3 SF Giants who may be on their way out the door ahead of non-tender deadline

The non-tender deadline is Friday evening which means the SF Giants are going to have to decide if they want to offer contracts to arbitration-eligible players. There are some obvious names they will retain, but three players could be on their way out the door.

Let's take a look at the three Giants who seem most likely to be non-tendered which would make them free agents.

3 SF Giants team may move on from at non-tender deadline

C Andrew Knizner

The Giants will almost certainly bring back catcher Patrick Bailey who is projected to earn $2.2 million in 2026 based on MLB Trade Rumors' arbitration projections. Even though Bailey is often unreliable at the plate, he is super-valuable behind the dish.

The fate of his backup for much of 2025, Andrew Knizner, is much less certain. He is projected to earn $1.3 million which is not terrible for a backup catcher although he slashed .221/.299/.299 with one homer and five runs batted in across 33 games.

He seemed to be fine behind the plate and has some familiarity with the staff so the Giants may decide to bring him back, but they do seem to be high on Jesus Rodriguez who was acquired in the Camilo Doval trade so Rodriguez could be their plan at backup catcher for 2026.

RHP JT Brubaker

The Giants signed Brubaker to a minor league contract after he was released by the New York Yankees and promoted him to the big league club towards the end of the year when they were desperate for pitching. In five appearances and 12 and 2/3 innings pitched he had a 4.26 ERA with San Francisco.

However, with a projected salary of $2.1 million the Giants may decide that is a little steep for a guy they probably view as a low-leverage reliever at best.

LHP Joey Lucchesi

San Francisco promoted left-handed pitcher Joey Lucchesi last season and he did quite well for the team. He had a 3.76 ERA in 38 relief appearances as he adjusted to a bullpen role after being a starter for much of his career.

He had to take on a larger role by the end of the year after the injury to Erik Miller who was the primary late-inning lefty in the bullpen for much of the year.

He is projected to earn $2 million in arbitration which does not seem too bad after the numbers he put up especially since the Giants need to pad out their bullpen, but they may look at alternative options who may be a bit cheaper.

We will see how the Giants decide to manage these players but they are the three players most in danger for the team ahead of the non-tender deadline.