This has probably been the splashiest free agency period of the Farhan Zaidi tenure. But has it been enough?
Some Giants fans are skeptical, especially in the backdrop of an offseason that saw the Dodgers add another MVP in Freddie Freeman. San Francisco took care of the rotation, adding one of the biggest names on the starting pitcher market in Carlos Rodon, and re-signing both Alex Wood and Anthony DeSclafani.
The lineup hasn’t changed much, however. Kris Bryant is gone and has been replaced by Joc Pederson. That plus the departures of Buster Posey and Donovan Solano has the Giants down three right-handed bats heading into 2022.
Maybe there is another move on the horizon, but with all of the big names already signed, it will likely be an under-the-radar one. There is also the possibility that the Giants are looking to shore up their right-handed hitting issue internally.
That’s an idea Giants beat writer Susan Slusser floated when she joined Papa & Lund on Monday, saying that prospect Heliot Ramos might be a contributor on the big league roster right away.
“I don’t know if [the Giants] are, but I’ve kind of been thinking that way,” Slusser said on KNBR. “This is a guy whose spring definitely will matter. It’s not a make or break, but if he’s going to make the team coming out of the spring he does need to have some good results. He needs to show what he’s all about.
“So far we are hearing nothing but good stuff. He looks fantastic and I’ve kind of thought he’s flying under the radar a lot. Gabe Kapler’s talked about him and obviously loves him. I don’t think anyone with the team is looking past him, but I think in general sort of the baseball pundits are really not thinking at all about the fact that one of their arguably top two prospects looks like he’s pretty close to ready.”
Ramos turned heads during spring training last season, but disappointed slightly in the minors, slashing .254/.323/.417 while splitting time between Double and Triple-A. Ramos enters 2022 as the Giants consensus No. 2 prospect, and his ranked as highly as the No. 32 prospect in all of baseball by Baseball Prospectus. Ramos has “projectable power” and has launched 47 home runs in 377 minor league games. Many believe he can be an All-Star caliber player if he can cut down on his strikeouts (440 in 377 games).
“Maybe a little bit more experience needed in Triple-A but I really don’t think so. Kapler said they don’t put a lot of stock in the spring training performance, but they will be evaluating the quality of his at-bats very carefully. “
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