With so many players on the 60-Day IL, the Giants have a huge job of reducing the 56 players they currently have to reduce to 40, after the end of the World Series. This post will go through the current players on the roster, and see who the Giants might select for the final 40-man of 2026, before the Rule 5 draft (depending on the lockout).
ogc thoughts
Here are the current players on the Giants 40-man roster:
- Philip Abner 57
- Tristan Beck 43 MINORS
- Hayden Birdsong 60 IL-60
- JT Brubaker 34 IL-10
- José Buttó 70 IL-60
- Duncan Davitt MINORS
- Jason Foley 64
- Matt Gage 93 IL-60
- Trent Harris 68
- Sam Hentges 31 IL-15
- Adrian Houser 12 IL-60
- Joel Kuhnel 54
- Seth Lonsway 86 MINORS
- Yunior Marte 87
- Trevor McDonald 72 IL-60
- Miguel Mendez MINORS
- Anthony Molina 45
- Joel Peguero 63 IL-60
- Cesar Perdomo 83
- Randy Rodríguez 73 IL-60
- Landen Roupp 65
- Braxton Roxby 90 MINORS
- Reiver Sanmartin 48
- Carson Seymour 77
- Dylan Smith 66
- Blade Tidwell 46
- Ryan Walker 74 MINORS
- Logan Webb 62
- Carson Whisenhunt 88 IL-60
- Rowan Wick IL-60
- Matt Wilkinson 71
- Keaton Winn 67 IL-60
- Drew Cavanaugh 61
- Andrew Knizner 19
- Zach Morgan 80 MINORS
- Jesus Rodriguez 79 IL-60
- Daniel Susac 6 IL-60
- Willy Adames 2 IL-10
- Osleivis Basabe 39
- Matt Chapman 26 IL-60
- Rafael Devers 16 IL-60
- Nate Furman 56
- Brett Harris 29
- Christian Koss 50
- Marcelo Mayer IL-10
- Shay Whitcomb 13
- Harrison Bader 9 IL-60
- Scott Bandura 91
- Victor Bericoto 78 IL-10
- Jonah Cox 53
- Drew Gilbert 0
- Turner Hill 52
- Jung Hoo Lee 51
- Grant McCray 58
- Casey Schmitt 10 IL-60
- Bryce Eldridge 8
This article by Maria Guardado did a nice breakdown that I mostly agree with, so I’ll start with her locks:
- Starting Pitchers (12): Logan Webb, Landen Roupp, Adrian Houser (60-day IL), Hayden Birdsong (60-day IL), Blade Tidwell (60-day IL), Trevor McDonald (60-day IL), Carson Whisenhunt (60-day IL), Matt Wilkinson, Yunior Marte, Anthony Molina, Cesar Perdomo, Miguel Mendez
- Relievers (8): Camilo Doval, Randy Rodríguez (60-day IL), Jason Foley, Sam Hentges, Keaton Winn (60-day IL), Dylan Smith, Carson Seymour, Trent Harris
- Catchers (3): Daniel Susac (60-day IL), Drew Cavanaugh, Jesus Rodriguez (60-day IL)
- Infielders (7): Rafael Devers (60-day IL), Bryce Eldridge, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman (60-day IL), Casey Schmitt (60-day IL), Marcelo Mayer, Christian Koss
- Outfielders (7): Jung Hoo Lee, Drew Gilbert, Jonah Cox, Victor Bericoto, Bo Davidson, Scott Bandura, Turner Hill
This gets us to 37 players, which leaves 3 spots.
I have seen some discussion of trading Lee, but given the lockout likely shortening the 2027 season, and he has an opt out after the season, I would assume teams would not offer very much for him, plus would expect some money, especially if he does not opt out.
I have also seen some people wanting to let go of Hentges. He’s been a good pitcher before, so I expect the Giants to retain him.
News: Five Players Waived
Too slow to get through this list: the Giants waived five players, it was announced today, losing two:
- Matt Gage
- Osleivis Besabe
- Jason Foley
- Grant McCray
- Braxton Roxby
The Giants lost McCray and Roxby to waiver claims. The other three were outrighted to AAA.
I was surprised by Foley being waived, but per Justice Delos Santos, he was arbitration eligible, but this removes him from the arbitration process. Looks like the Giants took advantage of this, betting that no team would take the risk of going to arbitration with Foley, given how poorly he pitched in 2026. Taking him off puts the Giants at 36 players in the list above.
Per Guardado, Doval, Foley, Hentges, Walker and Buttó will be eligible for arbitration this offseason. I think that Butto will be added to the 40, but Walker is either traded or DFAed before arbitration. I’m actually surprised he wasn’t waived as well, maybe there is a team interested in him and the Giants didn’t want to risk him now. That puts us back to 37 players.
Given how low Rowan Wick team option is ($800K), I assume the Giants will pick up this option. That puts us at 38 players.
Looking at the remainder of Guardado’s bubble list, I think Joel Peguero and Nate Furtman are also likely to be kept on the 40-man, which puts us at 40 players. I expect the Giants to find some way to remove Bader from the team, but I’m not sure of the timing of when they need to decide this.
Rule 5 Dilemma
There’s also Rule 5 eligible Giants prospects:
- Joe Whitman
- Luis De La Torre
- Marty Gair
- Henry Lalane
- Sabin Ceballos
- Reggie Crawford
Of course, any lockout might cancel the Rule 5 Draft, like it did once before. But if the Giants need to protect anyone, and last offseason it was November 18th, the first four look like possibilities, and I think Gair and Lalane will be protected, which means that two players on the list above will need to be removed. I’ve always liked Whitman, but he had a tough time in AAA striking out batters, but did okay otherwise, so he could be possible, but that would require another opening.
Free Agency Urgency Due to Lockout
Another factor in the 40-man decision making is the lockout expected to happen at the end of December 1st. The talk on podcasts is that Posey needs to act fast to sign free agents before the lockout begins. If he is to do that, then there will be more cuts necessary to open up 40-man space to sign the free agents.
I expect the Giants to pursue two free agent SP again. One who is a better starting pitcher, like Sonny Gray or Kevin Gausman or Freddy Peralta (who is a good friend of Wily Adames). Then for the other starter, someone on a podcast mentioned Clay Holmes (can start or relieve!) or Michael King (but likely to sign back with the Padres) or Nick Martinez, which I see as the next tier. Or the Japanese pitchers, Kaima Taira (can start and relieve) and Hiromi Itoh. And they likely are trade fodder mid-season if anyone pushes for a promotion in the minors, like Flora, Bresnahan, Molina, or Marquez. Or maybe Mendez.
I am also expecting a back end reliever to be signed, and he’s likely to be the quick sign for a big contract, because the Giants really need one. I’ve been hoping for the Jeremy Affeldt of this era, he was a closer quality reliever who was the sabermetric ideal for the Bochy era: when Bochy needed to shut down the other team, he often went to Affeldt in those high leverage situations.
I’ve been thinking Adrian Morejon was that signing, for a long while now, but just recently learned that the Padres could give him a qualifying offer, which would then cost the Giants draft picks, which would be more costly because they had one of the worst records this season. Still, he’s only 28 YO next season, and a great strikeout pitcher, and the Padres might sign him back so that he becomes the new closer, and allow the Padres to trade Miller. Sean Newcomb looks like a low priced reliever option if Morejon is too costly.
The Giants could also go for actual closers, like David Bednar and Raisel Iglesias. They could also go for a former Giant in Steven Okert. Perhaps they can go for Holmes since he can relieve, but then can be used as a starter as needed. We’ll see.
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