2021 Roster Review: San Francisco Giants

107-55 (1st in Division; 1st in MLB)

[PREVIOUS REVIEWS]

SP Wins: 58 (5th)

RP Wins: 49 (2nd)

Saves: 56 (t-1st)

1+ Save: 8 (Jake McGee 31, Tyler Rogers 13, Camilo Doval 3, Zack Littell, Dominic Leone, Caleb Baragar, Wandy Peralta 2, Jarlín García 1)

100+ Ks: 4 (Kevin Gausman 227, Logan Webb 158, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood 152)

.260+ AVG (min. 350 PA): 5 (Buster Posey .304, Brandon Crawford .298, Donovan Solano .280, Brandon Belt .274, Wilmer Flores .262)

65+ Runs: 5 (Kris Bryant 86, Crawford 79, Mike Yastrzemski 75, Posey 68, Belt 65)

65+ RBI: 3 (Crawford 90, Bryant 73, Yastrzemski 71)

10+ HRs: 11 (Belt 29, Yastrzemski, Bryant 25, Crawford 24, LaMonte Wade Jr., Flores, Posey 18, Darin Ruf 러프 16, Evan Longoria, Alex Dickerson 13, Austin Slater 12)

5+ SBs: 6 (Slater 15, Crawford 11, Steven Duggar 7, Wade Jr., Kris Bryant 6)

BEST BUY: Alex Wood

It is hard to settle on a Best Buy because so many of their guys have injury issues that are built into their price. Wood, Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Cobb, and Brandon Belt are all in the 200-260 pick range which is a very fair price for what they are capable of doing. Wood rebounded after pitching just 48.3 innings in 2019-20 and posted a career-best 26% K rate that helped him to a 3.83 ERA and 1.18 WHIP in 138.7 IP. The talent is clear, it all comes down to his health. Just plan for 125 or so innings and take anything beyond that as a bonus.

ON THE RISE: Camilo Doval

I’m on the Doval Hype Train! The 24-year-old righty was a late-season standout that checks many of the boxes of a standout closer including premium velo (98.7 mph fastball) and a nasty breaking ball (swing & miss slider aided him to 34% K and 14% SwStr rates). He really only closed in the last week of the season and the playoffs and we have seen Gabe Kapler keep his closer role fluid, but have they really had someone as good as Doval available? Obviously, we will have more information as the offseason evolves, but I’m open to paying the winter price for him (169 ADP since Jan. 1st).

OFF THE RADAR: Tyler Beede

The former 1st rounder from 2014 only pitched one major league inning in his comeback from Tommy John surgery, but he did notch another 48.7 at Triple-A. It is worth noting he had an insane 18% BB rate in those Triple-A innings, but his velo was in the mid-90s and he flashed some impressive secondary stuff during a mixed bag of work in 2019. There is a lot of trust in the Giants when it comes to reclamation pitchers so Beede is in arguably the best possible place to have a late-career bloom. He will likely start moving up draft boards (650 ADP right now) after a Nick Pollack co-sign on Twitter. But even with the Pollack Push, I doubt Beede will become cost-prohibitive.

I said it on the OTC podcast and I'll say it again.

My #1 sleeper for 2022 is Tyler Beede.

Velocity was up 2 ticks to 96 mph post-TJS. Slider got us excited in fall '19.

661 ADP in NFBC since Jan 1st.

The longer blurb will be in the Top 200 SP rankings, but yeah. It's Beede.

— Nick Pollack (@PitcherList) January 18, 2022

HOT TAKE: LaMonte Wade Jr. has a 25/10 season.

Even as a platoon player, Wade has the skills to have a big season. He didn’t really start playing until late-May and needed just four months to put up a strong campaign: .253/.326/.482, 18 HR, 6 SB in 381 PA. I don’t expect his platoon issues to change, but he can reach 450 PA playing almost exclusively against righties and the skills we saw in 2021 are enough for 25 HR. He isn’t a burner on the bases but he is smart with his choices so he can get to double-digit stolen bases.

ICYMI: Austin Slater had a double-double (12 HR/15 SB) in just 306 PA. He is a short side platoon guy (.497 OPS vR this year; .633 career) so his value is really only in very deep leagues, but scraping together a double-digit SB output from someone that cheap is useful.

IF THE DH RETURNS: It would likely be another platoon spot for them with LaMonte Wade Jr. and Darin Ruf seeing the biggest uptick in playing time.

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And that’s a wrap on the Roster Reviews!! Thank you so much for checking out all 30 of them!