The San Francisco Giants are heading into an offseason with a lot of question marks regarding the future of the franchise.
For the last number of years, the Giants have been a team stuck in mediocrity. San Francisco has missed the playoffs for three straight seasons, and they aren’t anywhere close to being able to compete with some of the elite teams in their own division.
Recently, the Giants hired their former catcher, Buster Posey, to take over as the President of Baseball Operations. Posey will be trying to help right the ship and lure some talent to the Bay Area.
In recent years, the Giants have been missing out on big names like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani in free agency, but one player signing could change all of that.
Posey will be inheriting a team that doesn’t have a lot of talent in the farm system, as he is going to have to build through free agency.
Recently, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report spoke about what could be the worst contracts come the 2026 season, and unfortunately, San Francisco had a player make the list, and that was relief pitcher Jordan Hicks.
“Signing him as a starter looked like a stroke of genius initially, as he still had a sub-3.00 ERA as late as June 17. But then he coughed up an 8.18 ERA over his next five starts, followed by a forgettable move back to the bullpen. Hicks can throw hard, but his sinker nonetheless got hit at a .341 clip this season. He also continued to have control issues, walking 3.9 batters per nine innings. It’s time to recognize that Hicks is merely OK as a reliever (3.71 ERA) and worse as a starter (4.32 ERA), and that he therefore figures to be the only winner of his $44 million contract.”
Hicks has certainly had an up and down career so far, and 2024 wasn’t a great season for him after being moved back to the bullpen. While his 3.71 ERA as a relief pitcher isn’t bad, the Giants signed him to a four-year, $44 million deal to be a starter.
If Hicks is going to stay as a mediocre relief pitcher, $11 million a year annually is a pretty bad deal.
In 2026, Hicks will be in the third year of the deal, as that could easily be one of the worst contracts on the team at that point. Fortunately, Hicks will still be 29-years-old at the time, so it is possible for him to make a return to the rotation, which would help make this contract look much better.
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