4 SF Giants who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

The San Francisco Giants currently find themselves falling out of the division race in the National League West, but in a pretty good spot in the NL Wild Card race. While the Dodgers have refused to lose over the last couple of weeks, the Giants still have a 1.5 game cushion in the wild card thanks largely to the fact that none of the teams in contention there have been playing well which is good since the Giants haven't exactly lit the world on fire.

To get to this point, the Giants have had to play a well-rounded, if uninspiring, brand of baseball with contributions from throughout their roster while weathering some injuries to some key players along the way. However, that doesn't mean that San Francisco hasn't had some players struggle and put their futures with the team in doubt.

Here are 4 SF Giants who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

There is going to be a mix of players on this list. Some are players are ones that are under team control, but whose performance has waned while others competing for the same roster spots have played well. Others are going to be free agents soon and who have struggled enough to lead one to believe that the team won't bring them back for 2024. It will make more sense as the list goes on.

Let's take a look at the Giants players that are playing their way out of the team's plans for 2024.

Joey Bart

There should not be any surprise here as Joey Bart's struggles the last couple of years have made him a popular target for the ire of Giants fans. Despite being one of the most highly regarded prospects in the 2018 draft period, Bart has struggled in the big leagues with a .218/.293/.348 line in 375 plate appearances over the last two seasons. Injuries have certainly played their part in Bart's inconsistency at the plate, but it does seem pretty clear that Bart's future with the Giants is very much in question no matter how much Farhan Zaidi and co. say otherwise in the public eye.

If the Giants didn't have any depth at catcher, then maybe there would be an argument to keep Bart around and hope he can figure things out at the plate. However, both Patrick Bailey and Blake Sabol have significantly outplayed Bart and look like a catching battery that should be a strength of the Giants' roster for years to come. Even with his struggles, Bart has a ton of team control and the prospect pedigree to remain an interesting trade target for catcher needy teams this offseason that believe a change of scenery would be good for him. San Francisco definitely needs to take advantage of that after the 2023 season before Bart does any more damage to his value.

Casey Schmitt

It wasn't that long ago when Casey Schmitt was considered a mortal lock to be a fixture in the Giants infield. While his bat has been inconsistent in the minor leagues especially when it comes to impacting the ball, his defensive acumen was his calling card and seemingly gave him a pretty high floor as an everyday player.

Unfortunately, Schmitt's first look at the big leagues this year did not go well. In 218 plate appearances with the Giants, Schmitt posted a shockingly bad 51 wRC+ in the majors and his defense failed to live up to his billing with -3 Outs Above Average in 274 innings in the field with the results in the minors not being much better. One could easy argue that Schmitt's defense will end up being fine, but his inability to draw walks and lack of power puts a lot of pressure on his glove to pad his overall production. At this point. Schmitt should get shopped around this offseason as a defensively versatile infielder for a team that has the time to try and fix him at the plate.