San Francisco Giants: Take Cespedes Off Your Wish List
Rumor season had the San Francisco Giants as one of the top destinations for Yoenis Cespedes, but he’s back to the New York Mets and off your wish-list.
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The San Francisco Giants were considered, by some people, one of the bigger threats to pull Yoenis Cespedes away from the New York Mets (looking at you, Jon Heyman). The Los Angeles Dodgers need to cut payroll while the Giants have a lot of money to spend and something of an opening in the outfield. It seemed like maybe the stars were aligning.
In the end, there was no big threat to the Mets, who on Tuesday re-signed Cespedes to a big, four-year, $110 million deal. If that sounds like a boatload of money, that’s because it is. Only one position player in MLB history has signed a contract worth more than Cespedes $27.5 million average annual value: Miguel Cabrera‘s $31 million AAV deal with the Detroit Tigers before the 2014 season.
It can’t be all that surprising that the Giants wouldn’t fork out that kind of money for Cespedes. The Mets needed to bring him back to their lineup, and the Giants have much bigger needs than an outfielder.
The bullpen was the Giants’ achilles heel in 2016. San Francisco led baseball in blown saves last year, and the final image of the team is the group of relievers being unable to hold a three-run lead in the ninth inning of game four of the NLDS. That has left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths, and the Giants need to work on it.
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There are plenty of options for the bullpen. The big three of Kenley Jansen, Aroldis Chapman, and Mark Melancon has received plenty of attention, and the Giants have already met with representatives for all three. Greg Holland is also available. The money is there. It’s now on the Giants to get it done.
While the bullpen is a need, left field is more of a want. They can get by as is in left field, but upgrading it would be a nice luxury. The bullpen, on the other hand, needs at least one new face that can anchor the backend of a game and secure victories.
If you’re a fan of young Giants’ outfielders Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker, today can be chalked up as a good day. But while those two still have the clearest path to starting in left field of guys currently on the roster, they’re still not out of the woods yet. There’s still a few power hitting outfielders left on the free agent market, including Mark Trumbo and Jose Bautista, but those don’t seem like very likely options for the Giants either.
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At the team’s end-of-season press conference, general manager Bobby Evans expressed confidence in the potential of Williamson and Parker. With free agent options coming off the board, it’s becoming a bit more likely that it will fall on those two.