915 OPS against lefties easily leads the way. Among Giants who played for the team both of the last two seasons, Longoria's. That puts him comfortably above league-average as a hitter, and he remains particularly dangerous against left-handed pitching. He had an OPS+ of 124 with 13 homers in 2021, and this season he was at 114 and 14 homers. Longoria has brought a lot to the table the last few seasons from a leadership perspective, but he also remains the Giants' best option at third base when healthy. But we know he can still play a great third base, he can give you a good at-bat, and when he's 100 percent or as close to 100 percent as you can be during the grind of the season, he can be a real asset to a team both on the field and off." "He's got a great relationship with (manager Gabe Kapler) and I think that helped us navigate, particularly in the second half of the season, what he could manage, especially after his hamstring issues. "I think one of the questions for us with Longo - and it's a question for him as well - is at this point of his career what's the appropriate workload and what's the appropriate role," Zaidi said. Zaidi noted that Longoria should fit with the way the Giants like to manage their roster. ![]() Zaidi started his media session by talking about that need, and he was speaking on a day when Longoria celebrated his 37th birthday.īut the Giants see a way to thread the needle at third base for one more season. "I think that's a real possibility," he said.Īssuming money doesn't stand in the way, the key for the Giants will be determining how Longoria fits a 2023 roster that needs to be younger and more athletic. The Giants can simply pick up the $13 million option and bring Longoria back, but that approach seems unlikely. Longoria himself admitted he wouldn't get that much on the open market, or likely even the $8 million difference between the option and a buyout clause, and he said he would be open to finding a number somewhere in between $5 million - the buyout figure - and $13 million that satisfies both sides. "There's certainly a role for Longo on our team in 2023," Zaidi said during his end-of-season Zoom call.īoth sides have made it clear they would like a reunion, and most of the traditional hurdles seem to be more minor issues. At the end of the week, Farhan Zaidi, the man who will ultimately make that decision, showed some of his own cards. On Monday of last week, Longoria sat down in a barstool chair in the visiting clubhouse at Petco Park, and made it very, very clear that he would like to return to the Giants, even if they don't pick up his full $13 million option. Except, it seems, in the case of Evan Longoria and the Giants. It's months and months of anonymous sources, cagey answers and leaked meetings meant to benefit one side of negotiations or the other. ![]() ![]() SAN FRANCISCO - The offseason is a time for subterfuge.
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