Major League Baseball

San Francisco Giants (22-33)

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:49 p.m. ET

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Sports Illustrated

On the heels of last year's Division Series loss to the eventual world champion Cubs, very little has gone right for the Giants, who enter the weekend tied with the Padres for last place in the NL West with identical records. Ace Madison Bumganer is out until early July due to a dirtbike-induced AC joint sprain, marquee free agent signing Mark Melancon has done only so much to shore up a porous bullpen, and the team's many attempts to fill its vacancies at third base and in leftfield have yielded little; the various and sundry participants at the former position are hitting .230/.279/.310, while at the latter it's .205/.257/.288, and the rest of the outfield hasn't been much better.

The Giants have at least one remaining year of club control over nine of their 10 highest-salaried players, with righty Johnny Cueto—who has an opt-out after this season—the exception, and his current performance (4.37 ERA, 1.4 HR/9) wouldn't get him as big a deal as the six-year, $131 million one that brought him to San Francisco after the 2015 season. All of which is to say that given their core, even if the Giants are out of it, it wouldn't be a surprise to see them buy with an eye toward 2018, which is, of course, an even year.

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Major League Baseball

San Francisco Giants