Your 2026 Giants: Pivotal Analysis

Now, I am with most Giants fans that it has been an underwhelming Hot Stove season, it wasn’t even mildly lukewarm.  Hentges, Foley, Houser, Mahle, Bader, Arraez.  I was expecting a big signing of an ace level starting pitcher, to go with all their investments in Chapman, Adames, Devers, Lee, and Webb.  

Still, I was underwhelmed sometimes by Sabean, then looked at his changes by seeing how he is pivoting his roster, even if the moves don’t look like they moved the needle much, and found improvements, whether by addition by subtraction or adding a minor addition where it is still a huge improvement over the previous season.  So I will go over some examples of pivots I have seen so far in moves this offseason.

Your 2026 Giants: Signs Three Time Batting Champ, Luis Arraez

Per reports (MLB, NBC) three time batting champ, Luis Arraez, has signed with the Giants for one year at $12M. He will start at second base.

Your 2026 Giants: Harrison Bader Signing

Per reports, Harrison Bader agreed to two year contract with the Giants for $20.5M, and incentives could raise that to $21.0M.  Posey reported that Bader will play CF, where he has won a gold glove before.

Posey also noted that Jung Hoo Lee took the news of moving to RF well, and Lee was also told that he would still get starts in CF, which fits what Vitello said in a recent interview, that the starters in the outfield will be fluid. Apparently Lee has played a lot of RF in KBO, and his StatCast physical stats compared well with other MLB RF, so they expect him to be good defensively there. 

To clear space on the 40 man, they traded pitcher Kai-Wei Teng to the Astros, for a catcher, Jameel Vlattoel and international a lot money.