How the San Francisco Giants Find the Next Derek Holland

The San Francisco Giants have had a quiet offseason thus far as Giants fans wait around for Farhan Zaidi to make some bigger, higher profile moves.

There are still plenty of free agents left on the board that may not be the most exciting options, but who can still make the San Francisco Giants a better team. Zaidi has made a few minor moves so far this offseason, but it’s still a mystery who he is willing to spend on and what diamonds in the rough he’s trying to uncover.

Last season, the Giants identified, signed and broke camp with Derek Holland, a player that resurrected his career with the Giants in 2018. Derek Holland was arguably the best story of last season, but he was brought in by Bobby Evans and company. With Farhan Zaidi in place as the new President of Baseball Operations, he comes with a history of being a little tight with the wallet, but an incredible bargain finder.

One thing Farhan Zaidi and I have in common is not only do we love good deals, but we will scour the entire market for a good deal. Now this is gonna get weird and seem unrelated, but stay with me here. I’m somewhat of a clothes horse and Farhan Zaidi seems to be that equivalent when it comes to finding talented baseball players to fit in his player “wardrobe”. So for fun, I decided to scour the current FA market and highlight some players that may look good in the Giants organization. Maybe some of them seem out of style or in poor condition, but in the right situation they can be great fits for a team looking to do more with less.

So firstly, I’ll start with our boutique consignment free agents. These are the stores that have a nicely curated selection of used clothing, but then you look at the price tag and think, “Wow. This is a little pricey for this.” Then you think about it a little more and realize, “This is pretty cool though. It looks good and I could really use this. I never thought I needed a vest, but now I can’t live without this vest. I’ll take it!” These types of stores know that they are in possession of something that is either rare or valuable, so they know the real worth of this item, even if it is second or third or even fourth-hand.

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.