Giants’ GM Bobby Evans on the Value of Flexibility

Earlier this offseason, the Giants decided to let two veterans go who’ve been valued parts of the team. Both Nori Aoki and Yusmeiro Petit were on reasonable contracts, too. But, as general Bobby Evans explained at the Winter Meetings Monday night, keeping them on the roster may have impeded the team in their efforts to improve. Timing is important.

Petit is projected to produce about half a win as a reliever, and that’s in 65 innings. He’s more of a swing man, so three-quarters of a win, a win, those kinds of projections are reasonable. He was worth almost three wins between 2013 and 2014. And he’s projected to make just over $2 million in arbitration, so he would still be a value.

The Giants had an option on Aoki for this year. They could have had the quirky left fielder for $5.5 million, and he’s been worth at least a win and a half per season in all four seasons of his career. He’s projected for a win. The Mariners signed him for exactly the same contract he had with the Giants.

The team could have easily kept both and been praised for holding on to valuable depth pieces. But they want to improve their left field and starting pitcher production, and holding the two would have made doing those things harder.

“Here we are at the Winter Meetings and we haven’t locked in a left field option,” admitted Evans, even while explaining the decision to let Aoki go. “It can land-lock you if you make the commitment early.”

Owning a four-win player on a deal that pays him like a four-win player is one thing. But owning a below-average player on a cheap deal isn’t the same asset. “His value on the market was probably very comparable to his deal,” admitted Evans of his former left fielder, “but that doesn’t mean you’re going to be able to trade him without taking some of the money.” If they were going to have to eat money to let him go later, it was easier to spend the $700,000 buyout and free up the spot now.

It could have easily been a $5.5 million decision later. While Evans is trying to upgrade his left field situation, other clubs are filling their outfield needs. “It could get to a point where by the time we say we don’t need Nori, we’ve missed out on his market,” said Evans. “It was easier to give him a chance to look around.”

“We leave ourselves open to options,” is how Evans described the situation, while also suggesting that “some of that could be internal.” Outfielder Mac Williamson was 58% better than his colleagues in the Arizona Fall League, and both he and teammate Jarrett Parker are projected to be about league average with the bat next season. The team could get similar production to Aoki for $5 million less, and not have to try to eat money to convert their older outfielder into a low-level prospect.

The internal options factored in strongly in the Petit decision, too. “The bullpen is an area of strength for us in the system,” said Evans. In Hunter Strickland, Ray Black, Josh Osich, Cory Gearrin, and perhaps Derek Law and Kyle Crick, the Giants possess hard-throwing relievers with quality stuff from both sides of the mound. “Petit for us has been an important part of our bullpen, but as you saw last year, the dependence on him grew more and more when we were behind,” Evans said.

Roster flexibility was also an issue with the reliever. “There could be a scenario where we look at a second starter and then move Chris Heston into a long man role,” Evans pointed out. “We don’t know that yet. To tender Yusmeiro at that point would have pre-determining who our long man is, and we weren’t quite ready to do that.”

The Winter Meetings are a heady time for a baseball executive. “You have to juggle all of it,” Evans smiled. “You never know which part of the needs are going to get satisfied — we’re dependent on a response from players and agents and teams.” And it’s that juggling that was made easier by two tough decisions earlier this offseason.

By cutting Nori Aoki and Yusmeiro Petit — two good pieces on reasonable contracts — the Giants have allowed themselves the flexibility to make deals with bigger upgrades at their position without having to figure out what to do with incumbents there. The way things shake down quickly, they may have found themselves with two veterans who possess little trade value. It may have cost them an additional $7 million dollars to cut that pair if San Francisco had tendered the two contracts.

And let’s not forget the value to the players of having this decision made early in the process. Instead of wondering what might happen to them, the Giants allowed the players, and their representatives, to use the winter meetings to drum up a roster spot and a new contract.

Sometimes even valuable players on small deals aren’t the right fit for every roster. Those roster spots and the dexterity they provide the team in an important part of the offseason are worth something, too.