Do The Giants Finally Go Big In 2025 Free Agency?
As the 2023/24 offseason is wrapping up, fans are unhappy with the lack of star power surrounding this year’s club. San Francisco Giants President Farhan Zaidi has decided to put an almost identical team as last season, which finished 21 games back in the division and 5 games back of the wild card. The key additions were a large mystery with Jung Hoo Lee, an injured Robbie Ray, and a starting Jordan Hicks? These moves don’t fill a stadium that only averaged 73% full. From 2011 to 2019, the Giants were in the top 4 in total fans attending each season. With the losses of Buster Posey, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Madison Bumgarner, fans have yet to respond to the Farhan Zaidi era of “Giants Baseball.” If Zaidi cannot land key free agents in 2025, his tenure could be ending. According to Las Vegas, the Giants are predicted to win 81.5 wins and will miss out on the playoffs for the 7th time in 8 years.
The good news is that the 2025 Free Agent class is one of the strongest classes we have ever seen and comes with many ties to the Giants. The first move could be to bring Corbin Burnes back to the Bay Area, where he played college ball at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. Burnes could help elevate the rotation to one that can have a much better chance of competing with the Dodgers. The Giants in 2023 started 43 games with an opening reliever that would only throw one or two innings. This destroyed the success of the bullpen late into the season as the burden of extra innings wore down the stamina of the relief staff. Luckily Burnes has shown he is very durable, as he has started 93 regular season games in the last three seasons. He would slot right into the 2025 rotation, with Cobb and Stripling coming off the books.
The second move would be reuniting Ha-Seong Kim with Bob Melvin and fellow Korean Jung Hoo Lee. Kim and Lee have been good friends since their days playing for Team Korea in the World Baseball Classic. Jung Hoo Lee has made it clear to the Giants front office that he has dreamed of playing with Ha-Seong Kim. The Giants would be wise to trade for him before the 2024 season to give Lee an easier transition of moving to America and starting his MLB career. Farhan Zaidi loves players like Kim, who can all around the infield with a great glove and is continuing to get better with the bat.
Lastly, the home run move would be for Juan Soto, who also played for Melvin in San Diego. The Giants have been linked with Soto many times in trade talks but weren’t willing to budge on giving too many of their top prospects. With Scott Boras as Soto’s agent, he will likely test free agency and go to the highest bidder. Farhan Zaidi will most likely be forced to overpay and get a superstar to keep his job with the team.
Giants fans are tired of watching a stat-driven team and want to go back to the glory days of the Bochy years. Watch out for the Giants next offseason, as they will throw caution to the wind, spending large amounts of money will be spent on free agents and breaking the notion that nobody wants to play in San Francisco.
