the Giants They were long expected to be one of the more aggressive teams of the winter after missing out on huge star signings Aaron the judge And Carlos Correa Last season. While the club was still active in the free agent market last year, deals were for lesser-known players such as Taylor Rogers, Michael Conforto And Mitch Haniger It didn’t save San Francisco from a 79-83 campaign that finished fourth in the NL West this year. As President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi and his front office look to shake things up ahead of the 2024 season, the club has been linked to a lot of this offseason’s top players, starting with star outfielders Cody Bellinger And Juan Soto To the NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell Even for a two-way star Shohei Otani.
One such star that the Giants are known to be interested in is right-hander NPB Yoshinobu YamamotoAl-Zaidi himself indicated that the club had scouted him extensively in the lead-up to his appointment late last month. today, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle He provided an update on the club’s interest in Yamamoto, who was ranked third on the free agent list in this year’s edition of MLBTR’s annual list of the top 50 free agents. Per Slusser Other teams interested in Yamamoto believe the Giants “have an edge” in the lottery for his services. Yamamoto appears to be among the most sought-after free agents this winter, with reports indicating that nearly half the league is interested in the 25-year-old right-hander. The Mets and Yankees, in particular, have been heavily linked to Yamamoto to this point in the offseason.
Even if San Francisco has a leg up on Yamamoto’s competition, signing would certainly require a significant financial outlay. The right-hander is widely expected to secure the biggest deal of any rookie pitcher on the market this winter alongside Ohtani; MLBTR has offered him a nine-year, $225 million deal that will only be topped by guaranteed guarantees by Gerrit Cole And Stephen Strasburg Among free agent starters. That shouldn’t be an issue for San Francisco, which reportedly offered Judge a deal in the $360 million range last offseason before the 2022 AL MVP eventually returned to the Yankees.
More MLB West divisions…
- the Angels They have made significant progress in assembling their coaching staff for 2024 under the new manager Ron Washington In recent weeks, anyway USA Today Bob Nightingale It notes that the club previously offered both former Pirates and Rockies manager Clint Hurdle as well as the 21-year-old MLB veteran LaTroy Hawkins Washington staff roles. Hurdle was offered the job as Washington’s bench coach while Hawkins was offered the role of bullpen coach. Nightingale goes on to note that both men are expected to retain their current roles as front office special assistants in Colorado and Minnesota, respectively. This is not a surprise, as the club has reportedly named Steve Karsay as the new coach in Anaheim while bench coach Ray Montgomery will remain in the position for a third season in 2024.
- the Notification They were open to moving the right-handed prospect Jack Leiter At the trade deadline this summer in the right deal for the promotion, according to Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The second overall pick of the 2021 draft was initially expected to be a fast-rising arm who could make an impact for a big-league club shortly after being drafted, but the righty has struggled to this point in his professional career. While Grant notes that Leiter made some strides last season, he is not yet ready to contribute in the majors and could be part of a resurgence of the bullpen rotation, if the Texans look to the trade market in their search for rotational upgrades this winter. While Leiter has a career 5.37 ERA across two minor league seasons, the 23-year-old finished the 2023 campaign on a relatively high note with a 3.31 ERA and a 39.7% strikeout rate in his last four starts at the Double-A level.