Three questions Giants must answer by end of MLB Winter Meetings

Three questions Giants must answer by end of MLB Winter Meetings originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

SAN FRANCISCO — The first week of December started with a pair of stories that couldn’t have gone over all that well at Oracle Park.

Minutes after former Giant Blake Snell was introduced at Dodger Stadium and put on his new jersey for the first time, The Athletic reported that the man who brought Snell to San Francisco, Farhan Zaidi, is talking to the Dodgers about a return to their front office. As the offseason’s biggest week approaches, it’s nothing but smooth sailing for one half of the rivalry, with plenty of questions for the other half.

The Giants have been quiet in the two months since Buster Posey took over for Zaidi, with most of the notable moves being made to their front office and coaching staff. The only additions to their 40-man roster have been prospects who needed to be protected from the Rule 5 Draft, and the only noteworthy contract has gone to their longest-tenured player (Mike Yastrzemski) in order to keep him from going to arbitration.

That should all change over the next couple of weeks, though. Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings begin Monday in Dallas, and while the Giants aren’t involved with the biggest pursuit this year, they have plenty of business to get done. They need a shortstop, rotation help and possibly a new short-term first baseman, and it wouldn’t hurt to add a little more punch to the outfield.

Whenever Juan Soto signs, the floodgates figure to open, and the Giants should fly home from Dallas with a new player or two, along with a much better idea of where they truly stand heading into Posey’s first season in charge. As the new president of baseball operations prepares for his first Winter Meetings, here are three questions the Giants need to answer over the coming days …

Who’s on short?

Through the first month of the offseason, the biggest shortstop-related news for the Giants has been the official retirement of Brandon Crawford. Year one without him was a bit of a mess, and the Giants still don’t have clarity on what’s next.

They’re in on both Willy Adames and Ha-Seong Kim, but they’re not alone. Adames, in particular, figures to become even more popular after Soto makes a decision. Coming off 32 homers and 112 RBI, he would fit with any contender and reportedly is willing to talk about changing positions if the money is right.

The Giants wouldn’t need him to move off short and third base is spoken for, anyway. They have a Gold Glove Award winner in Matt Chapman and could have the best defensive left side in the National League if Kim is reunited with manager Bob Melvin, who would love for that to happen. Kim’s offseason is complicated by the fact that he is coming off shoulder surgery, but it’s a weak class for infielders, so the Giants might have to take the risk.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Thursday that Chapman is willing to temporarily move to shortstop while Kim recovers, although that seems more like a nice gesture from a team leader than a move that would actually make the Giants better. It’s hard to see how they would benefit from playing Chapman out of position when they have several young players with more experience at short.

Between Casey Schmitt, Tyler Fitzgerald and Brett Wisely, the staff could patch things together for a few weeks if Kim is the choice. If it’s Adames, they won’t have to worry about that, although his price is going to be significantly higher.

Regardless, the Giants will feel a lot better about 2025 if they fly home from Texas with a new shortstop. It’s their biggest hole at the moment, and the future of others — most notably Fitzgerald — won’t be clear until Posey figures out who will be standing alongside Chapman.

How do you replace Snell?

Technically, the Giants need to replace one of the three best starters on the market, but this isn’t your typical departure of an ace. It’s not quite like trying to figure out how to make up for the loss of a Madison Bumgarner or Kevin Gausman.

Snell was a Giant for only 20 starts, and most of his best work — just about all of it, really — was done after the season was already lost. The Giants also acquired him with the belief that his long-term replacement was already in the building.

Robbie Ray was meant to be Logan Webb’s co-ace, although the Giants would be in a lot better shape if Ray enters next season as a high-upside No. 3 starter. The best way to do that would be to swallow hard and win the bidding for Corbin Burnes, a St. Mary’s College alum who has indicated to some Giants people in the past that he wouldn’t mind returning to the Bay Area.

Webb and Burnes would give the Giants the most durable one-two punch in baseball and a real shot to crash the Wild Card party and try to get hot in October. He really is kind of a perfect fit, but the organization has shied away from long-term contracts for older pitchers in recent years, and Burnes seems certain to soar past $200 million given where the Snell number ended up.

The biggest contract in franchise history belongs to the current president of baseball operations and it didn’t start with a two. If Posey prefers smaller deals (which also would eliminate Max Fried), he’ll have plenty of options. Jack Flaherty, Nathan Eovaldi, Sean Manaea, Shane Bieber, Walker Buehler, Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and others remain out there, and while the prices for starting pitchers have been incredibly high thus far, the Giants should still be able to add at least one solid starter to a rotation that already has decent depth.

Where is this all headed?

This is one that won’t be answered with one move, but the setup of the Winter Meetings should at least provide some more clarity on how Posey views the 2025 Giants and the future of the organization. There was no end-of-season press conference because the man who would give it — Zaidi — was fired. Outside of the GM Meetings and a few podcast episodes, there hasn’t been much for fans to grab onto since the end of the season.

Posey has focused on building out his front office and filling staff vacancies, and it appears he wants to hear from all different kinds of voices, which isn’t surprising given how cerebral and detailed he was as a player. The additions of special assistants Bobby Evans and Jeff Berry were followed by the hires of director of pro scouting Hadi Raad (formerly with the Pirates) and director of baseball strategy Pike Goldschmidt (formerly with the A’s). New GM Zack Minasian has a scouting background, while new VP of player development Randy Winn is a former big leaguer. The Giants also lost some key voices, including former GM Pete Putila, lead analyst Michael Schwartze, hitting coach Justin Viele and coach Alyssa Nakken.

On the surface, it appears the organization is somewhat going against the grain. At a time when analytics departments are exploding, they are pulling their own group from a visible spot in the clubhouse and many of their recent hires certainly bring a more old-school vibe.

It’s a different style, but all that ultimately matters is results, and for Posey, the scorekeeping will include the Winter Meetings. The next week will give a better sense of what’s to come, not just when team officials finally open up a bit, but also in the moves they make — or don’t make.

Landing Adames or Burnes would show that Posey can close when it counts. But if the Giants have a rough week and continue to lose targets to other big-market teams, it’ll be hard to shake the perception that 2025 will be more of the same, just with different packaging.

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