The Giants have made the first of what’ll be multiple additions to the starting rotation, announcing agreement with free agent starter Anthony DeSclafani on a three-year, $36MM contract. (The team confirmed the contract terms). The deal pays the VC Sports Group client flat $12MM salaries each year from 2022-24.
DeSclafani, 32 next April, spent this past season in San Francisco. He joined the organization on a one-year, $6MM guarantee last December. That was a buy-low play for the front office, as DeSclafani has struggled with both injuries and performance en route to a 7.22 ERA across 33 2/3 innings the year before, his final season with the Reds.
The move worked out as well as president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi could have reasonably expected. DeSclafani stayed healthy — aside from a minimal IL stint due to ankle inflammation — and made 31 starts, finishing 18th in the National League in innings pitched. Along with taking on a heavy workload, DeSclafani posted arguably the best rate numbers of his career. He worked to a personal low 3.17 ERA and 3.62 FIP, while his 4.11 SIERA is right in line with his best marks during his time in Cincinnati.
Despite averaging north of 94 MPH on his fastball, DeSclafani’s swing-and-miss and strikeout numbers are more fine than spectacular. His 11% swinging strike rate and 22.5% strikeout rate this past season were both almost exactly in line with the respective league averages (10.9% and 22.4%) for starting pitchers. While he hasn’t been overpowering, DeSclafani has typically paired those decent strikeout numbers with plus control and a ground-ball rate at or just a tick above the league average.
Fielding independent metrics suggest DeSclafani’s more of a capable mid-rotation workhorse than a true top-of-the-rotation starter. There’s plenty of value in a third or fourth starter who soaks up average to slightly above-average innings in bulk, though, and that’s the type of pitcher DeSclafani has been over the course of his career. For a Giants team that could’ve lost all but Logan Webb from this year’s rotation, making a run at bringing DeSclafani back always seemed like a strong possibility.
San Francisco elected not to make him an $18.4MM qualifying offer at the outset of the offseason, but they struck fairly quickly to bring him back on a multi-year deal at a lesser average annual value. The guarantee comes in just a hair below MLBTR’s three-year, $42MM projection. It’s a sensible price point, although it’s worth noting that this kind of deal has become fairly atypical as teams have tended to devalue mid-tier arms in recent years. Among free agent starting pitchers, only Kyle Gibson ($30MM with the Rangers in 2019-20) and Tyler Chatwood ($38MM with the Cubs in 2017-18) have signed three-year deals worth between $30MM and $50MM over the past five offseasons.
The Giants have an abundance of payroll flexibility — both in 2022 and beyond. They’re apparently taking advantage of it to address their aforementioned rotation needs early in the offseason. In addition to the already-finalized DeSclafani reunion, the club is reportedly nearing a two-year deal with Alex Wood and was said to be making a strong run at Alex Cobb this morning. Whether all three starters will wind up in black and orange remains to be seen, but it’s clear the front office has made addressing the rotation a priority — seemingly in advance of the December 1 expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement.
To clear space on the 40-man roster for DeSclafani’s return, the Giants designated corner outfielder Alex Dickerson for assignment. That’ll almost certainly conclude Dickerson’s two and a half season tenure in the Bay Area, as he has more than enough service time to refuse an outright assignment even if he’s not traded or claimed off waivers over the coming days.
The Giants acquired Dickerson in a minor deal with the division-rival Padres in June 2019. That paid off handsomely, as the lefty-hitting outfielder performed quite well down the stretch that year and mashed in a limited sample during last year’s shortened season. Between those two campaigns, Dickerson kicked off his Giants’ career with a .294/.361/.552 showing over his first 341 plate appearances.
Impressive as he started, Dickerson couldn’t get on track in 2021. While he tallied a career-high 312 plate appearances this past season, he managed just a .233/.304/.420 line with 13 home runs. Combined with a limited defensive profile and an arbitration salary projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to land in the $3MM range, the front office determined not to bring him back in 2022.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that the Giants and DeSclafani had reached agreement on a three-year, $36MM deal. Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group reported that the deal paid DeSclafani an even $12MM in each season.
Image courtesy of USA TODAY Sports.
Let’s go Tony Disco!
From being released because he wasn’t considered worth his roster spot to getting $36M in the bank less than a year later. Must be really great to be a baseball player.
It wasn’t just a roster spot. He was due over $6m in arbitration and coming off a 7+ era season a small market team isn’t going to pay that.
Dodgers are better but this “putting the band back together” thing is a little disappointing from FZ. I thought he was smarter than this. You want to run this same team who had a first round exit out there when they are all a year older and you don’t have Posey anymore? Maybe a big signing is coming that could shake it up but I thought the Giants should have tried to get younger. They were one of the oldest teams in the league. It seems like FZ is very intentionally trying to get even older.
They have a top 25 prospect replacing Posey. They’ll get younger and younger the next few years. Getting younger by overpaying free agents to long term deals is not what “smart” front offices do. He built a 107 win team lol common man.
Younger does not necessarily mean more talent. Guys like DeSclafani and Wood should benefit from a *full* year of success with the same team they are returning to. That said, it should be taken into consideration that these same pitchers will be throwing to a different catcher, that they are not taking low salary 1 year deals this time (meaning more costly), and yes that they are older by a season meaning the mileage on their arms have increased.
That 107 win team was a fluke or an anomaly and they won’t even sniff 90 wins in 2022.
You know I am right.
Investing in the mid and back of the rotation is an investment in Joey Bart and his transition period as he learns to call and catch games at the Major League Level. By the time DeSclafani and Wood are timing out of their deals maybe Bart is carrying the water of Kyle Harrison or some other young arm and so the transition to the youth finally happens, subtly, sans the crash burn and destroy of usual rebuilds.
Good Dodgers own him.
Yah even wood coming back to Sf is fine. Our team is simply better
Do the Dodgers really own anyone?
Is this a joke? This guy peed down his leg in his only appearance in the playoffs and pitched like crap every time he faced the dodgers. Why can’t FZ just find another reclamation project and why o why would anyone give this guy 3 years?!?!?
I root for the Cubs and Dodgers.
It seems like an ok signing to me if he ends up being the number three or four starter. He has pitched pretty well overall and he is a better bet than Cobb or Heaney. It does not seem like an overpay.
Name a pitcher that didn’t get schlacked v the Dodgers?
Logan Webb
Logan Webb!!!!
Did you come back 20 minutes later just to comment again with more enthusiasm?
I don’t blame him.
it’s hard not to be excited about Webby
Yes!!!! My post wasn’t showing up so had to make sure. Interesting how the article says in the last 5 years there have only been 2 other pitchers this mediocre to sign for this much money and years. Teams are devaluing mid tier arms but for some reason FZ has decided to overvalue them! Thats like selling low when everyone else is selling high. Bold strategy I guess
It’s not just the Dodgers though. Desclafani feasted on poor teams and was knocked around by good teams last year.
Vs. sub .500 teams: 12-1 1.96 ERA .898 WHIP
Vs. winning teams: 1-6 5.77 ERA 1.507 WHIP
That last stat includes 0-3 with 7.33 ERA and a 1.778 WHIP in 6 starts vs. LA in the regular season. On a team with October aspirations, it’s hard to feel confident putting him in a postseason rotation vs. playoff teams.
DeSlafani . LOL dude can’t beat good hitting teams. SF won’t contend next year
In all fairness he did get lit up by the Dodgers, but luckily the shoves it against bad hitting teams such as the Padres
So you think 107 wins was a fluke? They had a winning head to head record against the Dodgers, and without question had more head to head wins when throwing SD in the conversation
It’s important for any organization to get a firm grasp on reality, but as an old pitcher one said: “I’d rather be lucky than good”!
Absolutely it was a Fluke. 107 wins with THAT line up is clearly Luck.
It won’t happen again next year. No way
How’d that mighty 107 win team fair in the playoffs???
Lol.
BLOWN OUT IN 1st ROUND
Blown out? 2-1 in game 5 and the entire series, I guess you could say aside from Game 1, which was pretty fair in terms of umpires, the umpires clearly favored LA. And what happened the next series? The Dodgers lost. Did they get BLOWN OUT too?
Blown out? They lost 2-1 in a Game 5 that was tied until the 9th.
Good to see you back with your nonsense though; I missed it.
Umpires?? LOL
Sounds like Loser talk
SF got Bounced in the first round. LAD played deep into NLCS
It doesn’t even compare
Bahahaha….28 games back AND the fookin Rockies almost caught you! Now put the beer down and know your place in the basement!!!
@TonyGwynn
Says the fan of a team that didn’t even come close to a wild card spot?
Look @trolltony, they didn’t get BLOWN out in the first round. They lost in game 5 (of 5) to the Dodgers who (on paper at least) have a stronger roster, by one run. That’s not blown out.
SD ending the season some 30 games behind both the Dodgers and the Giants is what I call BLOWN OUT.
He had the one really awful outing and one bad one in 6 starts during the reg season.
The others were
6 in 0 runs
4.2 2 runs
5 3 runs
6 3 runs
Tied for league lead in shutouts.
I’d expect anyone the dodgers see 6 times to have some bad innings there. The dodgers had too great of a lineup fo go cold for that amount of exposure. Doesn’t even come close to devaluing the good innings eater that Desclafani should continue to be for a few years at that price
3 years 12 million is not that bad. Not too much of an overpay at all and serviceable with his career numbers.
It was a below market signing for a mid rotation pitcher that put up over 4 WAR. What’re you even complaining about?
What a deal
ayyo got that one
man this free agent tracker business is no joke. At least I got Heaney right (before they locked the form)
He only got 13 AAV? Rangers need to hop on this pitching market asap!
flat 12 per year
Rangers 29: They got McKinney and the other guy….busy enough for one day.
3/36M for DeSclafani is a very good deal for the Giants.
Completely agree
Part of me wants to disagree, because i sort of think he deserved more of 3/30 at most. At the same time though, Gausman went from a 3.30 ish ERA to a 2.86 ERA(or somewhere around there)
As a Giants fan, I like it. DeSclafani could have easily been a All Star last year. His only hiccups were against the Dodgers, but otherwise a stud.
I trust Zaidi/Harris, they’re worth every penny. I’m patiently waiting to see if they target any of the A’s players for a potential trade? I’d love to see Matt Chapman on the Giants.
“ His only hiccups were against the Dodgers”
– Yeah, but a lot of pitchers ran into that same problem because they’re, well, the Dodgers. Agree with you that he’s a good pickup for them and I was ‘hoping’ the Yanks would’ve considered him. But, nope.
True. Every pitcher had “hiccups” against the Dodgers. I agree 100% …
His hiccups were against most teams with a winning record unfortunately.
Central Valley – Not likely.
I disagree. Matt Chapman doesn’t hit well enough. The Giants already have Longo for defense and even Longo hits better than Chapman
Matt Chapman has declined the past few years.
Was hoping Detroit would land him or Gray. This is a nice low risk contract for the Giants. Wonder if the market never really developed or he wanted familiarity and felt gratitude for the Giants’ coaching staff reinvigorating his career. Either way, another piece off the board.
No need to wonder; the market did NOT develop except for SF, which should reflect on his value to the rest of MLB. Some team organizations make the strangest decisions.
Strongly root against the Giants. Pretty good signing for them though. Some back-end stability at a very modest (by MLB free agent standards) price.
Was obviously on my radar as the Angels need rotation help. Decent salary for a mid rotation arm with some injury risk.
Rats. The Orioles were only 35M short.
I’d question the deal, but I ain’t questioning Farhad anymore.
In my FA pool, I had DeSclafani going back to the Giants and my estimate was EXACTLY $36M/3 years. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. I like this signing AND bringing back Wood. Not so sure about Cobb.
NICE PETE!!
Nice move
12 million is usually a good deal for a backend of the rotation pitcher, and they got a middle of the rotation one. Good deal for the Giants.
All this activity today; can’t even watch my beloved NY FOOTBALL Giants beat Brady tonight….(ya….)
tonight we are all Giants fans.
For less than the annual cost of Scherzer, Zaidi reportedly will have 4/5th’s of his rotation done (Webb, DeSclafani, Wood, and perhaps Cobb) before the end of November. Still no long FA commitments, and plenty of money to spend on a top-tier, front-of-the-rotation starter should he want to play in that pool.
With money left over to add an everyday bat or two, and even a top-tier bullpen arm or two. Yeah, I’d say Zaidi is off to a good start.
The Giants are being a little disappointing. They had one rotation arm with a ton of money to spend and they spent the money overpaying for Wood and DeSclafani, and I’m hoping they don’t sign Alex Cobb now. My hope now is that they resign Gausman and pursue Ray or Stroman. Why did they sign Wood and DeSclafani before Gausman? DeSclafani struggled against contending teams and Wood was hit or miss, leaning more towards miss
I was not in on the player negotiations, but I’m guessing they signed Wood and DeSclafsni before Gausman simply because they were willing to sign their name on the dotted line first.
They underpaid for both. What’re you saying lol these are easily below market deals for mid rotation players coming off solid years.
DeSclafani struggled against contenders, and while 12m is fairly cheap, I do think that’s a little overpriced. Wood was a little too shaky, but 10m is pretty cheap so I won’t complain there.
Seriously friendly salaries for 2 pitchers lol! 22m to fill two spots leaves alot of money left for the rest of the rotation and add some big bats in the lineup.
This is a GREAT deal. When you look at some of the money lesser pitchers are getting so far, then this looks like a great deal. Anyone who thinks this is a bad deal doesn’t know anything about anything. This guy was always talented, but pitched in a sandbox and had injuries sprinkled in. He’ll be alright pitching for the Giants. Not sure if he can sustain this year’s numbers, but I think he’ll remain solid. Besides, they were down 4 starters and needed to start adding starters quickly since there aren’t a whole lot of TOR guys this year. I would like to see them add Max though
Incredible that SF thinks that he finally learned how to pitch in ’21. They’re making a decision based on a statistical anomaly that’s not likely to be repeated. “Hey, we got lucky, so lets see if we can draw to an inside straight four times in a row”!
@Who yeah it had nothing to do with the most forward thinking coaching staff in the league. Just luck.
Sarcasm aside, MLB “coaching” is highly overrated; nothing much more than cronyism to give their buddies a job. You actually believe a Quality Control Coach is a necessity? Players rarely pay any attention to the 1b or 3b coaches and bench coaches are an absolute joke. There are indeed a few (VERY few) effective pitching coaches, but “forward thinking” is a highly subjective term that has no statistical or quantitative basis. How do you even decide who is and is not in that category? It makes no sense at all to base it on one good year from DeSclafani.
Right. Gausman, Webb, and DeSclafani all collectively decided they were going to make changes. They decided they’d save their breakout seasons for SF. Solano, Belt, Crawford, Posey, Slater(sorta), Longo, Wade, along with any players I know I have forgotten with there being so many, all collectively decided they would find, or re-find, in some cases, their stride/strides in SF. Had nothing to do with the coaches, right? Just a coincidence they all figured it out together in SF? I can tell you from personal experience that a single coach can change a lot for a player, and the Giants have multiple of those very impactful coaches
Were you saying the same thing about Gausman in 2020? Did he get lucky with his “anomaly” in 2020 then luckier and more anomalier in 2021. These guys had resurgent years in 2021:
Posey
belt
crawford
Longoria
Duggar
Ruf
wood
gausman (besting his 2020 resurgence)
desclifani
Webb
Mcgee
Rogers
Watson
So they got “lucky ” with all these guys. The rest of the league is already starting to poach Giants coaches in hopes they can get “lucky” too, Whonoze? Your comment below about bench coaches/third base coaches ? Ron Wotus, bench coach for 3 rings and 3rd base coach this year. So to sum up your beliefs,, more than half the Giants roster got “lucky” with useless coaches.
About half of that list are considered average players at best by most baseball experts. They had a magic season with an average team.
How many of them made the all MLB team?
Now look how many Braves and Dodgers made that list.
Not even close in talent. No way was the 107 wins based on talent. It was much and several had anomaly type seasons and bounce back seasons.
Most of those guys on that list are simply roster fillers not marquee names that teams covet.
They had a great season but they won’t even sniff 90 wins next season with the Padres having a healthy rotation and the obvious decline most of the Giants players will endure.
Meant it was luck and anomaly type seasons in the 4th sentence.
Wow, you actually read your post again before clicking send??
Don’t get me wrong, the Dodgers have been an amazing team for some time now, but you are really knocking the Giants. Sure, the Dodgers have more “big name” players, and probably will for another year plus. But to say the Dodgers had more talent might be incorrect. The Giants had 6 nominees for the All-MLB team. They also had 4 players in MVP placing. The Dodgers had 2, with both being trade deadline acquisitions from the Nationals. The Braves had 3. The Giants had the most injuries out of all the teams in the MLB, and still managed to win 107 games. I wouldn’t count them out just yet, although I highly doubt they will win 105+
They will be lucky to win 90 much less break 100 again. They are talent thin and basically field a mediocre lineup and a rotation full of mid rotation arms.
Don’t let last years anomaly full you. Sure they had guys nominated for the All-MLB team but let’s face it those players had career years all in the same season. You can’t script that.
They had a magical season with a mediocre team. It will not happen again. I can promise you they won’t reach 90 wins in 2022.
The Giants have been a 75-85 win team the past few full seasons. Then out of the blue they win 107 games? Come on.
I figured they would be better than they have been the past few seasons. I had them winning between 83-88 games as most people did.
But they had a magical season and won 107 games. That is not easy to do. I mean you look at powerhouse teams like the Dodgers and the Astros who are both stacked and you wouldn’t be surprised if they won 105+ games.
You look at the Giants winning 107 and wonder how. Everyone else was wondering the same thing.
The thing is that several good teams lost MVP type players who are hard to replace like Acuna and Tatis or Seager or May or Kershaw and that’s not even mentioning Bauer.
The Giants backups were just as good as their starters so losing Belt when they had Ruf to fill in wasn’t a huge offset.
They had good depth but some of those players wouldn’t make the Dodgers or Astros roster.
You lose an Acuna or Tatis type player it’s hard to come back from that. You lose a Belt or Longoria type player not so much. Both were considered DFA candidates just 2 seasons ago along with Crawford.
They have an aging roster and most baseball experts figure they would do some kind of turnover to get younger.
But they didn’t and all of their aging vets had career years while career #4 starters pitched like #2’s.
To win 107 games you have to have everything go right for you and that’s what the Giants had.
I mean the Dodgers lost 2 Cy Young winners and an all-star SS not to mention Betts and May.
The Padres lost 3/5 of their rotation all of while are equally good as Gausman if not better.
The Braves lost all world CF Acuna and Soroka and Ozuna.
All of these players are far better than anything the Giants lost especially considering the Giants backups are nearly as good as their starters.
All that said, it was an anomaly type season filled with luck and magic. They will not repeat or even come close in 2022.
All if their resurrected average players will be a year older. The pitching staff showed decline down the stretch. They lack a true ace or even a true #2.
Stop dreaming. The Giants are built to win 84-88 games in 2022. Even with a couple marquee FA’s they won’t reach 93 wins.
Belt doesn’t get enough credit. Sure, he’s hurt a lot. I’m definitely not his biggest fan, let’s make that clear. I’m also not in favor of offering him the QO. He’s hurt so much, but when he plays he makes an impact. Look at what the coaching staff has done with players, though. Gausman, DeSclafani, Webb, Solano, Wade, Ruf, Crawford, and even Posey(based off his most recent seasons). None of those players were very successful until they got with the Giants coaches. Then, they became high contributors. Why don’t you think they can continue doing that? You really think that they had THAT MUCH luck in order to win 107 wins and have more wins than the Dodgers both head to head and overall? The Giants have started a new era. Zaidi and Co. know what they’re doing. They have money to spend this offseason. They will compete again next season and I firmly believe they’ll win at least 90 games
USA, was it not obvious my post above was meant to indicate that coaching had a major influence on player success? Your response about talent was completely irrelevant in response. In fact, I could argue that the Giants performed, largely due to coaching, to the level of the talented players you referred to. But your post?? It was as if you were saying it’s 3:40pm when I ask what the weather’s like outside.
@Pete Rose
I can respect your opinion of how you think the Giants can continue their success. I get it. They just came off an amazing season.
But they also had everything go right for them. The extra coaches helps sure but the players all rebounded or had career years and even #4 starters pitched like #2 starters throughout the season.
I just don’t see them repeating that kind of success. The aging bats are a year older and the other 2 good teams in the division should be fully healthy.
No way the Giants win 107 games with the Padres rotation at 100% or even 90%. They lost 3/5 of their starting rotation. They lost Tatis arguably a top 3 player in the NL for a couple of months.
The Dodgers lost 2 Cy young winners and a top young arm in May for a stretch. Plus they lose Seager and Betts. These guys are worlds apart in talent from what the Giants lost.
No one had the Giants winning 95+ games last season for a reason. Most had them winning between 75-85 games. They had a magical season but they are now a year older and lost their heart and sole in Posey.
I have them winning 84-88 games in 2022. I take their obvious regression into consideration and the health of the Padres rotation into consideration. On top of the Dodgers being healthy.
I just don’t see how the Giants come close to their 2021 season. I would be shocked if they won 92-94 games.
We will see how they spend their money this off-season but right now they look like the 3rd best team in their division. With the bottom 2 being on the 10 year rebuild program.
@Claude
The talent simply hadn’t been there in years and it shows when you look at their record the past few seasons. They were a bottom dweller team.
Then they add more coaches and voila they become a juggernaut? No way. This isn’t the start if a dynasty. They had everything go right for them in 2021. To win 107 games is not easy. Not even for a powerhouse team like the Dodgers or the Astros.
The Giants are not a powerhouse team nor have they really ever been a powerhouse team. They are a Medicare squad who plays with 100% grit. They are the little guys that upset the powerhouse teams
They are well rounded I mean no 35-40 HR guys or 35 SB guys or 230 strikeout pitchers. They don’t have a marquee team but they play with grit and they are well rounded and well coached.
It’s like the “Replacements” movie with Keuna Reeves. They aren’t the best team out there but they play with heart. Miles of it.
Most had them winning 75-85 games in 2021 for a good reason. They had a magical season that only comes along every 20 years or so. No way do they repeat that with an aging roster and without Posey.
They have a soft lineup and a rotation full of 3rd starters. They could add deGrom and Trout and still not be the best team in baseball and we both know they aren’t getting either of those players.
The Angels have a better team than the Giants. If they added 2-3 good starters they would be scary with that lineup. Trout and Rendon and Ohtani alone are better than the Giants entire lineup. They just don’t have any pitching.
My point is the talent isn’t there to repeat that kind of success. No way do the Giants win 95+ in 2022. Look for them to win 84-88 games next season. If they sign a couple of stars then push that to 91-94 games but no way do they win 95+ with the base they have.
Sorry but 2021 was an anomaly type season from the Giants 100%. Most people still look at that team in disbelief of how that team put up 107 wins. But no one bats an eye with the Dodgers winning 106 games even without Kershaw and Bauer and May and Seager and Betts throughout the season.
Injuries aside even with the Giants losing more players to injury if you take away all injuries what do you think the outcome would have been?
You can’t honestly think the Giants win more games than a healthy Dodgers team with Kershaw and Bauer not missing more than a couple of starts.
Most of the aging Giants players that bounced back were DFA candidates or bad contracts just 2 seasons ago. While the Dodgers lost MVP candidates and Cy Young winning pitchers.
So injuries aside the Dodgers run away with that division. But injuries being part of the game and all evened things out for the Giants. They took their shot and did great but it won’t be repeated.
They simply don’t have a 100 win roster. Not even close. Not just my opinion. I share this opinion with many people.
Anyways take care and good luck next season.
My 2 favorite teams are the Braves and Dodgers and I look forward to 2022.
That’s the exact contract he should have received not some of the nonsense being thrown around the last couple of weeks. Alex Wood should get roughly the same if not a bit less.
Would’ve been a solid pickup by the Angels
He actually does seem like a good fit for the Angels
You can do a lot worse than DeSclafani at 12M$. This is a decent contract for SF
Deals like this make it hard to imagine that 14 years ago Carlos Silva was signed to a 4 year 48M deal to be a SP for the Mariners. Look up the stats, it is ugly and hasn’t aged well.
These are pitchers that had successful seasons pitching to the Posey/Casali duo. With Posey gone there was a fear that free agent pitchers would shy away. 2 that pitched to Posey still wanted to come back even with him retired. THAT was a major reason to sign them relatively asap. I believe the Giants hope to send that message with the signings.