Last off-season, a handful of big name free agents remained unsigned well into February and even into the first few days of March. Even as teams competed in Spring Training games, some of the game’s hottest winter prizes were homeless. One of which was Blake Snell, who infamously missed all of spring training and subsequently was awful in the first half of the season before rounding into form in the second.
This winter has been much more fruitful for a robust class of MLB Free Agents. Most of them, at least. Mets slugging first baseman Pete Alonso remains on the market. A number of other established major leaguers remain on the trade block as January turns to February.
There’s a sentiment surrounding the Giants that the team is done building this off-season. A pair of headline moves and a handful of mid-level roster bolstering has filled out much of fans’ wish lists, but by no means has the session blown the socks off of those fans. Mike Krukow joined Murph & Markus on Tuesday morning. He pushed back on the notion that the Giants are done. Explaining that he thinks the club will continue to be active up until and even into Spring Training.
“There’s a lot to do. It’s going to go on through spring training,” Krukow said. “By way of free agency or trades, they have work to do.”
There was transactional news the next afternoon, albeit not exactly an acquisition for San Francisco. The Giants dealt left handed reliever Taylor Rogers to the Cincinnati Reds in exchange for a minor league pitcher. Rogers, the identical twin of fellow bullpen arm Tyler Rogers, was due $12 Million this season, money that is now freed up for the Giants to potentially fulfill Krukow’s prophecy in the coming weeks.
Tyler Fitzgerald joined Papa & Silver on Wednesday afternoon. Fitzgerald was one of the brighter parts of the Giants underwhelming 2024 season. He batted .280, smashed 15 home runs, and racked up an .831 OPS in an abbreviated 2024 campaign. He’ll look to build on that promising season as he heads into his sophomore spring training. Fitzgerald expressed gratitude for his teammates and coaches after his rookie season, and also elaborated on the struggles of finding your way in the big leagues.
“It definitely was not easy. The hardest part of it was being a rookie without consistent playing time. That’s an important role and I loved being on the big league roster, but that is a challenge mentally and physically.”
If the Giants are going to fulfill their potential in 2025, Tyler Fotzgerald is going to be a huge part of it. Check out the full interview with Tyler here:
