MLB Free Agency: Potential landing spots for A.J. Pollock
By Joey Brasch
San Francisco Giants
MLB Trade Rumors guesses the Giants will go out and get Pollock. It makes sense, as Giants’ center fielders combined for -0.9 Fangraphs WAR, only beating out the depleted outfield of the Miami Marlins at the position.
At the end of the 2018 season, Giants’ manager Bruce Bochy said that he expects Steven Duggar to be the 2019 Opening Day center fielder after impressing team leadership in his 41-game debut at the end of 2018.
It is worth noting that the Giants didn’t just struggle in center field, as their entire outfield combined for 0.1 fWAR, the third-worst in MLB. Even if Bochy and the front office believe in Duggar going forward, there would be plenty of room in the outfield for Duggar and Pollock with the official depth chart showing Chris Shaw and Austin Slater as the starting left fielder and right fielder, respectively.
However, there is always the question of how competitive the Giants expect to be in the next few years after losing 98 games in 2017 and 89 in 2018. They believed they could compete before the 2018 season, trading for Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria. We know how the 2018 season worked out for the Giants, but it’s worth noting that the Giants made big moves last offseason following a 98-loss season, so it wouldn’t be too surprising to see them go out and spend this offseason.
At this point, it is unclear whether newly hired GM Farhan Zaidi will begin to tear apart and rebuild the Giants or if he will make moves to try to make the team competitive in the short-term, but on paper, A.J. Pollock to the Giants makes too much sense.