When baseball returns, and it will return, it won’t look exactly the same for Giants fans. It’ll be a Parent Trapped version — just dissimilar enough to notice.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed in his press conference last week that the league and MLB Players Association agreed to the universal DH, bringing the two leagues under one uniform set of rules. Ignoring personal opinions of the universal designated hitter, there’s no doubt the National League game will change with it.
Just about everyone in baseball knew this was coming. The Giants are surely prepared. When asked about the potential of a universal DH last year, manager Gabe Kapler would say that no matter what the rules are, SF would try to maximize what it can accomplish within those boundaries, however they can.
That’s San Francisco’s philosophy. In 2021, it manifested in the most aggressive pursuit of matchup advantages at the plate in baseball history. The Giants set records for pinch hit home runs and pinch hit plate appearances. Pinch hitting was such a big part of the club’s offense, Kapler would send hitters into the on-deck circle to warm up as phantom replacements to spook the other team before pulling them back into the dugout.
NL teams will approach the DH differently. Each club has a variety of needs, current DH options, payroll limitations and ideological leanings. SF and its rivals can deploy the DH in a myriad of ways.
No matter which avenue the Giants choose, the designated hitter will allow veteran position players like Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt to get off their feet more frequently. The DH will let the Giants game plan against a team’s starting pitcher in ways it hasn’t before. And it should help San Francisco produce even more runs than last year.
But exactly how the Giants handle the DH will dictate how the rest of their offseason goes. Here are some ways it could play out.
The 2020 model
The Giants already have a precedent for using the DH. It happened just two years ago when the universal DH was approved temporarily for the shortened 2020 season.
The Giants used 11 players as a designated hitter, either as a starter or substituting in the DH spot, during the 60-game season.
Wilmer Flores made 21 starts as the DH, followed by Austin Slater (13) and Pablo Sandoval (11). The at-bat distribution was balanced and matchup-based.
With left-handed outfielders Mike Yastrzemski and Alex Dickerson having excellent, over-.900 OPS seasons, it made sense to get right-handed bats into the lineup via the DH without sacrificing Yastrzemski and Dickerson’s gloves.
The strategy…didn’t work. Giants designated hitters hit .181 with a .596 OPS, the second-worst position group on the team besides catchers (Buster Posey sat out in 2020). That is not what you want out of a lineup slot designed to replace non-hitters with sluggers.
But if SF takes this route, the 2022 group will feature many of the same characters as the 2020 one. LaMonte Wade Jr. and Austin Slater can platoon just like they did all 2021. Darin Ruf can hit against left-handed starters without having to play the field. Flores can stay in the lineup with Longoria if the latter is healthy and playing well.
This too should be the preferred strategy for fans of pitchers hitting. With a smorgasbord, mix-and-match approach, it’s possible the Giants run out of hitters to sub in if games go deep into extra innings. It would be rare, but that’s the only way we see Logan Webb step into the batter’s box again.
The David Ortiz approach
The only Hall of Famer in the 2022 Class played in 87.9% of his games as a designated hitter. David Ortiz defined the everyday DH, and did it better than anyone else ever has.
Big Papis don’t grow on trees, but there are still players who could fit the Ortiz mold. The archetype is simple: a dynamite hitter who no longer has to cover up his defensive liabilities because, simply, he never has to play the field.
Nick Castellanos is a free agent. The outfielder has never recorded a single season with a positive defensive runs saved, per Fangraphs, but has had an OPS+ over 120 in each of his past three full seasons. Jorge Soler is less of a proven commodity, but his raw power is undeniable and the World Series MVP similarly struggles in the outfield.
Without Buster Posey and almost certainly Kris Bryant, San Francisco’s biggest need in the lineup is a right-handed bat. Especially if the Seiya Suzuki sweepstakes don’t pan out, targeting players like Castellanos or Soler to be a semi-permanent DH could be a strong contingency plan.
Both Castellanos and Soler are 29. If they’re only going to hit, they should age well into their 30s. San Francisco has money to spend, so if the front office believes in either of those players — or a slugger with a similar profile and age — a long-term contract would be justifiable.
An aside: it’s understood that the universal DH rule is a win for players in CBA negotiations. More players will be able to extend their careers longer and teams will pay premiums for designated hitters. But that theory is betting on more NL teams taking this approach as opposed to the first one laid out above it. Otherwise, gains could be negligible.
A stopgap solution
The Giants might want to sign a slugger to a short-term contract to play DH just for 2022.
Free agents that could make sense for the DH position on a short term deal include Nelson Cruz, Andrew McCutchen and Mitch Moreland. They’re aging hitters who either still have power or can mash with a platoon advantage.
Cruz, 41, was an All-Star last year. McCutchen, 35, posted a 1.027 OPS against left-handed pitchers in 2021. Moreland would be a cheaper option but could also provide some depth behind Belt.
Tommy Pham is coming off two down seasons at the plate but the 34-year-old knows the NL West well. If no team breaks the bank for Anthony Rizzo, he could look for a short “prove-it” deal and re-enter free agency. But he’s also a Gold Glove caliber fielder so it’s unlikely he’d want to split time between first base and DH.
A temporary solution would give the coaching staff a chance to experiment all year, and then reassess the best way to proceed when the next offseason rolls around. They could spend a couple weeks giving all — or almost all — the DH at-bats to Prototypical DH Player X, then shift to more of a matchup-based platoon. They could roll with the hot hand.
The Giants also wouldn’t have to spend heavily with this path. If this front office isn’t completely sold on a long-term solution highlighted in the Big Papi lane, they won’t feel pressure to add one just because the rules changed. And they shouldn’t.
For a team that covets flexibility, this option may be the most malleable.
