What will the San Francisco Giants do for an encore after signing future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander?
Giving the soon-to-be 42-year-old Verlander a one-year, $15 million deal certainly won’t set the franchise back if he can’t rediscover his youth. But it also doesn’t mean the rotation is a finished product.
The Giants were chasing after Corbin Burnes, but ended up losing him to the division rival Arizona Diamondbacks. They also lost their own ace, Blake Snell, to the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers at the start of free agency.
If the Giants want to strike back at those Dodgers, they can start by going after Jack Flaherty, LA’s prized trade deadline acquisition from this past season. Flaherty was the Dodgers’ Game 1 starter in the National League Championship Series and World Series.
On Wednesday, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report predicted that Flaherty would wind up in San Francisco on a three-year deal with a chance to become five.
“Each club makes sense in its own way, but the (Baltimore) Orioles and Giants more than the others. The former has a Burnes-sized hole in its rotation that needs filling, while the latter made a run at Burnes before he chose the Diamondbacks.”
“Prediction: Flaherty ends up with the Giants on a three-year deal with a two-year player option.”
In 2024, Flaherty posted a 3.17 ERA and 194 strikeouts in 29 starts. The 29-year-old has had an up-and-down career, but he’s coming off his best season since 2019 with the St. Louis Cardinals.
Rymer didn’t offer a guess for the value of Flaherty’s contract, but a pseudo-five-year deal would likely cross the $100 million threshold. MLB Trade Rumors projected Flaherty for a five-year, $115 million contract earlier this winter.
The Giants would be taking a bigger risk with Flaherty than with Verlander, but it also has the potential to pay off for years to come. The big righty just has to prove he’s still the guy he was in 2024 for the long haul.
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