The Giants freed up some payroll space yesterday, trading left-hander Taylor Rogers to the Reds. They sent $6MM to Cincinnati in the deal but also freed up $6MM, with Rogers set to make $12MM this year. Since the Giants have been connected to some of the big names remaining in free agency, such as Pete Alonso and Jack Flaherty, some fans might have fairly wondered if the extra cash could be redirected to a new roster addition.
However, in the aftermath of the deal, president of baseball operations Buster Posey downplayed that possibility. “We’ll keep looking,” Posey said to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic. “I will say, we feel pretty set with the roster the way it is right now.”
This is Posey’s first offseason in his current job, as he was just hired at the end of September. Unlike other baseball operations leaders, there’s no real track record to go off of, making it hard to gauge how the Giants would behave this winter. There were perhaps some clues, as Posey was apparently instrumental in the Matt Chapman negotiations, even before getting the POBO job. Then at his introductory press conference, he spoke of getting the Giants back into the “memory-making business.” He also spoke fondly of valuing runs batted in as a statistic, despite that measure falling out of favor over time.
That led to some hope that he would come in as an old-fashioned gunslinger type, though it’s been a fairly modest offseason on the whole. They did make a big strike with the Willy Adames signing, the largest contract in franchise history, but have been fairly quiet apart from that. Their most notable moves aside from Adames have been to sign Justin Verlander to a one-year deal and send out Rogers in what seems like a salary dump move.
It’s possible that this is a bluff from Posey, since it wouldn’t help with negotiations for him to come out and say he’s desperate to make further additions. But if he’s being truthful that the club is fairly content, then they will be mostly relying on internal improvements.
The Giants have finished with a win total in the 79-81 range in three straight years now. Adames is a nice boost but the Giants also lost Blake Snell, Michael Conforto and Mark Canha to free agency at the end of last year and have now taken Rogers out of the bullpen mix. Verlander could also help, but there are no guarantees of that after he posted a 5.48 earned run average last year. Injuries may have played a part in those struggles but health woes can pop up for any pitcher and Verlander is perhaps even more susceptible since he’ll turn 42 before the season starts.
The internal improvements could come from a few places. Jung Hoo Lee only got to play 37 games last year before requiring labrum surgery, so a full and productive season from him would be great. Wilmer Flores, Robbie Ray and Jordan Hicks were also held back by health issues to varying extents and could perhaps provide more in 2025 than last year. Tyler Fitzgerald and Heliot Ramos had midseason breakouts in 2024, so carrying those forward into a full season could lead to some extra wins. A bounceback from Camilo Doval after a rough 2024 would certainly be welcome. Young guys like Luis Matos and Marco Luciano could perhaps break out after their progress has lagged a bit in recent years.
If Posey’s stance is posturing, it’s possible there’s some financial wiggle room, at least relative to last year. Per Cot’s Baseball Contracts, the club started 2024 with a $208MM payroll and they eventually went on to pay the competitive balance tax. RosterResource currently projects them for just a $176MM payroll this year, $32MM south of last year. Their $217MM CBT projection is $24MM below this year’s $241MM base threshold.
It’s still possible for the club to sign someone like Flaherty or Alonso and stay under the tax and last year’s payroll. Alonso might end up making a salary near $24MM this year but the Giants could offset that somewhat by trading LaMonte Wade Jr. and the $5MM he’s owed. However, Baggarly has reported previously this winter that the Giants are planning to reduce payroll, so perhaps they have already made their most significant moves.
