Ranking the Giants’ biggest offseason priorities

The Giants have a new general manager, promoting Zack Minasian from within the organization. My only scouting report on Minasian is that everyone who knows him speaks highly of him, which is a good sign.

Minasian will be a key part of the Giants offseason, though, so if everyone speaks highly of him right now, wait a few weeks. It’ll take just one transaction to make hundreds and thousands of enemies. Just ask Brian Sabean, whose honeymoon period as a new GM lasted about five seconds. (My advice to Minasian: Keep Matt Williams around. He’s a really good third-base coach.)

There’s a lot of work for the Giants to do if they want to be something more than mediocre, so let’s rank the positions they need to address, from least important to most.

8. Third base

The Giants have their third baseman of the present and future. He’s pretty good. If Matt Chapman is unavailable for whatever reason, Casey Schmitt would be the next player up, which is a reasonable backup plan.

7. Catcher

Patrick Bailey is still a valuable catcher, even with another second-half offensive collapse, which was one of the worst of the past quarter-century. Second-half Bailey is a topic on my to-do list for the offseason, but the conclusion won’t be that the Giants need to find a new catcher. It would be great if he could go from a .400-something OPS to a .600-something OPS in the second half, but his run prevention in the field makes up for his run prevention at the plate.

Tom Murphy is the de facto backup, based on his contract alone, but he was a Farhan Zaidi idea, and he wasn’t a successful one. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Giants make a change there. That doesn’t mean the position is a priority overall, though.

6. Bullpen

One of the things that went right for the Giants in 2024 was the emergence of a bullpen core that might be around for a while. Ryan Walker had one of the better relief seasons for the team in recent memory, and Erik Miller, Sean Hjelle and Randy Rodríguez all looked like major-league relievers, with different combinations of funk and effectiveness.

Camilo Doval’s season was maddening, but that alone shouldn’t make the Giants spend money on the bullpen. Even without the emergence of those young-ish relievers, this would be a low priority, mostly because teams should almost never spend too much on a bullpen. Call this the Mark Melancon Theory of Diminishing Returns.

The Giants will get an arm or three, but they’ll be more in the spirit of John Brebbia and Dominic Leone than Taylor Rogers. Adding expensive relievers isn’t the smart way to spend money.

5. Second base

Spoiler for the shortstop section: Tyler Fitzgerald’s long-term home isn’t at shortstop. He’s fine there, but his future is either at second base or all over the field, similar to the early career of Chris Taylor. As such, it’s reasonable to consider the second base position filled. If Gleyber Torres were willing to sign a reasonable deal with the Giants, Fitzgerald would be capable of playing shortstop full-time, and they’d trade the mediocre defense for a combined 50 homers or so, but that’s a longshot.

There are a lot of red flags that come with Fitzgerald. He has below-average exit velocities and poor rankings in other batted-ball stats, and he swings and misses more than almost any other hitter in baseball, which is saying something in 2024. Some regression is likely. Maybe a lot of it.

Still, Fitzgerald did enough last season to be a regular in next season’s lineup. My guess is that it’s at second most of the time, with a left-handed hitter behind him.

This could also be Marco Luciano’s permanent home. Don’t forget about Luciano, who is still a zygote compared to most baseball players.

4. Outfield

Jung Hoo Lee will return to center field, which will probably be the biggest addition of the offseason, regardless of what else the Giants do. Heliot Ramos and Mike Yastrzemski are the current options for the corners, but an outfielder would be one of the easiest ways for the Giants to improve the lineup. Tyler O’Neill makes a lot of sense, as does Anthony Santander, but the Giants could also explore the trade market.

One under-the-radar name to keep in mind: Juan Soto, who gets on base and hits for power. He might be a good fit for this roster.

If the Giants make a flurry of moves at other positions, it wouldn’t be malpractice to go into 2025 with a Ramos-Lee-Yastrzemski outfield, but it’s hard to see how the lineup improves significantly without another outfielder.

3. First base

This is a tricky one. The Giants shouldn’t count on LaMonte Wade, Jr. to be healthy, and his .207/.316/.342 second-half line was more than a little concerning. You’ll put up with that from a Gold Glove shortstop, not so much with a first baseman.

Except the Giants won’t want to allocate too many resources toward getting Wade some help (or replacing him entirely). Pete Alonso doesn’t make a lot of sense because a) he’s going to get a lot of money for a lot of years, and he doesn’t seem like the type of player who will age well, and b) Bryce Eldridge reached Triple A last season and while it’s unlikely he’ll be a full-time regular at some point next season, the Giants will want to keep the position somewhat flexible.

A good balance might be a trade for the Rays’ Yandy Díaz, who will make $10 million next season and is coming off a disappointing season. It’s unknown if the Rays will shop him, or if they’ll try to sign him to a long-term contr-hahahahahaha, sorry, couldn’t keep a straight face. Díaz is right-handed and would pair well with Wade at first, and he would also instantly be one of the best Giants hitters at hitting for average.

2. Rotation

As of right now:

SP1: Logan Webb
SP2: Robbie Ray (assuming he doesn’t opt out)
SP3: Jordan Hicks
SP4: Kyle Harrison
SP5: Hayden Birdsong

Not bad. Not bad at all. That would be a rotation with some potential.

Adding to this position would also be the easiest way for the Giants to win more baseball games. Blake Snell is the obvious name at the top of the wishlist, but there are other options, too. (Yomiuri) Giants legend Tomoyuki Sugano is expected to come to the United States, and there’s a chance Roki Sasaki could come over, too. Corbin Burnes would be risky and expensive, but it sure isn’t my money. There are also trade possibilities, but this would be one of the easiest positions to throw money at.

If they find a way to add three hitters for a lot of money, they could go into the season with the above rotation and re-evaluate at the deadline. One more starting pitcher seems like a good idea, though.

1. Shortstop

The easy choice for the top spot. Again, Fitzgerald is fine at short, and he plays above his tools, with steady hands and good decisions. But imagine a plus-plus defender at the position next to Chapman. Imagine if that player could hit for power or average or steal bases or do something to help the Giants score runs.

This was also an easier position to project when Ha-Seong Kim was healthy. He’s besties with Jung Hoo Lee, and the defense and speed would have fit the Giants perfectly. He had surgery to repair a “small tear” in his right labrum, though. He’s saying he wants to return in the first couple of months of the 2025 season, but that’s exactly what a (likely) free agent would say. The Giants are in a better position than most to buy time for Kim to get healthy, but that doesn’t mean this is the best option.

Willy Adames is an obvious option here, with tons of power and a stellar defensive reputation, but he’ll be popular. The Dodgers will probably want him. We know that cowards and wastrels like to sign with the Dodgers and make everything easy for them, but maybe there’s a chance that Adames is a man of sturdy character with a sense of the bigger picture. In general, though, it’s not a good idea to assume the Giants can walk into the Winter Meetings and leave with the best player at a given position.

Say, the Twins might want to shed salary. Carlos Correa is on the Twins.

I’m not against it. You probably aren’t, either.

There are a few options for the Giants at short. Just know that it’s the most important upgrade they can make, with a trickle-down effect for the rest of the roster.

Keep that Soto fella in mind, though. Surely this time the Giants won’t be in the center of a maelstrom of rumors only to come up short.

(Top photo of Blake Snell: Jason Mowry / Getty Images)