4 former SF Giants failing miserably with their new team in 2023

While the San Francisco Giants did their absolute best to get involved with the biggest names on the free agent market last offseason like Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa, things didn't really work out. The Giants weren't quiet per se, but the offseason wasn't the splash that they were hoping to make. However, one thing that they did do well is avoid bringing back some guys that have struggled in 2023 elsewhere.

Even for a resource-rich team like the Giants, they cannot afford to have real money committed to players that are not producing. It would have been incredibly tempting to keep some of these guys around as some of them had previously been awesome, but the Giants had to place their bets and leave room for the big names they were targeting.

The question now is how are these departed Giants doing with their new teams? With a few exceptions like Evan Longoria, the results haven't been the prettiest.

Here are the former SF Giants players struggling with their new teams in 2023

Characterizing a player as "struggling" can be a very subjective thing. Sure, some guys be lumped in as being objectively bad here, but there are others who have either been dealing with injuries OR have had more specific shortcomings that have made them fall short of expectations with their new squads.

Without further delay, here are four former Giants players that are struggling with their new teams.

Brandon Belt's power left him when he left the Giants

This is a move that the Blue Jays would still make again in all likelihood. Getting Brandon Belt on a one year deal worth $9.3 million was a good deal at the time and still is reasonably fine. Belt has slashed .251/.360/.408 with that walk rate of his propping up his wRC+ to 118 on the season. A .768 OPS isn't great by any stretch, but he has been fine for the most part.

However, where he has struggled is in the power department. After consistently being a .470+ slugging percentage guy for most of his career, Crawford is in the middle of his second straight season where he power has seemingly disappeared. He hit only eight homers last season in almost 300 plate appearances and currently has four for Toronto. He is also slugging .408 in 2023 after slugging .350 last season with a similar dropoff in his ISO.

This isn't an indictment of Belt has a hitter overall. Again, a 118 wRC+ this year is more than reasonable. However, there is a lot of pressure on Belt's bat as a first baseman/DH and the lack of power combined with missing some time with a hamstring injury probably has the Giants glad they moved in a different direction.

The Giants were right to not keep Willie Calhoun around

Willie Calhoun has been a guy that, for a while now, has been long on potential but hasn't been able to put it together on the field. The Giants hoped to be able to unlock something with him when they traded Steven Duggar to the Rangers to acquire Calhoun. Unfortunately, Calhoun struggled after the trade and only made nine plate appearances with the Giants before hitting free agency.

Given the toolset here, it might have been tempting to see if they could stash Calhoun and see if he could resemble the guy that he was back in 2019 when he posted an .848 OPS with 21 homers for Texas. The Giants made the right call, though, as Calhoun ended up signing with the Yankees and has put up a .712 OPS with five homers in 2023. As talented as a guy can be, the game is played on the field and Calhoun continues to struggle to put actual results up.