ORLANDO, Fla. — For a team that has barely begun to address its many roster deficiencies, the San Francisco Giants are winning the heck out of the Winter Meetings.
Jeff Kent, who won the 2000 NL MVP Award in a Giants uniform, was elected by the Today’s Game Committee to the Baseball Hall of Fame and signaled his intent to represent San Francisco on his plaque in Cooperstown, N.Y. The club’s longtime media relations director, Matt Chisholm, received the Robert O. Fishel Award that recognizes excellence in public relations. Its senior home clubhouse manager, Brad Grems, was voted Clubhouse Manager of the Year. Its visiting clubhouse manager, Gavin Cuddie, received the same recognition among his major-league cohort. The Giants were thrilled that Karen Sweeney, who has been the administrative glue for four baseball operations regimes over more than three decades, received the Katy Feeney Leadership Award honoring high-achieving women in the industry. It will keep fingers crossed for beloved announcer Duane Kuiper, who is a finalist for the Ford C. Frick Award that will be revealed Wednesday.
And most critically, luck was on the Giants’ side during the MLB Draft Lottery on Tuesday night. Although they finished with an 81-81 record that should have netted them the 12th pick, the Giants moved all the way up to the No. 4 selection. It’ll be just the fifth time in franchise history they will select so high, and it’s their best draft position since 2018, when they took catcher Joey Bart with the second pick. And next year’s draft class is considered very strong at the top, according to our resident expert, Keith Law, with at least four high-profile college hitters and one high school hitter who could merit consideration as the top choice.
The lottery results are a potential windfall for an organization that has struggled to grease the wheels on its player development system, that hasn’t netted any recent value in the first round besides catcher Patrick Bailey (in 2020) and that felt the squeeze in lost draft picks for signing qualified free agents such as Matt Chapman, Blake Snell and Willy Adames.
Giants vice president of player development Randy Winn represented the Giants in the televised program on MLB Network. As he descended the dais, Giants amateur scouting director Michael Holmes shot an arm in his direction.
“Good job, Randy!” Holmes said.
“You can tell he’s very excited,” Winn said.
The Giants finished with the 15th-worst record and could have picked as late as 16th if the lottery cards had gone against them. Their expected position was the 12th pick, and they had a 1 percent shot at drafting first. The Colorado Rockies, Washington Nationals and Los Angeles Angels finished far below the Giants in the standings but were ineligible to receive a lottery pick based on previous drafts. When only the top five picks were left to be revealed and the Giants still hadn’t been called, Winn allowed himself a moment to dream.
“I didn’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but I did know that based on how things worked, if we weren’t called by 15 that we would be inside the top six,” Winn said. “Once we weren’t six and then once we weren’t five, I was like, ‘Well, maybe.’ Drafting is hard, but we’re definitely excited to be picking so early in the draft. It’s been a while since I believe we’ve drafted this high. We’ve got some time, and we’ve got some work to do ahead of us.”
The Giants have fared pretty well when picking in the top four. They took pitcher Jason Grilli (No. 4) in 1997 and flipped him for Livan Hernandez, who was their ace on two playoff teams. They took All-Star third baseman Matt Williams (No. 3) in 1986 and All-Star first baseman Will Clark (No. 2) in 1985. And of course, they also got a franchise-altering player when they took Buster Posey with the fifth pick in 2008.
The Giants’ lottery fortunes essentially added $3 million in slot value for their first-round pick, which represents roughly a 25 percent boost to their bonus pool. The Giants could leverage that windfall by drafting a less-heralded prospect in the first round and spreading the bonus money to later picks. But according to Law, the top-end talent will be so compelling that few teams drafting at the top are expected to take that course.
Giants general manager Zack Minasian, who represented the team in the lottery telecast last year, said there were “high fives and yelling in the suite. It’s unexpected, but I’m extremely excited for Holmesy and his group. Randy Winn brought much more luck than the GM!”
However, luck is never a static concept in baseball or anyplace else. It never holds for any team. And when it comes to ace right-hander Logan Webb’s potential participation in the World Baseball Classic, the Giants telegraphed a clear message Tuesday: They don’t want to push it.
“The perfect-case scenario for some of these pitchers that are asked to do it, with me being somewhat selfish, is you hope that they have an opportunity later in their career,” Posey said, citing veteran starters such as Adam Wainwright and Clayton Kershaw who pitched for Team USA. “It’s a great event. But we’ve also seen over the years that it can derail some pitchers, just because there’s no way to replicate getting yourself ready for what’s essentially a playoff baseball atmosphere in early March.”
No matter how much the Giants improve their roster before opening day, it’s hard to imagine any scenario in which they would be a playoff team without Webb, who has led the National League in innings for three consecutive seasons. Does Webb’s demonstrated durability make it easier for the Giants to send him into the WBC fire in mid-March? Or do all those innings under his belt represent an increased risk?
“He probably has his offseason program pretty dialed in to a specific time frame, so this would throw a wrench in that,” Posey said. “That’s kind of where my head goes when you ask that question.”
The Giants anticipate two-thirds of their starting outfield will leave camp for the WBC. Jung Hoo Lee will play for Korea, and Heliot Ramos will suit up for Puerto Rico. Right-hander Kai-Wei Teng is expected to represent Taiwan. Dominican Republic general manager Nelson Cruz expressed interest in Rafael Devers and Willy Adames but noted the potential roster is already deep at shortstop. So there’s nothing definitive with either player. The San Francisco Standard reported Chapman could be requested by Team USA general manager Michael Hill and manager Mark DeRosa.
DeRosa and Hill most definitely want Webb. It’s made for some contentious but respectful conversations between DeRosa and Posey, his former Giants teammate. Webb, contacted via text message, said he wasn’t prepared to comment. Clearly, discussions are ongoing.
Posey was the starting catcher on the 2017 WBC team that won gold. He smiled as he recalled the enjoyable experience of catching pitchers such as Marcus Stroman, who was as talented at hitting spots as he was at talking smack to opposing teams. Posey also saw how the WBC might have had an impact on Ryan Vogelsong, who participated in 2013 and then struggled to a 5.73 ERA in 19 starts. What would he tell Webb?
“You just have a thoughtful conversation with them around it and present the upside and potential downside as well,” Posey said. “Look, I got to play in it. It’s a great event. The way I see it, there’s definitely more risk for a pitcher than a position player. You’re playing in Miami against Dominican (Republic), and there’s 40,000 people screaming, you’re gonna have a hard time dialing it back in early March. It’s one of my favorite events outside of Major League Baseball that I ever played in my whole life. It’s a great event, but there’s definitely some risks associated with it.
“For Webby, doing it for a while now, he can make five or six starts in spring training and kind of work his way up, whereas you’re not going to have that luxury in the WBC. You’re going to be pitching in midseason or postseason type of intensity.”
The Giants are less concerned with the potential impact WBC participation from multiple players might have on building clubhouse cohesion under new manager Tony Vitello.
“I just think the event is phenomenal,” Vitello said. “So the guys that choose to or the guys in a quality enough position with their body or arm to try to compete in that, I’m all for it. I think the fallout is kind of worth the squeeze.
“We can always make up time down the road, whether it’s being around one another, getting familiar with teammates and things like that. But what everyone’s trying to do is to get to a point where we’re competing at a high level, and in that event, if you don’t compete at a high level, you’re going to get drowned out. So it’s a unique deal.”