Even more so than in previous years, the Giants have some money to play with this offseason.
They also have a rotation that consists of only Logan Webb with Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood all hitting the open market. They could look to re-sign all, one or fill out the rest of the rotation on an open market chock full of options.
Longtime MLB reporter Jon Morosi joined Papa & Lund earlier this week and discussed how he thinks Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris will approach the unique situation.
“I think it’s going to have to be a multi-layered approach and here’s what I mean by that,” Morosi said on KNBR. “I do think that the Giants have enough payroll flexibility, especially with Posey’s retirement, to sign one pitcher to a fairly lucrative contract. Someone that they really believe in.
“Whether that’s Gausman, does Gausman get about 4-years, $80 million? They may be able to bring in one pitcher in that range. [Max] Scherzer might be a similar profile…but in general I think the Giants could make a move to bring in one guy early, perhaps in the next couple weeks.”
There are a number of high-profile veteran pitchers on the open market. One of the Giants’ potential targets, Justin Verlander, has already re-signed with the Astros, but nearly everybody else remains available to negotiate with. Morosi listed a few names he thinks the Giants have eyes on.
“They are in a position I believe, to wait a little bit, but I think it makes it easier to wait for starting pitchers two and three or four, if you have one more guy under contract. Which is why I think it’s imperative whether it’s Gausman, Scherzer…Marcus Stroman, Robbie Ray, if you want to go top of the market, those names are all in play for varying degrees for the Giants.
“The farm system is in good shape, decent shape, so maybe you could trade for one of the Marlins’ right handers, they’ve got a number of guys who are potentially available.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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