3 moves the SF Giants must make immediately after losing out on Shohei Ohtani

Sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Without question, Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the best starting pitcher available in free agency right now. He has multiple plus pitches, a track record of success, and guys this young almost never hit free agency. As a result, it is hardly surprising that observers are starting to think that he could end up getting $300 million this offseason.

For the Giants, the fit isn't exactly perfect. In an ideal world, the star they would want to prioritize landing would be a bat given that their offense had just a 93 wRC+ as a team in 2023. The Giants need to find runs somewhere, but no one should blame them if they see Yamamoto as an option that is too good to pass up.

Where the problem arises is that the rest of the league has taken notice of Yamamoto as well. The Mets, Dodgers, Red Sox, Yankees, and Cubs are all clearly targeting him along with the Giants and most of the league is going to be at least checking in to see how much it is going to cost to sign him.

Those are a lot of deep pockets to compete against, but the Giants can't afford to nickel and dime things when it comes to Yamamoto. Long-term deals for pitchers are always risky, but talent like Yamamoto's does come available often especially at 25 years old. At some point, San Francisco has to push their chips in and he is the guy to do it for.

Sign Cody Bellinger

Speaking of bats, this free agent market sucks when it comes to position players. Juan Soto was an exciting option on the trade market, but getting the Padres to trade him in the division never seemed likely and he ended up getting moved to the Yankees. However, one bat that sticks out on the free agent market is one that used to terrorize the Giants on the regular and that is Cody Bellinger.

Bellinger's career has been a weird one. In a period of three years with the Dodgers, he won National League Rookie of the Year and NL MVP and appeared to be primed to become one of the best players in all of baseball. Then, he seemingly forgot how to hit altogether for three years while failing to eclipse 20 home runs in any of those three seasons. However, he bounced back in a big way after joining the Cubs for the 2023 season where he slashed .307/.356/.525 with 26 home runs and 20 stolen bases.

There are some concerning peripherals with Bellinger still as he still isn't hitting the ball hard consistently, but his track record there is such that everyone knows he has it in him. It was also encouraging to see him bring his strikeout rate down which was certainly a problem earlier in his career. That said, the early rumors of Bellinger asking for north of $250 million this offseason is a bit optimistic.

Most of the sane contract estimates for Bellinger's next deal instead fall more in the six year, $150 million range. The Cubs would love to bring him back with the Blue Jays and Mariners also being in the fray. San Francisco needs offense badly and while Bellinger is far from a perfect option, they still need to push to sign him. The next best position player on the market is Matt Chapman who is inconsistent at best at the plate (although he is a stellar defender) and the offensive options drop off A LOT after that.

Bring back John Brebbia and Jakob Junis

For the most part, stocking up on bullpen arms will never lead the headlines. Sure, Josh Hader is available in free agency and when he signs, it will be big news as he is probably going to get north of $20 million a year, but he is an exception to the rule. However, the Giants do need to build their relief corps back up and one way they need to do that is to bring back both John Brebbia and Jakob Junis.

Are Brebbia and Junis high octane arms that will mow through batters in the ninth inning? No, but the Giants have Camilo Doval and the Rogers boys for that. What the Giants need, in addition to adding a big name this offseason somewhere on the roster, is to add quality bullpen depth and both Brebbia and Junis fit the bill and it doesn't hurt that San Francisco is familiar with both of them.

Brebbia misses bats, generally throws a lot of strikes, and is usually a hard guy to barrel up although he struggled a bit with the latter last season. Junis' slider is an absolute weapon from the right side and grades out very well basically everywhere except when it comes to the results of throwing his fastball too much.

Assuming that there are no long-term concerns with Brebbia's lat injury he suffered last year or Junis' late season neck issue, these are both guys the Giants need to bring back. Neither should cost much and getting the bullpen sorted out will free the Giants to do what they need to elsewhere on the roster.

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