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Looking back at the 2019 Giants, with an eye toward the future. Previously: Alex Dickerson, Fernando Abad, Stephen Vogt, Madison Bumgarner, Will Smith, Pablo Sandoval.
Kevin Pillar is not perfect for the Farhan Zaidi Giants. He electrifies but he frustrates. The extraordinary moments in the field don’t fully show up in the weeds of the advanced metrics. The impatience at the plate does.
MLB Trade Rumors estimates he is due for $9.7 million in his last arbitration year, an imperfect number for a team still on the rebuild.
And yet, the perfect answer does not exist.
Not even Pillar knows if he will be tendered a contract this offseason, as the Giants decide whether the Willie Mac Award winner will get an encore before he hits free agency. It’s a complicated decision, but not for Pillar. The same player who said he “broke down” following the first-week-of-the-season trade from Toronto to San Francisco now does not want to leave.
“I like this organization. I love being on the West Coast, being a West Coast kid, being born in the state of California,” Pillar, from Southern California, said late this season. “It’s been a great location for me to set up shop, get to see my family a lot more. Obviously, this organization has a history of winning and a recent history of winning. I know it’s been a couple down years for this organization, and I know that’s not what they’re about.
“I don’t have a choice. I’m still here, I’m still under control for another season. But yeah, I want to be back here. My family’s happy here, I’m happy here. Getting to know Farhan a little bit, I think he’s got a good plan of attack to get this organization back to where it belongs.”
Does that plan involve Pillar? He’s the Giants’ reigning leader of just about every offensive cumulative stat: home runs, RBIs, batting average, hits, runs scored, steals. Also, notably, games played: Superman is Iron Man, appearing in 161 total games this season, his fifth straight year of playing at least 142 tilts. He is reliable both in attendance and in style, the center fielder remaining about the same slightly polarizing player through his 20s and now into his 30s.
His year-30 season was more of the same, slashing .264/.293/.442 with the Giants, able to hit at Oracle Park — a skill the team craves — and yet unable to take a walk anywhere. He drew 18 bases on balls in 645 plate appearances, as he is not the disciplined, work-the-count slugger so many front-office minds demand these days.
But where would the Giants turn if they decide $10 million can be spent elsewhere? The only in-house answer is Steven Duggar, which is not a good enough one. Heliot Ramos, while tempting, is 20 and has played 25 games above Single-A. The free-agent market does not contain an obvious answer.
There is a chance Pittsburgh’s Starling Marte becomes a free agent, though he would command much more than the Giants would like to spend right now. Jarrod Dyson is a nice player but, at 35, on the decline. Beyond that, the pickings are slim.
Zaidi has more flexed his bargain-bin muscles and not his trade ones thus far, and it’s possible he uses some farm depth to acquire an outfielder. But more likely, those prospects will go toward a starting pitcher, which Zaidi acknowledged was a possibility. From this angle, it appears the most likely scenario is status quo: The Giants bring back an imperfect fit for one more season at a price tag that is not extravagant.
Pillar and his always-dirty jersey quickly endeared himself to fans and teammates alike; pitchers rave about the plays he makes behind them.
You know what you’re getting with Pillar, a professional who worked his way to this point after being a 32nd-round pick. In late September, he admitted this is just the player he is, while showing a willingness to try to become the player Zaidi types would like him to be.
“I’m a bit more old-school,” said Pillar, whose 1.8 WAR (per Fangraphs) was tied for third most of Giants position players. “I do get how important the on-base [percentage] is and it’s an area I need to improve on, potentially walking more. But for as long as this game has been played, scoring runs and driving in runs, last time I checked, is how you win games.”
Is it how you get paid, though? It’s a question the Giants now will ponder as they try to win games.