The tension is building for the San Francisco Giants to make a star-sized splash this offseason.
A few days after new manager Bob Melvin said the Giants are “players at the top of the market” and San Francisco is a “star-power town,” Giants color commentator Mike Krukow doubled down on his prediction that the club will make a huge addition this winter.
“In the last two years they really weren’t a team that could go out and support a super-duper star,” Krukow said on KNBR on Thursday. “Now they are. And I think they’re going to get one this year.”
Just what constitutes a “super-duper star” is up for debate.
It’s no secret the Giants need a middle-of-the-order bat to upgrade an offense that ranked second-to-last in the National League while scoring just 4.2 runs per game during the 2023 season.
During Melvin’s introductory press conference, he said that president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi “realizes there probably needs to be some stability in the middle of the order here.”
But who would fit the bill?
The New York Yankees just landed Juan Soto, a generational talent at the plate who was sent from San Diego to the Bronx in a seven-player deal.
In free agency, it’s Shohei Ohtani or bust when it comes to a middle-of-the-order star.
Ohtani, who is expected to make his free agent decision by Sunday, according to MLB.com, should fetch somewhere around $500 million.
Below him, the next-best available hitter is Cody Bellinger, expected to earn more than $200 million despite a three-year stretch from 2020 to 2022 when he hit just .203 with a .648 OPS. He bounced back with a .307 average and .881 OPS with the Chicago Cubs last year, but is that enough to convince a team that he can carry their offense from the middle of the lineup?
After Bellinger, there’s Matt Chapman, the longtime Oakland A who is coming off two decent seasons in Toronto, where he hit .234 with a .756 OPS, though he offers a lot more with his Gold Glove caliber defense at third base.
If the Giants don’t land Ohtani, it could bring back memories from last offseason, when they narrowly missed signing Aaron Judge and then fell out of a deal with Carlos Correa due to medical concerns.
“I think all those comments and all those articles that were written about the Giants not being able to land somebody, and Farhan Zaidi not being able to get a guy, I think it’s bunk,” Krukow said on KNBR. “Wait and see what happens this offseason. If this doesn’t happen this offseason, and they haven’t landed some reputation going into spring training, I will eat my words. I’ll quit the show. I’ll walk off if that’s what you want.
“But I’ll stake my reputation on what they’re going to do and they’re going to bring in some people and start building, because this fanbase demands it. And now you finally have a minor league system that can support bringing in people.”
On the pitching side, there’s a lot more star power to go around.
Ohtani won’t pitch next year while he recovers from elbow surgery, but there’s a handful of top-end talent available via free agency: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Jordan Montgomery, Josh Hader, Shota Imanaga, Lucas Giolito and Marcus Stroman remain available.
Krukow hasn’t been shy about his belief that the Giants are about to go all-in. The club still has about $70 million in tax space before they hit the threshold and Krukow believes there’s incentive to take a big swing this winter.
Krukow had previously gone on KNBR last week to predict the Giants would be “serious” contenders for Ohtani.
“They’re totally in on this and they’re totally in on 10 other things,” Krukow told “Murph & Mac” last week. “Right now, Farhan and Pete Putila, they’re working and they’re working hard. I think in this next 10-day period you’re going to see at least three moves from the Giants and that’s saying a lot. And I think it’s going to happen between now and the next 10 days.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com