarte’s offensive numbers have slumped, last season was the only season of his career where he had an OBP under .300.

Solarte is someone the Giants and Zaidi are familiar with from his days with the Padres, but his versatility and ability to be an above average slugger should have him on a lot of teams radars. And there is the problem. He is a switch hitting, multipositional player that for the better part of his career has shown he can slug and get on base.

Solarte is not a secret and there might be other teams out there ready to buy him right now, or outbid the competition. However, he is still available on the sales rack and he looks like he’d fit in pretty nicely with the Giants ensemble.

Solarte is appealing, and maybe you’re considering buying him, but you want to keep browsing. A few racks over, we find Wilmer Flores.

Wilmer Flores turned 27 last season, but he’s a player his previous owners, the New York Mets had higher hopes for. He had been in the Mets organization since he was 16 years old and for one reason or another he just never lived up to expectations.

While, his career has been a disappointment to some, he still could have a lot of value in the right role for another team. He is only 27 years old, he can play all over the infield, and for the past three seasons he’s had an OPS+ over 100 and has hit double-digit home runs the past four seasons. Flores will not be that 20+ home run slugger the Giants hope to uncover, but if you can find enough players to hit 10 -15 home runs a season, you have a pretty dangerous team.

Flores isn’t an excellent defender anywhere you put him on the diamond, but, like Solarte, he knows how to get on base. His past three seasons his OBP has been over .300, and looking at the arch of his numbers you can see Flores has become a more mature hitter who understands what he can do. Flores also boasts a solid .308 average in his career at AT&T Park his lifetime average against the Los Angeles Dodgers is exactly .300. If that’s not enough, he also had a 9.8% strike out rate last season in 429 plate appearances.

The Giants had the fifth highest strike out percentage in the league last season and struggled with situational hitting. Flores’ approach and ability to make contact could help get better quality at bats and lengthen the line up. He wouldn’t be incredibly expensive, because he only earned $3.4 million last year. Although he would be getting a little bit of a raise, he wouldn’t bleed your wallet dry. Plus, when you’re looking for a good value piece to compliment what you already have, he could also be a good fit.

Moving on to our next level of thrift shopping, we have our straight-up, non-bougie consignment store. These are your Buffalo Exchange or Crossroads-type stores where everyday people bring in their used clothes that may or may not be in style, and then some teenage clerk with a septum piercing and no regards for your feelings tells you most of your stuff isn’t that great, and offers you pennies on the dollar for the couple things they might be able to resell.

While you’re waiting around for the clerk to break your heart, you go ahead and browse the racks to see what’s out there. Then you see it, you see the player that answers the question, “What if Gorkys Hernandez hit like he did in the beginning of 2018 all the time?” That’s right. You’ve stumbled upon Derek Dietrich.

Dietrich couldn’t find his way into the boutique stores becauase although he is versatile, he’s not a Swiss army knife like Solarte, and he’s a little older than Flores. But one thing Dietrich has been for a majority of his career is a solid ballplayer. He’s had an OPS+ over 100 most of his career, he can play infield and outfield, and he is a low key on-base machine at a .335 clip over his career. If that’s not enough Dietrich is also a career .283 hitter against National League opponents that aren’t the Giants. He may not be the sexiest thing on the racks, but he’s a functional piece that you wouldn’t be ashamed to add to your repetoire. He’s like a hoodie, but for your baseball team.

If that’s not your thing and you’re looking for a pitcher that could provide some rotational depth or might be ready to embark on his second career as a lefthanded specialist out of the bullpen, you might have just stumbled upon Jaime Garcia. Left-handed pitchers are a lot like a good pair of jeans. They are always in style because they are a staple of everyone’s wardrobe. If you don’t have a good pair of jeans, you’re probably a narc.

Garcia’s numbers don’t jump off the page, but through the majority of his career, he has been an above average pitcher. He’s posted an ERA+ of 103 over his 10 year career and his FIP is a pretty solid 3.77. It wasn’t long ago that he was such a hot commodity at the trade deadline, that he was traded twice in one week. After a down year in Toronto and entering his age 32 season, he might be fit for a second life as a swingman or match up lefty out of the bullpen.

Teams are always looking for experienced lefties to add to their pitching staff so he may not be the cheapest option, but considering his career 2.62 ERA at AT&T Park, he might be worth the investment.

Now we’ve come to the real bargain basement: Goodwill, Salvation Army, random old car-dealership-looking building with a sign that just says “THRIFT” off the side of the highway situations.  The type of store that welcomes all donations from anyone. The store that offers you a receipt so you can write it off as a donation on your taxes. But you say, “No thanks.” Then tax time rolls around and you’re like, “Dang it!”

These are the types of stores you spend hours sifting through every rack looking for something that maybe was great and got discarded by mistake. Or maybe you find something you feel you can salvage and make cool again. Maybe you found another pair of jeans. They’re a little beat up, but the wash is cool and they fit pretty nicely. Maybe they can be repurposed. Maybe you’ve just found a new pair of jorts! Maybe your jorts are Chris Tillman.

Chris Tillman is former All-Star starter recently granted free agency by the Baltimore Orioles. Chris Tillman seemed to be destined to be a great middle of the rotation arm that threw heavy sinkers and could give a team quality innings. In fact, three out of his first four seasons as a full time starter Tillman posted an ERA+ of over 110 while making 30 starts or more and finishing at .500 or better over that four year span. Then in 2017 Tillman just seemed to lose it.

Maybe there was an underlying health issue or maybe it was because the Orioles had once again cycled back into being a non-competitive team looking to rebuild yet again. Tillman could be an interesting low risk high reward candidate.

The Giants found success recently with a pitcher entering their age 31 season coming off of career worst age 30 season in the form of Derek Holland. Chris Tillman could be the 2019 version of that. Furthermore, Tillman reminds me a lot of another former high-pick, big-framed, heavy-ball-throwing former Giant. That person being Ryan Vogelsong.

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They have a similar build, and similar repetoire. Vogelsong has been around the organization providing guidance to Giants pitchers, perhaps he can impart some knowledge and inspiration to Chris Tillman to help him find his way again. Tillman may have had a rough last couple of seasons, but they might be able to get some mileage out of him.

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As you’re trudging along looking item by item through sales racks and digging through disorganized bins you find a cool T-shirt. The graphic is pretty on brand with your whole aesthetic, but the shirt has seen some better days. The shirt does look a little stretched out and there’s some holes in the armpits. BUT what if you cut the sleeves off and you rock that shirt for a fun, carefree summer look. Your new sleeveless shirt might just be Matt Shoemaker.

Matt Shoemaker has been a fun story since he reached the majors at age 26 as an undrafted free agent. Shoemaker was a true underdog that went 16-4 in his rookie season posting a league leading .800 win percentage. You know who else was a 26 year old rookie? Dereck Rodriguez.

I’m not saying Dereck Rodriguez and Matt Shoemaker are one-in-the same, but they are both testaments that talented players can be identified and perform at a high level, regardless of optics. The past two seasons Shoemaker has battled injuries, but he has pretty decent looking career numbers and could still be a good back end of the rotation/swingman type pitcher if healthy and in the right situation.

Pitching at AT&T park is not necessarily a magic bullet for pitchers, but there are still some very interesting pitchers available out there. On the other side of the ball there are also some very solid, versatile offensive players that have a track record of getting on base and slugging above the league average.

Very few people know exactly who is on Farhan Zaidi’s radar this offseason, but these are a few names that I found interesting. Maybe the Giants also have some interest in them? Maybe I’m just out of my mind. But with Zaidi’s recent history of finding Chris Taylors and Max Muncys, Giants fans are wondering who our Taylors and Muncys are going to be. When is Farhan Zaidi going to get us our jorts?!