San Francisco Giants: Three moves to push the Giants into the playoffs
By Nick Stevens
The San Francisco Giants need multiple starting pitchers to add to their rotation.
It’s been widely reported that the San Francisco Giants are expected to be one of the more aggressive teams when it comes to adding starting pitching this offseason, the organization’s biggest weakness.
The Giants have been connected to many names on the market, including Tomoyuki Sugano and Jake Odorizzi, but let’s go in a slightly different direction here to look for starting rotation depth.
It seems less likely that the New York Yankees bring back Masahiro Tanaka this winter, instead focusing their efforts on keeping DJ LeMahieu as their big-ticket acquisition. Other than a connection with the Toronto Blue Jays, the market has been fairly quiet when it comes to Tanaka, arguably the third-best starting pitching option available.
Tanaka is a battle-tested veteran, posting an 18.9 fWAR over his seven seasons in the AL East with the Yankees, including 10 playoff starts during his tenure.
MLBTradeRumors.com projects a three-year deal just south of $40 for Tanaka this offseason, which isn’t the kind of deal that’s going to break the bank for the San Francisco Giants, and would leave plenty of wiggle room to add to the fringes of the roster.
It’s been a long time since Johnny Cueto has been a reliable five-WAR pitcher and while Gausman pitched very well in 2020, he has to prove he can build on that success and continue to be a reliable option.
Tanaka owns a career 3.74 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and groundball rate of just under 50%. He’s been a sturdy and reliable arm for the Yankees would greatly help solidify a San Francisco Giants rotation.