After missing out on the Giancarlo Stanton sweepstakes, the San Francisco Giants now appear eager to address their initial offseason team needs of adding a center fielder, a third baseman and relief pitching.
Though the Giants don’t have much financial flexibility due to their desire to field a roster with a payroll that comes in under the competitive balance tax threshold of $197 million, general manager Bobby Evans did free up $9 million worth of capital on Friday by shipping left-handed pitcher Matt Moore to the Texas Rangers in exchange for a pair of prospects.
With several holes to fill and roughly $15-19 million to spread around among new additions, the Giants are somewhat limited by options they can pursue on the free agent market. While the team desperately needs a power-hitting right-handed bat like J.D. Martinez, the former Diamondbacks’ slugger is expected to command upward of $20 million annually, which would price the Giants out of pursuing him.
To patch up some of the weak spots in the Giants’ lineup, Evans could pursue several trade opportunities that might net San Francisco a third baseman or a center fielder while keeping the team’s financial commitments reasonable heading into next season. With the market taking shape and the Giants hoping to act quickly, I looked at six potential external options for San Francisco who could become the team’s starting third baseman in 2018.
Though it’s possible the Giants address other needs and ask Pablo Sandoval and Christian Arroyo to compete for the starting job in Spring Training, Evans knows the franchise would be best served by searching for a more established player outside the organization to man the hot corner.
Who could the Giants call upon to fill a critical void? Let’s take a look.
Evan Longoria: Once considered one of the game’s best third basemen and a rising star, Longoria has taken a few steps back at the plate over the last couple of seasons. Small-market franchises like Tampa Bay can’t afford to have their payroll weighed down by ill-advised contracts, and it’s possible the 32-year-old Longoria is past his prime and won’t improve. As a result, the Rays might be open to dealing the franchise cornerstone, who is owed $13.5 million next season and $19.5 million in 2022. It’s a risky contract for the Giants to take on, but Longoria still plays Gold Glove defense and could benefit from a change of scenery.
For San Francisco to make this deal work, the Giants would need Tampa Bay to take on the contract of either Denard Span or Hunter Pence, and Pence has a full no-trade clause. Span, though, makes sense for the Rays because he’s a Tampa native and his contract expires after the 2018 season. Though conventional wisdom suggests the Giants might need to throw in a few high-level prospects to make this deal work, the Rays might be motivated to deal Longoria before his no-trade clause kicks in after the 2018 season and could be worried about the future implications of his contract which escalates in value over the next few years.
A deal for Longoria that involves Span is intriguing from the Giants perspective because it would only add $2.5 million to their payroll next season, which could allow them to sign a free agent outfielder and a valuable bullpen arm while staying under the CBT threshold.
Maikel Franco: The Giants were reportedly “sniffing around” on Franco during the Winter Meetings, and it makes sense because Philadelphia has a glut of infielders and might be willing to part way with a third baseman who has struggled to get on base during the first two full seasons of his Major League career. San Francisco would be buying low by pursuing Franco, but he’s hit a combined 49 home runs over the past two years and he’s still just 25 years old, so there could be plenty of room for growth with the right coaching.
Franco’s best asset for the Giants is his controllable contract, as he’s under team control through the 2021 season and wouldn’t put any sort of meaningful dent in San Francisco’s payroll next year. Though it might take a coveted prospect or two to land a player like Franco, San Francisco would have the freedom to address its outfield depth with a free agent signing and could still have leftover payroll to add to its bullpen.
Is Franco definitely better than Christian Arroyo? Probably not, but he hits for power and has youth on his side.
Yangervis Solarte: The Padres recently acquired former Yankees’ third baseman Chase Headley, and though San Diego is reportedly interested in flipping Headley, it might be difficult to find a suitor, even one like the Giants who are desperate for third base help. Headley’s contract will scare teams away, and unless the Giants figured they could swap Span in a deal, it’s likely not worth Evans’ trouble.
If the Giants figure the Padres might be stuck with Headley in 2018, San Francisco could inquire about Solarte, a utility player who could hold down the fort at third base until the team believes Arroyo is ready to play on an every day basis. Solarte hit just .255 last season and his on-base percentage dipped to a career-low .314, but he’s scheduled to make just $4 million next year and San Francisco could spend its leftover payroll on adding an impact bat in the outfield.
Like Franco, Solarte could cost the Giants a nice prospect, but he’s a versatile player who can provide valuable depth at a variety of infield positions if Arroyo does emerge as a full-time solution. Solarte also has relatively team-friendly options on his contract in 2019 and 2020, so if he bounces back at the plate, the Giants might view him as an asset worth keeping for multiple seasons.
Martin Prado: The Marlins are looking to shed every expensive contract on their books, and Prado’s deal would certainly fall into that category.
The 2017 season wasn’t kind to Prado, as he broke down physically with hamstring and knee ailments that forced him to miss all but 37 games, but it’s always possible he could rebound at the age of 34 next year. If the Giants are willing to take the risk on Prado, they’d be signing up to pay him $13.5 million next season and then $15 million in 2019, which is a tough ask for a team that can’t necessarily assume a big contract. However, there’s a way a deal for Prado could work, and that would involve moving Span to Miami and shedding the $11 million the Giants owe the outfielder in 2018 from their own payroll.
Prado has a career OPS of .762 and hit over .300 in 2016, so the Giants would be banking on the idea he would return to form. If he doesn’t, it wouldn’t be as expensive of a mistake as trading for Longoria could be, as Prado would still be off the team’s books by the end of the 2019 season. There’s no telling whether the Marlins would be game to take on Span’s contract if it would only give the team about $17 million of financial relief over the next two seasons, but it’s worth a call for Evans and Co.
Todd Frazier: Though Frazier posted a subpar .213 batting average last season while splitting time with the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees, he demonstrated a knack for getting on base and finished the year with a .344 on-base percentage. In other words, don’t let his batting average deceive you, because Frazier is still a productive player who might be the only free agent the Giants can afford if they can’t unload one of their larger contracts in the coming days.
By adding Frazier, San Francisco would finally have a right-handed power bat that could complement Buster Posey in the lineup, but it would also have a player on the wrong side of 30 who would most likely be looking for a three or four-year commitment. Though Frazier might not run San Francisco more than $12 million in his first season on the payroll, that would leave just about $8 million to address the team’s other needs.
Ultimately, adding Frazier could be the only marquee move the team makes this offseason if Evans is unable to swing another trade, and that would likely leave Giants fans disappointed and quite frankly, concerned about the future of other positions of need.
Eduardo Nunez: He’s a well-known and well-liked friend of the Giants in the clubhouse, and he’s bound to be a cheaper alternative to Frazier on the free agent market. The question is whether San Francisco would be comfortable re-booting from a 64-98 season with the same third baseman who started nearly half the team’s games last year, and the answer is probably “no.”
Nunez posted an .801 OPS last season, thanks in large part to the way he smoked the ball at Fenway Park during the second half of the year. While he’s often frustrating for a manager due to base running lapses and a bit of general clumsiness on the field, if the Giants can sign Nunez for $7 or $8 million a year on a two-year deal, he’s probably worth looking into over the next few days. The team simply doesn’t have many internal options, and with a desire to stay under the CBT and still address other needs, Nunez could offer the Giants more flexibility than Frazier.
