© Jayne Kamin-Oncea | 2020 Oct 15
It’s been awhile since the Giants made a splash signing in free agency, and for good reason.
San Francisco shelled out $220 million for the services of Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto during the 2016 offseason, in what would be described as the last big offseason investment, trades for Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria in 2018 aside.
Those contracts didn’t exactly age well — Cueto has made one All-Star team with the Giants and appeared in more than 20 games in just two seasons due to injury, while Samardzija has regressed steadily — and coupled with heavy investments in aging stars, it’s no wonder Farhan Zaidi has avoided throwing money around as he tries to rebuild.
It would seem that will continue in 2021, considering the financial losses sustained in 2020 due to COVID-19. But after speaking with Zaidi, The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami believes that now is an interesting time for the Giants to take advantage of their position as one of the richest clubs in baseball, and land an established player at a reasonable rate with other teams not willing to bid.
“I think you could see them nose around with some of these guys from teams that say ‘We can’t pay $10 million for a standard left fielder,’” Kawakami told Tolbert, Krueger and Brooks on Thursday. “Well the Giants can, they can do stuff like that. They already did Gausman for $18.9 million for one year, they’re going to be able to do those things that not many teams are going to do.
“I don’t know too many other teams that are going to pay standard rate. That’s it, just standard rate, not more, not pay $100 million for a three-year deal.”
While the Giants probably aren’t in a position to break the bank — like when they offered nearly $300 million for Bryce Harper two offseasons ago — inking an All-Star to a short term deal is very much on the table.
“He certainly didn’t deny that they could do that. He’s not saying they will. They’re not going to go to the table and push all their chips in. They’re not that team, and nor will they ever be that team. That’s dumb to do it that way. The Dodgers don’t really do it that way until it was the time to get Mookie Betts.
“I don’t think the Giants are in the time to get Mookie Betts situation. Maybe once in generation there’s a Mookie Betts available. But I think they’re in the ‘Marcell Ozuna, okay what’s it going to take to get him.’ There’s a starting pitcher that someone wants to get out of, I’m not saying Zach Grienke, but if Houston wants to get out of him ‘we’ll be interested.’ If George Springer isn’t getting a huge deal from somewhere else, it doesn’t hurt them to check in. I think they are going to check in on these guys in a more serious way than they have.”
Listen to the full interview below.