3 bad contracts the SF Giants will regret having on the books this offseason

For a lot of MLB teams, two or three players make up a perhaps undeserved percentage of payroll on long contracts. The San Francisco Giants, the 12th highest spenders in the league, do things a little differently. Their contracts can be hefty but are also short. Their highest-paid player in 2023, Joc Pederson, made up only 10% of payroll by himself (relatively little, compared to, say, Justin Verlander's 18% for the Houston Astros), and he's a free agent who is likely not to return in 2024.

This doesn't exempt the Giants from making deals that don't work out for them, though, and spending money where they shouldn't. A considerable number of San Francisco's few short contracts look like might be pretty bad short term investments.

Here are 3 contracts the SF Giants will regret this offseason

Perhaps luckily for the Giants, all of their standing contracts outside of the sturdy Logan Webb's are only 1-3 years long. If the three players listed here don't manage to improve, at least San Francisco won't have them for very much longer.

Alex Cobb: 2 years, $20,000,000 through 2024

In light of recent news, Alex Cobb's $20 million contract is another tough one to swallow, and it puts the Giants between a rock and a hard place. On Oct. 30, it was announced that Cobb would undergo hip surgery after having issues with it throughout the season, which would keep him down for six months. This contract is a sticky one for the Giants more than Cobb, given that they have a club option this year. On a human level, it wouldn't be the coolest thing to drop Cobb, but on a money level, it could be the best thing for them to do.

He pitched the most innings for the Giants in 2023 behind Logan Webb, with 151 1/3, and finished with a 3.87 ERA, 131 strikeouts, and only 37 walks. These numbers were incredibly similar to the ones he put up in 2022, his first year in San Francisco, which pointed to a promising level of consistency from their No. 2 pitcher.

But Cobb is 36 this year and does have a history of injury. If he's able to recover from his surgery quickly, there's a small likelihood that he'll be somewhat recovered by the start of the 2024 season, but it would be unwise for the Giants to use him in the same capacity as they have in previous seasons. Cobb might return as a spot reliever toward the end of the season, at best, and rehab in Triple-A before then.

So the Giants have to make the decision: exercise their club option and cut Cobb loose at a fraction of what they would pay him for the entire year, or potentially spend $10 million in 2024 on a pitcher who won't be able to do much work for them, but has done good work for them in the past. It's an unenviable decision, to say the least.

Anthony DeSclafani: 3 years, $36,000,000 through 2024

Starter Anthony DeSclafani is another frequently injured/injury prone, high earning arm that the Giants will have on their payroll through the 2024 season. In the first two years of that contract, he's only made 24 appearances and has spent about nine months on the IL. After an ankle surgery in the offseason, he only made five starts in 2022 for a total of 19 innings pitched with a 6.63 ERA. In 2023, he had much more of a presence on the mound with 99 2/3 innings and a 4.88 ERA, but he went down again in mid-August with elbow strain.

With $12 million still owed to him, the Giants can only hope that DeSclafani will be able to pull out more innings and stay healthy in 2024. With Ross Stripling and Sean Manaea having player options, and relievers Alex Wood, Jakob Junis, and John Brebbia in free agency, DeSclafani desperately needs to come through as one of only a few locked down pitching options for the Giants. Logan Webb, a workhorse if there ever was one, can't carry the entire pitching staff on his back.

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