SF Giants: 3 Players who will not be back in 2022

With the 2021 season in the rearview mirror for the SF Giants, we will take a look at three players who are unlikely to return to the team in 2022.

SF Giants: 3 Players who will not be back in 2022

As the Giants look ahead to 2022, it seems very likely that some faces that have become familiar to Giants fans over the past few years have likely played their last game for the team. In many of these cases, this is not the fault of the player, but simply a result of bad luck.

For many of them, they may have gotten hurt and their replacement simply outperformed them in their absence. This relegated many of these players to pinch-hitting duties which is a tough place to try and earn your spot back in the lineup.

Couple that with the fact that many of these players are in their mid to late 30s and are pending free agents or have a club option and it seems like a perfect storm has assembled to take them away from San Francisco.

The good news for the Giants is that the exit of these players is not a great burden because they have replacements that are under team control or the player's exit frees up a lot of money that they can use in free agency to get a replacement.

Nonetheless, it will be tough to see these players leave San Francisco especially because they have endeared themselves to Giants fans over the years. Without further ado, let's take a look at three players who most likely will not return to the Giants in 2022.

SF Giants: 3 Players who will not be back in 2022

1. Alex Dickerson

Last offseason the Giants signed Alex Dickerson to a one-year, $2.1 million deal. Starting the 2021 season, Dickerson was basically a platoon member with Austin Slater in left field. It was assumed that he would start a lot against right-handed pitching which is how they used him for most of the first half of the season.

However, Dickerson never really got red-hot the way we saw him in both 2020 and 2021. We know that when his bat heats up he can be a dangerous man in the middle of the order. Part of that had to do with the fact that he sustained some injuries throughout the season which prevented him from finding a rhythm at the plate.

What really seals Dickerson's likely exit from the Giants is the emergence of LaMonte Wade Jr. Wade stepped up when Dickerson and Brandon Belt were injured and showed the kind of damage he can do with the bat as well as his defensive versatility. The versatility part, along with his comparative youth, is what gives him a leg up over Dickerson.

The simple fact is that there just is not enough room for Dickerson next year. He could definitely be a solid bench piece, or even a starter, for a team next year, but the Giants already have Steven Duggar and Austin Slater who are superior defensively and basically comparable in terms of offensive output.

Giants fans will surely miss Dickerson's fun personality as well as the famous chant of the first four letters of his last name after a home run, but it seems likely that Dickerson has played his last game as a San Francisco Giant.

SF Giants: 3 Players who will not be back in 2022

3. Donovan Solano

This may be the most controversial of the three Giants that are likely to not return in 2022. Donovan Solano did not have a bad year in 2021 by any stretch of the imagination. He hit .280/.344/.404 with seven home runs and 31 RBI.

He dealt with injuries and was essentially a platoon player by the end of the season but who could forget this incredible moment against the Atlanta Braves:

"Donny Barrels" has made a reputation of being clutch in his time with the Giants, and I would be convinced that the Giants would be willing to bring him back in 2022 if it were not for the emergence of Thairo Estrada.

Estrada may not be able to hit for average the same way that Donny did in 2019 and 2020, but he put up similar numbers to Solano last season in about half as many games played and had some memorable moments of his own

Plus, Estrada proved that he can play second base, shortstop, third base, and even left field if necessary. That versatility is a huge advantage over Solano who the Giants are really only comfortable putting at second base.

This is not even to mention Tommy La Stella who is under contract for the next two years and emerged as a solid leadoff man against right-handed pitching late in the season. With those two guys already coming back next year for the Giants, Donny Barrels may be the odd man out at second base.

It will not be easy to see any of the three guys in this article leave San Francisco. They have all endeared themselves to Giants fans in their time with the team but it just seems that there is not enough room for them on the team's roster going into 2022.