RUMORS & REPORTS: Luis Matos COULD be TRADED | Jung Hoo Lee’s UNCERTAIN future in CENTERFIELD

RUMORS & REPORTS: Luis Matos COULD be TRADED | Jung Hoo Lee’s UNCERTAIN future in CENTERFIELD

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. And apparently a lot of people are searching for the treasure that is Luis Moss. Is he on the move? And are the Giants going to make a huge mistake? That’s all coming up on Locked on Giants. [Music] You are Locked on Giants. Your daily San Francisco Giants podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, I’m Alan Styles and welcome to Locked On Giants, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network. On the show, we provide daily episodes Monday through Friday talking about the San Francisco Giants in a way that combines passion, analytics with the eye test and a little bit of fun. I’m from the Bay Area, but I live in Sacramento now and I host a show on Sack Town Sports 1140, as well as MCing Sacramento Rivercats games. All in all, I’m lucky enough to cover a team I’ve been a fan of all my life. Today we are talking about the trade interest and how teams have been interested in Luis Moss, the free agent pitcher conversation, specifically relief pitchers, and how that movement could be happening sometime today or in the very very near future and Jean Hu Lee’s corner outfield fit. Today’s episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on MLB for $20 off your first purchase. So, this is being reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, and the question is, what’s next for Luis M? So, let’s start with what Shaina Rubin had to say. I always enjoy Shaina’s work and everything she’s bringing to the table. Uh, this is what she had to say. First, here’s a quote from Buster Posie. quote, “There’s no question we have to be better in the outfield as a group. It’s something that we’ll have to evaluate. Kind of waiting to get coaching staff in place to have talks about what adjustments we can make to improve.” She goes on to write, “Perhaps input from a new bench coach likely to be Jayce Tingler can improve those metrics. The bench coach positions defenders. Most helpful would be to fill the open spot in right field with a player who can lift the production. Drew Gilbert, Grant McCrae, Gerard and Carnosion, and Luis Moss are among the right fielders in house who will compete for the job. Possie mentioned Moss is out of minor league options and the Giants have been shopping him to other teams. industry sources told the Chronicle, Marco Luciano, whom the Giants have been testing in the outfield, is virtually out of the big league picture for now. And again, today is not the day to talk about Marco Luciano, but it is just I wouldn’t even call it a sad case. I’m sure it happens. Actually, I know it happens all the time in Major League Baseball. A lot of these guys that are supposed to pan out and it just doesn’t work out. Maybe it works out for him on a different team. But getting back to Luis Moss, another highly touted prospect that has not fully worked out with the San Francisco Giants and now he’s out of minor league options. A very bizarre year for Luis Moss. He had an opportunity, then they move on from Ystreky. They bring in other guys. As they move on from Ystreky, then they add in Drew Gilbert and everything that Drew Gilbert brings to the table. So that kind of changed the approach and the thought process for how how much of a leash they were going to bring Luis Moss or give him, which is crazy because Luis Moss had that stretch where he played really well, right? But, you know, being a righty hitter, they love the platoon thing, wanted to give Drew Gilbert some opportunities because defensively he is a dog and he did give a spark to that team. Incarnation, he got hot for a second and then we saw him struggle and and really struggle based on injury and that was really it for him going into going into the off season. Grant McCrae to me, look, I have I have been on record saying I do think he’s wiry. I do think he has a level of pop uh that he has not fully unlocked yet and he is a great defender. It’s just a matter of runway and you can’t give all these guys runway and you can’t have a situation where you’re giving one guy uh a a series, right? Hey, you get a series and then three weeks later you get a series and then three weeks later you get a series. That’s not realistic either. I think the funny thing about Luis Mats and if we were to take it back to uh to high school baseball, which it’s not the same. We could even talk about college baseball because you got Tony Bello, but it’s almost a situation where the sophomore who got pulled up to varsity doesn’t end up making varsity, right? Luis Mtos was the guy who got the nod to basically platoon with Mike Dstreky with that lefty righty situation and it didn’t work out for him because you know that that’s not how he was able to perform. Now in life you’re not always going to get what you want and when you get an opportunity at the big league level you can’t say well I just I want a bunch of at bats in a row and then I’ll and then I’ll find my rhythm. That’s not how it works. He had opportunities. It didn’t work out. Mike Dstreky wasn’t necessarily a world beater, which is again another conversation for a different day because he did play pretty well once they did move on from him. But the thing about it, it’s tough because I almost want to argue both sides. I want to argue that Luis Moss uh should have gotten maybe more runway and more opportunity. But on the other side, in life, there’s always going to be a competitor, right? every day, especially in the in the content world, there’s always going to be a new show, new podcast that I got to try to put my best foot forward and make sure that I’m doing what I need to do. Uh, if you’re in sales, there’s always another sales entity out there trying to take your your client. That’s just life. So it would be not ironic but almost uh I I don’t I don’t want to sit here and juxtapose how I feel and the things that we all have to go through in life and say well Luis Moss doesn’t have to deal with that and he should have just get an opportunity and he shouldn’t have any type of competition. And I don’t think that’s what Luis Moss is saying out loud at least. But I think a lot of us would love to get 30, 40 games in a row and just get to cook. That’s not how it works. So Drew Gilbert comes in. You do have an opportunity to platoon cuz one lefty one is righty. And you know, they both played pretty well. Drew had a hot little stretch. I think Luis Mtos showed more with the bat. And now a couple months later, you have teams that are interested in Luis Moss. And it’s not surprising. He’s had a nice stretch. I know he’s probably not a center fielder, but he he’s no Elliott Ramos out there. No disrespect to Elliot Ramos. So, he can do some things. And I will say this, it’s fascinating to me that the Giants, and I get it, he’s got no more he’s got no more minor league options. But to be honest with you, when you look at how the money is dispersed and the fact that we know Elliot Ramos, Casey Schmidt can hit at the big league level, you would think that they can afford to have one developmental project in the lineup. But with all of their swing and miss up and downs in addition to Bailey, you actually can’t. I guess you could say that’s also how tight the West is. But think about it. You’re paying big money at the shortstop position. You’re paying big money at the at the first base position. You’re paying big money at the third base position. You’re paying big money at the center field position. You got a left fielder who is a former allstar and really continued to hit very similar to that level this past season. All right. You know what Bryce Eldridge is supposed to bring to the table. So now it just leaves you with a second baseman who has proven that he can hit a a catcher who is the most elite catcher in the game. But we know hitting that’s just not his bag. And right field and somehow someway you don’t have runway for a highly toolled individual like Luis Moss. That doesn’t make a ton of sense to me unless you do not believe that your big money players are going to produce at that level because I think every team has one or two slots in the lineup where you can say, “Hey, this is for a guy that we think is going to be able to ball out, right? We’re talking about spending 10 year a 10-year commitment in that type of money on Kyle Tucker when you’ve already spent that money. So, it’s fascinating to me to see and not really surprising to see other teams interested in Luis Moss because other teams are saying, “Yeah, we can give this guy some runway and see what he can do.” I don’t know how long that runway is going to be, but for the Giants to not have room, but to be paying these guys uh this level of money, you would think that you should be able to find something. So, uh, that’s the situation with Luis Moss. That was from Susan Sleser, of course, uh, and Shaina Rubin reporting it all from the SF Chronicle. We’ll see what happens. But, yeah, I mean, you would think, hey, you’re spending enough money, you should be able to give one guy runway when we know at at least Elliot Ramos and Casey Schmidt, they can hit two. So, where are the holes, right? Well, we saw a lot of holes and swings and maybe with the addition of Hunter Menz, maybe you won’t see as many and you can give a little bit more leeway to a Luis Moss. Even when people say, “Allan, we can’t afford to do it when we see it in the comments.” Think about what they’re paying already. They kind of should be able to, right? I mean, they’re paying guys big money. That’s just one spot right field. And Luis Moss has shown you something, but they don’t think they have the time. And look, they they’re entitled to that. all the comments, you know, I love you. You’re entitled to feel how you feel. It’s just fascinating to me to spend this money, but to not have a spot for Luis Moss when he was that sophomore on on varsity. When we return, let’s keep the good times rolling. Free agent pitcher movement, specifically relief pitchers, as the GM meetings are off to the races. What are we hearing? What am I hearing? and what could be breaking any minute now. More locked on Giants coming up. The NBA is back and there’s no better place to get in on the action than FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand, FanDuel has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team’s making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So, head to fanduel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Okay, so we are keeping a close eye on social media on X on all of that because this report came out uh this morning. All right, so as a lot of you know the uh GM meetings are off to the races and this is Francis Romero. So, Francis Romero, who is a BBWA member, a baseball sports reporter, and he says, “Hearing from the GM meetings that the reliever market could start moving in the next few hours with big names such as Edwin Diaz, Devin Williams, Robert Suarez, Risel Eiglacius, and Ryan Hley. It was already a trend at the last trade deadline.” So, we said that this morning. Uh, not much has broken yet. And of course, we are specifically paying attention to the Giants and what they could be up to. The two names that we have heard, some of it being internally from me and some of it being just out there in the atmosphere, this is what we talked about uh late last week. Free agent reliever Devin Williams has reportedly been receiving a lot of interest in free agency. And this was John Morsy. I would not be surprised at all to see Devin sign with the West Coast team perhaps like the Giants. The Giants have told us time and time again that they need to focus on pitching. Devin Williams is somebody that I think can definitely add to that. And you know, when you flip things back and forth and when you look at markets, a lot of people don’t think that markets matter when it comes to where somebody goes. I’m here to tell you that I definitely think that it does matter. and to see uh what happened. That was my whole thing. Look, I never really had a problem with Camilo Deval. I know a lot of Giants fans did not enjoy how he uh went about his business just as far as I mean, he wasn’t productive, right? So, when he got traded to the Yankees, that was the first thing on my mind. How is this guy going to handle New York? Right? Even though SF is a is a big market, per se, the San Francisco market, the Bay Area is a big market, New York is New York. Let’s make no mistake about it. So, on the flip side of that, for somebody like Devin Williams, and to take it away from the uh the pitching category, a Cody Bellinger who’s only played in big markets, I like that because you understand and they understand what is on the table. I know it shouldn’t matter a ton, but when you’re going from, and I don’t want to throw any other markets under the bus, but when you’re going from a smaller market and now you have these expectations, that is something to pay attention to. Let’s look at Tony Vitello. I mean, Tennessee, as far as they’re concerned, they were the cream of the crop in college baseball. Now, everything is relative, but everybody was looking at them every single season for what they were going to do. I would consider them a bit of a big market, especially when you include NIL and things like that. And that’s because of Tony Vitello and what he brought to the table. So, I really do like uh when guys have that experience. And if anything, you could argue they’re going to a slightly smaller market. Now, I got in trouble not too long ago. People said that I called San Francisco a small market, the Giants a small market. I don’t recall saying that because I don’t think the Giants are a small market team at all. And I don’t think they necessarily spend like one, but they’re not the Yankees when it comes to that market because nobody is like the Yankees. I mean, it’s the Yankees, I guess, the Cowboys, uh the the Lakers, if you will, the Knicks. Those they’re not even it’s not even baseball, football, basketball. They’re just their own thing. So, I don’t know if I had a a slip of the tongue or whatever it was, but just to be very clear with everyone, I do not think that San Francisco is a small market in any capacity. I saw some comments, didn’t uh didn’t respond because I just didn’t recall saying it, but it’s not a small market. But the the New York Yankees, that’s that’s just a different level in general. And, you know, to kind of uh piggyback off that, that’s why the the league is kicking off next season with the Yankees playing the Giants. So, they’re not far away, but when you talk about the media, how the media treats uh the the team, I do think there there are some differences. So, to bring in a guy like Devin Williams, from that perspective, I I would be I would for sure be into it. They just need arms. They need late arms. I mean, if you look at some of the hitting that the Giants did towards the end of the season, uh they did they did take care of business in a lot of different capacities. Now, it didn’t last forever, but if you had a solid bullpen to go to and a closer to go to, then that is that that just changes things. And with that being said, getting back to Edwin Diaz, who we know, Edwin Diaz, he is a complete stud at what he did in uh what he did in New York with the other New York team, the New York Mets. Uh there’s there’s nothing to sneeze at there, but I I did see that he was looking for another I believe it was another five-year deal, and I don’t know if the Giants would be willing to take on something like that and has that type of appetite. Here it is. Edwin Diaz is seeking a contract that’s essentially the same one as the 5-year $102 million deal he signed with the Mets in 2022. So, he’s leaving the Mets, but he wants something that is very similar to what he had with the Mets. So, five-year deal. All these guys, they know they’re so good at ending these contracts right at that level or right at that age where it just makes you feel a little uncomfortable. 31 years old. So that five years he would be 36 in his last year. That market, man, that that market is tough. And when you look at what you’re going to be paying him annually, you could say, “Hey, this is something that we just won’t have to worry about anymore.” And I know Randy Rodriguez, he he did pretty well. So you’re paying a you’re paying a a closer $20 million a year. All right. $20 million a year. The Giants have said they don’t even want to spend $100 million on a starter. So, in theory, Edwin Diaz shouldn’t be on the on the docket at all. and as I keep refreshing in case something comes up. But at the same time, I did speak with uh some people that are familiar with just the West Coast in general and the NL West specifically and they said I wouldn’t be surprised if the Giants do go in that direction and decide to just cash out a closer and say this is something that we don’t need to worry about moving forward obviously barring injury. So, uh, those are a couple things that you can go back and forth with. And I want to know in the comments whether you would want to bring on somebody like Edwin Diaz or is it just a little too rich for your blood for a closer? I’m torn because I know the other side of it is not having a guy and everybody wants to have that guy. And look, if it’s Ryan Walker, no disrespect to Ryan Walker, but Ryan Walker or paying somebody 20 million a year for the next five years and that’s somebody’s Edwin Diaz, it ain’t my money. But sign me up. One more segment with you. This is a really good breakdown from an upand cominging kind of Giants content creator on Jung Hulie and his corner outfield fit. I’m not hating on Jung Hulie. I know y’all try to say that I hate on Jung Hulie, but these are the facts. And when we’re getting into free agency and and trades and how the Giants should approach it in the offseason, this is the stuff that I’m sure the Giants are keeping in mind as well as everybody around the league. More lockdown Giants coming up. Thank you for making Locked on Giants your first listen of the day and thank you for making Locked On the number one sports podcast network. So this is from a dude that is an upandcomer in the Giants media space if you will pitching enthusiast UCLA. He graduates in 2029. That’s why I call him an upandcomer. His name is Matthew Nau. And Matthew Nauer, if you were on X, he’s doing a great job. He he does threads. That’s his way of that’s his way of breaking down the Giants. And it’s very unique to how other people break down the Giants. You know, you can have a take here, take there. He is using the approach of having different threads and going through why something should or should not happen. So, uh, this is what he had to say about Janghu Lee. And the long and the short of it is that he thinks that Janghu Lee is a better profile for right field. And he gives some examples as to why he thinks that is the case. And we will answer the question whether or not he should be moved to right field. This is how he starts it off. In 2025, the Giants outfield ranked second to last with a minus5 fielding runs. Jung-hu Lee struggled mightily, minus five outs above average, and he’s a much better fit for right field. If San Francisco considers itself a contender, the outfield has to be addressed. Out of the 28 center fielders with at least 500 innings played, Lee ranked 26 in fan grabs defensive runs and 25th in fielding run value. The issue lies in his range where he lost five runs for the Giants on balls Statcast deems he should have tracked down. His jump is bad, losing nearly half a foot to the average outfielder. That ranked 24th out of 28 center fielders. Statcast gave all of these balls a 99% likelihood to be caught based on hang time and distance needed to cover. And then he goes on to give some examples and then he gives examples to 90% catchable balls or likelihood to be caught that Jung Hu Lee couldn’t corral. He then says and again there’s always some positive. Luckily Lee has one of the strongest arms in baseball averaging 91.4. That’s the 91st percentile. That’s a cannon. Stack deems his arm worth at least two runs. The profile is a perfect fit for a corner outfield spot, specifically in right field. Lee’s range and jump are poor, at least compared to center fielders, but he’ll grade out much higher in relation to slower corner outfielders, and his arm strength will play perfectly. And then he goes on to say, “Drew Gilbert is in right field, and they don’t have a center fielder right now. Cody Bellinger, Harrison Bader, both on the market.” So, great stuff. Great stuff. And he closes it saying the Giants cannot roll out an outfield of Elliot Ramos, Jung Hulie, and Drew Gilbert next season because of those guys defensively in left and center and because of Drew Gilbert offensively. And again, Buster Posia has said we’re about pitching and defense. Well, if you’re about pitching and defense, you got to show it and you you have to make sure that your defense is coming correct. So, that’s great stuff. That again is from Matthew Nau who is doing his thing at UCLA but making his way into the media space and doing it in a very unique way. So I just wanted to shout him out because uh this is kind of what I touched on a little bit just you know me a little bit of eye test and a little bit of analytics. He went on a deep dive and for those who think Allan stop being a hater on Julie it’s not me. It is not me. All right that this is these are numbers to back up my eye test. Okay. So, what do the Giants do? What do they do? Well, realistically, they could go get Harrison Bader. That’s again maybe more short-term. More long-term would be Cody Bellinger. And I want to bring up Cody Bellinger because I do think it’s different, right? Paying six years for Cody Bellinger, and I don’t know, he won’t play center for all six years. So maybe that’s a better argument for Harrison Bader, but paying six years for Cody Bellinger to be in right field is different for paying for six years for Cody Bellinger to be in center field. And bringing in Jay Singler, they’re going to be looking at everything. Cody Bellinger might reenter their thought process. If they’re talking about a cornerstone center fielder for the next, I think at at 30 years old, Cody probably has, I don’t know, three maybe four years left at center field hopefully. So you could have that and then you can move him to right. I don’t know, you know, maybe Jung Lee goes to left at that point or what’s going on with Elliot Ramos. I know they’re all stacked at first base, but Cody Bellinger is very dynamic in the defensive uh the defensive flexibility that he has. So that changes things to me. I probably would still just go with Harrison Bader, but it is interesting. And I know Trent Gisham, he’s on his way to left field, so the conversation of center doesn’t make a ton of sense there. But yeah, Jan Hulie, man, I don’t know if it’ll be this next season because if you go get Here’s the thing. Is it worth going to get Kyle Tucker who we know will not play center and deal with Jung Julie in center and now you’re paying for 10 years. Right now you’re paying for 10 years of Kyle Tucker who’s stuck in right. What do you do with Elliot Ramos? We haven’t heard anything there as far as the trade value because if you move on from Elliot Ramos for maybe some relief pitching. I know that Matthew is saying move Julie to right, but if you move Jean Julie to left and then and you get some pitching back in return for Elliot Ramos, then you make a decision and you say, “Hey, Cody, you play center now.” I think that’s possible. I think I think that’s very possible. But uh with Elliot Ramos in left field, you have you have somebody in Julie who has to play center or right. And I would I would go as far as to say that based on how Julie has played the center field position so far, you might not be able to pay Kyle Tucker just based on that. Now, Julie is a guy who can improve. He’s still young enough to improve. But I don’t know, y’all. I’m going to be honest with you. I think that there are certain things like rebounding. you can improve yourself uh as far as rebounding, but some guys Kevon Looney, Kevin Love, they just got a knack for rebounding. When it comes to playing center field, and when you see somebody playing a beautiful center field, you either got it or you don’t. And Jan Huli can play center, and he will play center at times. I think Drew Gilbert might even be a better center fielder uh than Jung Hu Lee, but Drew Gilbert hasn’t shown that he can hit. So when you’re looking at Jung Huli, he can play center. Can he improve? Sure. But I would I would put it in the same conversation of whatever your vertical leap is at your your pre-training your your pre when you’re born and hey, you’re going to be set at this vertical leap. Now you’re going to train. Let’s say when you’re a sophomore or a junior in high school, you work your butt off and you your vertical uh leap is 28, right? You might be able to get to 31, but you’re not getting to the 40s, right? If you were born, taking it to football to run a a five flat 40. You can work your butt off and get to a 48, maybe a 47, but you’re not going to be a 4-2 guy. Jan Hu Lee can work to be a better center fielder, a serviceable center fielder because right now he’s below average, but he’s not going to be elite. And if you’re Buster Posey and once again you’re priding yourself on defense, you probably should have an elite guy in a premium position. So that’s where I’ll end it. Hey, it’s not me, it’s the numbers and and good stuff from Matthew Nauard. Thank you for uh listening to Locked on Giants. Thank you for watching Locked on Giants. Be sure to follow me on social media at the Southfiles Styles with an I as well as the official Locked On Giants account. Tomorrow will be a fun one. We are talking about Bryce Eldridge. Yes, there is uh uh there are some rumors swirling a little bit and really just a conversation as to what is the level of what is the level of who’s untouchable and who’s not and where should Bryce El be on that list. I’m very excited for that one. So, you don’t want to miss it. We will talk to you tomorrow. Until then, peace.

The Giants’ outfield picture is shifting fast — and Luis Matos might be the first major domino to fall. Buster Posey publicly acknowledged the team “has to be better in the outfield,” and with Matos out of minor-league options and multiple teams showing interest, the Giants are now actively shopping him. We dive into why the organization may be ready to move on, how tight the NL West race forces SF to limit developmental projects, and what this says about players like Heliot Ramos, Casey Schmitt, and the struggling Marco Luciano.

Plus, we break down the growing push to move Jung Hoo Lee to a corner spot after ranking near the bottom of MLB center fielders in defensive value, what that means for Drew Gilbert, and why Cody Bellinger or Harrison Bader could suddenly become priority fits. And with bullpen movement expected today, Posey’s comments on outfield needs, coaching staff changes, and Jayce Tingler’s potential role all shape the next phase of the offseason. A packed episode — with real implications for what the 2026 Giants will look like on Opening Day.

0:00 Giants call about Bichette?
11:04 FA Pitcher movement soon?
19:04 Jung Hoo Lee’s future in Centerfield

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