San Francisco Giants 2019 Spring Training Preview: Corner Infielders

The San Francisco Giants are toeing a line that might not really exist this offseason. They’re trying to be competitive while accruing assets for the future without subtracting from their older and expensive core.

As such, the San Francisco Giants haven’t shelled out their usual multiple long deals to entice veterans to join the team and continue to make a push for 2019, but they also haven’t traded away their various players that still have surplus value.

Perhaps new shot caller Farhan Zaidi is simply waiting out some of the contracts doled out by his predecessor, or maybe he actually thinks the team can compete with more depth and a better farm.

My guess is he’ll pick and choose his battles based on individual fits and trade offers where he can get the most value. He didn’t see any deals worth taking so far and is happy to be patient and take a wait and see approach until the trade deadline.

Corner infield should not be a weakness going into 2019. The Giants have clear-cut starters at both first and third base, and are returning a few bench options as well.

That’s not to say there won’t be any competition, it’s just the available bench spots will ideally only get 10-20% of the at bats at the corner. For this reason, Zaidi has emphasized positional flexibility in most of his new recruits.

This way, even if the starters stay healthy, there should be some at bats in the outfield that are available for the bench.

Let’s kick off our corner infielder preview with the two starters and a certain hefty backup.