San Francisco Giants Leaving No Stone Unturned This Offseason
The San Francisco Giants are keeping themselves busy this offseason, kicking a lot of different tires and overturning every stone.
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Jon Morosi of Fox Sports gave San Francisco Giants’ fans something to be excited about while the hot stove remains more lukewarm than hot. At the General Manager Meetings earlier this month, the Giants and Tigers engaged in trade talks, particularly for power-hitting outfielder J.D. Martinez.
The addition of Martinez would immediately improve the Giants’ offense in 2017. They would add an established right-handed power bat with 83 home runs and a .540 slugging percentage in three seasons in Detroit. He’s also still fairly young, as he won’t reach 30 until next August.
But Martinez has just one year of team control remaining, and it will be a pretty expensive year. Martinez signed a two-year contract with Detroit last offseason, and is owed $11.75 million next season.
The Giants would also need to give up a big ransom for a player of Martinez’s caliber. They already did some damage to their farm system at last season’s trade deadline, and would need to give up some big named prospects (Christian Arroyo, Chris Shaw, Tyler Beede would all certainly come up in talks), as well as potentially parting with some major league talent, to bring in Martinez for just one season.
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The trade talks didn’t get much past the initial “hey, we like this guy” stage, and Detroit is willing to listen to talks about everyone that wears a Tigers’ uniform.
San Francisco, on the other hand, is leaving no stone unturned and covering all their bases in their efforts to improve on a team that fell short in 2016. They’ve already talked with representatives for each of the three big closers (Mark Melancon, Kenley Jansen, and Aroldis Chapman) and attended Greg Holland’s showcase, showing that they are committed to improving a bullpen that cost them dearly down the stretch last season.
Giants’ general manager Bobby Evans said in the team’s postseason press conference that they are comfortable letting Mac Williamson and Jarrett Parker play in left field, but that’s obviously not set in stone. They are looking into other options, Martinez included, so that could mean the younger guys won’t get their chance.
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With other options like Yoenis Cespedes, Dexter Fowler, and Josh Reddick on the free agent market, the Giants could be handing out money to areas other than the bullpen this offseason.