The SF Giants pitching staff's biggest weakness is this free agent pitcher's strength

The San Francisco Giants lack the supply of dominant, overpowering pitchers that have taken center stage this postseason. Not only was their 7.58 K/9 rate 27th in MLB in 2026, but their walk rate of 3.75 BB/9 was also 25th in the league. In short, they're not fooling batters, and that's reflected in their poor results.

Andrew Baggarly recently sat down with Buster Posey to deliver a post-mortem on what went wrong with the pitching staff, and Posey seemed to be most bothered by Giants' pitchers inability to control the ball in the zone. "Walks killed us. Killed us," he told Baggarly, "If we're going to get beat at the big-league level, I'd rather that we're giving up damage in the strike zone versus losing to walks." It's hard to argue with that sentiment, as countless times we had to suffer through watching Giants pitchers walking guys on non-competitive pitches who would inevitably come around to score.

The Giants could stand to bring in a couple guys who know where the ball is going, and this would be one

Among the other topics discussed in that article were Posey's defense for not completely overhauling the coaching staff but instead focusing on tweaking organizational development to get the most out of the system's young pitchers. It's understandable to keep a degree of year-over-year consistency while still adapting to a changing league that's seemingly passed the organization by in a lot of respects. While long-term sustainability means building from within, the Giants will want to make a couple of external additions to supplement the big league club while it waits for reinforcements rising up the minor league ranks.

One such addition who will cost a lot less than Tarik Skubal would be Shota Imanaga. The Giants were in on Imanaga before he eventually signed with the Cubs in advance of the 2024 season. He's spent three years with them and had good success - in 492.1 innings he put up a 3.45 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. He's 33 now and coming off a season in which he was more good than great, so while his market will be strong, it shouldn't be too strong to necessarily scare off the Giants (key word: shouldn't).

What is especially enticing about Imanaga, though, is his greatest strength. Like many other pitchers who have made the jump to MLB from Japan, Imanaga has built a reputation for having exceptional control. His 23.6 career K% is about a percentage point above league-average, but his 4.6 BB% is vastly superior to the MLB average of 8.5%. In a pitcher's park like Oracle Park, forcing opposing batters to put the ball in play is always a great idea.

Imanaga already accepted a qualifying offer in advance of the 2026 season, so whichever team signs him won't have to give up a draft pick for the privilege. Jim Bowden of The Athletic listed the Giants, along with the Cubs and Astros, as one of the most likely landing spots for Imanaga's services.

As mentioned previously, the Giants were rumored to be gunning hard for Imanaga three years ago, which in retrospect would have been a wise signing. The organization also has to be interested in expanding their minimal foothold in the Japanese market, which the Dodgers are absolutely dominating in. The Jung Hoo Lee signing was at least partially motivated by his marketability in South Korea, and he's been a transformative addition to the team in that respect.

While Imanaga's probably more of a #3 then someone who could start Game Two of a postseason series no questions asked, it would still be a great addition to deepen the staff. The Giants might be able to get Imanaga and Kevin Gausman, for example, for around the same price as Skubal. Getting Gausman too would be a rare PR win for Posey, as letting Gausman go to Toronto was one of the biggest complaints Giants fans had about Posey's predecessor, Farhan Zaidi. For a consistent veteran lefty who throws strikes, the Giants would be well served to give Imanaga some strong consideration.

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