DALLAS — Willy Adames makes the San Francisco Giants a better baseball team. He fills a position of need. He provides power and defense. In Buster Posey’s estimation, Adames and Matt Chapman, who signed his own lucrative deal, represent baseball’s best left side of the infield.
But Adames alone does not elevate the Giants to contention status. Adames alone doesn’t guarantee they’ll be a playoff team. So when Posey was asked if it was fair to say that the team still has multiple holes to fill, the Giants’ president of baseball operations didn’t entirely disagree.
“I think baseball is unique in the sense that that’s probably true for any team,” Posey said.
Posey has repeated his goal to build a team with strong defense and pitching. Adames, one of baseball’s better defensive shortstops, addresses the former. With Adames in place, Posey and general manager Zack Minasian can turn their attention to addressing the latter.
San Francisco’s rotation, as currently constructed, features Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Jordan Hicks, Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong. (Posey said on Monday that Hicks will be a starter.) Mason Black, Landon Roupp, Keaton Winn and Carson Whisenhunt could contribute innings as well. The Giants have options but after Webb, their rotation features a lot of variance.
Ray has only pitched 34 innings over the last two seasons after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2023. Hicks battled fatigue in his first season as a full-time starter. Harrison experienced a velocity dip as he threw a career-high 124 1/3 innings. Birdsong flashed excellent stuff but struggled with command.
The best way for the Giants to reduce that variance is by acquiring external talent. The list of available free agents thinned out a bit during the Winter Meetings as left-hander Max Fried and right-handers Nathan Eovaldi and Alex Cobb signed deals, but plenty of arms remain unsigned. That list includes Corbin Burnes, Jack Flaherty, Sean Manaea, among others. With Fried receiving an eight-year, $218 million deal from the Yankees, Burnes stands to sign a deal in the $250 million range.
“Anytime there’s players available, we’re going to look at them,” Minasian said on Monday. “I think most players who get to free agency have earned it through their career, so usually they’re pretty good. And (we are) just continuing to look at those options and balancing the cost and our internal opportunity that we can offer.”
Another one of those options is right-hander Roki Sasaki, whose agent, Joel Wolfe, held court on Tuesday. The Dodgers and Padres are the favorites to land “The Monster of the Reiwa Era,” but Wolfe outlined that the process will be open-ended with Sasaki willing to consider different options.
“My advice to Roki is to go in with an open mind,” Wolfe said.
Minasian, who has spent time scouting the NPB and KBO, has had Sasaki on his radar dating back to Sasaki’s amateur days, describing the right-hander as a “special arm” with “huge, raw stuff.” When asked what makes San Francisco an alluring destination, Minasian cited Oracle Park’s pitcher-friendly dimensions; direct flights to Tokyo and Osaka; the culture of the city and organization; and a fan base “hungry for the star player.”
“With the rules, we haven’t gotten to know him personally, but certainly done a lot of homework,” Minasian said. “We feel like we have a good sense of what makes him tick and we feel like it’s a situation we can make very comfortable for him, just give him the best chance for success as a big-league pitcher.”
Along with the rotation, the Giants will continue to explore options in the outfield. San Francisco can currently roll out an outfield of Heliot Ramos in left, Jung Hoo Lee in center and Mike Yastrzemski, who agreed to a one-year, $9.25 million deal to avoid arbitration, in right. Despite having those three in place, San Francisco expressed interest in right fielder Kyle Tucker, a pending free agent, according to Joel Sherman of the New York Post.
Over the last five seasons, Tucker has earned three All-Star selections, a Silver Slugger Award and a Gold Glove Award, posting an .883 OPS and totaling 121 home runs. The Giants would likely need to package multiple prospects to acquire him, and Minasian is confident in San Francisco’s stable of minor leaguers.
“I do believe we have the minor-league talent to entice a team to consider us in a trade,” Minasian said.
Circling back to the infield, LaMonte Wade Jr. is currently slated as San Francisco’s starting first baseman, but Posey and Minasian both said the Giants will explore their options. Wade has the 11th-best on-base percentage in baseball since 2023 (min. 900 plate appearances), but the soon-to-be 31-year-old has dealt with injuries during his time in San Francisco.
“LaMonte’s a special player,” Posey said on Monday, citing his on-base ability. “He plays solid defense. I think we’re just trying as much as anything to keep options on the table.”
Bryce Eldrige, the Giants’ top prospect per MLB Pipeline, could also see time at first base next season. The 20-year-old skyrocketed through the Giants’ system, hitting .291/.374/.516 with 23 homers and 92 RBIs across four levels and ending the season with eight games at Triple-A Sacramento. For as well as Eldridge played, he isn’t a lock to make his major-league debut next season.
“You never want to say never, but I think it is somewhat fair to temper expectations from my end just because — whether is this is right or wrong — I’m looking at it like he should be entering his sophomore year of college,” Posey said. “We see the upside for this guy being tremendous and (want) to make sure that he gets the experience that he needs before he’s thrown into the fire.”
Worth noting
- The Giants will have the 13th overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft following Tuesday’s draft lottery. They would’ve had the ninth pick based solely on record.
- With a full 40-man roster, San Francisco did not select anyone in the major-league portion of the Rule 5 Draft. During the minor-league portion, the Giants selected left-hander CJ Widger and right-hander Sadrac Franco, but lost right-handers William Jensen and Julio Rodriguez; outfielder Cesar Quintas; shortstop Will Wilson; left-hander Nick Swiney; and catcher Andy Thomas.