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Good morning, baseball fans!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, not Christmas (though that depends on your perspective I guess). It’s time for the hills to come alive with the sound of free agent rumors!
The San Francisco Giants have been rumored to be in the mix on three higher profile free agents this week.
First, there’s Cincinnati Reds outfielder Nick Castellanos, who put up a 3.2 bWAR season in 2021, with 34 home runs, a .309 AVG and a .939 OPS, leading him to an All Star appearance and a Silver Slugger. Castellanos would be a great fit for baseball reasons, but also for entertainment reasons. As he has a tendency to hit home runs at the worst possible times in a broadcast.
Second, there’s Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Chris Taylor. I think this one is a bit far-fetched, as the Dodgers have the means and likely interest to extend him and he seems to enjoy playing there. But the Giants are reportedly in on him as well. He had a 2.6 bWAR season in 2021, with 20 home runs, a .254 AVG and a .782 OPS, which drove him to his first All Star appearance. And the Giants saw his defense first hand during the playoffs, but we don’t need to get into that at the moment.
And finally, there’s former Oakland Atheltic and most recently Toronto Blue Jays infielder, Marcus Semien. Semien is from San Francisco, so if the Giants can offer a competitive contract that might tip the scales in their favor. And that would be a huge offensive addition. Semien put up a 7.3 bWAR season in 2021, with 45 home runs, 102 RBI, a .265 AVG and .873 OPS and winning the Gold Glove, Silver Slugger and making his first All Star appearance.
Not a bad mix of players to be in on, but we’ll see if any of them become priorities. The Giants have stated that their main priority will be the rotation. So for now, just enjoy these spicy rumors for what they are.
Old, random MCC article for you to read
Periodic reminder to not get your hopes up too high about anyone in particular.
The Giants have reasons to be hopeful for Giancarlo Stanton and Shohei Ohtani, and that’s the problem (November 28th, 2017 - Grant Brisbee)
How many days until pitchers and catchers report?
Giants pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in just 90 days.