How Matt Moore Completely Changed the Giants’ Offseason
Baseball’s offseason is winding down, and pitchers and catchers will report in just about a week’s time. With free agency just about in the rearview, it’s time to appreciate San Francisco Giants’ pitcher Matt Moore, and how he completely changed the offseason for the Giants.
Lefty Matt Moore was picked up on August 1st in 2016, as part of a deal that came in just before the 4 PM eastern time deadline. That trade stung a little bit for Giants’ fans, as wildly popular third baseman Matt Duffy, the 2015 Willie Mac Award winner, was sent to the Tampa Bay Rays (along with prospects Lucius Fox and Michael Santos) in exchange.
The deal worked out quite well for the Giants in just the 2016 season. Moore didn’t start off that well, being plagued by awful command issues, but he soon settled in and made some huge starts for the team down the stretch.
There was his near no-hitter in Los Angeles against the Dodgers in his last start of August. There was his 11-strikeout performance versus the Colorado Rockies in his penultimate start of the regular season. There was his eight-inning start of one-run ball in game 161 against the Dodgers with the playoffs on the line. And of course, there was his masterful eight-inning performance in game four against the Chicago Cubs (but the ninth inning never happened, nope, didn’t happen).
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But Moore’s biggest impact on the team may have come in this offseason, in a way that he no control over. Acquiring Moore, a young, left-handed starting pitcher on a cheap contract, allowed the Giants to focus their offseason efforts on one, major priority: the bullpen.
If San Francisco didn’t get Moore, they would have another vacancy in their rotation with Jake Peavy‘s contract expiring. They are already relying on Matt Cain to be their fifth starter in 2017, so doing that while giving another rotation spot to a more unproven candidate (i.e. Ty Blach, Albert Suarez) would be a risky proposition for a team that wants to contend again.
Therefore, they’d have to open their wallets for this extremely thin market of free agent starting pitchers. Just take a look at some of the contracts handed out so far this winter. Rich Hill got $48 million for three seasons. Andrew Cashner received a one-year deal worth $10 million. Edinson Volquez: two years, $22 million. R.A. Dickey: $8 million for one year. Bartolo Colon: $12.5 million for one year. Jason Hammel: $16 million for two years.
Instead of handing out a deal like that, the Giants picked up Moore’s team option. At only $7 million for 2017, he comes cheaper than each of the pitchers just listed. He stays cheap in the remaining two years of his deal, both team options, with $9 million due in 2018 and $10 million in 2019.
Or, if the Giants didn’t want to deal with the free agent market, they’d have to work on a trade, and they likely would have had to move Duffy anyway. Only this time, they’d have to part with much higher-rated prospects (possibly Tyler Beede and/or Christian Arroyo, and then some). Based on the hauls that players like Chris Sale and Drew Smyly required, it would not have been easy to swing a trade for a player that would be any better than Cain.
So because the Giants didn’t have to worry about another starting pitcher, they went head on into the offseason and got their man in All-Star closer Mark Melancon. If they needed to give out a bigger contract to a guy like Colon or Cashner, it’s entirely possible they don’t get Melancon. The average annual value on Melancon’s contract is $15.5 million, and that’s what counts towards the luxury cap.
The Giants have stated multiple times this offseason that they are trying to move under that cap in the future to avoid penalties. That would mean they either take the financial risk with Melancon and go way over the cap, or don’t get Melancon at all. The latter option seems much more likely.
With the team needing to spend on a starter, that leaves more limited options to help a bullpen that needed help. Maybe they take the flyer on Greg Holland, who is coming off a lost season after Tommy John surgery and signed a $7 million contract with the Colorado Rockies. Maybe they go after 37-year-old Brad Ziegler. Maybe they just go with what they have.
But with Moore in the fold, none of that matters. The Giants have a young, cheap pitcher with huge upside, and were able to bring in their top target, Melancon. That’s a win-win.
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Or maybe we can thank Eduardo Nunez for that. If the Giants don’t trade for him a few days before the deadline, maybe they aren’t so inclined to part with Duffy. Or they could still make that deal and hand the reins to Kelby Tomlinson.
Either way, let’s just say thanks to Moore for being here, and nice job Bobby Evans for bringing him aboard.