When the Giants’ season finally came to an end on October 1, San Francisco’s front office could have started the process of taking inventory and determining exactly what the club needed to do to improve upon a 64-98 campaign.
It turns out, as vice president of baseball operations Brian Sabean noted, the “autopsy” on the Giants’ failures began during the summer. So when Sabean, general manager Bobby Evans and manager Bruce Bochy gathered to address the state of the franchise two days after the conclusion of the regular season, the Giants’ leadership had already assembled a checklist of team needs they planned to address during the offseason.
At the top of that list was a defensive-minded center fielder, followed closely by a third baseman, and then followed by additional bullpen help. The Giants outlined their three needs, and they made a very public goal of checking off each box on their list by the time Spring Training rolls around in 2018.
On Wednesday morning, the Giants made their first significant stride toward addressing an issue that plagued the team last year, as Evans executed a trade for Tampa Bay Rays’ third baseman and three-time All-Star Evan Longoria. Longoria will slide into the heart of the order and bring a power bat coupled with Gold Glove-caliber defense to a Giants’ team in desperate need of production, and he’ll help Evans and Co. move on to the next item on the team’s checklist.
On Wednesday afternoon, though, Evans appeared with Tolbert & Lund on KNBR and revealed a revised checklist, announcing that San Francisco was in the market for more than just a center fielder and relief pitching.
“The outfield, that’s what’s next,” Evans said. “We have to look at every option to strengthen ourselves. We have guys in the system that we’d like to give more time to, at the right time they should be able to come up and help us, but in the meantime, we want to look at opportunities that would bring power from one corner outfield spot, whether that’s left or right, and then ultimately center field defense. That’s our focal point.”
The admission by Evans that San Francisco is looking for power from a corner outfield position suggests the Giants have developed the perspective that they began the offseason with. Though adding power from a corner outfielder might have been an internal goal, the Giants didn’t make that goal public until they began to pursue Miami Marlins’ slugger Giancarlo Stanton. Even after Stanton brushed off the Marlins’ request to waive his no-trade clause to come to San Francisco, it wasn’t immediately obvious that Evans was searching to add a power hitting outfielder to the Giants’ lineup.
However, after losing Denard Span in the Longoria trade on Wednesday morning, the Giants are now looking to add another corner outfielder to play opposite of Hunter Pence, and still determined to find a center fielder who has the speed and range to cover the vast territory of AT&T Park.
Evans was asked if he’d like to break any news about the next Giants’ move, and while he said another transaction wouldn’t be coming today, the general manager did say several agents reached out to him about where the team stands with their clients.
“Ultimately, we only have three or four spots we’re searching for,” Evans said. “Just as much as we announced the deal today, every agent was reaching out today on their outfielders knowing that remains our focus.”
To listen to Evans’ full interview with Tolbert & Lund, click the podcast link below. To hear Evans’ comments on adding a power-hitting outfielder, skip ahead to the 5:11 mark.