There were six free agents this season to have their team extend a qualifying offer, but it only came down to the wire for one. As of early today, Kevin Gausman was weighing multiple multi-year offers against the one-year, $18.9MM qualifying offer he could accept from the Giants. He will accept that offer this evening, per MLB Insider Jeff Passan (via Twitter). The two sides may continue working on a multi-year deal, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area (via Twitter), but either way he’ll be back in the Giants rotation in 2021.
Gausman’s had an up-and-down career to this point. He broke out as a solid rotation arm as a 25-year-old for the Orioles in 2016, beginning a three-year run of quality rWAR production of 3.9, 2.0, 3.9, the last of which he earned while splitting his time between Baltimore and Atlanta. Gausman struggled mightily through 16 starts with the Braves to open 2019 (3-7, 6.19 ERA, -0.9 rWAR), but righted the ship with a 4.03 ERA over 22 1/3 innings out of the Reds bullpen. It was enough to earn a one-year, $9MM offer with the Giants in the offseason. He parlayed that deal into a $18.9MM contract for 2021 via 59 2/3 innings with a 3.62 ERA/3.09 FIP. Gausman more than doubles his year-over-year salary by accepting the qualifying offer.
Looking ahead for the Giants, they now have Gausman, Johnny Cueto, and Logan Webb likely holding down spots in their rotation, with Tyler Anderson and Tyler Beede rehabbing from injury, and prospect Sean Hjelle looking to make a run for a spot, writes Pavlovic (via Twitter). That may not be a group set to take down the juggernaut Dodgers, but it’s certainly better with Gausman than without him. Besides, the offseason is just beginning. If the Giants struggle in 2021, Gausman on a one-year deal, at the very least, could turn into an attractive trade chip at the deadline.
As for the other qualifying offers, Trevor Bauer, DJ LeMahieu, George Springer, and J.T. Realmuto declined their qualifying offers, per MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand (via Twitter), though there was little doubt for any of the four. Marcus Stroman accepted his offer from the Mets today, choosing to take the large one-year contract to play out the beginning of the Steve Cohen tenure in New York.
If neither the Mets nor Giants work out longer-term deals for their hurlers, Gausman and Stroman would enter free agency without the extra burden of a qualifying offer at the end of next season.
Giants are making the playoffs once the sign Bauer
yeah maybe on a minor league deal later on his 30s.
*in
As a Giants fan, personally, I believe that Bauer will not pitch in the Bay
I don’t want Bauer but it’s foolish to think they wouldn’t make an effort. They offered more AAV for Harper than Philly back when their main hole was RF. Now their main hole is in the rotation and Bauer is similar to Harper.
The only way the Giants are making the playoffs will be if they expand the playoff field
With COVID up and running, MLB will end up with a season like last year., Expanded play offs and the DH.
I want the DH in the NL, don’t you?
To 20 teams.
Playoffs? They might wanna try finishing with a winning record first. Considering it’s been close to 5 years since they’ve done that
Nope
Wow. The Giants are paying Kevin Gausman 20 Million dollars to pitch next year.
No wonder they’re a mess
Wait and see. He is probably being paid $3-$5m over what he should be but I would be surprised if he is resigned for 3 – 4 years at a $12-$15m annual average salary.
That would be fair value.
Wouldn’t *
I love Gausman’s balls, acting like he was going to decline it for a multi-year offer and waiting until the last hour to accept it.
Might as well play it up to the final moments. He likely did have some offers, but not to the level he wanted. I’m sure if he was told a year ago he’d be getting a $19M QO he’d be celebrating. Now he can celebrate. Go out and have a decent year and he’ll be totally in the driver’s seat.
“I love Gausman’s balls”
Boy, did that come out wrong!
You love Gausman’s balls?
Nice. I could still see the Giants securing him on a multiyear deal to get a lower AAV. Happy to have him back even for just 1 more year.
i guarantee he’s going to regress this year
Did anyone else benefit from the extremely short season as much as Kevin Gausman? So many teams think he’s a top level starter after a good 60 innings. Amazing.
He’s like the new Homer Bailey, decent pitcher but front offices love him and put him on a pedestal because of his draft pedigree.
It was Phil Hughes before that.
Hughes had masterful control and had a breakout year before injury finished him off.
If that many teams thought that highly he would have declined the QO
Hey ChangedName Bauer had a 4.48 ERA in 2019 Since 2012 he has been under a 4 ERA twice. What was your question again
It isn’t the draft pedigree that makes front offices fall in love. It’s that his splitter is so good, every team forgets how mediocre the rest of his arsenal is. Hopefully the Giants have figured out a way for him to pitch around his flaws.
yea 95+ is medicore.
I agree @darkside
@darkside & changed – based on his career numbers you would be correct. But it’s only a one-year deal, and that is highly desirable these days especially. Plus, don’t you think it’s possible he is a late bloomer and found the park to his liking and the coaching may have brought out the best in him? I get it that a small sample size benefitted him; that’s a fact. But that 95 mph fastball is also tantalizing. I personally think Zaidi is a smart guy and I know the GM is a solid baseball man – I liked him when he was working for Theo. So I’m going to guess that they know more than we do.
Shocked. Shocked that a man would accept $19M!
This was a no-lose situation for Gausman. He’d still get millions as a free agent, but coming off the pandemic losses teams are dealing with, and some uncertainty about 2021, all he has to do is bank the $19M, and then go out and have a good year and he will be rewarded with a mega deal at the end of 2021. He doesn’t even need to be as good as he was in 2020, just don’t suck. He’s betting on himself here.
No he’s just making more money lol
You think he wouldn’t get a total deal worth more than $18.9M? Because once he hits $19M he’s getting more money. lol
RobM, you’re correct. Math is not a strong point with many posters here!
I think people are sometimes cynical for the sake of being cynical.
I do find it difficult to believe he couldn’t find a 3 year/$30 million or a 4 year/$40 million offer if that is what he wanted.
If it was there he would have declined the QO
That’s not necessarily true.
This winter wasn’t going to give him the money, it’s just not there. So take the 19M, enter back in at age 31, and get paid next winter.
He’s taking a gamble on himself.
Of course he could. Maybe not this early; however, there’s no doubt some team would offer him a multi-year contract with an AAV of at least 10M. But he probably is comfortable where he’s at & is confident because he had success there. Not to mention that 19M is a nice chunk of change. It also wouldn’t surprise me in the least if they work out a 2 or 3-year deal.
With a comp pick attached, he might’ve been looking at 3/$30m at best?
Doesn’t really need to pitch well, just stay healthy enough and he can likely get a 2/$12m next year without the comp pick factor?
Still a gamble on himself that he can stay healthy enough.
Wow, never saw that coming. LOL
He would’ve been a complete fool to decline the QO and bet on himself in the F/A market.
Congrats for being almost $19MM richer.
Yes! There we go! I’m excited now. The pitching market is going to be so fun to watch this off-season now that Stroman and Gausman are gone. The Reds, Twins, Angels, Astros, Red sox, Rangers, and Blue Jays still need pitching and lots of it. You can add in the Giants and Mets even though they both bolstered theirs today. This is gonna get weird.
Yup, with Stroman and Gausman off the market and Bauer in his own stratosphere, someone in the next tier of pitchers like Morton, Tanaka, Walker, Odorizzi, Paxton, Kluber, etc. is going to get paid way more than anyone thought. Maybe even a few of those guys.
Whoever signs Paxton will regret it. He never manages to stay healthy.
He was 15-6, 3.82 ERA, 117 ERA+ in 29 starts in 2019. I’d take that. Understand you won’t get 200 innings and price accordingly for 140-150 innings.
Is Morton really looking anywhere else besides Tampa?
Paxton’s injury history was known before he got to the Yankees. I imagine whatever contract he signs, it will reflect the risk. Especially THIS season.
That’s kinda why I hope the Rangers sign him. Do one of their typical 3 for 30 deals and move on. If he’s healthy, he’s an on-the-cusp all-star. If not he still performs well when he’s out there, and is a little overpayed but not by much. That would make us not have to sign back Kluber, and even though I’d like to see him back in Texas, he’s 35 and only gonna be for 1 year, so I’d rather have the younger one get the deal.
As much as he seems to want to stay there, he may have to if he: a) wants to continue playing; and b) wants to earn a salary commensurate with his ability.
Did you not see Brad Hand going through waivers? Stroman & this dude accepted the QO. Plus all the players that recently became free agents. Wake up, teams are not opening up the checkbook this year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an extremely sluggish off-season, teams are not lining up to sign big contracts.
First of all Rangers29, kudos on not mentioning “you know who”. With the SP market getting thinner by the minute, “you know who’s” name is going to start coming up a lot. Good luck not saying his name.
Regarding Paxton, given his injury history, does he get an incentive laden deal for 2021 with club options for ’22 and/or ’23?
You saw that, lol. It’ll be rough but I’m not gonna say his infamous name for the next week lol.
Once again shows fans on this site continually over qualify players. He wasn’t worth a multi year deal and this proves it
I saw Gausman and Stroman quite a bit against the Yankees and I was never scared when they took the mound.
Actually, fans here almost always under qualify players compared to the market.
The statement “He wasn’t worth a multi year deal” isn’t entirely accurate.
He probably could have gotten a multi-year deal, the average annual value would have just been considerably less, so much so that he took the QO. If your options are like 2Y/$24M or 3Y/$33M and the AAVs are 11 or 12 per year, then 1Y/$18.9M is going to look real nice.
Going back to last season, you could make the case that Gausman got a 2/28M deal with the Giants.
It’s a win for both teams: Gausman maximizes his value for one season, the Giants get a good pitcher on a one-year commitment.
I get the feeling that a lot of fans have no idea how value works.
There are a lot more teams that need pitching than there are league average pitchers. Who gets left out. besides the angels
I wouldn’t at all be surprised at the Angels being one of the only real major players for Bauer. Dude grew up in Santa Clarita, attended UCLA, and has an opportunity to become the face of that pitching staff. Not to mention he has offense with a strong core made up of Fletcher, Trout, and Rendon.
Giants have been paying the shark pretty much the same salary to be hurt or mediocre for the last 5 years. I’m fine with this deal now that shark is off the books.
I could not believe the Shark actually got that contract. He did nothing in his career to warrant it.
That was the Bobby Evans era for you.
The main problem I have with the shark deal was that it was done before Cueto’s, I feel like if you had already signed Cueto you would never have spent the 90 mil on the shark.
The QO is almost as much money as he made in his entire career. He’ll get 70% of all the money he’s ever made in one year.
Interesting that he and Stroman have both made around 30 mil for their respective careers.
The difference from 30 to 50 mil is pretty substantial.
I think this is a good call by their agents. Going to be pretty obvious how it eventually plays out.
$19 million. That is total nuts money for Gausman. To think not so long ago he was waiverish and a tradebaby. Changing your pitching motion can do that. Yea…right?
With COVID raging, and his up/down history, that was the biggest no brainer of the off season.
Gausman was wise to take the QO.
Between 2019 and 2020, he essentially got a 2/28 deal with the Giants. Now, he (hopefully) gets a full season to pitch and enter the market in a better offseason without the QO possibility.
Smart move.
I’ve been reading the comments here for a while and am shocked that none of the FZ supporters are chiming in on this move. There seems to be a large following that regularly posts here who are very supportive of the moves this management group makes but I’m not sure how you defend this one. Would love to hear how spending $19 million on this guy makes sense.
The short-term commitment is more important than the money, plain and simple. The Giants probably weren’t going to get someone of Gausman’s talent on a one-year deal,
The less long-term contracts the Giants sign, the better. And when the Giants aren’t hurting for cash, they can use that financial clout to their advantage.
Yes, well said John.
I’m a Zaidi fan. I’m working under the assumption that Gausman wants to be in SF and that they are working on a multi year deal at a lower AAV.
I get that it is a short term deal and they need starting pitching but this is a huge overpay. It isn’t like FZ to spend this much on a player who most people think will regress and who doesn’t have a great track record other than the short season last year. What about the trade market or finding diamonds in the rough? This is basically the exact opposite of how he has been running the team so far which is why I’m a little baffled that even the most loyal and trusting fans would still think this was a good idea. For $19 million couldn’t he have found 4-5 guys who were undervalued and fill 3-4 spots in the rotation than just one?
Ummm…How do you find 4-5 undervalued SP? That means he has to go through about 20 SPs. Who are you going to trade for Starting Pitching? The farm system isn’t at the point where they can obtain solid players.
Did you just say why can’t he find 4-5 guys who are undervalued. I guess the Giants are the only team looking for undervalued players and they always guess right.. A one year deal is a very safe deal. If Gausman is bad they say goodbye at the end of the season if he’s good they try and extend him during the season. Last year a terrible Rick Porcello signed for 10 mill. Wacha close to the same. Starting pitchers who have had success don’t just fall out of the trees .Happ got 2 years at 34 mill after a similar year to Gausmans. I don;t know what the big deal is. One year contracts mean nothing
I am on record in saying this is a good move and I’m not a Giants fan, trusting or otherwise. Is it an overpay? Of course. But it’s only a one year deal.
FZ made over 100 moves his first season so 20 seems like a walk in the park! Are you putting your stamp of approval on this move because you trust Farhan and are good with anything he does or do you truly think Gausman is worth $19 for one year or $15 AAV over 2-3?
What is wrong with the moves Farhan has made so far? He is going to make moves based on the needs of the team. You can’t rely on some pattern. You can never predict how a player is going to perform in any given season. But, Farhan has been right so far. What makes you think Gausman is going to regress?
MASSIVE OVERPAY. It’s Kevin Gausman for Christ sakes. Geez..another stupid move from an irrelevant franchise
Is there a better pitcher to had in Free Agency without the loss of a draft pick? And what makes you think they won’t work out a longterm deal at a lower number?
Another good response.
In short, despite the overpay, this is a solid move for the Giants.
A better pitcher based on last year or potential for next year? All of FZ’s moves have been betting on potential not track records yet he just made a $19 million dollar decision based on a 60 game season worth of track record. I thought that was FZ’s strength, finding value where nobody else was looking. For $19 million he could have had Alex Wood, Michael Wacha, Taijuan Walker, Mike Foltynewicz, and Matt Shoemaker. I don’t think any of those guys are great options but there is a good chance that all of them would exceed their contracts value where as Gausman will be hard pressed to produce $19 million in value and 5 eggs compared to 1 egg in your basket seems way less risky. As for a long term deal who knows but Gausman isn’t going to sign for less than $15 million annual so now this turns into a long term lucrative contract? How is that consistent at all with the way this team has been managed recently?
First off there is no way he could get all those guys for 19 mill. You think any of those guys will sign for less then 5 mill. Porcello coming off a 552 ERA got 10 mill last year. What world are you living in? Secondly I’d have to believe while they might outplay there contracts there is probably just as good a chance they all go up in smoke.I believe between Walker and Wood you will at least reach the 19 mill you gave to Gausman and you might have to add extra years to their contracts
Hey Willy Mays I got some bad news for you. Here are the salaries from last year for the 5 guys you said would be waaaaay over 19 million:
Schoemaker – 4.2 mil
Folty – 507,500
Wood – 4 mil
Wacha – 5.3 mil
Walker – 528,600
Total – $14,536,100
Dont you hate it when you are dead wrong?
Over on the right side of the page they have something for free agent predictions. Fpr Walker its 2 years 16 million dollars so I guess he alone breaks your budget. You could probably get Wacha for nothing because hes basically worthless but like I said with Walker and Wood you will be close to the 19 mill total and you will have to give up extra years
It would be nice if you based your arguments off facts instead of what some kid making $15 an hour working for MLB trade tumors predicts will happen. If Farhan has been so great finding value then why are you also happy when he overpays for someone who hasn’t really done anything? Gausman was worthless before last year just like Dick, Yaz, Solano, and all the other guys he has found which is my point. He can find cheap talent so why would he overpay ever??
First off. It is not my money. So, why should I care how much they Gausman. It is a one year. If the guy doesn’t perform next season, he is looking for a new job. If he is so worthless, how is he still in baseball. Secondly, let’s see you find players that can perform better. If you think the writers on this site are so incompetent, why are you even here. Go somewhere else if you don’t like the people running this site…Sheesh. Such a victim.
Get a life Howie!
It is an overpay. So what? It’s not hindering the Giants financially nor is it harming their future in any way.
It would be like laughing at some rich guy for spending $5 on a fancy bottle of water. He can afford it and doesn’t care. He’s actually laughing at you.
The Giants are desperate for SPs so this makes sense for both the Giants and Gausman. The Giants couldn’t afford to lose him given the lack of alternatives. Farhad can now turn his attention to Smyly.
Given that Hand couldn’t find a taker at $10 mil and now Gausman couldn’t find a multi year deal to his liking, does that further suggest budgets will be tight this off season?
This was the single most duh QO that was gonna be accepted. He’s not remotely worth this much
Hopefully for the Giants it turns out better than Colby Rasmus did when he accepted the QO from the Astros a few years ago
JMHO, but I think Gausman knows he’s not worth it. Giants just gifted him.
Are the Giants really depending on Cueto to hold down a rotation spot next year? He’s made 25 starts the past three seasons, near half of them in the recent season with very uninspiring stats to show for his effort.
Cueto is terrible now. What’s his ERA? Like 5.00 ? He’s DONE
at this point he’s just flipping up bp…
Nice. Not Thrilling. But Nice
Giants need a left handed arm from somewhere….. possibly a trade.
Smiley would be fine as long as he doesn’t give him 19 million LOL!!
Drew Smyly can probably be had cheap. Jose Quintana, Mike Minor, Martin Perez, Tommy Milone, Gio Gonzalez, J.A.Happ all can be had for varying amounts. I doubt the Giants will go after Paxton and Jon Lester may prefer to stay east. Quintana and Minor will likely be the more expensive of the group
Cole Hamels in the mix.
Rich Hill and Alex Wood cheaper options too.
Lot of lefties available. Major coin flips all around.
$2-12m range for most of those guys is my bet.
Smyly ended the season on a very high note.
OMG…the Giants just got royally hosed by Gausman. A pitcher who has never had a winning season in the Majors didn’t do what he was supposed to do and reject the QO. The Giants were hoping he would as they wanted the Draft pick more than him at $19M. I guess they didn’t learn their lesson with Cueto or Samardzija and now they are stuck with having to cough up $80M next year to 4 duds in Gausman, Cueto, Longoria and Posey. OUCH!!!
Who would be dumb enough to give Gausman a QO? Oh right, Zaidi.
What a waste of money. He has one good year and suddenly he deserves 18.9 million.
What is going on?????
Zaidi is going on. I really am not impressed by that guy.
18.9 million for Kevin Gausman…. And people wonder why general managers get fired left and right.
Its very simple. The Giants wanted to re-sign Gausman and this was the easiest way to do it without have to outbid anyone. Lots of teams have gotten hosed for far more money
The cupboard is bare for the Gints. They have nothing to trade and no one wants to play for them because they’re not going to contend for a long, long time
Even their own guy Busty Poser bailed on them last year…