Rumored Yasiel Puig Deal Makes Sense For San Francisco Giants

Last week, there were some rumblings that the San Francisco Giants had a deal nearly completed with free agent outfielder Yasiel Puig. The rumors didn’t bear out, so far anyway, and Giants President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi offered only a non-committal statement about how the team is always exploring a range of options. Whether there’s a deal in place or not, the rumors make some sense for the most basic of reasons: Puig would be cheap, and he can hit.

A star in his early years, Puig has meandered between average and good in the last five seasons. His batting average has been quite consistent — .263 in 2016 and 2017, .267 each of the next two years – but his walk rate and power have both been quite variable in that same time frame. His defense has also slipped a bit, as his range in the outfield has faded, though his arm still gets plus marks. A team thinking about signing him will see a good hitter, iffy but not terrible defender and an eccentric personality.

It’s unclear how much that last point has led to Puig remaining unsigned to this point, or if he’s simply asking more than teams want to pay for something like a league-average contributor. Former stars who have lost some shine in the years leading up to free agency have been vulnerable in recent markets – they saw their peers sign huge deals in the first half of the last decade, but those deals have largely dried up for mid-tier veterans. Teams would rather see what they have with young players who are making less than the manager, who may well be better than the expensive player entering his thirties.

Which brings us to the San Francisco Giants. Add Puig to that team and he is taking at-bats from…Hunter Pence? Billy Hamilton? Steven Duggar? Alex Dickerson and Mike Yastrzemski are penciled into regular lineup spots (Fangraphs’ depth charts actually have Yaz getting the plurality of plate appearances at both center and right field), but after that, it’s a collection of prospects that haven’t quite figured it out, and spaghetti-at-the-wall veterans. Puig would make the team better. On a one-year deal, he could be flipped for a B-level prospect at midseason (whatever “midseason” ends up being in a theoretical 2020 season) or boost an unlikely playoff run if the bounces go the Giants’ way in a short season. Puig still has good tools, and perhaps he can get a boost from a new environment, especially one like San Francisco that enjoys a good character, and a new coaching staff.

And if it doesn’t work out, he won’t cost the Giants much. At this point, should baseball resume, Puig will want to find a team quickly. That likely means accepting a one-year contract for something in the high seven figures on a short season deal. Those are the sorts of deals that high-budget teams should gamble on in down years. We can’t say for sure if those rumors are true, but it’s a sensible gamble for a Giants team in transition.