So, what now?
The Giants were unable to land Aaron Judge after an all-time false alarm on Tuesday, when the American League home run champ decided to return to New York on a nine-year, $360 million deal.
It’s just the latest example of San Francisco going after the biggest fish in free agency and not being able to get it done, and it leaves fans wondering what it’s going to mean for the rest of the offseason.
Veteran San Francisco Chronicle Giants reporter John Shea joined Papa & Lund on Wednesday, and broke down where he thinks San Francisco should go from here.
“If Trea Turner got what he got then Carlos Correa’s going to get $300 million plus as well,” Shea began. “That’s the next step, go heavy on Correa. It’s been reported that Brandon Crawford could move to third, I’d rather see him at second. I think the athleticism with Correa and Crawford up the middle would be nice. They have bodies to play at third.”
Correa is one of the youngest free agents available, and his next team will get a handful of his prime years.
Like Judge, durability is a concern for Correa. But San Francisco’s infield depth could allow him to somewhat manage his load — particularly if he’s willing to be flexible with positioning.
Correa’s defensive metrics took a dip in 2022, but some within the sport consider his fielding ability as elite as any other shortstop’s.
Among the shortstops available this winter, Correa may have the best mix of talent, postseason track record and age to project future success.
“They really need a first baseman,” Shea continued. “They need a centerfielder, and I don’t think they like [Mike] Yastrzemski in center. I think they could have used Judge not just in the meat of the lineup, to sell tickets, merchandise, marketing, and all that, but to play centerfield. I mean, he played a mean centerfield last year.
“I think they need to go after Correa, they need to go after [Brandon] Nimmo, they need a pitcher. I’d rather have Nimmo in center than Yastrzemski. The whole idea, Farhan Zaidi said weeks ago, they need a centerfielder so that Yastrzemski doesn’t have to play center. It would make everyone better if he could move to right where he’s much better with all the defensive metrics, that would be much better for the club.”
Nimmo, though he doesn’t steal a ton of bases, would solve San Francisco’s problems at the leadoff spot and in center field. Gabe Kapler could just pencil him into both spots every day.
Nimmo is an on-base machine. He brings energy, sprinting to first base on walks — an outcome that happens quite frequently — and has a plus glove in center.
After being protected earlier in his career, Nimmo posted neutral platoon splits (.808 vs. .786 OPS) in 2022. San Francisco could do much, much worse than an outfield of Austin Slater, Yastrzemski and Nimmo — with Joc Pederson at DH.
Shea concluded by arguing that not landing Judge could actually be a blessing in disguise.
“You could make a case that getting Carlos Correa and a couple of other guys would actually be better than spending nearly $400 million on Judge, because on the baseball side, I would say Turner or Correa would have better lasting power than Judge,” Shea said. “They play middle infield with the body types. They could last longer into their late 30s and maybe be more productive than Judge will be. Judge is going to bring more tickets to the stadium and more butts in the seats, et cetera, but Carlos Correa on the baseball side might be the better way to go.”
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.
Catch Papa & Lund weekdays from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.
