San Francisco Giants: Farhan Zaidi, president of baseball operations; Pete Putila, general manager. Grade: D.
The Giants made two headline-grabbing moves during the offseason, and both have backfired.
Since the end of the 2023 postseason, Zaidi and Putila made 37 roster moves impacting the big league team. The attention-getters were the signings of Cy Young winner Blake Snell and slugger Jorge Soler.
Snell, however, is 0-3 with a 9.51 ERA in six starts and is on the injured list. Soler is healthy, but he’s hitting just .230 with nine home runs. Their mid-term WAA scores are -1.3 and -0.3 respectively.
Of those 37 moves, only 14 have generated positive value to the Giants. A full 20 have gone negative; only the White Sox and Mariners have undertaken more negative transactions.
The promotion of system product Keaton Winn has not worked out. Around two injured list consignments, Wynn has gone 3-8 with a 7.16 ERA in a dozen starts. That's a painful -1.7 WAA.
The Giants are surviving on the contributions of lesser lights like rookie Heliot Ramos. He is hitting .307 with 10 homers.
Much of the improvement around the Giants roster has been by subtraction, ditching spare parts Ross Stripling (-1.3 WAA for Oakland) and Mitch Haniger (-1.5 for Seattle).
Overall score: -2.5. Grade: D.