Kolten Wong to the San Francisco Giants? According to The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, the SF Giants are among the teams interested in trading for Kolten Wong, the left-handed-hitting second baseman under contract with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are likely to trade Wong, who's owed $10M in the final year of his contract, this offseason. Wong is historically someone who's hit right-handed pitching pretty well, and he has historically been one of the game's best defensive second basemen. Interestingly, Kolten Wong took a major step back defensively in 2022 according to most advanced defensive metrics, but it's generally best to look in three-season samples when dealing with such metrics. Given that he's only signed for one more year and is owed $10M, the cost to acquire Wong seemingly wouldn't be too high.
A viral tweet by MLB Network is discussed. In the tweet, MLB Network put out a San Francisco Giants projected lineup that included Aaron Judge. Social media went to work dunking on the SF Giants for an extremely weak looking lineup. On the one hand, it certainly doesn't inspire a ton of confidence, even with Judge. On the other hand, that lineup is essentially the same one that was above average at scoring runs in 2022. Every single member of the projected lineup, except for the No. 9 hitter Joey Bart, has been above average by wRC+ over the last three seasons. The Giants certainly shouldn't roll into 2023 with a lineup like that if they were to sign Judge, but it's also not nearly as listless as some are making it out to be.
Switching gears, how should the progress of some young players on the SF Giants' roster be evaluated? Thairo Estrada, Joey Bart, and David Villar are given a closer look. Estrada had a legitimately strong season that flew somewhat under the radar. He amassed 14 home runs and 21 steals, and overall was the Giants' best position player by fWAR. Joey Bart struggled with strikeouts as expected in 2022. He was pretty bad to start the year, got better, and then regressed to a rolling K% back near 50% over the final month-plus of the season. David Villar is definitely someone to watch moving forward. The power is legit, he won the PCL MVP Award, and he could be a breakout candidate for the Giants in 2023, or he could potentially be trade bait this offseason if the Giants want to make a big splash.
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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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