Outfielder Joc Pederson has accepted the $19.65MM qualifying offer he received from the Giants, per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
Pederson was drafted by the Dodgers and spent seven seasons there, largely serving as a productive member of the lineup. He had an ill-timed down year in 2020, just as he was about to reach free agency. That led to him settling for a one-year, $7MM deal to join the Cubs for 2021. He bounced back slightly that year but was still below average at the plate overall, leading to another one-year deal for 2022, this time getting $6MM from the Giants.
He was able to get back on track in a huge way this year, having the best offensive season of his career. His .274/.353/.521 slash line included career highs in both batting average and on-base percentage. The resulting wRC+ of 144 means he was 44% above league average, and that was 16 points beyond anything he’d done previously in his career.
Despite that huge showing with the bat, it was somewhat surprising to see him extended the QO, given his recent struggles and poor defensive metrics. Nonetheless, the Giants felt good enough about his output to make a $19.65MM bet that he could have another strong performance in 2023. They would have received draft pick compensation if Pederson had declined the offer and signed elsewhere, but that’s a moot point now as he’ll return to the Giants next year, earning a salary almost three times as high as his previous best.
For the Giants, it’s possible that this is the first of many moves for them, with rumors swirling that they are going to be very active this winter. For now, Pederson will join an outfield/designated hitter mix that includes Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr., Luis Gonzalez and Austin Slater, though the club tends to favor players with defensive versatility and have several infielders that could move to the grass.
With Pederson’s $19.65MM added to the ledger, the 2023 payroll is now sitting at $134MM, in the estimation of Roster Resource. They began last year with an Opening Day mark of $155MM and have been above $200MM in the recent past, according to figures from Cot’s Baseball Contracts. If they are willing to get back up to those levels, they should have plenty to work with. Rumors have connected them to the top free agent shortstops as well as Bay Area native Aaron Judge, making for a very interesting offseason ahead. But for now, they’ve brought back a very productive hitter for another season in black and orange.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Let’s GO!!!
Saw him at dubs last night and knew!!!
Joctober in SF this year
Wanna see a big year from Joc!!!!
Not many players can fill his “Joc”
Ok Curly, how about the “Dallas Wetzels Pretzels?” New expansion team?
Pretty sure everyone saw this coming. At least thats one bat the Giants won’t have to replace
Haha… I love this and I’d bet a lot of money that Farhan is less than pleased. No way Joc is worth this and it means Giants get no draft pick—which is exactly what Farhan wanted by making the offer. Happy for Joc though, this is a nice pay day!!!
Ok, if Zaidi actually thought that Joc would decline the QO, then he’s the only person on the planet that thought so, which I find highly unlikely. Yes, it’s an overpay, but it’s hardly going to break the Giants’ bank and it at least guarantees that their best offensive player from 2022 is returning.
Belt was our best offensive player in 2021 and how did that work out?
So, what then? We should expect the best player each year to be wrecked by injuries the next? I’m pretty sure that’s more the exception than the rule.
Nope, but you also shouldn’t expect your best hitter to repeat his season if his babip is 30+ points higher than normal and he put up a season that’s ~20 wRC+ higher than anything he’s done recently…at the age of 30.
Very insightful. Belt followed up a strong year with injuries and bad performance, so Pederson must also be bad after a strong year.
If your issue is that players who accept the qualifying offer don’t pan out, you only have to go back to 2021 and Kevin Gausman to find a Giant who was worth it.
Joc will probably be overpaid, but the Giants have money to spend right now and practically nothing on the payroll after 2023 (including Joc)
If Farhan didn’t want Joc to accept the offer he shouldn’t have extended it in the first place.
20 million dollar platoon bat. Awesome.
Lol that’s what I was thinking.
Good for Joc. $20MM for a year to play at home.
floored they offered it
They believe in him. They are giving him a shot.
Good thing he hits righties
At this rate, they should have just picked up Longoria’s option. Between he and Joc, they’d have a $34M platoon DH.
3 for 3
4/4 with the Tyler Anderson signing. Granted, I had to change my pick. I had him signing with the dodgers.
Kershaw with Dodgers, Perez with Rangers, Anderson with Angels and Pederson with Giants. Only Anderson was a surprise.
With the platoon style of Kapler/Giants, paying 20 mil for 350-400 ABs and bad defense is wild. Surprised they offered it really.
Depending on how the rest of the offseason goes he will probably DH a lot
Given all the FA busts we have had (Melancon, Rowand, Samardzija) it is nice to see someone come here and actually outperform. Didn’t think much of the acquisition at the time, but by the EOY he was our only legit power LH threat. He seems to have fun and has a positive vibe. Hoping for another better than expected performance..
Would of been nice to have Captain Belt this past year. End of 21’ season he was Great! But watch his sign in Texas with his old Captain!
Shocker
Actually it’s a “Jocker”
I like Joc but this is an overpay by about $10 million. I thought FZ was the smartest guy in baseball but last offseason he resigns Craw and Belt and threw a boatload at Disco and Wood and none of those were good moves. Now he overpays one of the streakiest platoon hitters in the league but don’t worry since it’s only one year! Pretty soon we will have Longo and Belt back on one year deals and no roster spots left to improve this lineup. This is the opposite of what he claimed he was going to do a few weeks ago when he said he wanted this team to get younger and more athletic. So far same old Farhan but there are still brain washed morons who will defend him on this site!
I’d like to give Zaidi a little more credit than that. Now if Bobby Evans was still in the FO he would have already picked up Longoria’s option and have offered Belt $15M or so on a one-year deal – no question. If FZ was really savvy he’d be shopping Yaz for whatever he can get. We all like Mike, but unfortunately he’s turned back into a pumpkin.
OK, so I know that “brainwashed morons” is code for anybody who disagrees with your awful takes. And since I fit squarely into that box, call me a moron and label me Farhan Fan #1 all you’d like!
“Pretty soon we will have Longo and Belt back on one-year deals and no roster spots left to improve this lineup. This is the opposite of what he claimed he was going to do a few weeks ago…”
– I’ll start here, because… WOW. You are criticizing Farhan and working yourself up over moves that have not happened, not 10 days into the offseason. Did you expect the claims he made to happen overnight? I really don’t understand this take at all.
And yes, almost $20mm is an overpay for Joc. Dollar for dollar it is a “bad” signing, but relative to the team’s finances, it hardly precludes us from making better moves. If it were, say, the Brewers that are trying to hemorrhage cash and trade their star closer away doing it, then yeah, signing Joc to $20mm would be horrendous. And at 30, Joc’s age is hardly a hindrance on the team.
And you bring up resigning Belt, Crawford, Disco, and Wood. While all those moves were busts last year, did you forget each of those players helped lead the team to a 107-win season? The biggest problem with that 107-win season is it gave fans like you false hope that the Giants would win every year when in reality, they shouldn’t have even been competitive yet. So they are right in line with where they should be.
Same old tears from the same old sooks.
Surprise, surprise.
Good work, Giants. Good work, Joc.
You must have me mistaken with someone else I have made my distain for FZ known since year 2 of his regime when he finished one game out of the playoffs because he didn’t want to get a closer and the team blew like 18 saves in a 60 game season. He also didn’t feel like trading MB or Will Smith and instead let them go for draft picks which he blew just so he could draft Harrison late. Probably FZ’s best draft by far even though he swung and missed on his first rounder which he does each and every draft.
Glad you brought up those moves from last year because they didn’t seem to work out very well yet he is off to a similar start this season. Bobby Evans got fired for resigning guys like Belt and Craw half a decade before FZ did it yet nothing but praise when FZ signs the same older guys after a miracle year. You could justify it I guess since they were short term deals but here we are back at square one overpaying for our own guys who are very likely to regress!
Last year was supposed to be the year FZ broke out the check book or so the morons on here proclaimed and instead he did nothing to build long term. All of these one year deals add up to zero consistency on a team that has a revolving door of players coming in and out.
I was in favor of tanking from year one and getting top 5 draft picks to build around like just about every team who has won in the last 20 years but FZ thought he was smarter than everyone else and could do it with dumpster dives and short term deals. Last year was basically the most likely outcome of all his rosterbation and the year before was the most unlikely. This team is in purgatory and will be for a while. They will continue to fart around .500 again next year without a single player worth buying a ticket to watch. Funny thing is that ownership is the one to blame as they thought they could fleece this fanbase for at least a few more years going cheap but fans are starting to wise up and not pay top 5 revenue prices to basically see the Sacramento Rivercats.
@frugalfarhan
Wait… you expected Farhan to magically fix a broken team two years into his regime?? Why?
And they blew 11 saves – exaggerating 18 gets you nowhere. And by the way, the Padres also blew 11, the Dodgers blew 10, and the Astros blew 13. So while a closer would’ve been nice, it was hardly the player that would’ve put us over the top.
“…(the moves from last offseason) didn’t seem to work out very well yet he is off to a similar start this season”
– What are you talking about?! He’s had about a week to make moves… you are allowed to remain skeptical if you’d like, but seriously, just give it some time before you go into full-blown whining!
– As for last offseason’s moves, they didn’t work out and that’s frustrating, but I’m more frustrated with the number of injuries that held us back. You might say the last offseason is a reflection of the GM Farhan is, but I’ve liked his other moves (like the team he build that won 107 games), so I’m going to give him a chance. He may disappoint me! But it’s too early to tell as far as I am concerned. But then again, I am a “brainwashed moron”, so what do I know?
“Bobby Evans got fired for resigning guys like Belt and Craw half a decade before FZ did it yet nothing but praise”
– This is a ridiculous oversimplification. First, I haven’t seen anybody shower Farhan with praise for resigning Belt and Craw. I saw fans give Craw an ovation after his extension, but that was because they love the player, not because Farhan is some kind of magic genius. And Evans was mostly a scapegoat and was in a weird spot where he had to improve the team, but ownership wouldn’t let him go into a full-on rebuild (I agree with you that a rebuild and getting picks would’ve probably been what was best).
– As far as having beloved players, it puts the team and GM in a weird place. For example, Belt and Craw were coming off career years. Do you let them walk since they will be a year older, but potentially nuke your fanbase, especially if they continue to be good players? Or do you bring back the old favorites, knowing the fans love them but risk them regressing? Similarly, fans would’ve probably been frustrated if MadBum was traded away, especially if he went to the contender and pitched well again in the playoffs. You might disagree and say trade him at all costs (and that’s fair), but I think it’s also fair to at least consider why they played it the way they did.
– And your chief complaint is the Giants don’t spend money (it’s literally in your username), but you call homegrown players an “overpay”. But don’t teams have to open their wallets to overpay for a player? I mean, you can argue the money wasn’t well spent, but weird hill to die on…
“Last year was supposed to be the year FZ broke out the checkbook…”
– Wait, who said that?!
“…or so the morons on here proclaimed…”
– Hahaha, ohh.. seems like you are to blame for that one…
I’d just like to point out that the Qualifying offer means Joc has the largest contract for 2023 on the giants.
So far.
20mil for a 4th outfielder is an overpayment.
Or half of a DH platoon.
Lol @ people concerned like it’s their money
I can’t say I’m thrilled about watching another year of Pederson’s crappy lazy defense. But I do like his bat.
Let’s hope this will only be the FIRST of MANY examples of the Giants throwing around crazy money like it grows on trees.
It would sure be nice if they end up with enough Outfielders that they can mostly play Pederson as DH.
I wonder if there’s an extension in the works. I remember hearing rumblings of mutual interest in a multi-year deal toward the end of the season — might be nice to get that AAV down a tick.
Joc would gladly take it no doubt…
Duh. Easy decision. Idk have to look it up, but I’m pretty sure this is roughly 2.5-3 times more than he’s ever made in a season. I honestly think he was likely to sign a multi year deal this offseason for roughly 20 mil. So this was an easy decision for him
Bravesfan, 100%
Joc doesn’t seem to be in the best of shape. He was recently laying on the ground with someone standing over him at the Palo Alto High School track, and I wasn’t sure if they were stretching him out or performing CPR.
Good news. Let’s hope he frequents that track, with that guy, all off season. I’d be very happy if he is needing some regular CPR prior to spring training.
This move is the opposite of makes sense for this front office but hey… there’s a reason the hands up emoji exists
Baseball brat. Get a haircut, Joc. Grow up a little.
By that haircut standard of Longboarder’s, Jack Webb and Telly Savalas would make great baseball players.
@lesterdnightfly: Love Donald Fagen, especially his first two solo records. Great moniker 🙂
Tommy Pham, is that you?
As long as that $20M preclude then from getting more impact players I’m fine with this.
No team in baseball would have signed him for that. Giant waste of money.
It’s literally less money than he got last 2 years combined, and for a player with mostly no defensive value it’s not a great look. Passed in schwarber but go for the less versatile lefty swinger?
5TUNT1N, By suggesting Schwarber is the more versatile player, are you under the misconception that he’s a decent fielder? Look at their numbers in LF.
Pederson: -12 DRS, -9 OAA.
Schwarber: -14 DRS, -13 OAA.
Admittedly, they’re both bad, but as bad as Joc is, Schwarber is even worse.
I’m not saying either was a good fielder, just that I would rather have schwarber who seems to be in better shape and as a lefty masher I just think he’s a more valuable player! They are both effectively DH however we originally paid Joc what they did because of his platoon splits. Now they are paying non platoon splits, for that reason I also feel Schwarbs is a better fit. Again not solely because of defensive value. Apologies if I skewed my argument to defense as it’s not the determining factor in my preference. Joc didn’t play the field much either, wonder what the innings played in the field to generate those stats.
Agree that Schwarber is the better hitter, but you did refer to Joc as the “less versatile”, suggesting a defensive element.
And while Schwarber is the better hitter the difference in their respective deals is marginal. Pederson is on a 1/$20M deal, while Schwarber is on a 3/$60M.
Pederson’s deal gives the Giants more flexibility. Not sure FZ wants to be committed for 3 years to a guy who should be a full-time DH. We won’t know for sure how either deal will work out, but I think FZ likes the flexibility of Pederson’s deal, despite the overpay.
To be clear I have no problem with Joc, he’s fine enough for what we paid him last year. Like previously stated somewhere he did ok against lefties this year. But there’s a reason he had been platooned. Schwarber has had a little time at first and left, wasn’t he originally a catcher with the cubs? His bat plays for sure as does jocs. I guess the Phillies see what we do that’s why they gave him $$$.
I don’t know. His second half of the season sucked.
His first half OPS: .848
Second half OPS: .917
He had one really bad month (July). Outside of that, he was great, at least with the bat.
Not surprising and a great move from Joc’s perspective. Hitting the open market now, he’d probably get half that AAV over 2-3 years. If he can reproduce his 2022 this coming year, he’ll have back-to-back productive years and could net a far better contract. By taking this QO, he’s guaranteed at least $19.65 million even if he is terrible.
Good for Joc ! Always have been a fan
Joc was smart. No one else was gonna give him that kinda scratch
wRC+ of 144 for 6m. He is getting some well earned back pay. Rightly so.
Too many fans are thinking of the QO in outdated terms. FO’s aren’t thinking whether a guy is worth the QO dollar value alone. There is a lot value inherent in one year deals. Teams would love to sign more guys to one years, and pay a higher AAV, if they could, but players want the security of multiple years.
It is an overpay, as was the QO to Belt last season, but the Giants are happy they didn’t sign Belt to something like a 2 year/ $20M-$24M deal with an option for a 3rd with a buyout.
Some people thought the QO to Gausman was an overpay as well. One year and done does have value, it provides a lot of flexibility for the team, so the amount of the overpay is less than people think.
If Joc has a season like last the Giants will be happy. They can re-sign him, or not, in 2o24 as they choose, with out being locked into a 2nd, or 3rd year, even with a significantly lower AAV.
He would have been a fool not to accept it. Even with a bounce back season. No team was going to offer him close to that amount.
This contract will age bad…even if it’s just for a year.
keep a vet on the team for one more year, its a good move even to pay this much as long as it doesn’t stop them from spending big elsewhere, as long as LA is spending $280mil the Giants need to go over $200mil or just say goodbye to competing at all.
Humble leader with good sense of hair and fashion.
Sign Pham to platoon with Joc
Congratulations, Joc. You earned it.