Yesterday, a pair of deadlines set the stage for today to be the real kickoff of MLB Free Agency. Teams had to set their 40-man rosters ahead of the Rule 5 draft and thirteen players had to either accept or reject the $21. 05 million qualifying offer.

With all that known, now we can turn our attention to these 3 moves the San Francisco Giants need to make. Just like Buster Posey doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, we don’t know what we don’t know about Buster Posey running the San Francisco Giants. It’s not like we had a firm grasp on Farhan Zaidi’s grand design, but very soon into his tenure a pattern did emerge and prediction exercises didn’t usually feel so fraught.

So, I’m not offering too much of a prediction exercise. Instead, what I think the team needs to do… and then what I think they will do instead. 3.

Try (and fail) to sign Juan Soto To be absolutely clear, the Giants have a better shot of winning the World Series in 2025 than they do of signing Juan Soto this offseason. That’s not the point. The point is to signal to the fanbase that they are always trying to win.

As I discussed last week, it would be incredibly dumb for the Giants to simply sit out the Juan Soto sweepstakes. What I want the Giants to do I want the Giants to make it clear through their various intermediaries that the team will make a presentation. I want Posey or Zack Minasian to say on KNBR or MLB Network that they can’t talk about free agents.

I want the team to make it seem like they could be involved… even if they’re actually not and even if they have less than zero chance. What they will probably doThe opposite. Maybe this will be Zack Minasian’s first big public statement to fans, that Juan Soto doesn’t fit the team’s plans, that the competition was too intense and they felt like they had to focus their attention elsewhere.

Effectively, an update on Brian Sabean’s infamous “In a word: no. ” when asked about the team’s pursuit of Vladimir Guerrero. It would be a real shame, and as much as fans are already bowing in deference to Buster Posey, accepting a loss without even trying is a really tough way to start the offseason.

Especially if Soto winds up signing with the Dodgers. It would signal surrender. 2.

Acquire a starting pitcher In every offseason, every team can say that they need to add starting pitching and that’s no less true of this offseason and these Giants. Logan Webb and The Intriguing Bundle Behind Him doesn’t really suggest a solid floor of performance, and if the Giants do want to make some trades, some of that Intriguing Bundle should be available to facilitate deals. So, then, how does the team hope to reduce its reliance on bullpen innings and untested arms?

They’ll have to add at least one veteran free agent. What I want the Giants to doBring back Blake Snell. This morning, Sean pointed to an ESPN poll of industry insiders who predict that’s what will happen, and I couldn’t be more relieved that something like that is in the air.

Now, I’m not sure how that works with that Andrew Baggarly report that the team would be cutting payroll and has possibly $30-$40 million to spend — as Snell’s theoretical salary would eat up most of that budget space — but that’s where the whole “we don’t know what we don’t know” comes in to play. Is Robbie Ray and his $25 million salary in each of the next two seasons on the trade block? Will they non-tender Mike Yastrzemski and LaMonte Wade Jr.

, saving themselves another $15 million? He’s a big money player who wouldn’t cost anything more than major league payroll money (no draft picks or international bonus pool dollars), and even with his limitations (constantly injured, effectively a 5-inning pitcher) he’s still a better bet than Robbie Ray. What they will probably doThen again, maybe any notion of his return to the Giants is just empty speculation.

$30+ million on one player — particularly a pitcher — is a lot of money, especially for a mid-tier franchise. If the Giants land Ha-Seong Kim, his salary will fall in the $12-$18 million range, a decent chunk of that $30-$40 million that’s reportedly available. Clearly salary via trade is tricky, as trades are notoriously difficult; though, we shouldn’t discount how the Giants have been able to trade a lot of their bad contracts recently.

We’ll see if that skill resided solely in the mind of Farhan Zaidi or if Buster Posey kept around some of the people who helped out. So, with that in mind, I think the Giants will trade for Sonny Gray. The Twins have a need to cut payroll, and Robbie Ray’s remaining deal is 2 years, $50 million.

Gray has $65 million remaining: $25 million in 2025, $35 million in 2026, and a $5 million buyout in 2027. Now, they’d probably have to supplement this deal with a Hayden Birdsong or Kyle Harrison or Landen Roupp plus, perhaps, Tyler Fitzgerald (selling high! ) or Casey Schmitt (if that end of the season glow up he received from Bay Area outlets wasn’t just Zaidi-driven hype) but I don’t think Buster Posey will be very precious about most of the roster, and I think Gray is the exact kind of pitcher the baseball group would love to have in the fold.

1. Acquire two RBI batsThis is a bit of a cheat, of course, as I’m prescribing two deals under one action item, but I think a significant run producing threat from either side of the plate is important. In theory, these guys would step in to replace the “losses” of Michael Conforto and Jorge Soler/Mark Canha (lol).

I’m not advocating for a purchased platoon, I’m just saying the team needs to add substantial threats on either side of the plate, preferably two that can be better than Matt Chapman and Mike Yastrzemski. What I want the Giants to doLHH: Josh Naylor (trade) | RHH: Tyler O’Neill I’ll admit that the Josh Naylor idea came from the McCovey Chronicles comment section, and when you look at the profile, it looks like he’s the exact sort of player Buster Posey wants. In 2024, he had 31 home runs and 108 RBI and the year before 97 RBI in 121 games.

It’s time for some of us to admit defeat: conservatives the RBI humpers won. In this particular case, Cleveland’s valuation of a 123 OPS+ over the last three seasons might wind up equaling the value Buster Posey assigns to a guy who has 284 RBI the past three seasons. His projected $12 million arbitration salary will certainly play some sort of a factor in trade talks because Cleveland has never been shy about shedding payroll.

O’Neill, meanwhile, is a right-handed masher who can make Oracle Park look like his backyard. He hit 31 home runs in somewhat limited action in 2024 (113 games) and in 2021 he hit 34 home runs. Injuries have certainly plagued him and since he’s a Scott Boras client he will probably be asking for a deal commensurate with a player who never misses games because of that power, but $25-$30 million on these two players who fill a power/RBI need would be a pretty wise investment.

Ideally, the Giants wouldn’t be in a position where signing a qualifying offer player would crush their development pipeline because Anthony Santander would make a lot of sense here. Alas… What they will probably doRHH: Paul Goldschmidt I just think the Giants have concluded that Ha-Seong Kim will be a significant offensive contributor, despite all evidence to the contrary, and so they might see the only real need as a true RBI guy. Goldschmidt is coming off two down seasons, but he still punishes NL West opponents, “plays the game the right way,” and could be a good veteran to aid Bryce Eldridge should his journey lead him to the major leagues at some point in 2025.

He’ll turn 38 in September, but Buster Posey seems to be uninterested in things like age curves and wins above replacement. It might be enough that Goldy has played 154 games in each of the last two seasons and knows how to drive in runs. Now, what does this mean for performance from the left side of the plate?

Hard to say. Maybe there’s a trade on the horizon that’s not obvious (Cody Bellinger? ) or a transaction that seems silly to suggest right now (bringing back Michael Conforto) – and none of this factors in positional flexibility and simple defensive ability, either.

Note that I wasn’t advocating for DHs. Naylor and O’Neill can play the field a bit. The TL;DR version:The 3 moves the Giants must make this offseason, according to BryanAcquire RBI threats from both sides of the plate (Josh Naylor & Tyler O’Neill)Re-sign Blake SnellHave a meeting with Juan SotoThe 3 moves the Giants must make this offseason, according to the Giants as predicted by BryanSign Paul GoldschmidtSign Ha-Seong Kim Trade for Sonny Gray (They will pretend Juan Soto doesn’t exist)Agree?

Disagree? What 3 moves do you think the Giants need to make this offseason? This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.