LAS VEGAS — In terms of expectations, the Giants find themselves in an unfamiliar spot. After several quieter offseasons, they were perhaps the most talked about team at the GM Meetings at the Conrad resort on the north end of the Las Vegas Strip.
Can they pry Aaron Judge from the Yankees? Will they make a play for Carlos Correa? What about Trea Turner? Or, what about Judge and a shortstop, one rival exec asked one night as he stood in the lobby.
“They’re going to do something big,” he said. “I expect them to sign a player to a nine-figure deal.”
Expectations are sky-high and Judge talk will dominate the landscape until he signs. If you are behind, here’s a story about how the Giants have the wherewithal to make it happen. Here’s why the shortstop market is intriguing to a team with Brandon Crawford. And here’s what Brian Cashman said about his team’s best player, who officially hit the open market on Thursday afternoon.
There will be plenty of other, smaller moves this offseason, though. Not everything that’s said in Vegas has to stay there, so here are some notes from three days in a casino where the only thing more expensive than this year’s free agent class was the coffee at the Starbucks lobby:
— The Giants used 66 players this season, so there was a lot of work to be done on the 40-man roster before the start of free agency. They cleared out several spots on Wednesday:
On Thursday, the Giants also claimed catcher Meibrys Viloria and right-hander Drew Strotman from the Rangers. When you add in all the players who had to come off the 60-day IL — most notably Anthony DeSclafani and Alex Wood — the 40-man roster is currently full. The Giants like it that way, although guys will be DFA’d as bigger moves are made.
Of the additions, Diaz might be the most interesting. The former Marlin hit 23 homers in Triple-A and would have been called up late in the year if not for an injury.
The Giants have been telling rival teams that they’re in search of backup catching help, so, even with all the upcoming roster churn, one of Nuñez or Viloria should be in camp to compete with Austin Wynns. Both newcomers are left-handed hitters, something the staff has been trying to add behind Joey Bart.
— If you for some reason peruse the MLB.com transactions wire on a daily basis, you might have seen lefty reliever Scott Alexander show up as a free agent. That was a mistake; Alexander is arbitration-eligible and remains under team control. Given how good he was down the stretch — a 1.04 ERA — bringing him back will be a no-brainer.
— The Giants have a large arbitration class that should add about $30 million to their payroll for 2023. It seemed that a few veterans could potentially be non-tender candidates, but the plan is for the Giants to tender contracts to pretty much the whole class and possibly every player. Jarlin Garcia (estimated at about $2.4 million) is coming off a rough year but is expected to be part of that group.
LaMonte Wade Jr. is a pretty interesting call after a disappointing season, but Farhan Zaidi said it’s an easy decision to bring him back. They currently have a crowd of left-handed-hitting outfielders — Wade, Mike Yastrzemski, Luis Gonzalez, possibly Joc Pederson — but Wade could also be part of a first base platoon.
Zaidi said Wade’s underlying metrics — K/BB ratio, batted ball data, etc. — were good and his knee issues should be behind him next year. He also pointed out that Wade should be helped by the new rules on shifts. Wade was shifted in 66 percent of his plate appearances last year and saw a 72-point decrease in his wOBA in those situations.
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— The Giants met with Scott Boras, who represents Carlos Rodón, Correa, Xander Bogaerts, Brandon Nimmo and others. He has a lot that should intrigue them, and he certainly came to Las Vegas prepared. Boras held court with reporters for more than half an hour and dropped some pre-written gems, including one on Rodón.
On right-hander Taijuan Walker, Boras said that “Taijuan is on an island, and I think the only question is who is willing to Tai-pay.” On Nimmo, the best true center fielder in this class: “There are a lot of teams in the water looking for a center fielder. Whoever … Pixar guy will be happy about Finding Nimmo. The heat check came with this on Correa:
— Over a couple of months, the Giants lost their GM (Scott Harris) to the Tigers and watched the Rangers bring Bruce Bochy in as their new manager, but that hasn’t led to any other departures or poaching of Giants employees thus a rat There have been no changes to the Giants coaching staff since the end of the season.
— Finally, the line of the week, via Zaidi. A reporter informed him that a free agent has been telling people he wants to play for a team that’s winning and asked for Zaidi’s reaction.
“What about .500 teams?” he joked.
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