It’s a new season, a new manager, new faces in the lineup, and new public address announcers at Oracle Park. We’re now 10 years removed from the last championship of 3 in 5 years and the final links to that past are moving on.
New.
That should be the slogan this season because the 2024 San Francisco Giants are shaping up to look different than the last few versions.
For starters, Bob Melvin takes over as manager for Gabe Kapler. The regime led by Farhan Zaidi and Pete Putila got the chance to hire a second manager and they chose the 62-year old former catcher who played more games in his career for the Giants than any other organization.
Melvin comes into the 2024 campaign with a .516 winning percentage in 2942 games managed. The Giants are his 5th team in the big chair and “BoMel” has been actively managing every season except one since 2003. He’s made the playoffs 8 times in his 20 years but only advanced to the LCS twice, and has never managed in the World Series.
There’s also something I like personally and others may as well. Bob Melvin is that older, fatherly type running the team again. None of this trimmed up and muscled out freak of a dude who can probably outrun half his team. Bob Melvin isn’t here for any of that crap. He’s more likely to be the type of manager who came to the Giants to do two things, chew gum and win games. And he’s all out of gum.
New.
The starting lineup will also feature some fresh faces this season. Matt Chapman takes over at third base with his platinum glove and Jorge Soler will have primary DH duties for the team. Both can hit for power, Soler especially, and having both rightys in the lineup everyday will help shift the Giants philosophy of always playing matchup baseball. There should be a pretty regular lineup set in stone for 2024.
I didn’t even mention Jung Hoo Lee. Somehow, he managed to secure the most guaranteed money of any Giants free agent signee. Lee inked a six-year $113 million dollar deal. There’s a player opt out after 4 years, which seems to be in every Giants contract.
Jung Hoo Lee is the son of a legendary Korean shortstop named Jong Beom Lee who had the nickname “son of the wind”. Now, as Jung Hoo’s career blossoms he’s earned the nickname “grandson of the wind” as a nod to his father.
Lee is a 25-year old center fielder who bats lefty but throws from the right side. He hit .340 in his KBO career, and never was below .318 at the end of a season. His defense is excellent as well, Lee is adept at reading the ball off the bat and taking great routes to the ball. He has an above average arm and as long as the hit tool translates to MLB pitching, Lee will be starting in center field everyday for the Giants.
New.
How about the pitching staff? Whew! What a whirlwind of an off-season for the hurlers in San Francisco.
A slew of players elected free agency. John Brebbia, Alex Wood, Scott Alexander, Jakob Junis, and Sean Manaea all cleaned out their lockers at Oracle for the last time. And then the trade happened.
If you’ve ever watched a Giants Chatter stream or listened to an episode of TortureCast, it’s been clear I’m not a fan of Anthony DeSclafani on the mound. And so, on January 5th I got a belated Christmas present. That was the day DeSclafani and Mitch Haniger, were traded to the Seattle Mariners for LHP Robbie Ray.
Ray won’t be available for a few months as he rehabs from Tommy John surgery. You may remember him as a decent starter for Arizona for a while. Since then, Ray won the 2021 AL Cy Young award while pitching with the Blue Jays and then had signed a free agent contract with the Mariners before 2022.
That was just the beginning of the rotation makeover. On January 18th the Giants signed RHP Jordan Hicks to a 4-year $44 million dollar contract. Hicks has primarily been a reliever but started 8 games in 2022 and the Giants are looking to stretch him out. It sure was a good sign on Monday night in Oakland when Hicks threw 5 hitless innings and struck out 10 batters.
After trading Ross Stripling away, the Giants were also counting on Tristan Beck to maybe crack the rotation. That was sidetracked when he was found to have a vascular injury and could be out for the season.
How do you replace that? Enter last year’s NL Cy Young winner LHP Blake Snell. Last season with the Padres, Snell beat out the Giants ace Logan Webb for his 2nd career award. He previously won the AL Cy Young with the Tampa Bay Rays in 2018.
When healthy, the Giants have a stacked starting rotation with 2 Cy Young award winners and last year’s runner up in Webb. Kyle Harrison could also be called kind of new since this is his first full season (we hope) as a starter at the big league level.
New.
As Barney Stinson once said, “newer is always better!”
Is it true? Well, I guess we’re about to find out. I’m just happy that baseball is back and I suspect you are as well. Because no matter how new this team is, it’s the same old game that we love. Here’s to 7 months of baseball!
Cheers on a new season!
You can catch our Giants Chatter season preview show here, or download it on the Say Hey Podcast with Rob and Doug.
Season preview of TortureCast can be found here.
Baseball is back, baby!!!!!!
Giants Chatter 