The San Francisco Giants have a lot of work to do this winter. While much of the offseason conversation figures to center around Aaron Judge, there's a strong chance he re-signs with the Yankees. If the SF Giants miss out on Judge, or even if they don't, they should also be involved in pursuing the four star free-agent shortstops on the market: Carlos Correa, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, and Dansby Swanson.
Correa has emerged as perhaps the best fit with the Giants. He's the youngest of the four, and will be 28 years old in all of year one of a deal. He's also been a very good bat, with a 130 wRC+ since 2020. He's been excellent overall, producing close to five fWAR per 600 plate appearances since the 2020 season. Correa's sprint speed and defense in 2022 left something to be desire, but a quick look at his past defensive work reveals that 2022 was an outlier, and given his age here's no reason to expect any sort of decline to have set in. New San Francisco Giants General Manager Pete Putila knows Correa from their time in the Houston Astros organization.
Trea Turner is no slouch. Turner has been the best of the free-agent shortstops over the last few years, but the difference is that he is going to be entering his age-30 season, and so much of his value comes from his elite speed. Speed is something that usually declines rather steeply at this stage of his career. While Turner is an excellent player who would make the SF Giants much better, he comes in behind Correa for these reasons.
Next is Xander Bogaerts, who is just a pure hitter. Bogaerts was also really good defensively in 2022, but a deeper dive into the numbers reveals that 2022 was an outlier in the positive direction. He has not graded out as a very good defensive player in other recent seasons. Bogaerts could slot into the middle of the Giants' order, and perhaps a move to second base would help the defense, but there are some reasons to be a bit cautious here.
Last is Dansby Swanson, despite the fact that he is the best defender and runner of the bunch. The issue with Swanson is that he's been by far the worst offensive player of this group, and wouldn't necessarily be the impact bat the others could be for the Giants.
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The best daily San Francisco Giants podcast. Whether the Giants are winning championships or retooling for another title run, Locked On Giants host Ben Kaspick—a lifelong Giants fan and former contributor for RotoGraphs and Beyond the Box Score—breaks down every game, rumor, and transaction in a way that's data-driven and rational but also simple, passionate, and accessible to all.
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