The Giants were reportedly in on Mets outfielder Michael Conforto this offseason. Are they still?
That was the question posed to The Athletic’s Andrew Baggarly on Monday afternoon. With the Giants lineup looking a little thin — especially with the injuries to Brandon Belt and LaMonte Wade Jr. — it seems reasonable that San Francisco would still be open to adding an established player on either side of the plate.
While it may still remain a possibility, Baggarly doesn’t expect it to happen.
“I mean I guess potentially if his market falls apart and he’s looking for a place to play,” Baggarly said on KNBR. “I think they are always opportunistic, they did look at him quite a bit in the offseason, but that was before they signed Joc Pederson.
“I guess I couldn’t rule it out, everybody is a good fit at the right price. I would not anticipate that right now.”
Other than Pederson who the Giants signed for $6 million and the signing of utility man Luke Williams, San Francisco has stood pat when it comes to the lineup, electing to use internal options to help fill the gaps of the departed Kris Bryant and Buster Posey.
The left-handed hitting Conforto, 29, didn’t light the world on fire last season, posting a .232/.344/.384 slash line, but has an .824 career OPS and has hit more than 27 home runs on three separate occasions during his career. Conforto, an All-Star in 2017, is expected to command at least double what the Giants paid Pederson, so it’s possible Farhan Zaidi and Co. would wait until his market shrinks even more to pounce.
“I would wonder if there’s somebody who is going to shake loose from another camp or somebody who is out of options that they really like and isn’t going to make a team,” Baggarly continued. “You know they are never going to stop working to acquire more pieces, whether it’s people they can stash away in the minors or people they can carry for a while on the 40-man and maybe designate and hang onto.
“They are just very, very active. They’ve been active since they day Farhan took over. I wouldn’t expect that that is going to stop and we’ll see if there is somebody who is still going to be on this roster that hasn’t been in camp yet even though we are kind of running out of days now.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Tolbert & Copes weekdays from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.