Giants plotting huge FINAL

The San Francisco Giants lost 97 games last year, and it was almost solely because of the rotation and the bullpen. This team cannot wait one moment to get the wheels rolling, Andrew Baggerly writes, on an offseason where their shopping list is as long as their time is likely short. The time part is real. The labor deal expires December 1st, and from that day teams cannot communicate with players on their 40-man rosters, as well as make any moves. Spring training is in play too. The Giants almost certainly will not enter it without a pitcher who carries 9th inning bona fides, per Baggerly. He's so sure that he puts his own column on the line. Quote, you're welcome to print out this column, smear it with ketchup, and feed it to me. So what is the huge move the Giants are lining up, and can it fix a team that lost 97? Baggerly's verdict on the rotation. In their ballpark, there is no scenario in which the Giants can compete with a rotation this ineffective. The ERA backs him up. Giants starters held a 4.48 ERA over 834.1 innings, the 7th worst in baseball. For scale, Colorado starters were the worst at 6-2-8. They struck out 2.21 batters for every walk, one of the 7 worst ratios in MLB. Together, he writes, those are what you might call fatal flaws. Logan Webb has and will be the anchor of this rotation, and his 3.45 FIP says his 4.31 ERA was worse than he deserved. After Webb, he writes, the rotation is, quote, mostly untethered. Landon Roop, the next best starter, had a 4-0-1 ERA and a 100 ERA plus over 29 games, which is exactly league average. He walked 75 batters in 155 innings, and Baggerly says he can be better if he works to reduce walks and increase count leverage. Adrian Hauser had a 4.02 ERA and a 4.54 FIP, which says even that was a little lucky. It showed up in the calendar too. For the first time in franchise history, the Giants never won more than three games in a row. A rotation and a bullpen like this loses a season fast, and this one was no different. The Giants scored 669 runs last year and allowed 760. That's a 91-run hole, and Baggerly says it is the one thing every one of his three headings has in common, they're all about run prevention. He writes that the year was lost by mid-May, the first year for manager Tony Vitello. That is why Baggerly says a slow start is not an option, quote, nothing helps you stabilize early in the season more than a steady, reliable rotation. The staff has already changed. Justin Mennecke returns in the lead role as pitching coach, and Frank Anderson goes from director of pitching to assistant pitching coach. Jesse Chavez returns as bullpen coach, and Baggerly's read is that the Giants believe repainting the lane markers will help, and maybe it will. But he adds that it'll help even more to acquire more talented pitchers. The problem is that the pitchers they were counting on to grow are hurt. Carson Wisenhunt, Blade Tidwell, and Trevor McDonald all tore their elbow ligaments and will miss all of next year. Hayden Birdsong had Tommy John surgery last March, and Bagley says the only way he starts the year in the rotation is if the lockout wipes out the first few months. Now, if you want all of your Giants news, make sure to hit that subscribe button. Completely free, takes just a second of your time, and would be much appreciated by myself and everybody here at Digest Media. Junior Marte, Cesar Perdomo, and Anthony Molina made the most of their chances down the stretch, but none of them can be counted on for 100-plus above-average innings next year. First-round pick Jackson Flora could reach the big leagues by the end of next year, but he won't be asked to shoulder the load at the outset. So, without question, the Giants have to buy, and Baggerly names the group. Freddie Peralta, Clay Holmes, Trevor Rogers, Sonny Gray, and Michael King, pitchers who, quote, might not require a fourth or fifth year. Clay Holmes had a 3-2-9 ERA in 18 starts between the Mets and the Cubs. Peralta and Holmes both played for more than one team in 2026, so neither can get a qualifying offer, and neither cost a draft pick. Gray gave Boston 169 innings with a 2-7-2 ERA. Peralta had a 4-4-2 ERA in 169 innings for the Mets and the Rays. Tim Britton of The Athletic projects him at three years and $84 million. Rodgers had a .403 ERA in Baltimore, but his .345 FIP says he pitched much better than that. King, the second-best pitcher in the class behind only Tarik Skubal, had a .321 ERA in 185 innings for the division rival San Diego Padres. The one named Baggerly takes off the board is Tarik Skubal. A mega contract for him isn't the play when you have multiple slots to fill. And he is completely right when he warns the Giants that they will hear it from their fans if they shop shop at the Tyler Malley-Adrian Hauser tier again. There are also two Japanese pitchers with posting windows open, Kaima Taira and Hiromi Ito, and he writes the Giants will have to move quickly to go after either of them. Those are the starters, but the bigger bet is the 9th inning. The bullpen's 4-1-4 ERA was the 12th worst in baseball, which is middle of the pack. The collapse was in closing games. They saved just 30 games in 57 chances, the second fewest saves in baseball. They blew 27 saves, 10th most, and 12 different pitchers got a save. Of course, hindsight's 20-20, but imagine the Giants' record last year if they had a real closer. Killian led the team with 8 saves and 11 chances before Philadelphia got him at the deadline. Dylan Smith saved 4 of 9, and Walker saved 3 of 6 with a 7.16 ERA. So over the last six weeks, Bagley writes, the Giants ran a multi-layered internal analysis of it, and the question was whether 1-9th inning install would fix the group or the problem ran deeper. The answers, as he writes, were yes and yes. So expect the Giants to be aggressive on the most accomplished relievers on the market. Bednar saved 35 of 39 games for the Yankees with a 2-4-7 ERA. Jansen saved 22 of 28 for Detroit with a 3-20 ERA. Adrian Morejon is the lefty. He struck out 107 batters in 86 innings for San Diego. His ERA was a .283, and his fastball averaged 95.7 miles an hour, but can tick it up to the triple digits. Bednar and Morejon both got the record $23.15 million qualifying offer, so signing either one of those costs a draft pick. And that compensation, Baggerly notes, could disappear in the next agreement. The Giants have been here before. After their bullpen blew the NLDS Game 4 lead in 2016, they gave Mark Melanson four years and $62 million, a record at the time for a reliever. A decade earlier, Baggerly wrote, Armando Benitez did not work out either. Baggerly's review of that deal, quote, that didn't work out. One closer is not going to be enough either. They also need another left-hander next to Sam Henges, who had a 3.19 ERA in 45 games, but struggled, inheriting runners. Baggerly also floats Hauser as a swingman, the way the World Series champion Brewers used Chad Patrick and Aaron Ashby last season. The Giants are not likely to lift a finger this offseason on their position player group, Baggerly writes. They're counting on Rafael Devers and Matt Chapman to come back from season-ending surgeries, and on Willie Adames to recover from what Baggerly calls a seriously confused ego. In the middle infield, they have Casey Schmidt and Marcelo Meyer, which should be enough to figure something out, especially if Adamas uses the same resource Luis Rios did, Ron Washington, to become a defensive asset again. The one change, of course, is replacing Hunter Mengs, who just left to become the Royals assistant hitting coach. They're also counting on Bryce Eldridge, who just finished 6th in the NL Rookie of the Year race, and who nobody seemed to notice. There's also a load of hitting talent coming up behind them, Bo Davidson, Dakota Jordan, Parks Harbor Johnny Level, Gavin Keelan, and Caden Kent. At the end of his September press conference, Posey said the front office has to weigh what that particular player's defensive value is, because, in this ballpark, as cavernous as it is in the outfield, it's really important to be able to catch the baseball. The outfield is where that bites. Bagley says Drew Gilbert and Jonah Cox look like keepers in a centerfield platoon, and Cox could be a Kevin Kiermaier-type difference maker with the glove. Harrison Bader, after a late-night scooter crash, is, quote, persona non grata, with $10 million guaranteed. If the Giants are truly committed to defensive value, they will have to reconsider everyday at-bats for Jung-Hoo Lee, a league average hitter who doesn't offer power or defensive value, Baggerly writes. The catch is his contract. Lee is owed $63 million over the final three years of a six-year $113 million deal, so trading him for anything beyond partial salary relief won't be easy. And again, after December 1st, the Giants cannot talk to a 40-man player until a new a new labor deal exists, and a lockout is expected right away. Baggerly's own words suggest that there will be a flurry of early signings before the CBA expires December 1st, and we've already gotten reports that the trade market is going to be moving as well. Posey was asked about locking in a pitcher before then, and said, quote, I don't know if we have to, it would be nice to, but I'm not sitting here telling you it's a certainty. But he has made the bullpen the first step, saying, the bullpen is where we'll start, with the rotation right behind it. Baggerly ends by saying building a championship team is even harder than catching one, of course, referring to Buster Posey. There's no question that grabbing a legit closer and someone comfortable in the ninth inning is Buster Posey's most important decision. They blew 27 saves, securing just 30 in 57 chances, and of course, Baggerly made his own catch-up bet. Now, I will be very intrigued to see if Buster Posey dips his toes into the market of David Bednar and Adrian Morone because of their qualifying offers and the price tag. Personally, I am a big, big fan of Michael King. I think he would be a perfect addition right behind Logan Webb in this rotation. However, there are also some very interesting options like Freddy Peralta, Sonny Gray, Trevor Rogers, Shota Imanaga, and several more. We're now down to just a few weeks until that CBA lockout is expected to begin. Let me know down in the comment section below who you want to see the Giants sign, who you want to see them trade for, and what moves you'd like to see Buster Posey make. I want to hear what you guys have to say down in the comment section below.