Giants have difficult decisions to make on arbitration-eligible players

Giants have difficult decisions to make on arbitration-eligible players originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — A few days before he was let go, Farhan Zaidi flew to Arizona to watch the Giants take on the Diamondbacks and participate in organizational meetings. It was time to start talking about important offseason decisions, with the first deadlines coming well before the biggest free agents make their decisions.

All of that now is on Buster Posey’s plate, and while there’s nothing he can do about the first important checkpoint — Blake Snell’s opt-out, which he will take advantage of — Posey and his hand-picked general manager soon will have to decide how much of their 2025 payroll they want to commit to arbitration-eligible veterans.

The Giants have a little less than a month to figure out whether to tender contracts, although the most interesting decision already was made. Thairo Estrada was going to be non-tendered anyway after a rough season, but he will be a free agent at the start of the offseason after the Giants took him off the 40-man roster altogether in September.

That leaves four veterans, all of whom have had huge moments in orange and black. Here’s a look at what the Giants might do, with 2025 salary estimates provided by MLB Trade Rumors:

Mike Yastrzemski ($9.5 million):

Asked directly about Yastrzemski during that trip to Phoenix, Zaidi admitted he has a soft spot for the veteran outfielder, a sign that he certainly would be back for a seventh season in San Francisco. Posey figures to feel the same way.

The new president of baseball operations was in the lineup when Yastrzemski broke through in 2019 and they played together in 2021, too. Yastrzemski never will reach those 2020 heights again, but he does all the little things well and is a good presence in the clubhouse.

He also is, despite what some on social media will tell you, still a pretty valuable right fielder.

Yastrzemski is a Gold Glove Award finalist for the second time and turned his season around after a rough April, finishing with a 106 wRC+ and 18 homers. Teams generally value one Win Above Replacement at about that predicted 2025 salary, and Yastrzemski just put up a 1.6 WAR season, which followed 1.5 WAR and 1.6 WAR in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

The Giants know exactly what they’re going to get from the veteran, and there’s value in that. He’s also a great fit for a roster that should have Jung Hoo Lee in center and Heliot Ramos in left. If Posey makes a splash and adds another outfielder, Yastzemski is an ideal fourth guy because of his ability to play all three spots. If a Luis Matos of Marco Luciano breaks through, the same holds true. And if this is the group, then the Giants will be just fine with Yastrzemski in right. That’s what he wants, too.

“After April I was pretty frustrated and just really wanted to battle back and prove my value, because I love this place. I don’t want to go anywhere for as long as I play,” he said in September. “I love the group here, the staff, the front office has treated me like family and they’re amazing, the fans are incredible and made it feel like home.

“The goal is to stay here as long as I can and I understand that that’s usually based on performance, so I’m just trying to continue to bring value every day, whether it’s leading in here (in the clubhouse), whether it’s playing the right way, whether it’s running hard and making some plays on defense.

“I want to just show value in every place that I can to try to stick around as long as I can.”

Yastrzemski would like a multi-year deal and perhaps the Giants do that to bring the average annual value down a bit, but regardless, he should be back in the mix next season.

Tyler Rogers ($5.5 million)

Rogers led the NL in appearances for the second time and posted a 2.82 ERA and 3.57 FIP. Like Yastrzemski, he seems to just repeat the same season over and over again, although there was a notable difference this time around. Rogers walked just six batters in 77 appearances and set an MLB record by issuing zero unintentional walks in his first 35 games. He had the lowest walk rate in all of baseball and held opponents to the third-lowest average exit velocity.

Soft contact and pounding the zone. You can’t really ask for much more from a reliever.

The Giants mostly used Rogers as a setup man in 2024, but if Camilo Doval can find his old form, Rogers can really be used anywhere in the late innings. He seemingly never gets tired, and as he returns for a seventh season, he’ll start to pass some interesting names on franchise leaderboards.

Rogers needs just four appearances to pass Matt Cain and with his normal production, he would become the 15th pitcher in franchise history to make 400 career appearances. If he matches last season’s 77 appearances, he’ll pass Jeremy Affeldt and Santiago Casilla.

LaMonte Wade Jr. ($4.7 million)

When you go one by one, it’s easy to feel that all four players on this list should be back at their prices. But there’s a holistic aspect to this, too.

Even with some of their new, young contributors, the Giants need to get more athletic, and they might feel a bit squeamish about bringing back both the 34-year-old Yastrzemski and 30-year-old Wade, who has dealt with nagging lower-body injuries. They also might just feel they need more from first base.

The Giants got just 14 homers from the position, which ranked 28th in the Majors. Their first basemen were 21st in OPS and 29th in RBI. Posey played most of his career with a first baseman (Brandon Belt) who was more of an on-base guy than a slugger, but still, this is one area where the organization can easily find more power.

There have been two versions of Wade in recent years. When healthy, he gives you a bit of a Juan Soto impersonation, running deep counts and posting OBPs above .400. In the first half this year, he was at .438.

But when his knee is bothering him, there’s a real issue. In the second half, he slashed .207/.316/.342.

Ultimately, Wade makes sense in part because of what’s on the way. The Giants don’t want to block first base long-term because they anticipate Bryce Eldridge debuting in 2025, but they do need someone who can continue to handle the position until Eldridge is ready. Wade on another one-year commitment is a pretty good option.

There are others — Carlos Santana, Paul Goldschmidt, etc. — who could make a lot of sense as bridges to Eldridge, but even if the Giants end up with one of those guys, it still makes sense to lock Wade up and either move him around or make a trade.

Camilo Doval ($4.6 million)

It was a nightmare season for Doval in just about every way. He’s also 27 years old with one of the best right arms in the world, and he might command three times this salary if he were available on a one-year deal in free agency.

This is a no-brainer, and really the only conversation to be had with Doval is about what his initial 2025 role is. The Giants have a stress-free closer now in Ryan Walker, but every postseason game they watch is a reminder that you can never have enough relievers with high-octane stuff.

In Doval and Randy Rodriguez, they have two potentially overpowering right-handed setup men, and while Doval surely regrets not signing a long-term deal when he was coming off an All-Star year, he’s still young enough and talented enough to return to the ninth inning at some point and cash out when he does reach free agency.

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