Jackson Flora may give SF Giants an excuse to repeat the same free agency blunder

After lots of speculation, the SF Giants ultimately decided to go with the guy who made the most sense at No. 4 overall in the MLB Draft. They selected right-handed pitcher Jackson Flora, a Bay Area native who many think could get to the big leagues pretty quickly. The only problem is he may give the front office an excuse to not go after pitching again in the offseason.

It’s no secret to anyone that the Giants do not like expensive, long-term contracts for pitchers. Ever since they signed Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, a guy Flora actually gave a shoutout to in his first comments to reporters, the Giants have been very cautious when it comes to spending money on free agent pitchers.

They have opted to go the safe route more often than not, signing guys like Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling or, more recently, Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle. The results have not been very good to put it mildly.

The Giants are almost certain to trade away Robbie Ray in the coming weeks which means that going into next season the Giants will have Logan Webb and Landen Roupp as the only two guys who can confidently be written into the rotation.

Rarely is a prospect’s path to the big leagues linear, but experts believe that Flora could make it to the big leagues fairly quickly. Jim Callis of MLB Pipeline wrote recently that Flora has the “complete package” with a high-velocity fastball and some promising secondary pitches. He doesn’t make a guess as to when Flora could debut with the Giants but the earliest estimate, and this is if everything goes perfect, would probably be late 2027 but 2028 feels like a more realistic timeline if one is being optimistic.

Giants may go the cheap route on pitching yet again

That gives the front office an excuse to do the same thing it has done for years by signing cheap starters to a one or two year deal, hoping they can pitch great but if not they'll just try again with someone else the next year because they can point to Flora and say that help is on the way from within.

Of course, the better course of action would be to target pitchers in free agency or via trade who actually would make an impact in the rotation because they can’t just count on Flora speeding through the minors and being amazing immediately.

Yet, we know how this team operates. Chairman Greg Johnson has made no bones about how he’s not a fan of big contracts for pitchers so unless he has a change of heart the Giants are going to keep operating the same way they have for years now.

If they do continue on the same course, that puts a ton of pressure on Flora to be great right away which is not the position you want to put a prospect in. Maybe he can handle it, but it wouldn’t be a shock if Flora gives the Giants an excuse to carry on as usual. 

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