Thoughts on Giants contract strategies, DeSclafani

Happy holidays!

Here are three Giants things I’ve been thinking about as 2022 comes to a close:

1. Are the Giants too risk-averse?

There are still so many unanswered questions about what exactly caused the Giants to abruptly pull out of their 13-year, $350 million deal with shortstop Carlos Correa.

The Giants have not publicly commented on the situation, aside from releasing the following two-sentence statement from president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi: “While we are prohibited from disclosing confidential medical information, as Scott Boras stated publicly, there was a difference of opinion over the results of Carlos’ physical examination. We wish Carlos the best.”

According to multiple reports, the Giants were concerned about a lower right leg injury Correa sustained as a 19-year-old prospect in the Astros organization in 2014. The injury led to arthroscopic surgery to repair a fractured right fibula and minor ligament damage, though the Astros said at the time that they believed there would be no long-term impact on Correa.

Correa, 28, hasn’t missed time with a lower-leg issue since reaching the Majors, but he had a brief scare with the Twins on Sept. 20, when he slid hard into second base on a stolen-base attempt.

Time will tell if the Giants’ concerns were valid. The Mets subsequently swooped in and agreed to a 12-year, $315 million deal with Correa, but the free-agent saga took another twist on Christmas Eve. According to MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo, the Mets also expressed medical concerns following Correa’s physical in New York on Thursday. The two sides are attempting to work through the situation, per DiComo, though the snag doesn’t necessarily mean that the deal will end up falling through.

With the richest owner in the sport, perhaps the Mets will have a greater risk tolerance than the Giants, who have now come up short in their free-agent pursuits of Correa, Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper in recent years.

Despite Zaidi’s proclamation that “from a financial standpoint there's nobody that would be out of our capability,” he has yet to award a free-agent contract longer than three years since taking over the Giants’ baseball operations department in November 2018. While the Giants entered this offseason determined to finally take a big swing and land the franchise star that their fan base has been clamoring for, they ended up whiffing in the worst way imaginable.

2. What’s with all the opt-out clauses?

Of the six free-agent contracts the Giants have issued this offseason, four feature opt-out clauses. Sean Manaea, Ross Stripling and Michael Conforto will be able to opt out after the 2023 season, while Mitch Haniger will be able to opt out after the 2024 season.

The Giants also gave an opt-out to Carlos Rodón, who unsurprisingly re-entered the open market this offseason and landed a more lucrative six-year, $162 million deal with the Yankees.

While opt-out clauses are appealing for players, the upside is less obvious for the Giants. If a player performs well, he’ll almost certainly follow Rodón’s lead and seek a bigger payday in free agency. If he disappoints or gets hurt, he’ll opt in and leave the Giants on the hook for the remainder of the contract.

The Giants value year-to-year flexibility, but the liberal dispersal of opt-out clauses seems to only exacerbate roster churn and keep the club in a seemingly perpetual state of transition.

3. What can the Giants expect out of Anthony DeSclafani in 2023?

Despite losing Rodón to the Yankees, the Giants’ rotation is looking like a strength, particularly following the addition of Manaea and Stripling. Still, there’s some uncertainty regarding the outlook for DeSclafani, who made only five starts before undergoing season-ending right ankle surgery in July.

DeSclafani logged a career-best 3.17 ERA over 31 starts for the Giants in 2021, so he could play a big role in mitigating the departure of Rodón if he’s healthy. Earlier this month, Zaidi said DeSclafani’s rehab is going well, as strength and conditioning coach Brad Lawson recently visited him and sent encouraging video back to the Giants.

DeSclafani appears to be on track to be ready for Spring Training, but Zaidi said the Giants will likely tread carefully with the 32-year-old veteran following his injury-marred 2022 campaign.

"It wasn't arm-related, but again, he just didn't throw a lot of innings last year, so at some point we'll have to have the conversation about what a workload looks like," Zaidi said. "It may be a full workload. We just aren't there yet. He feels really good and everything is on track for him to be a full go next year.”.