Giants Series Preview: The island of misfit players
It’s an interesting roster, but will they win?
The Giants are a large market team for sure as their $187 million payroll this season would attest, but they’re not really built like other large market clubs. While other top contenders are paying top dollars for big free agents, the Giants won’t pay anyone this year more than Salvador Perez’s $20 million salary. Instead, they spread their money over lots of mid-tier free agents, and coach up players that others teams had no use for. Of the 26 players expected to be on their active roster to open this series, just 7 are homegrown players.
At first blush, their lineup would seem more fitting for the low-rent Royals. The Giants did spend some money on free agent outfielders - All-Star Joc Pederson will get $19.65 million for accepting a Qualifying Offer, three years and $43.5 million for Mitch Haniger - who is on the Injured List, and they will spend $36 million on a short-term two-year deal for Michael Conforto after he missed all of last season with a shoulder injury. But the rest of the lineup is full of guys acquired in shrewd minor trades - LaMonte Wade Jr.-for-Shaun Anderson; Mike Yastrzemski-for-Tyler Herb; Blake Sabol-for-Jake Wong; Thairo Estrada-for-cash considerations. Longtime shortstop Brandon Crawford, and second-year third baseman David Villar are the only homegrown hitters in the lineup.
The Giants have been shutout twice already this season, then scored 16 yesterday against the White Sox. So....not much consistency in the first week.
The Giants invest a bit more in pitching, with four free agent starters in the rotation around homegrown ace Logan Webb. Right-hander Alex Cobb has enjoyed a career renaissance in his 30s, throwing remarkably harder than he did in his younger days. He has the third-highest groundball rate and lowest home run rate in baseball since 2021. Former Royals minor leaguer Sean Manaea will make his first start for the Giants after signing a two-year, $25 million deal with them. He had a terrific 2021 season but regressed last year, throwing a sinker that didn’t yield as many ground balls as he hoped. Anthony Desclafani tries to come back after missing most of last year with an ankle injury. The right-hander enjoyed a career year with the Giants in 2021 by throwing strikes. He doesn’t miss a lot of bats, and his velocity was down a bit in his first start.
Like their lineup, the Giants coach up a lot of their bullpen, taking arms rejected from other organizations and putting them in the hands of Director of Pitching Brian Bannister. Former Royals right-hander Jakob Junis has had mixed results with the Giants, and the team is hoping former Royals left-hander Scott Alexander is healthy enough to be a contributor. Camilo Doval is one of the hardest-throwing relievers in the game with a heater at 98 mph. All-Star lefty Taylor Rogers is trying to bounce back from a disappointing 2022 season. His brother Tyler is a completely different pitcher, throwing from the right side as a submariner.
The Royals are getting the Giants for the home opener in San Francisco, so we’ll have three day games. KC dropped two of three in San Fran last year - the first time they had ever lost a regular season series against the Giants in five tries (let’s not talk about that other series). Maybe going on the road will take the pressure off these young Royals hitters and they can turn this season around a bit.