Farhan Zaidi’s first season as Giants president of baseball operations is in the books, and he’ll now embark on what could very well be a busier offseason than the one he navigated last year. The Giants will need to hire a replacement for longtime manager Bruce Bochy, conduct a search to add a general manager to work under Zaidi and, of course, address a roster that could lose Madison Bumgarner, Will Smith and several other free agents.
Zaidi met with the media today in a postmortem press conference, divulging that he intends to interview roughly six to eight external candidates as part of the club’s managerial search (Twitter links via Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle and Maria Guardado of MLB.com). He also confirmed that both bench coach Hensley Meulens and third base coach Ron Wotus will be interviewed as potential successors to Bochy. Prior managerial experience won’t be a necessity, though Zaidi also implied that it’d be important.
As for the rest of the coaching staff, no determinations will be made until a new skipper is in place. As such, the Giants’ coaches are free to interview elsewhere should other teams come calling. As is the case with during any managerial search, it seems safe to bet that there’ll be a fair bit of turnover in the Giants’ dugout. The search for a GM to work alongside Zaidi in heading up the baseball ops department will be conducted “concurrently” with the search for a new manager, Schulman tweets.
With regard to the on-field product, the Giants stand to lose not only Bumgarner and Smith, but also left-hander Tony Watson, third baseman Pablo Sandoval, catcher Stephen Vogt and lefty Fernando Abad. The organization has interest (presumably to varying extents) in retaining each of its free agents, tweets Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, though Zaidi also anticipates that those players will want to explore the open market. There was no mention of qualifying offers, but Bumgarner stands out as a clear and obvious recipient (and rejector) of an eventual QO. Smith, too, could potentially merit consideration in that regard, given the dominant season he had as the team’s closer. Vogt has previously expressed interest in returning to the Giants, although he and the other impending free agents will surely want to see who is eventually tabbed as Bochy’s successor before making a commitment.
How aggressively Zaidi and his staff will pursue reunions with that group and potential matches with other free agents can’t be known at this point. Zaidi, Schulman tweets, voiced a willingness to deal from the farm system and to look at top-end starters, but he also stressed the importance of developing arms internally.
That’s an understandable point of emphasis not only because it’s a mantra for most clubs in the league but also because the Giants’ young arms didn’t perform well in 2019; each of Tyler Beede, Dereck Rodriguez, Shaun Anderson, Logan Webb, Conner Menez and Andrew Suarez struggled in auditions in the MLB rotation this year. Rodriguez and Suarez looked like potential long-term fits when they had unexpectedly strong seasons in 2018, making this year’s steps backward all the more discouraging.
That group, presumably, will have a chance at factoring into next year’s pitching staff, though it seems clear that some winter additions are in the offing. Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto are the only returning veterans, which should leave the Giants with ample room to supplement the rotation either via trade or free agency.
Augmenting the lineup will also be a point of focus, per Zaidi, who unsurprisingly indicated that adding power to the lineup will be a priority (Twitter link via Schulman). The Giants’ 167 home runs ranked 26th among 30 MLB clubs in 2019, and their .153 isolated power (slugging percentage minus batting average) was tied with the White Sox for third-worst in all of baseball. Alex Dickerson, acquired in a minor trade with the Padres in June, and Mike Yastrzemski, acquired from the Orioles in a minor Spring Training swap, were the team’s most productive hitters in 2019. Both are already 29 years old without any sort of sustained big league track record.
San Francisco carried a payroll north of $186MM in 2019 but only has $109MM in guaranteed money on the books for next season, which should further allow Zaidi to be creative to the extent he deems appropriate. The Giants’ only arbitration-eligible players are Kevin Pillar, Donovan Solano, Kyle Barraclough and Dickerson, so the payroll shouldn’t rise too much even when factoring in arbitration raises (particularly since that group contains some potential non-tender candidates).
While it seems like there’ll be money to play with, it’s also worth recalling that last week’s comments from Giants CEO Larry Baer didn’t exactly sound like a portent for aggressive offseason spending. In discussing the Giants’ 2010-14 run of dominance, Baer spoke of how the club relied on free agency as a complementary means of bolstering a roster that had largely consisted of homegrown pieces; the same, he noted, was true of Zaidi’s teams in Oakland and in Los Angeles. There’s little reason for the organization to tip its hand right now even if a strong run at Bumgarner or other free agents is on the docket, but there’s been no emphatic declaration to this point, either.
Beyond the innumerable personnel decisions the Giants will consider in the coming months, there’s been plenty of talk about changes to the dimensions of Oracle Park. While no final outcome was announced, Zaidi confirmed today that the organization has “made a lot of progress on designs that would have [the bullpens] move out to the outfield,” tweets Kerry Crowley of the San Jose Mercury News. Exact alterations aren’t yet determined, but Baer indicated last week that the club isn’t looking to turn Oracle Park into a hitter-friendly setting.
deweybelongsinthehall
Most important part of the article to me was the last paragraph. In today’s rush to set artificial hitting records be it with so many cozy parks or a ball that belongs on a golf course, it’s refreshing to hear a team indicate they are not looking to change the overall way the park plays.
macn307
I agree, that park plays well as is.
sufferforsnakes
I also love the way that ballpark plays. Angles are cool.
jints1
I like the idea of a pitcher friendly ballpark but the bullpens need to be moved. That should be a priority. With respect to the new manager, eight of the ten playoff teams and all of the NL teams have managers in their first managerial position. Paying a Maddon or a Girardi what they would command is foolish.
differentbears
Unless I misunderstood or misheard something during the broadcast, the bullpens are being moved this offseason.
I could be wrong, I do use the mute a lot of the time listening to the Giants’ feed during Dodger games. Alas, blackouts. But I am pretty sure they were talking about the last days of the bullpens on the field.
pustule bosey
that is my understanding too. baer mentioned that specifically recently
alpha-17
They confirmed that there moving one bullpen to centerfield and the other in right centerfield
Jean Matrac
Kruk and Kuip have alluded to the bullpens being moved numerous times. Even saying things like a fielder, chasing a foul pop-up, won’t have to worry about the mounds next year. But then they usually follow that up with a disclaimer that they don’t really know exactly what the plan is.
It sounds like they’re being moved, but exactly where, is still undecided.
steve fields
Thanks for pointing that out— that makes a lot of sense
unpaidobserver
Bullpens can go in the bay. Pitchers dock and then run onto the field.
sffan891
I’m for putting the bullpen either behind the left field wall where they keep the ambulance or under the right field brick wall and removing the free to watch area of the stadium. (Maybe one pen on each side?)
Jean Matrac
With Oracle barely above sea-level, putting the bullpens under anything is problematic. The ‘pens should go in CF and RF. It still would not specifically be a hitter-friendly park, but just less of a pitcher-friendly one. The goal should be a park that plays fair. As Bochy said, “a ball that’s hit 400 feet ought to be a HR”. I agree.
Ejemp2006
Nope
julyn82001
The panda needs to be back with the Giants…
So. Cal. Giants fan
Pass on Muelens, need a new mindset, and he will be Bochy 2.0. No disrespect to the skipper but we need to move in a new direction. We also need to figure how to get out from under the Longo, Crawford, and Belt contracts, whether via trade or buying them out. They were bad contracts from the start imho.
Blue_Painted_Dreams_LA
You can’t buy out contracts. I repeat you can’t buy out contracts. They can’t cut them, but the money still counts against the threshold not that it matters. They are stuck with Crawford, especially with his NTC. They are stuck with Longo. If they eat a good amount of money, they may be able to move Belt granted for not much value coming back.
BondsAway
I am not familiar with how baseball contracts work, so maybe you could help me out. So if you can’t cut players, could we do something like the Red Sox did was Sandoval, what exactly did they do
Gumby82
If he hires Geren, I am done. You want to go A’s? There’s a guy named Ryan Christensen. Go get him.
So. Cal. Giants fan
I’ve heard that name a bunch too
Rford68
I heard on the last game of the year for the Giants that they are moving the bullpen’s to behind right field and moving the fences in.
Jean Matrac
If that was Kruk and/or Kuip, they’ve also said that they aren’t really privy to exactly what the plan is. Given that Zaidi also said they’ve made a lot of progress on designs, sounds to me that exactly where they’re going is not set in stone.
Perksy
Where’s the part about park dimensions?
Jean Matrac
Last paragraph. The exact location of the bullpens and the dimensions are still unknown.
VegasSDfan
I would like to see the fences come in, so Machado can hit more home runs there.
619bird
I’m sure you would so the padres might get 1-2 more wins and actually move out of the cellar.