Top of the line starter seen as perfect Black Friday deal for SF Giants

The SF Giants are going to be connected to a lot of starting pitchers this offseason and that includes one of the top arms on the free agent market in Framber Valdez. The left-handed arm is seen as a perfect Black Friday deal for the Giants.

As everyone unwinds from a day full of food and football and turns their attention to shopping, the Giants will surely do the same lead by president of baseball operations Buster Posey and general manager Zack Minasian.

They have their work cut out for them as they try to beef up a pitching staff that ran out of gas in 2025, and signing one of the top arms on the market could do a lot to alleviate fears that a repeat of that could be coming.

SF Giants can add top lefty starter on the market to beef up rotation

The Athletic put together an article with one Black Friday deal for every MLB team, and they see Valdez as a perfect fit in San Francisco. They write:

"The idea of pairing up Valdez, one of the game’s best southpaw sinkerballers, with Logan Webb, the best right-handed sinkerballer, is too good to pass up. The Giants are expected to land one of the major free-agent pitchers this winter. The duo of Valdez and Webb could serve up plenty of grounders for elite fielders Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and others."

It is hard not to get excited at the thought of the Giants having two ace pitchers who reliably put the ball on the ground and get outs that way. Valdez has typically been great at limiting home runs and inducing contact on the ground, but he can also punch guys out as he struck out 187 batters in 192 innings pitched in 2025.

Valdez has been one of the most consistent starters in the league since 2022 which was the first of his two back-to-back All-Star campaigns. From 2022 to 2025 he has a record of 57-35 with a 3.21 ERA in 121 starts.

He is 32 years old and seems likely to command a fairly pricey multi-year deal which is the exact kind of deal the Giants have stayed away from ever since they doled out massive contracts to Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija.

Posey may have to convince chairman Greg Johnson to spend big on a starter especially if he is convinced that Valdez is their guy. Those sorts of deals always carry risk and unlike most of the things people are buying this Black Friday, you cannot return it if it turns out to be broken.