Alex Wood and the Giants officially agreed to a contract that will keep the left-handed starter in San Francisco for the next two seasons.
Wood, 30, will make $12.5 million in both 2022 and 2023. The two-year, $25 million deal also holds up to $2.5 million in performance bonuses.
The veteran went 10-4 with a 3.83 ERA for the Giants during their 107-win campaign. He made 26 starts, the most since 2018.
“What really impressed me about his season, beyond just the numbers, was the fact that he was able to kind of sustain arm strength and velocity throughout the season,” president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said on a Zoom call with reporters Wednesday.
Heath had been an issue for Wood in the past, but he was dependable in his first year with the Giants (save for a COVID-19 case). His performance bonuses are starts based; in each of the next seasons, he earns bonuses for games pitched in which he records nine or more outs. Games 20 and 22 would net Wood $250,000 each, and he’d earn $500,000 for games 24, 26, 28 and 30.
Bringing Wood back is an example of SF fulfilling its commitment to retaining as much of the 2021 team as possible. While losing Kevin Gausman and Buster Posey makes that goal impossible, bringing back reliable arms like Wood and Anthony DeSclafani — two key players in San Francisco’s historic season — is significant.
Wood’s contract also represents a slightly different approach from San Francisco’s front office. While SF has preferred one-year contracts in recent years, Wood, Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Cobb have all earned multi-year contracts. Speaking with reporters via Zoom on Wednesday, Zaidi said that’s more of a function of targeting pitchers coming off strong seasons.
“If you look at (Wood)’s season, it was really really consistent. Certainly would be very happy with both him and (DeSclafani) if we got a repeat of their 2021 seasons going forward,” Zaidi said.