Where Giants can turn in free agency after missing out on Burnes originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — Almost a decade ago, Giants officials went to bed on a Thursday night in December thinking that the next day would be a transformative one for the organization. They believed they had locked up a right-handed ace to join the homegrown one they had at the top of their rotation, but before they could truly begin to celebrate, the Arizona Diamondbacks came out of nowhere and signed Zack Greinke to a $206.5 million deal.
The Corbin Burnes situation wasn’t exactly the same, although it was eerily close. Burnes, like Greinke, is a former Cy Young Award winner who showed interest in finishing out his prime at Oracle Park. In 2015, the industry perception was that Greinke would choose between the Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers. In recent weeks, the thought was that Burnes would choose the Giants or Toronto Blue Jays. Back then, it was Madison Bumgarner who was waiting for help. Right now, it’s Logan Webb.
The Giants were stunned when the Diamondbacks emerged from the shadows and signed Greinke, but they pivoted quickly, signing right-handers Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija to long-term deals. Bruce Bochy needed innings and there still were options beyond Greinke, and in the first year of their deals, at least, both Cueto and Samardzija were more effective than the one that got away.
The pivot isn’t nearly as obvious with Burnes, who did not get as far along in the process with the Giants as Greinke did.
As Burnes waited for the right fit in late December, the starting pitching market dried up. Sean Manaea returned to the New York Mets and Walker Buehler signed a prove-it deal with the Boston Red Sox, joining Blake Snell, Max Fried, Nathan Eovaldi, Yusei Kikuchi and others who had previously found new deals. The best veteran pitcher left on the market is Jack Flaherty, but he has an uneven track record the last few years.
The best pitcher, period, is Roki Sasaki, and if the Giants win that race, it would certainly remove all of the sting of missing out on Burnes and others. The Giants have taken the Sasaki pursuit seriously and in a lot of ways, he’s exactly what the organization needs. But team officials would still be surprised if he ends up anywhere other than Los Angeles.
The other path would be to dedicate the remaining resources to upgrading the lineup, although the fits are not nearly as clean as Burnes or Willy Adames, who currently is