It has been a mediocre offseason for the San Francisco Giants despite some notable names joining the team.
For the past few years, the Giants have been stuck in mediocrity. Unfortunately, their division has been one of the best in baseball of late, which hasn’t helped San Francisco throughout the regular season.
After another losing season, the team elected to make a significant change and bring in Buster Posey to be the new President of Baseball Operations. By hiring Posey, the hope was that he would be able to help lure top free agents to the Bay Area.
This offseason, San Francisco was able to accomplish that to a degree by adding Willy Adames and Justin Verlander. While adding Adames was a significant upgrade for their lineup, the loss of Blake Snell is one that will be felt in the rotation.
Recently, the Giants made a somewhat surprising trade to send left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers to the Cincinnati Reds for Braxton Roxby. In addition to trading the left-hander, San Francisco will also be eating about half of his salary for 2025.
Recently, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report graded the deal for the Giants. Like how their offseason has gone so far, they received a mediocre grade of a ‘C’ for the surprising deal. He highlighted it being an odd deal, but that Roxby could be a solid piece in return.
“Beyond just being a bummer in that respect, this trade isolates Erik Miller as the only southpaw left in the Giants’ bullpen. It feels like a needless reduction of depth, particularly given that the club wasn’t hurting for payroll space. On the plus side, at least Roxby is an interesting prospect.”
While it is unfortunate that the Rogers twins will be split up, the move is a bit of a puzzling one for San Francisco. The bullpen wasn’t considered to be a strength of the team, and now they are down to just one left-handed pitcher in the unit.
For the Reds, they will be getting a very talented veteran to add to their bullpen. Cincinnati might be quietly putting together a strong roster going into 2025, and the addition of Rogers is nice one for them.
Last year, he totaled a 2.40 ERA and 1.1 WAR out of the bullpen for the Giants. It was the best season in a couple of years for the former All-Star, and San Francisco’s bullpen won’t be as good without him.
While Roxby might end up being a contributor for the Giants down the road, it’s nonetheless an interesting move for a team that likely wants to win in 2025. Since he was making $12 million in 2025, the Giants might be trying to shed some salary to potentially make another splash in free agency.
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