The Giants area unit closing in on AN agreement with free agent southpaw Alex Wood, reports parliamentarian Murray of FanSided (Twitter link). the edges area unit discussing a biennial deal that might pay the ACES shopper over $10MM annually, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN (on Twitter). ought to a deal return to fruition, he’d be a part of 2021 rotation mate Anthony DeSclafani in returning to San Francisco. The Giants proclaimed a three-year treaty with DeSclafani simply minutes before news of Wood’s near-agreement with the club stone-broke.
Wood signed with San Francisco for a $3MM guarantee last offseason and over created smart on the club’s fairly tiny investment. The left-hander worked to a three.83 ERA across 138 2/3 innings and twenty six starts, taking up his heaviest employment since 2018. ERA estimators were even additional optimistic on his performance, as Wood announce a three.48 FIP and a three.60 SIERA that area unit each a good bit higher than his bottom line numbers.
The deceptive southpaw punched out twenty sixth of batters sweet-faced this past season, a mark that’s over 3 points north of the league average. That came on the strength of AN above-average twelve.5% swinging strike rate, with Wood generating many whiffs on each his sinker and slider. whereas he doesn’t throw particularly onerous, he’s systematically tested capable of missing cracked supported his combination of movement, command and atypical hunt for hitters.
That impressive profile has additionally enabled Wood to post sturdy ground-ball numbers. He generally induces grounders on around [*fr1] the balls live against him (the average for starters is simply below 43%), which was once more the case this past season. Wood racked up worm-burners at a fifty.8% clip, a high twenty mark among the 129 hurlers with 100+ innings pitched. It’s rare to search out pitchers capable of pairing that sort of out and ground-ball proclivities, and Wood additionally owns high-end management. The southpaw has ne’er had a season with a walk rate north of the league average, and his 6.7% mark in 2021 was over a degree not up to the league figure.
There’s very little question regarding Wood’s effectiveness. Since debuting in 2013, he’s nonetheless to post a season during which he’s exceeded forty innings with AN ERA north of four.00. That’s supported by the underlying numbers, with the Georgia native generally providing the assembly of a #2 or high-end #3 starter once he takes the mound. At his best, Wood is capable of posting All-Star caliber numbers. He even earned a solstice Classic nod with the Dodgers in 2017, and his 152 1/3 innings of two.72 ERA ball that year earned him some down-ballot Danton True Young support.
The bugaboo throughout his career has been health. whereas Wood tossed 361 1/3 innings between 2014-15, he’s struggled to log full rotation workloads within the years since. The southpaw has solely double eclipsed a hundred and fifty frames within the past six seasons, and his 2019-20 seasons were for the most part derailed by back and shoulder problems. He combined for simply forty eight 1/3 innings over that biennial stretch, and people problems perceived to have a pronounced impact on his performance. Despite his generally robust chronicle, his ERA over those couple seasons was slightly below half dozen.00.
Wood principally stayed healthy in 2021, though his season debut was delayed some weeks by a minor back surgery. yet, injury and/or employment issues have unbroken Wood from cashing in on a long contract to the current purpose in his career. the previous second-round choose turns thirty one years recent in Gregorian calendar month, and his rate performance would apparently warrant a robust 3 or four year deal were groups assured in his ability to systematically log 150+ innings.
Instead, it looks he’ll land a biennial treaty to come back to the Bay space. That’s back of the three-year, $30MM deal MLBTR projected getting into the offseason, though he’s apparently in line to high that calculable average annual price. The Giants will definitely afford to require on it reasonably eight-figure investment over following 2 seasons. San Francisco presently has simply $106MM in commitments for next season, within the estimation of mythical being Martinez of listing Resource. That variety dips to $45MM in 2023, once solely 3 players (Brandon Crawford, DeSclafani and Tommy La Stella) have warranted deals on the books.
The rotation has been a priority for president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, top dog Scott Harris and also the remainder of the front workplace. the necessity to make the beginning workers this offseason has been evident for a short time currently, as mountain peak Webb was the sole one in all San Francisco’s high 5 starters remaining below club management getting into the day. DeSclafani’s come back locks in an exceedingly second member of that cluster, and Wood would have a spot lined up further if/when his deal is finalized. Susan Slusser of the S.F. Chronicle rumored this morning the club was additionally creating a robust run at free agent Alex Cobb. It remains to be seen whether or not those talks can end in AN agreement, however there’d definitely be area within the rotation and on the payroll for such a move.
Of course, it additionally stands to reason the Giants would still wish to thrash out a long agreement with Kevin Gausman. whereas a Webb – DeSclafani – Wood trio would bring a solid high 3, reinstalling Gausman behind Webb and knock DeSclafani and Wood into the mid-rotation roles during which they thrived in 2021 would build San Francisco’s rotation one in all the additional formidable units within the league on paper. The front workplace has worked to retain the maximum amount of this year’s 107-win team as doable, sign language Crawford, DeSclafani and certain Wood to multi-year deals and delivery back Brandon Belt via the $18.4MM qualifying provide.
