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Braves’ President Alex Anthopoulos Says Payroll Will Increase In 2022

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Braves’ president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, who recently added a World Series victory to his resume, spoke with members of the media today about what the club has planned between now and their upcoming title defense in 2022. When it comes to the budget, Anthopoulos said that it will go up next season, though the exact figure is still being finalized. (Twitter link from David O’Brien of The Athletic.)

It’s hardly surprising that ownership is going to invest some more money into the club, given that they surely saw increased revenues from ticket sales and television viewership during their triumphant march to becoming World Series champions. They began the 2021 season with a payroll over $131MM, the highest opening day figure in franchise history, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. In July, they acquired Jorge Soler, Eddie Rosario, Adam Duvall, Joc Pederson, Stephen Vogt and Richard Rodriguez, taking on about $15MM in salary and pushing their season-ending payroll to somewhere in the $145-150MM range. At the moment, their outlook for 2022 is just over $141MM, in the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource, already fairly close to 2022’s final outlay. Therefore, their offseason strategy will depend upon exactly how much of increase the front office has to work with.

Anthopoulos himself acknowledged that it will be hard to keep all of the outfielders. (Twitter link from Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.) Soler, Pederson and Rosario are all heading into free agency today, leaving the club with a 2022 outfield of Duvall, Cristian Pache and Guillermo Heredia. Ronald Acuna will retake a spot as soon as he’s healthy but isn’t expected to be ready by opening day. There’s certainly room to add to that group, on paper, as long as there’s money available to do it.

Of course, there’s another area that the club surely wants to dedicate some resources to, and that’s bringing Freddie Freeman back into the fold. When it comes to the slugging first baseman, Anthopoulos said, per Burns, “We’ve made it clear we want him to stay. He wants to stay.” The mutual interest in reuniting is understandable, given that Freeman has been with the organization since they selected him in the second round of the 2007 draft and since has become the face of the franchise, but he’s also 32 years old, meaning this is going to be his best shot to land a huge deal in free agency. As much as he may want to return, he’ll also want to take advantage of his first and potentially only trip to the free agent market and can’t be expected to offer huge hometown discounts.

Freeman has been one of the most consistently-excellent hitters over the past decade or so. Since his 2013 breakout, he’s never had a wRC+ lower than 132 and never produced less than 3.3 fWAR, even including the shortened 2020 campaign. In 2021, he hit 31 home runs and slashed .300/.393/.503, good enough for a wRC+ of 135 and 4.5 fWAR. It’s hard to fathom him doing that in any other uniform at this point, but the Atlanta brass will surely have to put some cash on the barrelhead to keep it that way.

Tigers Select Elvin Rodriguez

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The Detroit Tigers have announced that they have selected right-handed pitcher Elvin Rodriguez to their 40-man roster. Additionally, Tucker Barnhart, recently acquired in a trade with the Reds, had his club option for 2022 selected. Three players were also reinstated from the 60-day IL: catcher Jake Rogers and righties Rony Garcia and Spencer Turnbull.

Rodriguez was originally brought over to the organization as the player to be named later in the trade that sent Justin Upton to the Angels. At the time of the trade, he was only 19 and pitching in A-ball. Since that time, he has climbed through the Tigers’ system, reaching Triple-A this year. Baseball America ranked him as the #18 prospect in the organization in 2020, but he didn’t crack the 2021 list. FanGraphs ranked him at #30 in the Tigers’ system last year and #35 this year.

The righty, who turns 24 in March, made 18 starts at the Double-A level this year, logging 75 2/3 innings. His 5.83 ERA certainly doesn’t seem impressive, but it came with a solid 24.2% strikeout rate and average-ish 8.8% walk rate. After his season in Double-A, he was promoted to Triple-A for a single two-inning appearance in October. The club has a solid core of young hurlers in their rotation, with Casey Mize, Tarik Skubal and Matt Manning being the headline names. Rodriguez will likely start the year in Triple-A and try to force his way into the big league picture as the season goes on.

The other transactions were mere formalities. There is no IL in the offseason, meaning all players on the 60-day IL have to be reinstated and retake their roster spots, with today being the deadline to do so. Barnhart was just acquired in a trade a few days ago, making it a lock that his option would be exercised by the club.

Rays Pick Up Option On Mike Zunino

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The Rays have exercised their $7MM club option to keep Mike Zunino in the fold for 2022, as reported by Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times. Also, Topkin reports that the club has selected catcher Rene Pinto to the 40-man roster and designated left-handed pitcher Adam Conley for assignment.

After a mediocre showing in 2020, the Rays declined a $4.5MM club option on Zunino for 2021, but then re-signed him to a new deal. It paid him $2MM for the year, as well as a $1MM buyout on a club option for 2022, which had a base value of $4MM but could increase as high as $7MM if Zunino played 100 games on the campaign. In the end, he got into 109 games and thus increased the option to its maximum value of $7MM.

Along the way, he had arguably his best season, hitting 33 home runs and slashing .216/.301/.559. Combining that offensive production with his strong defensive numbers, he was worth 4.5 wins above replacement, according to FanGraphs, just shy of his personal best of 4.6 from 2017. That level of production made it a no-brainer for the Rays to pick up the option and keep him around.

However, with the perpetually-frugal Rays, you can never discount a player being sent packing via trade, no matter how good they’ve been. They’ve never had an opening day payroll higher than $77MM, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. In the estimation of Jason Martinez of Roster Resource, their 2022 payroll is already hovering in that range. That might mean this offseason sees the Rays engage in more of their usual creative maneuverings to keep the team competitive under their self-imposed limits.

This year’s crop of free agent catchers is quite weak, meaning Zunino would be of great interest to other clubs if the Rays were to shop him around. But then again, that would leave the club with a big hole behind the plate, as Francisco Mejia would be the only catcher on the 40-man roster with big league experience.

The 25-year-old Pinto was added to prevent him from reaching minor league free agency in a few hours. He split this season almost evenly between Double-A and Triple-A. Overall, he played 93 games, slashing .274/.325/.500, good enough for a wRC+ of 121.

As for Conley, the 31-year-old logged 19 2/3 innings for the Rays this year, with an ERA of 2.29. He was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $900K through arbitration, but the club will instead subtract him from the roster. Teams will now have seven days to claim Conley or work out a trade with the Rays. If he clears waivers, he can elect free agency as a player with more than three years’ service time.

J.D. Martinez Does Not Opt Out Of Contract With Red Sox

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J.D. Martinez has declined to exercise the opt-out provision in his contract and will therefore remain with the Red Sox for 2022, as reported by Jon Heyman of MLB Network. His original five-year deal with the club prior to the 2018 season contained three opt-outs: after the second, third and fourth years of the deal. Martinez has now declined to opt out for a third consecutive year and will play out the final season of the contract on a salary of $19.35MM.

This was a decision that really could have gone either way, as Martinez himself admitted in September that he was “right in the middle” about it. On the one hand, Martinez bounced back from an awful showing in the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign with a solid performance in 2021. His slash line this year was .286/.349/.518, good enough for a wRC+ 128 and 2.9 fWAR. There is also the fact that a universal DH is widely expected to be implemented for next year, which would open up the slugger’s market considerably, since he’s primarily a DH and only suited to occasional outfield duty. (He played 148 games this season but only took the field in 38 of them.)

But on the other hand, the Collective Bargaining Agreement is expiring December 1st, creating an offseason with a high degree of uncertainty and the potential for a labour stoppage or transaction freeze. Furthermore, if Martinez opted out of his $19.35MM guarantee, he would certainly be offered an $18.4MM qualifying offer by the Red Sox, meaning the 34-year-old would be wading into that uncertain market with draft pick forfeiture attached to him, thus dampening his earning potential.

Martinez will now stick around Boston for one more year as the Red Sox try to repeat their surprising 92-win campaign that carried them all the way to the ALCS. He figures to be the regular DH and occasionally manning the field to give a breather to regulars Enrique Hernandez, Hunter Renfroe and Alex Verdugo. If he has another strong year at the plate, he would certainly be a candidate to receive a qualifying offer a year from now, assuming that system survives the upcoming CBA negotiations in tact.

Red Sox Decline Options On Martin Perez, Garrett Richards

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The Red Sox have declined their $6MM club option on left-hander Martin Perez, per Alex Speier of The Boston Globe. He will instead receive a $500K buyout and head into free agency. Right-hander Garrett Richards will also have his $10MM option declined, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. He gets a $1.5MM buyout on his way into the free agent pool.

The decision on Perez is largely unsurprising, given how things went for him in 2021. He posted mediocre results over the first few months of the season and was eventually bumped to a bullpen role for the playoff stretch. In 22 starts, the last of which was August 5th, he threw 100 innings with an ERA of 4.77, 19.1% strikeout rate and 7.4% walk rate. After moving to the bullpen, he logged 14 innings in 14 games with similar results, as he had an ERA of 4.50, strikeout rate of 18.8% and 4.7% walk rate. Perez also pitched three postseason innings for the Red Sox, but they didn’t go well, as he allowed six hits, four walks and four earned runs, without tallying a strikeout.

Despite that meager showing, Perez could garner some interest for a job at the back of a rotation or a swing role. Although he has a lengthy track record, he’s still relatively young, turning 31 in April. The lack of strikeouts have always been a part of his numbers and that hasn’t stopped him from having productive seasons in the past. He could help a team soak up some innings without a huge financial commitment.

As for Richards, he also made 22 starts but eventually got bumped into a bullpen role, just like Perez. His last start was August 8th, just a few days after his teammate’s. In those starts, he logged 110 1/3 innings with an ERA of 5.22, strikeout rate of 17.2% and 9.5% walk rate. After moving into a relief role, things seemed to greatly improve for him, as explored by MLBTR’s Steve Adams in September. At that time, Richards had thrown 20 2/3 innings out of the bullpen with an ERA of 0.87, a 29.4 percent strikeout rate, a 9.4 percent walk rate and a 48.1 percent ground-ball rate. However, his final few appearances weren’t great and his ERA as a reliever shot up to 3.42. Richards made one postseason appearance but was removed from the ALDS roster with a hamstring strain that ultimately ended his season.

He will make for an interesting wildcard option on the free agent market this year. He’s now far removed from his best stretch as a starter, which came in 2013-2015, but he showed flashes of potentially being an effective reliever, albeit in a fairly small sample size. He’ll turn 34 in May and seems to be in line for a short-term deal, whether it’s as a starter or reliever.

Cubs Claim Wade Miley Off Waivers From Reds

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Nov. 7: The Cubs have announced that they have officially picked up Miley’s option, securing his services for the 2022 campaign.

Nov. 5: The Cubs announced Friday that they’ve claimed left-hander Wade Miley off waivers from the Reds. Cincinnati general manager Nick Krall said just two days ago the the team needed to “align our payroll to our resources,” and the surprising decision to waive Miley, who has an eminently reasonable $10MM club option for the 2022 season, further foreshadows the team’s direction this offseason.

Wade Miley | Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports

By placing Miley on waivers rather than declining his option, the Reds spared themselves a $1MM buyout (while also strengthening a division-rival club’s rotation). Given the fact that Miley was claimed at that $10MM price point, it stands to reason that the Reds could have exercised the option and found a trade partner later in the offseason.

Krall tells reporters that he explored the market for Miley over the past couple of weeks and found no interest (Twitter link via the Cincinnati Enquirer’s Bobby Nightengale). That said, we saw last offseason that Brad Hand went unclaimed on waivers at $10MM, only to eventually land a $10.5MM guarantee in free agency. It’s certainly plausible (if not likely, based on the Cubs claiming Miley with the No. 7 waiver priority) that a team would have eventually shown interest once the option was exercised. However, it seems the ownership wanted no part of either paying the buyout on the option, paying down any of Miley’s would-be salary, or simply being “stuck” with a $10MM left-hander who pitched 163 innings of 3.37 ERA ball in 2021.

It’s the second straight season that the Reds are signaling a clear intention to reduce payroll. The Reds’ $126MM Opening Day mark in 2019 took the team to a new franchise-record, and ownership committed to an even larger sum in advance of the 2020 season, when the Reds would’ve had a payroll north of $150MM were it not for the Covid-19 shutdown and the eventual prorating of salaries.

Last offseason was punctuated by a series of Reds moves designed to reduce expenditures, most notably dumping Raisel Iglesias’ salary on the Angels and non-tendering both Archie Bradley and Curt Casali. The Reds spoke of “reallocating” those resources at the time of those moves but largely sat out the free-agent market despite needs at shortstop and (due to the Iglesias/Bradley decisions) in the bullpen. The early-offseason decisions to waive Miley and trade catcher Tucker Barnhart (who had a club option of his own) pair with Krall’s comments to date to portend a rough winter for Reds fans.

With Miley now out of the rotation in Cincinnati, starting roles will fall to Sonny Gray, Luis Castillo, Tyler Mahle and Vladimir Gutierrez. Krall listed lefty Reiver Sanmartin and prospects Nick Lodolo and Hunter Greene as candidates for the fifth spot in the rotation (Twitter link via C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic), at least indirectly suggests the team will first look inward to replace Miley’s innings. Of course, given the mounting context associated with these moves, it stands to reason that any of Gray, Castillo or Mahle could be moved this offseason.

As for the Cubs, the sudden acquisition of Miley no doubt qualifies as a highly unexpected but extremely welcome surprise to begin their offseason dealings. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer has made no secret that the team will seek out veteran innings this winter, and Miley provides just that in bulk — at a highly affordable rate. While the lefty’s career looked to be on the downswing back in 2016-17, he’s enjoyed a stark turnaround over the past several seasons, culminating in a brilliant 2021 showing.

Since signing a minor league deal with the Brewers in 2018, Miley has amassed 425 1/3 innings of 3.53 ERA ball with three different clubs. He carries a below-average 18% strikeout rate in that time but a solid 8% walk rate and a well above-average 50.2% ground-ball rate. This past season was his best since way back in 2012. Miley’s 163 frames ranked 37th among the 909 players who pitched in the Majors this season, and that 3.37 ERA ranked 18th among qualified hurlers. His 49.8% ground-ball rate, meanwhile, ranked 10th.

The Cubs lacked any real form of certainty beyond Kyle Hendricks and, to a lesser extent, Alec Mills in next year’s rotation. Miley joins Hendricks as veteran anchor pair with the less-established Mills and younger arms like Adbert Alzolay, Justin Steele, Keegan Thompson and Brailyn Marquez. It’s quite likely that Hoyer & Co. will remain in the market for additional rotation help this winter, but securing Miley this early on affords both cost certainty and the luxury to perhaps pursue a younger free agent with a bit of upside.

Cardinals To Hire Skip Schumaker As Bench Coach

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Nov. 7: Katie Woo of The Athletic tweets that Schumaker’s deal is a one-year contract with options.

Nov. 6: Skip Schumaker is returning to the Cardinals. The former infielder will join new manager Oliver Marmol’s staff as the bench coach, per Rob Rains of stlsportspage.com (via Twitter). The agreement will be finalized this weekend, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Schumaker was thought to be a candidate to take over as manager after Mike Shildt was let go, and while that job ultimately went to Marmol, Schumaker returns to the Midwest anyway to serve as Marmol’s right hand. Schumaker was the Padres’ first base coach last season. He now steps into the role that Marmol himself filled for St. Louis last year.

The scrappy infielder/outfielder was a fan favorite of the Cardinals’ rabid fanbase during his playing days. He spent eight seasons in St. Louis, slashing .288/.345/.377 in 2,687 plate appearances.

MLB Tenders Status Check On Korean Outfielder Sung-Bum Na

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Major League Baseball has tendered a status check on outfielder Sung-Bum Na of the Korea Baseball Organization’s NC Dinos, reports Jee-ho Yoo of South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. The agreement between MLB and the KBO stipulates that if a team has interest in a KBO player that is eligible for posting, that MLB team must formally check the status of the player through official league channels. As Yoo points out, the status check indicates that at least one MLB team has expressed interest in signing Na this winter, but MLB must not reveal the team, or teams, in question. In the case of Na, who just turned 32 last month, Yoo clarifies that he is eligible for domestic free agency but still a year away from total international free agency. In other words, if Na wants to come to MLB this winter, he is still subject to the posting system.

This isn’t the first time that the lefty slugger has been considered by MLB teams. He was posted by the Dinos in December of last year, giving him 30 days to negotiate with all MLB clubs. At the time, he was coming off an injury-plagued 2019 and then a strong bounceback campaign in 2020. A knee injury and subsequent surgery limited Na to just 23 games in the 2019 season. In 2020, he returned and got into 130 games but primarily as a designated hitter, with 50 games as a right fielder, 45 of those being starts. However, the knee injury certainly didn’t stop him from contributing with the bat that year. His 2020 slash line was an excellent .324/.390/.596 with 34 home runs. On the other hand, he stole only 3 bases, after usually being in the 10-20 range prior to the knee issues. He also saw his strikeout rate jump to 25.3%, after carrying a career 21.3% rate before 2020. The 30-day posting period ended without Na signing a contract and he returned to the Dinos.

In 2021, Na’s output with the bat dropped slightly, as he hit .281/.337/.506, with 32 home runs, 24.9% strikeout rate, along with just a single stolen base. But on a positive note, he played 143 games, including 129 starts in right field, which perhaps signals that he has moved beyond the knee issues that were hampering him in 2020, at least to some degree. Based on that season, it’s unclear whether that would increase Na’s chances of finding a deal to his liking this offseason. From an offensive standpoint, his platform season is a notch below what he had when negotiating with MLB clubs a year ago. But he’s also now put together two consecutive healthy seasons, including a return to near full-time duties in the field for 2021, potentially allaying concerns about his knee.

Na would also be competing with a fairly healthy class of corner outfielders on the market this winter, and would be looking for a deal during a time when a lot of teams may be hesitant to throw money around until the new CBA is hammered out. Then again, teams were also hesitant to spend a year ago, after a season of heavy losses because of the pandemic.

If Na is able to secure a deal, the rules of the agreement between MLB and KBO stipulate that a posting fee be paid to his former team that will be tied directly to the size of the contract he signs. It is a separate sum that is paid out to the KBO club as opposed to an amount that is subtracted from the player’s eventual contract. A signing team would pay 20 percent of the contract’s first $25MM, plus 17.5 percent of the next $25MM and an additional 15 percent on any dollars guaranteed beyond $50MM.

With regard to contractual options and incentives, those clauses are also subject to subsequent fees. A Major League team would only be immediately responsible for posting/release fees on the guaranteed portion of the contract. But if a player’s new team in the Majors exercised a club option down the road, for instance, that team would owe a supplemental fee to the player’s former KBO club once the option is picked up.

Offseason Outlook: San Francisco Giants

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The retirement of franchise legend Buster Posey underscores what a transformative offseason this could be for the Giants, who have lots of available payroll, several roster needs, and an infrastructure that has already produced a 107-win season.

Guaranteed Contracts

Arbitration-Eligible Players (projections from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)

Option Decisions

Free Agents

The 2021-22 offseason has long been earmarked as the turning point of the Giants’ rebuilding phase.  When Farhan Zaidi was hired as the team’s president of baseball operations in November 2018, the consensus was that Zaidi would spend three years adding younger talent and trying to unload as many unwieldy veteran contracts as possible, but since so many of those veteran contracts were up this winter, the decks would be cleared for the team to clearly focus on fielding a contender.

As it happened, the rebuild ended a year early.  San Francisco didn’t even entirely bottom out in 2019 (77-85 record) or 2020 (29-31), and then shocked the baseball world by winning 107 games this past year.  Of all the great teams in the Giants’ history, the 2021 edition was the first to 107 victories, breaking the old franchise mark of 106 set way back in 1904.  After such a season, a first-round playoff exit has to count as a disappointment, especially since the Giants lost to the arch-rival Dodgers in a nail-biter of a five-game NLDS.

However, even though many members of that 2021 roster might not be returning next year, there is already a sense that San Francisco has turned the corner.  Zaidi’s front office and the Giants’ coaching staff have done an outstanding job of acquiring lower-cost talent and working with those players to either rediscover past potential or reach new heights on the field, so the potential roster departures may not loom at large for the Giants as they would for most clubs.  Now, with loads of extra payroll space to now spend on established star names or even more hidden-gem types, pretty much anything seems to be on the table for the Giants this winter.

Looking at San Francisco’s payroll picture, Roster Resource estimates the team has roughly $74.3MM on the books for 2022 and only $33MM committed beyond this season.  Considering how the Giants regularly spent well over the $180MM mark and even paid the luxury tax in each of the 2015-17 seasons, it isn’t a reach to suggest that Zaidi could add around $100MM to next year’s ledger, even if some of that money isn’t spent in the winter and instead saved for another Kris Bryant-esque trade deadline addition.

Zaidi has already stated that the pitching staff if the team’s chief focus, since Kevin Gausman, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood, and Johnny Cueto are all free agents.  “I would be surprised if we didn’t wind up doing at least one multi-year deal for a starting pitcher,” Zaidi said, while also noting that the Giants would again be looking at less expensive one-year options to help fill these many rotation spots.

The good news is that San Francisco’s one remaining surefire starter is Logan Webb, who broke out with a tremendous 2021 season.  Just about any veteran ace on the market could be a candidate to team Webb at the top of the rotation, considering how much money the Giants have available.  This could translate to a reunion with Gausman, signing the likes of a Marcus Stroman or a Robbie Ray, or even luring Max Scherzer away from the Dodgers to join the other side of the longtime rivalry.

The Giants have interest in retaining any of their own free agent hurlers, Zaidi said.  With his $130MM deal now up, Cueto would be the least expensive of the group, likely available on a one-year deal.  Wood will require a multi-year pact but his market could be somewhat tempered by his injury history, even though he pitched quite well when healthy in 2021.  Gausman will require one of the largest contracts of any free agent this winter, though there is already optimism that a new deal will be worked out, and the two sides already had some talks about a long-term contract last offseason when Gausman accepted the qualifying offer.

DeSclafani could be a QO candidate himself in the wake of his impressive 2021 season.  The righty has generally pitched well over his seven MLB seasons but with some inconsistency, such as a rough 2020 campaign that allowed San Francisco to sign him to a one-year, $6MM deal last winter that proved to be a bargain.  There is a possibility that DeSclafani could follow in Gausman’s footsteps by accepting the qualifying offer (one year, $18.4MM) and betting on himself for a better platform year in 2022 and larger free agent riches next offseason.  Taking the QO would also allow DeSclafani to lock in a big payday now and avoid any risk of a market squeeze, or the labor uncertainty looming over baseball’s offseason due to the expiring Collective Bargaining Agreement.  On the other hand, DeSclafani turns 32 in April, so he might reject the qualifying offer if he sees this winter as his best chance at a big long-term contract.

At the lower end of the free agent market, any pitcher coming off a poor season or two might as well see San Francisco as the fountain of youth, given the Giants’ success at reclamation projects in recent years.  As a result, it’s safe to assume the Giants might have their pick of just about any veterans available on inexpensive one-year deals.  Younger starting candidates like Sammy Long and Tyler Beede are also in the mix to compete with any of these veterans for a back-end rotation spot come Spring Training.

The Giants had one of the game’s best bullpens last year and the relief corps probably won’t be a huge target area, but at least a couple of new faces are inevitable as more pitchers cycle through on minor league contracts.  If rookie breakout Camilo Doval isn’t quite ready to take over the ninth inning, the Giants might stick with their loose committee system — Jake McGee will likely again get the bulk of save chances, with Doval, Tyler Rogers, Jose Alvarez (whose club option is very likely to be exercised), Zack Littell, and others all chipping in with saves based on situations.

We’ll begin our look at the Giants’ position player mix with catcher, as Posey’s retirement marks the end of a Cooperstown-level career and in some ways a symbolic end to the era that saw the Giants capture World Series titles in 2010, 2012, and 2014.  Posey might also be the perfect symbol of this Giants rebuild, as his return to All-Star status in 2021 after opting out of the 2020 season and an injury-marred 2019 mirrored the team’s own unexpected rise.

Posey’s retirement gives San Francisco even more financial room to maneuver, as the team was going to at least exercise his $22MM option, and a longer-term extension seemed like a distinct possibility.  However, replacing Posey’s 2021 production is a very tall order no matter the money on hand, and it puts more pressure on Joey Bart to immediately deliver on his potential as one of baseball’s best prospects.

Bart hit .294/.358/.472 with 10 home runs over 279 plate appearances for Triple-A Sacramento this season, which represented his first exposure to Triple-A ball.  Bart hasn’t done much over his 35 games and 117 PA at the big league level, but obviously that sample size isn’t representative of what the former second overall pick might have in store for the future.  The Giants are likely to retain Curt Casali as a veteran backup or platoon partner with Bart in 2022, depending on whether or not the youngster is ready for a larger share of the playing time.

While the Giants aren’t going to do anything to hamper Bart’s long-term development, allowing a rookie catcher time to get his feet wet as a Major League player might not be ideal for a club that wants to win in 2022.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see San Francisco acquire a veteran catcher on a one-year contract to essentially take Posey’s role as the short-term bridge to Bart in 2023, though Bart would still get his share of at-bats this coming season.  Whether this scenario would potentially make Casali expendable remains to be seen, and the Giants also have two other interesting catching prospects (Patrick Bailey, Ricardo Genoves) waiting to make their debuts in the next season or two.

With Posey now retired, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt are the last Giants remaining from the 2014 championship team.  Belt is a free agent, but we already know Crawford will be staying, as the veteran shortstop rather unexpectedly delivered the best season of his career at age 34, which resulted in a two-year, $32MM contract extension back in August.

Crawford’s extension is both a fitting reward for a long-time franchise fixture, and an interesting early signal for San Francisco’s winter plans.  Since Crawford is now locked up for two more years and star shortstop prospect Marco Luciano is at most a year away from the Show, the Giants might not be inclined to take part in the star-laden free agent shortstop market.  If other teams with greater shortstop needs are targeting those players, it creates an opening for the Giants to focus on prime free agents at other positions.

Or, to pivot, the Giants might look at one of those shortstops at a position other than shortstop.  Marcus Semien, for instance, already spent much of 2021 playing second base for the Blue Jays, and could potentially be willing to take on that role over the longer term to play for a contender (and particularly a contender that plays in Semien’s hometown of San Francisco).  Zaidi’s past job in the Dodgers’ front office has made him very familiar with Corey Seager, and since there is already some sense that Seager will to change positions eventually, it is possible Seager might be open to making the move now under the right circumstances.  For what it’s worth, there hasn’t been speculation that Crawford could switch positions, and that type of move seems unlikely since Crawford continues to be one of the better defensive shortstops around.

Chris Taylor might be a particular free agent name to watch, as he is another player with past ties to Zaidi in Los Angeles, and Taylor’s ability to play multiple positions fits the Giants’ love of versatile players.  Taylor wouldn’t be as expensive as any of the “big five” shortstops (Seager, Semien, Carlos Correa, Javier Baez, and Trevor Story) but he would still require a significant multi-year contract, and some draft pick compensation since he’ll be turning down the Dodgers’ qualifying offer.

Getting another super-utility type would help the Giants juggle playing time around the diamond, since the team already has a lot of available options.  This is the interesting challenge facing Zaidi’s front office this winter when it comes to position player additions — the Giants have had great success in mixing and matching players throughout the lineup, but to take the next step towards a World Series ring, which reliable everyday stars are needed?  And, since pretty much everyone on the roster played well in 2021, which of the productive platoon situations is the team willing to supplant with a single everyday player?

For instance, adding Taylor or the ultra-durable Semien at second base would lock down a position that already has depth, but also question marks.  Wilmer Flores is likely to be retained and Thairo Estrada impressed in limited action in 2021, but Donovan Solano is a free agent and Tommy La Stella’s Opening Day readiness is in question due to Achilles surgery.

For first base, re-signing Belt would seem like an obvious move, and there is already some sense that Belt could be back for a 12th season in San Francisco.  Belt also turns 34 in April and has a lengthy injury history, so Belt may not be able to match his 2020-21 numbers going forward.  For as much payroll space as the Giants have on hand, they might prefer to spend those dollars at another position, and instead rely on some combination of Flores, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Darin Ruf as a first base platoon.

Or, maybe the easier solution is to just re-sign Belt and solidify the first base spot.  Belt has been so good over the last two seasons (.285/.393/.595 with 38 homers over his last 560 PA) that such production is hard to replace, and the NLDS was a prime example of how the Giants lineup sorely missed Belt’s bat.  With the DH likely coming to the National League in 2022, the Giants and other NL teams will be on the lookout for more offense, and having a DH spot available could help Belt stay healthy.  Belt’s big numbers make him another candidate for a qualifying offer, and while it isn’t yet known if the Giants will extend such an offer to the first baseman, there would seem to be at least a chance that Belt might take such a deal.  It would secure Belt another year with his longtime team, while also setting up a chance at another big payday next winter if Belt stays healthy and keeps hitting in 2022.

Evan Longoria is another veteran who is no stranger to the injured list, and a two-month absence due to a shoulder strain was the biggest reason Longoria was limited to only 81 games in 2021.  Longoria hit well when he did play, and with the likes of Flores, Estrada, and La Stella all capable of playing third base, the Giants will probably stand pat at the hot corner barring something unexpected like Seager signing and then changing positions.  This is purely speculation, but if the Giants did have a larger move in mind, Longoria might be an under-the-radar trade candidate since he has only one guaranteed year left on his contract (and the Rays are still paying a notable chunk of Longoria’s salary).

In the outfield, the collection of Bryant, Wade, Ruf, Mike Yastrzemski, Steven Duggar, Austin Slater, Alex Dickerson, and others all combined to give the Giants above-average production.  Re-signing Bryant or a similar everyday name (i.e. Starling Marte, Mark Canha) would account for one position on a regular basis, reducing the number of platoon situations the Giants would have to monitor, and it would also allow players like Wade or Ruf to see more time in the infield.  Dickerson seems like a non-tender or trade candidate, and if another outfielder is acquired, the Giants might feel they have enough of a surplus to make some other outfield names available in trade talks.  Prospect Heliot Ramos didn’t have a great 2021 campaign in the minors, but he should also be available for his MLB debut next year.

Since Bryant is capable of regularly playing or at least filling in at five different positions, re-signing the former NL MVP would seem like a natural way to address San Francisco’s roster needs.  There is enough of a fit that a reunion between the two sides probably can’t be ruled out until Bryant officially signs elsewhere, yet Zaidi seemed to imply that Bryant was only one of many possibilities open to the Giants, and not necessarily a priority.

It is a sign of how the Giants’ approach has evolved that San Francisco now has the luxury of waiting on talents like Bryant, since the Giants have perhaps the most overall flexibility (from both a financial standpoint and a roster standpoint) of any team.  While Zaidi’s tenure has seen the Giants at least make some exploratory measures towards bigger-name acquisitions in the past, this may be the first offseason where Zaidi will have the organization’s full resources behind him, fully directed towards contending and winning.  Expect a lot of rumors and headlines out of San Francisco this winter, as the Giants’ next steps could be the talk of the offseason.

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