LHP Tony Watson exercised his Player Option to extend his contract for 1 more season. His base pay will be $2.5 M with an AAV for CBT calculations of $3 M. He reportedly has incentives in the contract which allow him to earn up to $7 M if he meets all of them. Watson was a reliable set up man in the first half of 2019, but his ERA ballooned in the second half. His season ended with a hand injury suffered while diving to tag the bag in a close play at 1B. New rules are likely to make lefty relievers who can hold their own against RH batters very valuable, so watch the trade market for Watson.
The Giants declined a Team Option on LHP Fernando Abad and RHP Kyle Barraclough elected free agency rather than accept an assignment to AAA Sacramento. Neither of these developments were unexpected.
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The Yankees kept LHP Aroldis Chapman from opting out of the final 2 years of his contract with a 1-year extension for $18 M. Chapman now has 3 years/$48 M left on his current contract. Chapman earned 37 Saves with a 2.21 ERA in 2019.
This signing may have a ripple effect on the Giants as it potentially sets a benchmark for Will Smith's value. Smith put up very similar numbers last year with 34 Saves and a 2.76 ERA. The comp suggests Smith is right on the bubble for a Qualifying Offer and for accepting it. Smith and the Giants could also work out a multiyear deal with a lower AAV to avoid the QO. Lot of possible permutations here. Stay tuned!
What is a realistic expectation to have as a Giants fan for this offseason? I honestly have no clue what Farhan is going to do. Does he spend a ton of money on one or two or three of the top free agents to make this team watchable and potentially competitive next season or is he going to continue to rebuild without going through an official “rebuild”!
ReplyDeleteLast year Farhan must have saved ownership a ton of $ by not signing any long term or overly pricey contracts but it also had an adverse affect on ticket sales costing gate revenue and possibly long term damage to the ADHD fanbase. Can they afford to do nothing once again this offseason with virtually every position in need of an upgrade and clearly superior options on the FA market?
If no big signings are made this offseason I think it is safe to say 2020 will be a difficult team to watch and expectations for improvement likely would need to be 2022 or 2023. That would mean his plan from the start was a 4-5 year rebuild which I’m not really all that excited about since we would be going into year 2 of that 5 year suck plan. If I had to bet, my guess is this was the plan the entire time and Giants fans should be prepared for little to no major upgrades this offseason or next.