Best San Francisco Giants of the 2010s: 48. Evan Longoria

Third baseman Evan Longoria still has time to make his tenure with the San Francisco Giants memorable.

The San Francisco Giants acquired Evan Longoria from the Tampa Bay Rays prior to the 2018 season in exchange for Denard Span, Christian Arroyo, Matt Krook and Stephen Woods.

The No. 3 overall pick in the 2006 draft spent the first 10 years of his career with the Rays, winning AL Rookie of the Year in 2008 and making three All-Star appearances while racking up 49.8 WAR to establish himself as arguably the greatest player in franchise history.

However, it was a decidedly different Longoria who joined the Giants last year for his age-32 season.

He hit just .244/.281/.413 for a career-low 91 OPS+ while managing just 16 home runs and 54 RBI in 125 games.

While the Rays chipped in $14.5 million in the trade, the Giants were still on the hook for a whopping $72.5 million through the 2022 season at the time of the deal.

Longoria is still not performing at peak levels, but he has put together a bounce-back season of sorts this year with a .254/.321/.456 line that includes 16 home runs and 51 RBI in 374 plate appearances for a 103 OPS+.

He also continues to play a solid third base defensively, and all of that has been worth 2.2 WAR, which is tops among all San Francisco Giants position players and trails only Madison Bumgarner (2.5) and Jeff Samardzija (2.3) on this year’s roster.

With three years and $58.6 million left on his contract, of which the Giants are responsible for $49.6 million, Longoria still has a lot of time to determine his ultimate legacy in San Francisco.

Will he be just another over-priced aging star who fails to live up to expectations, or will he serve as a key veteran cog in the ongoing youth movement?

Check back here regularly as we count down the 50 best San Francisco Giants of the 2010s.