The Giants followed up their 107-win campaign by winning 81 games in 2022, a step back that puts the organization in a precarious spot as the offseason ramps up.
But even after the middling season, the Giants have reason to be optimistic. They could have roughly $100 million to spend in free agency and long-term financial flexibility to rationalize a splurge. They have young players like Logan Webb, Thairo Estrada and Joey Bart to build around. An offseason uninterrupted by the work stoppage should help veterans come into the season more prepared to contribute.
Manager Gabe Kapler, the 2021 National League Manager of the Year, is confident in the club’s foundation.
“I think the path to the playoffs in 2023 is clear,” Kapler told F.P. Santangelo on KNBR Tonight.
That path, Kapler said, starts with improving San Francisco’s defense. All season, particularly in the first half, the Giants struggled to convert balls in play into outs. The front office’s bet that their lineup could out-hit what the defense gave back proved to be a miscalculation.
San Francisco ranked last in Fangraphs’ catch-all fielding metric. The woes resulted in a “cascading effect,” Kapler said, of starting pitchers having to throw more pitches and relievers needing to enter games earlier.
“We just didn’t catch the ball,” Kapler said. “It’s a huge deal, right…When the difference in making the playoffs is five, six, seven games, that’s everything.”
The Giants had to claw in September to finish the season .500. Even still, the new expanded playoff format made it so they finished just six games out of the postseason.
Last winter, players couldn’t communicate with coaching staffs like they normally would due to the lockout. It had a particularly negative impact on veterans like Brandon Crawford, whose performance took a dip.
That interruption won’t happen this offseason.
“We got a lot of work to do,” Kapler said. “We’re taking this offseason very seriously. The fact that we didn’t reach our goals in 2022 is certainly a motivating factor. I’ll say that we’re motivated in every offseason. But this one in particular, I think there’s a special kind of hunger going on for both our players and our staff. And I think the organization in its entirety is excited about putting a more athletic and exciting and hard-working team on the field in 23.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch KNBR Tonight with F.P. Santangelo weekdays from 6 – 10 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.