Giants: Three free-agent infielders to avoid this offseason

While the San Francisco Giants could look to add to improve their infield options this offseason, there are a few free agents they should steer clear of this winter.

After previously exploring free-agent pitchers and outfielders that the San Francisco Giants should steer clear of this offseason, the only remaining category is infielders.

This one is a bit trickier than the previous two.

Unlike the pitching staff and the outfield, where the team has young and unproven talent that would be bolstered by the addition of a veteran free agent, the Giants are more or less set across the infield.

While the “young and unproven” tag certainly applies to 25-year-old second baseman Mauricio Dubon, he impressed in his September audition and the team seems ready to give him a shot at an everyday role.

So if the Giants are going to make a real splash in the free agency pool of infielders, it will have to come in one of two ways. Either they find a way to trade first baseman Brandon Belt, shortstop Brandon Crawford, or third baseman Evan Longoria to clear a spot, or they target a utility player who can produce in a semi-regular role while giving those players a day off.

Moving Belt has proven difficult, even when he’s been at his best,  and Crawford has been consistently mediocre over the past three seasons with an uninspiring line of .245/.311/.383 and an average of 13 home runs.

Longoria enjoyed a nice bounce-back season after a disappointing first year with the Giants, hitting .254/.325/.437 with 20 home runs and 69 RBI in 508 plate appearances. However, it’s would be hard to imagine his offensive numbers going much higher than that, especially after he turned 34 years old in October.

All of that is just to say, it would take some maneuvering for the Giants to bring in a more productive bat on the infield. But, there is a chance the front office tries to make a deal, especially since the free-agent pool includes some quality infielders.

That said, there are a few free agents that may fit what the Giants will be looking for this offseason, but the team should avoid.

Brian Dozier

Brian Dozier is a reliable tank who has averaged 150 games and 649 plate appearances over the last seven seasons.

He has power and speed, averaging 27 home runs and 14 steals per season during that same seven-year span of time.

The San Francisco Giants are looking for a dynamic bat. So why doesn’t Dozier fit the bill?

The issue here is fit.

Dozier is a second baseman. To get him playing time would require moving Dubon to shortstop, which is the only other position where he has spent significant time in his minor league career. Doing that means removing Crawford from the equation.

Can the Giants afford to bring on the 32-year-old Dozier on what could be a multi-year contract to replace Crawford?

If this were a younger player in the prime of their career, it would be a no-brainer.

However, the Giants have suffered through an inability to hit for average for several years now, ranking among the bottom eight teams in baseball each of the last three seasons.

Though Dozier had two monster seasons in 2016 and 2017 where he hit .269/.349/.522 with 76 HR, 192 RBI, and 34 steals, he has a career batting average of .245 and he hit just .225 over 1,114 plate appearances the last two seasons.

It’s also telling that the veteran has tallied just seven plate appearances during the postseason for a Washington Nationals team in the middle of the World Series.

The power and speed are attractive, but Dozier is not the same player he was in his prime, and another low batting average infielder on the wrong side of his prime is the last thing the team needs.

Gordon Beckham

If Gordon Beckham rings a bell for San Francisco Giants fans, it’s because he was briefly a member of the team.

Beckham had a three-game stint with the Giants in 2016 in which he went 0-for-5. That sample size is far too small, so we have to see more data before he can be dismissed.

On paper, he fits the Farhan Zaidi’s utility player mold, having played multiple games across all infield positions with the Detroit Tigers last year.

In his first five seasons in the majors, Beckham hit .249 while averaging 11 home runs and five steals each year. He was even fifth in the voting for AL Rookie of the Year in 2009.

But since then, his slash line over the last six seasons has been an abysmal .216/.275/.341. He has not hit more than nine home runs in a season during that span, and that was in 2014 when he had 483 plate appearances to do so.

Though he once showed he could post some stats similar to those of Brandon Crawford early in his career, Beckham is little more than organizational depth at this point in his career.

It’s hard to predict exactly what the San Francisco Giants infield will look like next season.

Will the front office stick with who they have and find backups, or will they find a Mark Melancon-type move to unloaded one of the high-priced, underperforming veterans.

Versatile players like Beckham and Sogard or a once-dynamic hitter like Dozier may look like potential targets at surface level. However, those three players do not offer the consistency nor the production the San Francisco Giants will need going forward and should be avoided.