3 questions facing the Giants ahead of '22 season

Spring Training is right around the corner for the Giants, who will enter the 2022 campaign with high expectations after winning a franchise-record 107 games last season.

The Giants will transition into a new era now that Buster Posey has retired, though they’ll continue to count on a few other familiar faces to lead the way, including veteran infielders Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt.

While president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has tried to maintain continuity on the roster, there are still a few unknowns that will have to be worked out during Spring Training and beyond.

Here are three questions facing the Giants as they gear up for Opening Day.

1. Is Bart ready to succeed Posey?
There will be no replacing Posey, but the Giants seem to have an heir apparent in Joey Bart, who is viewed as one of the top catching prospects in baseball. Bart struggled after making his Major League debut in 2020, hitting .233 with no homers and 41 strikeouts over 103 at-bats, but the Giants were forced to rush his timeline after Posey elected to sit out the pandemic-shortened campaign.

The Giants signed Curt Casali last offseason to ensure that Bart would be able to continue to develop at Triple-A Sacramento in 2021, and they believe the 25-year-old backstop is closer to big league-ready now that he has one more year of upper-level experience under his belt. Bart appeared in only two games for the Giants last season, but he performed well at Sacramento, where he hit .294 with an .830 OPS and 10 home runs over 67 games.

Bart, the No. 2 overall pick of the 2018 MLB Draft, will likely endure more growing pains as he attempts to establish himself as a big league regular, but Casali’s presence should help smooth the transition and give him a veteran catcher to lean on as he prepares to handle the pitching staff and execute game plans this season.

2. Can Webb sustain his second-half dominance?
The emergence of Logan Webb was one of the most important developments of the season for the Giants last year. Webb posted a 5.36 ERA over his first two seasons in the Majors, but he took off in 2021, logging a 2.40 ERA over his final 20 starts of the regular season and delivering two brilliant starts against the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.

With All-Star right-hander Kevin Gausman leaving to sign a five-year, $110 million deal with the Blue Jays, San Francisco will rely on Webb to maintain his ace status this season. The Giants have worked hard to restock their rotation, retaining Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood, signing Alex Cobb and reportedly reaching an agreement with Carlos Rodón.

San Francisco might not be done adding to its rotation, but it’s clear the club will count on Webb to anchor the front of the rotation and help set the tone for the rest of the pitching staff in 2022 and beyond.

"I think [Webb] proved that he's a guy you can build a staff around," Posey said after the Giants were eliminated in Game 5 of the NLDS. "He enjoys being the guy in the big situation, and ultimately, those are the guys that can bring four other guys together and really elevate their games, as well."

3. Will Bryant return?
The Giants made a splash at last year’s Trade Deadline by swinging a blockbuster deal for star utility man Kris Bryant, whom Zaidi called “the perfect fit” for the club. The 2016 National League MVP checked a lot of the boxes San Francisco tends to look for, namely defensive versatility and an unselfish mentality, but Bryant ultimately underwhelmed down the stretch, hitting .262 with a .788 OPS and seven home runs over 51 games and encountering some defensive issues in right field and at third base.

Bryant, 30, was one of the Giants’ best hitters in the NLDS, going 8-for-17, while the rest of the lineup struggled mightily against the Dodgers, but Zaidi didn’t sound particularly optimistic about the chances of re-signing the four-time All-Star at the end of last season.

"For us, the move at the Deadline was really about pushing chips in with this team, which we thought was a really special team and had a chance to do some special things and did," Zaidi said. "But we recognize that he's a superstar talent and it's going to be a really competitive market for his services. I'm sure we'll have conversations there, but he's going to have a long line of suitors, so we'll just have to see how that develops."

The odds of a reunion with Bryant probably increased when Posey announced his retirement, as the Giants need another right-handed power bat to insert into the middle of their lineup, which is primarily left-handed. Still, Zaidi has tended to avoid issuing the type of nine-figure contract Bryant is likely to command. If San Francisco is unwilling to make a long-term commitment, Bryant is unlikely to stick around for a second season with the Giants.