Three free-agent starters SF Giants need to avoid this winter

As usual, there is a slew of free agents available on the market this offseason.  With a clear need at starting pitching, the SF Giants will be adding some arms, but which ones do they need to avoid at all costs?

With football being the only major North American sport in season at the moment, the other three sports are preparing various free-agent pitches for the most coveted players on the respective markets. Everyone knows the SF Giants will be coveting one thing above all else: starting pitching.

The Giants have a few other needs to address this offseason, but none more pressing than in their starting rotation. President of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and general manager Scott Harris have already begun trying to position themselves to retain at least one free-agent starter by extending Kevin Gausman a qualifying offer.

At the moment though, Johnny Cueto, Logan Webb, and Tyler Anderson are the only starters from  the Giants 2020 roster under team control in 2021. Of those three, Anderson was the only one able to manage an ERA under 5.00 for the season (4.37). Needless to say, the team clearly needs more depth, but probably also needs some upgrades at the top of the rotation as well.

After teams made their team option decisions last week, even more Giants potential free-agent targets became available. At the same time, with plenty of free agents on the market, there are also plenty of players to avoid. While the team has a clear need on their pitching staff, there are some starters they need to avoid.