The Giants have signed left-hander Alex Wood to a one-year contract, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. It’s a $3MM guarantee that includes up to $3MM more in performance bonuses for the ACES client, per Maria Guardado of MLB.com.
Wood, an ex-Dodger, will now reunite with Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who was the Los Angeles general manager earlier in the southpaw’s career. Wood had some of his best seasons when Zaidi was in LA’s front office, and the 30-year-old has largely held his own since he broke into the majors with the Braves in 2013. Overall, Wood has logged a strong 3.45 ERA/3.72 SIERA in a combined 851 2/3 innings, though his drop-off over the past couple of years made him a buy-low type this offseason.
LA sent Wood to Cincinnati as part of a blockbuster deal before the 2019 campaign, and the Reds were surely expecting him to give them quality innings that year. However, nagging back issues held him out for most of the season and limited him to just 35 2/3 frames of 5.80 ERA pitching.
The Dodgers brought Wood back in free agency almost exactly one year ago (Jan. 12, 2020) on a $4MM guarantee, but the reunion didn’t go quite as planned. Wood struggled with shoulder problems in the regular season, in which he tossed 12 2/3 innings and yielded nine earned runs (mostly out of the bullpen). But Wood did rebound during the Dodgers’ World Series-winning playoff run with 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball and eight strikeouts against three walks. Four of those innings, all of which were scoreless, came during the Fall Classic against Tampa Bay.
In an ideal world for the Giants, Wood will perform more like he did in last year’s playoffs than in the regular season. Either way, it’s not all that surprising that they’re bringing him into the fold. Not only does Wood have connections to Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler, another former member of the Dodgers’ front office, but Giants GM Scott Harris made it known earlier this week that acquiring a lefty starter was a priority for the team.
The Giants lost southpaw Drew Smyly to the Braves earlier in free agency after he served as an inexpensive steal for the club in 2020, which temporarily left them with a righty-laden projected rotation. Wood should provide some balance to a Giants starting staff that figures to rely heavily on two of Wood’s former Reds teammates – Kevin Gausman and Anthony DeSclafani – as well as Johnny Cueto and Logan Webb.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Great move!
So, this means that the Giants are not longer interested in Jon Lester and Cole Hamels. Alex Wood would have made more sense for a team like the Phillies or Mets. At least to me Alex Wood, Kevin Gausman and Anthony DeSclafani are very similar. They could be 4th to 5th starter in a rotation. I would have prefer to see the Giants signing Lester or Hamels.
Lester and Hamels are 4th or 5th guys at this point in their careers, too.
Based on his last couple of seasons, so is Alex Wood, maybe not even that.
Lester and Hamels would have been more expensive.
They should still go after Hamels. Whoever is the weakest link goes to the pen.
I think Wood is currently better than both Lester and Hamels but there’s been health issues. Even so the upside is greater with Wood. I’m a big Lester fan too but at this point he and Hamels are cooked.
Wood is 30 years old, Hamels and Lester are in their 50’s.
Gausman is a no. 3-4 starter on a contender. It’s better to have pitcher with high upside than players past their prime like Lester and Hamels. The 3 pitchers you mention could all be deadline trade chips.
You haven’t seen him play recently, plagued with injuries and ineffective when on the mound.
Tatsumaki….it appears you had a long nap and did not watch the World Series. The Dodgers are champs!
Also, he was pretty good in aforementioned series. You may cir bsmal sample size, which is also an issue in the PO my you make.
Maybe his delivery has caught up with him; it will be interesting to see if he can adjust.
Outside of Kershaw, Hill, & Urias, he has been about the most intense competitors to take the mound of LA in recentbyara
You clearly don’t watch much Dodger baseball if you aren’t including May and Buehler on the list of most intense competitors on the Dodgers.
This has Drew Smyly part 2 written all over it.
I like it. Definitely fits as one of the bounceback candidates that we’ve been looking for
Ya, really Smart Move. Sign a pitcher who can’t stay on the field because his body is breaking down because of awful mechanics. Frisco will be lucky to get 50ip outta him. Lol
The Giants are pretty terrible. So, none of this really matters
If the Giants get 50 innings out of him, then the contract will have been worth it. So…
So your team is good for 1 season and you need to diss the Giants? Watch at the deadline when your pitching breaks down again and you desperately need a starter.
Brilliant signing!
The Giants just got some good Wood right there.
Next up, the Big Maple
That was a fantastic pun combo. Great work.
Knock on Wood if you’re with me
We got Vikram!
Nice office reference
Thanks!
Another low risk move by Zaidi.
The Giants’ purchase of the Cincinnati Reds continues
only 3min, nice!
Good bounce-back signing that’s not foreign to their buy-low approach. I really like Wood, and I think he’ll do well in that Giants org. Here’s to hoping he can beat up on the Dodgers!
Alex Wood is good….when he’s healthy. The problem w Alex is he breaks
He’s been throwing w/ the same funky delivery since HS.
I’m not really sure he’s a SP anymore
The Dodgers cleaned up his delivery quite a bit. It isn’t nearly as funky now as it was when he came to LA.
The Dodgers are going to make him look like a BP pitcher…
Hard to find anything wrong with this pickup at that price.
Seems like a really solid low-risk/high-reward signing for the Giants. He’s a guy who at his best could be a legitimate #1/2 SP… and he’s still relatively young so banking on a bounceback season certainly isn’t out of the question. And should he actually replicate numbers like his best season(s) and post an ERA around 2.70 … they could even issue him a QO at seasons end. Obviously a lot has to go right for that to happen… but it isn’t all that far-fetched to think it could. And either way for just $3M guaranteed… this is a solid signing all around.
16 games in two years with an ERA over 6. People need to temper their expectations. Hopefully, he can be a good 5th starter.
That’s 9 starts, 48 1/3 innings removed from being very good. That’s extremely far from being proof that his ceiling is 5th starter now. In fact it’s such a small sample size that we’d write it off as bad luck if it happened all in one April/May, and he’d have every chance to finish off the season solid.
Which makes it about 840 days and counting since he was ‘very good’.
Which is a huge health question mark, but a much smaller quality question mark. And the health question mark isn’t as big as it would’ve been if 2020 hadn’t been heavily truncated for everybody.
And I’m more concerned about his career-long pattern of injury than just the last couple years. But for $3M it’s a good roll of the dice. I give it a 50% chance he’ll be hurt most of the year, a 30% chance he’ll pitch like he should be making $15M, and a 20% chance of pitching poorly.
Alex Wood is not a 1 or a 2
He’s not a #1 or #2. And if he is that for the Giants, they would have the worst rotation in baseball.
They’re not expecting him to be a 1 or a 2, because if they did, they would’ve given him more than a year and $3 million.
May be a 1/2 for the Giants or Orioles….
Wow, $3m.. great sign SF! Goodness, Urena is making more than him?!? Lol
This makes me wish the Rangers didn’t sign Arihara for that price.
Urena can’t make up to $6MM with incentives.
nice add
only 30 years old…too young for the Gigantes….
There are just 7 players on the 40-man roster older than 30.
And those 7 players all play very key positions.
And most of those seven will be off the payroll one year from now.
Giants actually have 16 guys on the team 30 or older. It’s the oldest team in baseball. It’s going to be fascinating to see what giants do next offseason when they have 4 starters and the entire infield minus Longoria hit free agency. Will giants give over to youth movement or try to fill holes with free agents? Will be a very interesting offseason for them.
Not that this isn’t a bad move at that money, but this feels like the 5th article today that has mentioned a GM wanting to reunite with players they were on the same previous team at the same point of time with. The timing of this is weird too, he could have gotten $3M at any time, but more obviously even later into the offseason or March.
Does this count as a kind of nepotism?
There’s probably a deep dive of players who never got a shot just because a GM was too busy signing his buddy to big money/bad stats deals.
That is an interesting gripe to say the least.
It is terrible in sports like NASCAR that have been rooted in family tradition for centuries now, and all the current drivers are sons of sons of sons of sons of sons of good drivers. Baseball is like that to a lesser extent, but I do think that having connections seriously helps. I bet this is more of what that is rather than being buddy-buddy. Just having connections. I think it’s more of a familiarity rather than a liking of the player just for knowing him.
Rangers29:
Well it is a gripe, but not sure how interesting it is. I think maybe it’s a gripe that had to be dug deep for.
I think, unlike NASCAR, where it very much is about the opportunity, in baseball you have to be worth it just to get drafted. It may seem like nepotism when we have the juniors like Vlad, and Tatis. But I think there’s plenty of sons of former players that don’t make it. Tony Gwynn Jr,, Tony Pena Jr., Tim Raines Jr., and Ivan DeJesus Jr. are all guys with unspectacular MLB careers, if any at all. And I have to wonder about the guys we’ve never even heard of that didn’t even get as far as those guys.
I think it isn’t about connections, I think having a major league player as a father is a huge boost by getting great instruction. My dad was kind of clueless about baseball, and I had to get useful instruction from coaches, who had a lot of other kids to instruct. One on one instruction from someone that has reached the highest level of the game has to be a huge help for anyone hoping to get to the big leagues.
Exactly, and unlike NASCAR, baseball is a game of skill. In NASCAR, if you have enough money, you win. It’s broken, but it’s still an existing sport sooo…
Baseball – on the other hand – takes skill and dedication to perfect. Even if your father is Babe Ruth, you could have the resources at your fingertips, but just not be qualified to play. I don’t think nepotism exists in baseball to a widespread extent, nor does it to a minuscule extent. Very few occasions like that have truly gone on just from rubbing elbows. It’s about familiarity and talent.
Btw, another son of a former player who didn’t make it was the Clemens brothers. Both sons of Roger Clemens; both got stalled out in AA.
I totally agree. I would also add that a lot of the better players have great bodies, and those physical attributes can get passed down to the next generation.
Yanks drafted the wrong Bichette as another example.
I think it isn’t nepotism, but due to his connections with the current management of the Giants. As Z and Kapler know Wood, his temperament, competitive nature etc. (and when he’s good what he can do throwing the ball), they feel secure bringing him on board. Especially at that price! Solid signing for the rebuilding Giants.
Based on the contract it looks like both Wood and the Giants believe that he can get 10 outs or more in most of his appearances. I hope he can get 18 outs on 100 pitches about half of the time.and we’ll be laughing. Bullpen stronger already with Moronta back and a few adds – plus a well-rested Posey back. in the lineup. Pick-up Ozuna and things are looking good!
The GMs that target players that they have prior experience with are doing so because they have extensively scouted these players in the past and are more knowledgeable than the average GM about these players. They probably understand if a player is undervalued and why said player is undervalued more than an average GM that has never had experience with a player.
I find this line in the article a little funny if you read it in the way I’m making it sound:
“Wood had some of his best seasons when Zaidi was in LA’s front office”
Zaidi wasn’t a coach or manager that had any affect on Wood’s game. There is no correlation between the two. I’m sure the that isn’t the way the writer meant it, but one could take it that way, and then make a post like this about it.
At 3mil a year!? Even if he meets the ceiling of 6 mil, this is still a great deal for the Giants.
Hard to imagine half the league wouldn’t be in at that price or even a couple million more. Wonder which suitors he turned down.
The Z special. Another bargain.
If he is good let’s see if giants actually trade him at the deadline.
Wood you believe only $3 million guaranteed? I Wood.
This type of move with petrify other teams.
he’ll be decent the first half and sputter down the stretch. sure the Dodger bats will look forward to taking their cuts if he can stay healthy.
The Giants need a lefty for all those lefty bats in the Dodgers lineup, I’m looking forward to those matchups.
There must be hockey on tonight.
He’ll pitch 6 1/3 scoreless innings two games in a row, Giant fans will start with Cy Young talk, then he’ll get smashed the next 5 games. As long as Giant fans don’t get their hopes up, he’s decent at times..
For 3m? I like it.
The range of possible outcomes seems especially high for the rotation that the Giants have put together. Wood, Gausman, Cueto, Desclafini. They could all be quite good, or they could all be pretty bad. That’s true of every pitcher in some way, but it feels to me like it wouldn’t be surprising if this rotation were spectacular awful or solid across the board.
I seriously think that Bauer would look good perched on top of that rotation. I’ve liked the idea of him signing there for a while. They don’t have a good enough offense or a enough good bullpen to be competitive enough for Bauer’s liking, but I think he’d fit well there.
Giants offense was towards the top in most categories for 2020.
Giants offense was towards the top in most categories for 2020.
Giants offense was towards the top in most categories for 2020.
giants last year – 12th in HR, 6th in RBI, 5th in BA, 6th in slugging 8th in runs/9, 6th in OPS+…. they were pretty solid offensively last year
There’s a lot of injury history in that lineup; too much for my taste.
To have the slightest chance of competing in the NL West in 2021, the Giants have to take a lot of risks and hope everything breaks right. Better to win either 60 or 90 games than to lock in 75.
They have been locked in it at 75 for 4 years. I don’t get this love fest for zaidi. This is his fourth year at the helm and they still look 2-3 years away
To be fair, it can take a while for a baseball GM to leave his imprint on the team. If the Giants are still in this position in 2 years, then yes they should fire Zaidi. But it is too early to make a final decision on him. Take AJ Preller for example – his first five years produced horrible results on the field, but now most people recognize that he is a good GM.
I am not saying he should be fired but everyone talks about him like he’s some genius. This just seems like a pretty stagnant rebuild with missed opportunities like trading madbum and some other key pieces to win 78 games instead of 72
I actually agree with you that he hasn’t been very good – he has made plenty of mistakes so far. However, the nature of MLB is that four years is not enough time to pass judgment on a GM. Usually you need 5-6 years to see how his drafts/FA signings/trades work out before you can definitively say he is bad.
Zaidi inherited a mess. Massive payroll, a terrible farm, and one of the oldest and worst producing mlb teams in the league. No way are they a .500 team without either ballooning their payroll up to 300m or making the prudent moves Zaidi has made.
Yastrzemski, Ruf, Solano, Flores, Dickerson, Dubon, J. Garcia, Pomeranz, Gausman, Smyly, Baragar, And Rogers are all above average contributors Zaidi pulled off the scrap heap.
Not to mention he’s added Will Wilson, Kyle Harrison, Jaylin Davis, Luis Basabe, and Tristan Beck to a barren farm system. Not that these names light the world on fire – but the depth he added to their minors program is real.
The Giants are lucky to be in the position they’re in and a lot of that credit goes to Zaidi – even if where they currently are isn’t overly impressive.
If the Giants had kept Evans in the GM role, there’d be no Yaz, no Solano, none of the surprising contributors that have allowed them to remain competitive while rebuilding. Instead, they’d have Giancarlo Stanton or Bryce Harper and yesterday’s news.
Zaidi has done a fine job and still deserves a pass until 2022. Who knows what the 2021 season will actually look like with Covid? By 2022, the bad contracts will be off the books, the world will have hopefully turned a corner, and much of the Giants’ currently heralded farm will be graduating. There’s a lot to root for, but it’s going to take a little more patience. In the meantime, as long as the team remains competitive that’s about all you can ask for.
Not his 4th year…been there two years and this will be his third season at the top of the helm. He clearly has had his sights at the end of this third year to clear out Cueto, Posey, Belt and Crawford and that $77 mill or so…judge him on how the roster is built next season in ’22…
I would not be surprised to see posey back under a much lighter deal hopefully to finish out his career during a transition to Bart/Bailey – Belt again may get a lighter deal or walk or be traded, the rest will get moved on from and I am sure deals will be explored to get longoria off the team, as long as it doesn’t include moving prospects and instead moving cash.
Count me as being skeptical about those giants offensive numbers. A ton of that damage came against the diamondbacks, Rockies and Mariners. Giants went 8-2 against AZ and 4-0 against SEA. Against rest of NL and AL West they went 17-29. Let’s see what they do over a full balanced season before thinking this offense or even the team for that matter are better than the very mediocre team they’ve been since 2017.
Boe Jiden:
They were also 4 – 6 against the Dodgers. Only the Padres and A’s really dominated the Giants, against whom they were 3 – 13. And against the A’s they had late leads in several games that a lack of an effective closer cost them. Their record against everyone else beside the A’s and Padres was 26 – 18. They were a lot closer to having a winning record, and making the PS than you make it out to be.
Im surprised LA Wood let him Leaf
I bet hes used a a multi innig relief type guy
I am thinking long opener
The man has a glass arm; but, balls of steel.
If this is the giants primary lefty starter that’s a big risk. Obviously lots of winter left for them to add someone else. He fits in with all the rest of their rotation in that he’s like a #4 or #5 starter at best.
Completely agree. There is zero risk to this signing for the giants. Nothing to critique in the move. But the giants rotation just continues to look very meh. Nothing about this rotation says playoffs to me, which what Farhan said the goal was this year. There’s just a ton of “ifs” in this rotations. I can’t imagine the giants coming to town and anyone saying “I hope we don’t have to face _____”
Farhan tends to say a lot of things without really saying anything. I can understand wanting to wait for next off season to spend, but if he doesn’t make some real moves next year that lead to being legitimately competitive it might be time to show him the door.
There not going to show him the door for waiting out a bunch of hefty contracts he inherited while he rebuilds the farm system.
Agreed. Though I’m confident that the FO knows that’s the perception and is planning to act accordingly.
No major league signing is zero risk. Even setting aside the money committed, roster slots are limited, and if one of them could be filled by someone better, it’s an opportunity cost. Maybe minimal in this case, but not zero.
yeah but if you think opener – he is a guy you can put in expecting 1 time through the order – if he is doing well longer – then you have other long guys like anderson, beede, etc in the pen that can piggyback.
Zaidi has put together a starting rotation of #5 pitchers.
Like it. But they need to add at least one more guy. Porcello would work, if they aren’t making any big signings.
Let’s go Jays. Waiting on some kind of action here.
I hope it works out for both sides.
Team success could BURN if they had to FIRE WOOD !!
From a life long Dodger fan, thank you Alex. You kept us in game 6 which helped allowed us to overtake the Rays at the end. You will always be appreciated. Now, with that being said, I wish you success in games NOT against us.
I really hope for Wood to have a good year. He endeared himself to me when he got really upset for being traded from the Braves. I’m doubtless he’s over it but that was a statement to the kind of person he is; faithful to his team.
Quit signing former Reds
He was great in the first half of 2017. since then, not so much…
on balance im glad
When heathy he has great numbers, especially in short stints like he did in the Series. Great pick up, but I thought a playoff bound team would grab him, try to keep him healthy then put him in the pen for the playoffs. Mets still need a #5 and a LHP in the pen.
Bad from 2 points – first is I would have preferred Wood return to the Dodgers and second if he was not resigning, I didn’t want him to go to either the Battery Chuckers or the Asterisks.
Solid signing by the Giants. Their rotation has a pretty low floor if things go wrong, but there is real upside here. Given they’re not a surefire contender, these are the right types of moves to be making.
My boys, continuing to improve ever so slightly :’)
I like this signing for the Giants. However, I have a feeling Hamels will be the Best low candidate of the offseason.
As much as i hate the Giants thats a good signing.
Could be a solid under the radar signing if Wood returns to form
They have all the Reds starters except the one really good one.
…Logan Webb?
Twins fan here, honestly this is a great signing. Well done!
See ya!
Good signing as long as they’re not done. Pretty lousy if the Giants are ready to hang their hats on that rotation.
Sample size shenanigans no doubt, but, the Giants 2-5 starts combined last year for a 5.87 ERA across 164 innings pitched. Yikes!
Wow. First day in a long time I haven’t been on the site several times a day. Glad to see the Giants sign a nice leftie with upside at a good price.
Would love to see Kluber sign with the Giants and send Webb to minors for starting depth. But this is nice for today.
He’s ok , very inconsistent and tends to give up big innings after looking solid throughout a game. Can’t say Im sad as a Dodger fan he’s heading there lol. Good luck w that He peaked in ‘17
Come on you guys this guy hasn’t pitch in two years and he’s a still?
See ? I still don’t get it ! How guys like Alex wood still get guaranteed contracts ! He is always , always hurt !
One year relax. What else are the Giants spending their money on? Lattes?
Larmando:
Always hurt? That’s a bit hyperbolic. Yes, he’s had issues, but over his 7 full season (he didn’t get called up until the end of May in his rookie season) he’s averaged 18.25 starts per season. I also remember people saying the same thing about Ryu. He was always injured until he wasn’t, and was one of the top SPs over the past 2 seasons.
LOL Giants filled with washed up overpaid former Reds pitchers! Cueto, Desclafani, Wood and Gausman!
They need to sign Bauer and make it a clean sweep!
Gausman after last year hardly washed up. He had some other strong suitors…
Have fun with another Dodger cast off with more time on Injured list then on field! He had some good pitching in playoffs last season but hardly played in short regular season.
The signing is fine, but it better not be the last left-handed starting pitcher they sign because the Giants rotation is pretty bad—a bunch of 4/5s & a AAA (Webb). Stop thinking of Beede as ever being useful. Sign a respectable (and reasonably healthy) innings eater like James Paxton, old-guys Happ or Hamels, (or even better, a right-hander like Jose Quintana). Because injuries WILL happen and Gausman might very well regress.
Quintana’s a lefty..I agree with you, the rotation could crumble anytime..more SP depth is needed for the Giants
Right, a LEFTY, of course. Quintana is the perfect fit.
This Brave fan will always root for Alex……. hope he stays healthy.
I am trying very hard to not just straight out insult Al Avila. It is very hard. I like the guy. I do. I tell myself over and over again. I do.
God grant me the serenity……