SAN FRANCISCO — The saga of Carlos Correa and where he’d end up was the biggest storyline of the offseason and one of the teams involved in that saga was the San Francisco Giants.
They also played a part in the Aaron Judge drama, albeit briefly, and unfortunately for the team and their fans, they didn’t pick up either player. But don’t fret, Giants fans, your team still had a busy offseason. The question is, will it be enough to make them forget about what they could have had?
Locked On Giants host Ben Kapsick was joined by Paul Francis Sullivan, host of the Locked On MLB podcast for a second time this offseason to discuss the Giants’ unimaginable offseason because when they first recorded together in December, Carlos Correra was going to be a Giant.
In two short days, that episode became obsolete and so Sullivan and Kaspick came together again this past Friday to talk about everything that transpired.
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As they were discussing the offseason’s mishaps, Kaspick said about the Giants, “They had Judge for seven minutes and Correa for seven days.” He added, “For the fanbase, (it was) just a torturous outcome.”
But Sullivan turned it around by asking Kaspick, “Isn’t it better to find out in seven days that he wasn’t healthy as opposed to finding out seven years into a 13-year contract?”
Kapspick responded by saying when everything first happened and Correa was heading to the Mets, he took it as the Giants being scaredy cats and the Mets were willing to take on the contact. Then when the Mets balked, he realized that vindicated the Giants.
But there was one problem with the timing of Correa’s signing and un-signing. That small window of time saw guys like Dansby Swanson and Carlos Rodon come off the free-agent board. The Giants could have signed one of them, maybe, but Kaspick also mentioned the Giants’ willingness to spend which is a good sign for the 2023-24 offseason when Shohei Ohtani is available.
Joc Pederson, who accepted the $19.65M qualifying offer from the Giants in December is pleased with the moves San Francisco was able to make, saying, “We lost out on some of the bigger free-agent names, but you have guys like Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger in the outfield, two All-Stars that can really change the dynamic of your offense and defense. Added some starting pitching depth which really hurt us last year, which is going to take over some of the innings the bullpen had to take on, so they're fresher for their situation.”
In 2021, the Giants won an improbable 107 games but last season they only won 81. Where will the 2023 land? Definitely not as high as 2021 and probably not as low as 2022 because they did make some additions to the squad. Along with signing Haniger and Conforto, they were able to get starters Ross Stripling and Sean Manaea plus reliever Taylor Rogers.
When asked about those moves by the Giants, in which Sulivan described as being like expecting a car on Christmas morning and getting an egg beater instead, Kaspick said, “It’s not as good if you were expecting that car and you’re looking at your egg beater.”
He was quick to add that he likes Haniger and Conforto and that they’ve had good seasons in the past and that the Giants may have lost Carlos Rodon but he liked that they added Stripling and Manaea and plus relievers Rogers, who is the twin of Tyler Rogers, and Luke Jackson, who was part of the Braves bullpen during their 2021 World Series run, but who is also recovering from Tommy John surgery and will miss the first month of the season.
The bottom line is, the moves the Giants made this offseason are solid and will more than likely improve the team, but losing Carlos Correa is still a hard pill to swallow for San Francisco Giants fans. ‘
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