SF Giants: How good was the winter and did the team actually get better?

At long last, we have made it to the end of the winter. There’s only one thing that this means - Spring Training is coming and SF Giants baseball is right around the corner.

SF Giants: How good was the winter and did the team actually get better?

With the start of the season on the horizon, it is time to look back and reflect on the offseason that the San Francisco Giants had. After all, the whole point of the offseason is to improve. Safe to say, it’s been a rather interesting winter. So let’s take a look back and reflect on some of the moves that were made. 

The subtractions 

It was a given that Carlos Rodon would be hitting the open market with how good he was in 2022. What wasn’t a given is where exactly he would end up. For a moment, it even looked like there was a slim possibility that Rodon could remain a Giant. In the end, he signed a 6-year, $162 Million deal with New York Yankees in December, meaning the Giants will face Rodon in the opening series when they head to the Bronx from March 30 to April 2nd. 

In addition to that, the Giants also let long-time 1B Brandon Belt walk. Belt signed a 1-year, $9.3 Million deal with the Blue Jays this offseason. 

In the grand scheme of things, these two subtractions won’t be as major as other teams. Losing Rodon means that there won’t be a two-headed monster at the top of the rotation. Belt had been a steady presence at first base but was unable to stay healthy while also having a streak bat. His defense was always something that could be counted on. 

All things aside, losing just these two isn’t too bad. It doesn’t mean it is a good thing. But it could be much worse. 

SF Giants: How good was the winter and did the team actually get better?

The Oh You Almost Had It

Pain. That’s the best way to put the offseason when it comes to some of the marquee names to which the Giants were linked or close to signing. I mean, where do I even start? 

At the Winter Meetings in San Diego, it appeared as if the Giants were about to make a move that would change the landscape in the National League West when Jon Heyman reported that Arson Judge was headed to San Francisco. That player would later be identified as reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge who would sign with the Yankees a few days later. This was a gut punch for sure. Luckily, there were still plenty of other top free agents available at this time. 

Once everyone had returned from San Diego, another bomb was dropped that the Giants had agreed to terms with free-agent SS Carlos Correa on a massive 13-year, $350 Million deal. It was looking like the team had gotten their guy to build around for the future. That was when things got weird. After all, Correa came in for his physical and the team doctors didn’t like it so they moved on from each other and the same thing would happen in New York before Correa ended up back with the Twins. 

These were quite frankly rough and not fun to see happen. Both of these players could’ve changed the outlook of the next decade. Instead, we just got kicked multiple times and were given nothing to show for that. 

SF Giants: How good was the winter and did the team actually get better?

The additions

All things aside, the Giants were very productive and winter. While they weren’t the flashiest moves, they did do the one goal of the offseason, which is to get better. 

The first move the team did was to sign Mitch Haniger to a 3-year, $43.5 Million deal with an opt-out after 2024. This contract comes with its pros and cons, as does any deal. 

Beginning with the pros, Haniger is just a solid all-around player. Just taking a look at some StatCast numbers, you can see this as he’s got a very strong arm that’s rated at 79 and has some good exit velocity numbers off the bat that is rated at 72. 

Diving back into his previous numbers, he has hit 123 homers and has 323 RBIs in his career to date. In 2018, he hit 26 homers and had 96 RBIs. Then in 2021, Haniger had a career year where he hit 39 home runs with 100 RBIs. However, that’s the catch too. In both of those seasons, he played 157 games. Other than the 2020 season, Haniger has had a hard time being available. 

That wasn’t the only outfielder the team added though. In January, they signed Michael Conforto to a 2-year, $36 Million deal. Again, he’s a solid player. The one thing that could make this deal look bad is if Conforto can’t stay healthy and only plays in 60 games or less. He’s been known to have injury issues and hasn’t played with an MLB team since 2021. However, if he can stay healthy he brings some left-handed pop to the lineup. In 2019, he had his best year where he hit 33 homers and had 92 RBIs. That was the last year of a three-year stretch where he hit 20 or more homers each season. Pairing these guys with Joc Pederson will make the lineup a little bit thicker as well, especially against right-handed pitching.

On top of those moves, the team also took a flier on Stephen Piscotty. This is s low-risk, high-reward. Piscotty is good at hitting left-handed pitching and was a solid player before getting traded to the A’s. Hopefully, the Giants can catch lightning in a bottle here. 

 Plus, you could argue they did addition by subtraction by moving on from Tommy La Stella who declined badly last season.   

The Giants also added some strong arms to their rotation and bullpen that will make a difference. They began by signing Ross Stripling to a 2-year, $25 Million deal with an opt-out after the season. They inked lefty Sean Menea to the same contract as well.  Stripling is coming off a nice year where he went 10-4 with a 3.01 ERA with a WHIP of 1.02. 

As for Menea, he had a rough 2022 season going 8-9 with a 4.96 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. That being said, he can be a solid back-of-the-rotation guy. 

Lastly, they signed left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers to a 3-year, $33 Million deal. Rogers was off to a good start with the Padres and was close to the league lead in saves before being traded at the deadline to the Brewers where he served as a setup man. So it’s safe to say that  Rogers can be used in different ways just like his brother, which should help the bullpen immensely. The Giants also took chances on Sean Newcomb, Joe Ross, and Luke Jackson who could all make impacts.