Current Roster
Before deciding which players to target, we need to address the players that are currently on the roster and whether they’ll remain on the roster in 2019.
Impending Free Agents
Hunter Pence, OF
Nick Hundley, C
Derek Holland, P
Gregor Blanco, OF
Peter Bourjos, OF
Options – $12.6 million total
Madison Bumgarner, P, $12 million picked up
Pablo Sandoval, IF, league minimum option picked up
Giants fans will hate this, but MadBum will be the key of this rebuild and could either turn the team around quickly or allow the team to incredibly stock the farm system depending on the return they choose to get.
Long-term contracts – $128.38 million total
Buster Posey, C, $22.18 million
Evan Longoria, 3B, $14.67 million
Johnny Cueto, P, $21.83 million
Jeff Samardzija, P, $19.8 million
Brandon Crawford, SS, $15.2 million
Brandon Belt, 1B, $17.2 million
Mark Melancon, P, $14 million
Tony Watson, P, $3.5 million
Some very ugly deals here for sure, especially when you look at the length beyond just 2019 of all of these deals. Moving all of them, or even most of them, will be very difficult.
Arbitration-eligible players
Sam Dyson, P, $5.4 million projection
Joe Panik, 2B, $4.2 million projection
Will Smith, P, $4.1 million projection
Hunter Strickland, P, $2.5 million projection
Gorkys Hernandez, OF, $1.6 million projection
All five arbitration players are certainly worthy of their contracts, and it would be a wise investment on the part of the Giants to sign all five as each could draw significant trade interest or be a solid piece for a rebuilding club.
Pre-arbitration players
Ty Blach, P
Chris Stratton, P
Andrew Suarez, P
Dereck Rodriguez, P
Reyes Moronta, P
Ray Black, P
Josh Osich, P,
Steven Duggar, OF
Mac Williamson, OF
Alen Hanson, IF/OF
Aramis Garcia, C
Chris Shaw, 1B/OF
Tyler Beede, P
Roberto Gomez, P
Pierce Johnson, P
Derek Law, P
Steven Okert, P
Austin Slater, OF
Ryder Jones, 1B/3B
Rodriguez and Hanson were both huge surprises for the San Francisco Giants in 2018, and both will have significant roles on the team in 2019.
With all of these players currently listed, the estimated payroll is ~$154 million. That gives us an idea of where to go from here.