As the Major League Baseball’s offseason enters January, most significant player transactions are complete and rosters largely settled for the 2013 season. Through January, we’ll feature the contenders in both the National and American Leagues, assessing their offseason efforts to address their 2013 roster needs. We’ll look back at how each team’s 2012 season ended with an eye on the updates and upgrades required to compete in 2013, how they’ve fared through the offseason and what the team looks like as we approach spring training.
We’re looking at the National League, with today’s focus being the 2012 World Champion San Francisco Giants.
Giants' 2012 Offseason Requirements
The San Francisco Giants capped an impressive 2012 regular season with a playoff run the ended in a four-game World Series sweep of the Detroit Tigers. The Giants rode an impressive pitching staff, strong bullpen, and an low-strikeout, high-contact offense to world series victory. The club opened the offseason with minimal roster questions, as the only prominent players slated for free agency were Melky Cabrera, Brian Wilson, Marco Scutaro and Angel Pagan.
OF Cabrera, undoubtedly the club’s MVP of the season’s first half did not play after August 17 after being suspended 50 games for PED use. After leaving Cabrera off the club’s postseason roster, it was clear Cabrera was set to leave ‘Frisco.
Wilson, the club’s closer in their 2010 world series run, did not play beyond April 2012 after suffering an elbow injury and undergoing Tommy John surgery. He remains a free agent, but has an open invitation from the club to revisit a contract if he does not find one to his liking on the open market.
Going into the offseason, it was an open question as to how the Giants would address their other pending free agents (Scutaro, Pagan) and the positions they filled (2B, CF) in 2012.
Offseason Transaction Recap
Scutaro’s outstanding postseason run left little doubt that the Giants would prioritize his resigning as a means to fill their second base position. After acquiring the 37 year-old from Colorado mid-season, Scutaro hit an impressive .362 BA and .473 SLG in 268 ABs. He topped those numbers with a postseason performance that netted him the World Series MVP honours. At the start of the Winter Meetings, general manager Brian Sabean confirmed that the Giants had resigned Suctaro to a three-year, $20M contract.
Coming off World Series MVP honours, Scutaro had all the leverage in his offseason negotiations with the Giants’ brass. He netted an impressive contract but he’ll be hard pressed to match his 2012 production going forward. After switching fields from Colorado to San Francisco, Scutaro upped his BABIP from .287 to .366. This improvement in his hit-balls put into play comes despite no discernable difference in his Z-Swing or O-Swing rates (from the Rockies to Giants). There’s little doubt Scutaro is due for significant regression in 2013. While his $6.6 AAV is not out of line with the skill he offers at the position, the Giants will be hard pressed to slot Scutaro as an everyday second baseman as he approaches his age-40 season.
With Scutaro’s resigning the Giants can resign Ryan Theroit as their backup infielder. He’s a third-year arbitration eligible player and provides the club a solid middle infield option in the $1-2M AAV range.
After enjoying a career-best season, Angel Pagan entered 2012 offseason as a free agent and looked to leverage BJ Upton’s new deal into his own lucrative contract. Coming into 2012, Pagan held a checkered performance history which gives little reason to think his 2012 is performance norm going forward. Despite many centerfield options on the market, Sabean resigned Pagan to a four-year, $40M contract. The contract will pay Pagan into his age-34 season.
Pagan’s a top-flight defender, but offers little in the way of power or plate approach. The Giants will be paying him as a 1.5-2.0 WAR player a year, which is a reasonable assumption considering the defense-speed combination he offers the club.
2012 Offseason Report Card and Look Forward to 2013
The Giants organization has become a model of consistency, one built around top flight staring pitchers and a young set of hitters (Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Pablo Sandoval) that will remain with the club for the next three-four seasons. Coming off a World Series victory, it’s difficult for a club to not overpay to retain it’s key free agents. In the case of Scutaro and Pagan, the overpay will apply in the years ahead.
Despite their large market and playoff appearances, the Giants remain a club run on mid-market budget ($115M in 2012). The overpays to Pagan and Scutaro have left the club with open questions in left field that seem to be unaddressed on the Giants current budget. Going into spring training, the club seems intent to run defence-first Gregor Blanco out as their starting left fielder. For a club with marginal hitting, left field could be an easy upgrade opportunity in what remains a tightly bunched NL West division.
The Giants have not taken advantage of the opportunity and revenues afforded to them through their World Series victory. They’ve addressed some positional holes with aging players on overpay contracts, while positions easy to upgrade remain unfilled. I’m not high on the Giants postseason retooling, so I’ll mark them with a C+ grade.