Giants should have outbid Dodgers to sign Alex Wood

The San Francisco Giants missed a chance to sign one of the free-agent market’s most intriguing bounce-back candidates when Alex Wood agreed to terms with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers.

On Sunday, one more potential free-agent target for the San Francisco Giants came off the board when Alex Wood signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Coming off an injury-plagued 2019 season, many believed he would be a good fit on a rebuilding Giants team as he looked to rebuild some value on a one-year deal.

Should the Giants have tried harder to lure him away from the Dodgers?

It is not clear at this point whether the Giants had any serious interest in the former All-Star.

However, considering team president Farhan Zaidi’s history with the left-hander from their time together with the Dodgers, there was some speculation that he could be a potential target.

Perhaps the front office ultimately decided that they were already taking a chance on fellow lefty Tyler Anderson as a rebound candidate, so there was no need to spend more money on another southpaw. Not to mention the signings of veteran right-handers Kevin Gausman and Tyson Ross to add further rotation depth.

Still, Wood looked like a great guy to take a flier on.

The 29-year-old had some really solid years during his previous stint with the Dodgers, including an All-Star appearance in 2017 when he went 16-3 with an 2.72 ERA and 151 strikeouts in 152.2 innings.

It’s worth noting that his new deal with the Dodgers does contain some incentives that could push that $4 million figure higher:

That said, the Giants still could have made a compelling argument by offering more guaranteed money and a similar incentives package.

In the end, with Gausman already set to make $9 million in 2020, perhaps the front office felt they shouldn’t sink any more money into veteran starters during a rebuilding year, especially considering they also want to get a long look at guys like Tyler Beede and Logan Webb.

Still, it would have been a nice thumb in the eye to the Dodgers if the Giants had swooped in with a higher offer and stolen Wood away.

Of course, it’s always possible that he had his heart set on rejoining the Dodgers from the get-go, and offering a few million more dollars would not have been enough to sway his decision.

I still think they should have made a stronger push to sign him. Who knows, maybe if he has a rough 2020, the Giants can get him for even cheaper next offseason and then they’ll have their chance to try to turn him into the starter he once was.