SF Giants screwed up by not trading for Bay Area slugger last offseason

The SF Giants have not gotten very much production at all from the first base position early this season. The team should be kicking itself for not being more aggressive and pursuing a trade for Bay Area native slugger Spencer Torkelson.

SF Giants should have traded for Spencer Torkelson in the offseason

The Petaluma native was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers. He was seen as a very safe bet who could develop into a Pete Alonso-like force in the middle of the order. Yet, that is not how things worked out.

Torkelson has largely struggled early in his big league career with the Detroit Tigers outside of the 2023 season which saw him hit 31 home runs and drive in 94 runs. By the end of the 2024 he was largely a bench player for the team and his future with the team was in question during the offseason.

Yet, he has turned things around in 2025. After a strong showing in spring training, Torkelson has continued to swing the bat well in the regular season. Through 23 games this season he is slashing .286/.392/.619 with seven home runs and 21 runs batted in. It seems like he may be finally living up to his potential as a No. 1 overall pick.

Last offseason, we created a potential mock trade that would have sent first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. and reliever Camilo Doval to the Tigers in exchange for Torkelson and a relief pitcher. Looking back, the Tigers probably would not have gone for at a trade like that even though Torkelson's stock was low at the time.

Maybe if the Giants sent Wade, Doval, and one of the young pitchers in their organization like Carson Whisenhunt or Carson Seymour that could have gotten the job done, but it definitely would have felt like San Francisco was giving up a lot to land a guy who, at the time, seemed like he could be a bust.

Hindsight is 20/20 and it is easy to sit here in April after Torkelson's hot start and declare the Giants should have made a play for him. But, with how weak first base has been for San Francisco it is hard not to wish the team had managed things a bit differently in the offseason especially when it was clear first base was a weakness.

Wade has struggled mightily at the plate thus far to the point where manager Bob Melvin decided to pair Casey Schmitt, a guy who had almost no first base experience, with Wade in a platoon at first. Even after Schmitt's injury, his replacement David Villar seems likely to see a lot of at-bats against left-handed pitchers and play first base.

We will see if Wade and Villar can get going at the plate and can provide some offensive production at the first base position, but if they do not and Torkelson continues his tear it will only make the "what if" scenarios harder to avoid.