San Francisco Giants: Three sleeper free-agent starting pitcher targets

RHP Hector Noesi

As a member of the Miami Marlins in 2019, Hector Noesi struggled.

He only appeared in 10 games, starting five of them, and he had a record of 0-3 with a 6.89 ERA Not exactly inspiring numbers, but he has enjoyed some success in the past.

As a member of the Chicago White Sox in 2014, he went 8-11 with a 4.39 ERA and 1.33 WHIP in 166 innings spanning 27 starts and one relief appearance. That’s not too bad, especially considering that is a hitter-friendly home park.

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However, there was a bit of a gap in his resume, as he didn’t pitch in the MLB from 2015 until last season.

That wasn’t due to injury or lack of interest from teams, as he actually spent the 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons pitching for the Kia Tigers in the KBO. He even pitched in the league’s World Series in 2017, a season where he wen 20-5 with a 3.48 ERA in the notoriously hitter-friendly league.

So despite his struggles in 2019, he’s recently shown he is still a competent pitcher, and he will definitely come cheap.

Perhaps he’d be better suited for an article on pitchers that are not even on the team’s radar at all, but if they want to sign him to a minor league contract to add some depth, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

Trimming his walk rate will be the key to bouncing back after he tallied 4.6 BB/9 in 2019. With several young pitchers on the roster who are apt to give free passes, the last thing the team needs is another pitcher to juice the sacks to set up big innings.

So there are three more under-the-radar starting pitchers the San Francisco Giants could pursue this offseason. They will all come cheap and could provide depth to a rotation that figures to have a different look one way or another in 2020.