San Francisco Giants: Recap and Question, Retool or Rebuild?

The San Francisco Giants retooled for the 2018 season by adding former MVP Andrew McCutchen and the aging face of the Tampa Bay Rays Evan Longoria. The goal was to lengthen a weak lineup to match a decent pitching staff. This strategy failed.

Due to a freak injury at the end of 2018 Spring Training, San Francisco Giants ace pitcher Madison Bumgarner would miss a considerable amount of time to begin the season.

However, the San Francisco Giants started 2018 with some reason for optimism. Johnny Cueto gave up just one earned run after his first four starts. Perhaps he could hold the staff together before a heroic return by MadBum.

Instead, the Giants endured more injuries and barely performed better than their miserable 2017 season. San Francisco finished 2018 with 73 wins. That is just a nine game improvement from the last place effort the previous season.

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Bumgarner returned and pitched well, but Cueto hurt himself. Then, he returned and hurt himself worse. Now, Cueto is out for 2019 after having Tommy John surgery.

Jeff Samardzija was going to be the third part of the Giants triple-threat starting pitching attack, but he started the season on the DL and never really got it rolling all year.

The injuries to the starting staff allowed the San Francisco Giants to discover some surprising prospects.

Dereck Rodriguez, son of Hall of Fame catcher Ivan Rodriguez, pitched well during his opportunities.

San Francisco Giants: Should They Try To Sign Manny Machado Or Bryce Harper?

As a whole the aging San Francisco Giants could not stay on the field, and they did not have a deep enough team or organization to fill in for injured veterans.

Giants General Manager Bobby Evans took over the team after Brian Sabean won three World Series in five years with the club. After losing 98 games in 2016, making the team older and failing in 2017, Evans was fired.

Andrew McCutchen has been traded and Hunter Pence has retired, but the Giants still have veterans Evan Longoria, Buster Posey, and Brandon Belt on offense. San Francisco’s shortstop, Brandon Crawford, is more of a defensive specialist than offensive weapon, but he has some power.

That being said, the San Francisco Giants finished 2018 next-to-last in the NL with just 603 runs scored. None of their outfield prospects panned out very well.

The team acquired hitting prospect Abiatal Avelino from the New York Yankees in the Andrew McCutchen trade, however, he is viewed more as an MLB backup than a difference-maker.

The Giants look pretty low and probably should be considering a rebuild. They have enough trade chips and keystone players to create a quick rebuild in the mold of the Houston Astros and Milwaukee Brewers.

However, the Giants have always been more about retooling than rebuilding. Should San Francisco trade away a fan favorite such as Madison Bumgarner for a couple of top prospects?

In an email letter to fans, San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer insisted the team would compete sooner rather than later. He sounds more like a man who wants a quick retool than someone ready to initiate a rebuild.

"“Though we’re changing some personnel and practices, we’re not changing who we are. We will continue to invest deep resources into putting the best possible team on the field. Every move this off-season will be tested against one question: Will it help us win?” Baer penned to fans."

The San Francisco Giants have a history of being loyal to their World Series heroes. Many think the team will aggressively pursue one of the major free agents during the 2018 post season.

One of the Giants beat reporters, John Shea, thinks the team will take a run at Bryce Harper.

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The team will have to fill at least two outfield spots after not getting much production there in 2018.

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