Giants reportedly "hot for Alex Gordon"

It's the silliest micro-season of silly season, a week filled with plausible and implausible rumors. The problem (or encouraging part) of this is that almost everyone makes sense for the Giants. Every starting pitcher, every outfielder, from Anderson to Zobrist, made sense for them this winter. The Giants are reportedly hot for Alex Gordon, for example.

Hearing the @SFGiants are hot for Alex Gordon. @Royals won't be able to keep up with the money Gordon is hearing.

— Pedro Gomez (@pedrogomezESPN) December 8, 2015

Of course they are. Gordon would improve the 2016 Giants tremendously. Why wouldn't they be interested in him?

He'll be 32 next year, for one. And while he's a stellar defensive left fielder -- one of the very best in baseball -- he's not exactly a dynamic hitter. Think somewhere between Brandon Belt and Norichika Aoki. If you think that's hyperbole, look at the stats, remember the difference between AT&T Park and Kauffman Stadium, and check again. If he's really looking at five years and $100 million, just to pull numbers from a warm place, fans are going to be disappointed if they're expecting a cleanup hitter.

And I'm wary any left-handed hitter coming to AT&T Park, even in a knee-jerk kind of way. There are a lot of angry, frustrated outs in this spray chart:

Source: FanGraphs

That written, it's not like Kauffman is Coors Field and he's totally oblivious to the horrors of a big ballpark. He should be fine.

What about a left-handed hitter in general, ballpark aside? It would be a lot easier to slot a switch-hitter or right-hander in the lineup. The Giants would need to space Matt Duffy, Buster Posey, and Hunter Pence out if they want to avoid stacking too many left-handers together, especially if Gregor Blanco is in the starting lineup for whatever reason. It might make for an easy lineup to manage against in the late innings, even though Gordon doesn't have particularly nasty platoon splits.

Mostly, though, I'm worried about the age and the idea of an older player whose value is tethered so closely to his defense. His offense is merely above average, so the Giants would have to hope his legs held up, at least for the first three years of the deal or so.

On the other hand, Gordon sure would make the Giants better for next year. And the only thing in front of us is that delightful even year. Gordon would make an outstanding team defense even better. Imagine the team with Gordon and a pure center fielder, and you're left worrying about Hunter Pence as the defensive weak link. Which is absurd.

Likelihood of happening: 15 percent, just because I'm guessing if the Giants want to spend nine figures on a left fielder, they can go younger and more powerful. For now, though, the Giants are hot for Alex Gordon. The Winter Meetings are just a hoot.