SF Giants have huge opportunity after pitching market becomes more clear

The SF Giants have a need for starting pitching this offseason. Two big names are already off the board which provides a huge opportunity for San Francisco now that the pitching market has become more clear.

SF Giants have great chance to land a pitcher after big offseason moves

The Toronto Blue Jays have signed right-handed hurler, Dylan Cease, to a seven-year $210 million deal.

This comes only a day after The Red Sox made a trade for RHP Sonny Gray from St. Louis, a huge move.

These developments are good news for the SF Giants as this effectively removes Toronto and Boston from the Tatsuya Imai sweepstakes. But there is some bad news for president of baseball operations Buster Posey as well since now the pressure is on to make a move.

With the SF Giants in the market for another established arm in their rotation, some had speculated they may want to go after Cease. Now that he is in Toronto, their sights should be narrowed.

While Cease is a proven arm and would have been a solid signing, teams who are looking for proven MLB arms are now less likely to take a risk on a guy like Imai. But for the Giants, the risk may be worth it.

Of course the Giants want to win now, but it seems that Buster Posey is creating an organization that will have the longevity to be great for years to come. Imai is 27 years old and will most likely have struggles early on, but he has the potential to develop in to a dominant MLB starter.

Cease earned his contract with his dominance in the league despite brief struggles last year. Taking on Imai poses more of a risk with an uncertain ceiling.

Imai, assuming he is as advertised, fits the SF Giants immediate need for another strong pillar in the rotation as he leans towards ground balls and has high velocity as well

Recently, there is a strong track record of players from the Nippon Baseball League finding success in the MLB including Shota Imanaga, Kodi Senga, Roki Sasaki, Yoshinobu Yammamoto and of course Shohei Ohtani.

Imai has said that he wants to beat the Dodgers rather than join them. What better place to do so than in San Francisco?

But it's entirely possible the Giants may just be looking for an established arm which there are plenty of in free agency.

Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez and Zach Eflin are among the top arms in free agency who have already proven their effectiveness in the MLB.

The SF Giants could also try and target Zac Gallen who is coming off a down year, but was previously an All-Star. They could potentially get him at a discount and receive a good return with relatively low risk on the right contract.

A lot of the chatter has the SF Giants as running favorites to sign Imai, but ever since being burned by the false Aaron Judge reports, fans know not to get their hopes up until he's officially on the roster.

With the offseason stove heating up, the path for the Giants seems to be increasingly clear. The only thing they can't do is remain stagnant.