Where the 40-man roster sits at the start of the offseason

The Giants have 45 players on the 40-man roster, with varying contract statuses.

The San Francisco Giants ended the season with 45 players on their 40-man roster, the result of a handful of players finding themselves on the Injured List when things wrapped up.

Many — most, even — of those players will be on the 40-man roster for the next few months and into the 2022 season, may we be so lucky as to have a 2022 season.

But many will not.

To get a grasp on what roster construction and decisions will look like heading into a fairly important offseason, let’s take a look at the roster status of those 45 players.

Under MLB contract (4)

Brandon Crawford — 2 years, $32 million
Tommy La Stella — 2 years, $16.75 million
Evan Longoria — 1 year, $19.5 million, 2023 option for $13 million with a $5 million buyout
Jake McGee — 1 year, $2.5 million, 2023 option for $4.5 million with a $500,000 buyout

You probably won’t find many teams that blow past 100 wins while having just four players on Major League deals for the next year, but that’s how the Giants have been built.

It’s kind of fun. And also kind of terrifying.

Club options (4)

José Álvarez — $1.5 million option, $100,000 buyout
Johnny Cueto — $22 million option, $5 million buyout
Wilmer Flores — $3.5 million option, $250,000 buyout
Buster Posey — $22 million option, $3 million buyout

It’s very safe to say that Cueto’s option will not be picked up. Posey’s is in limbo just because it remains to be seen if the sides will restructure a multi-year deal or if they’ll take things one year at a time.

Flores and Álvarez seem very likely to have their options picked up.

Pre-arbitration team control (19)

Caleb Baragar
Joey Bart
Tyler Beede
Kervin Castro
Jaylin Davis
Sam Delaplane
Camilo Doval
Mauricio Dubón
Steven Duggar
Thairo Estrada
Luis González
Jay Jackson
Zack Littell
Sammy Long
Tyler Rogers
Gregory Santos
Jason Vosler
LaMonte Wade Jr.
Logan Webb

This is an interesting group of players, as you expect from a crew of pre-arbitration people on the 40-man roster. There are some players who have yet to make their MLB debut, some who don’t figure into the long-term plans, and some — like Webb, Wade, and Doval — who figure to be part of the core for years to come.

Arbitration eligible (8)

John Brebbia
Curt Casali
Alex Dickerson
Jarlin García
Dominic Leone
Darin Ruf
Austin Slater
Mike Yastrzemski

I wrote about these eight the other day, so you can find my thoughts there. There are some sure things — namely Yaz and Ruf — and some serious question marks. But all eight players are good, and that’s a good place for the team to be in.

Rule 5 draftees (1)

Dedniel Núñez

The Giants showed their faith in Núñez not just when they chose him in last year’s Rule 5 Draft, but when they opted to keep him on the roster even when he suffered a season-ending injury in Spring Training. That cost the Giants a lot of money, and now he’ll have to head straight to the active roster — and stay there — when he’s next healthy, or the Giants will be forced to return him to the New York Mets.

Free agents (9)

Brandon Belt
Kris Bryant
Tyler Chatwood
Anthony DeSclafani
Kevin Gausman
Scott Kazmir
Donovan Solano
Tony Watson
Alex Wood

This is perhaps the most fascinating group. Of the nine, only Chatwood and Kazmir are sure to be gone, and both could return on a Minor League deal. The team’s interest in Solano and Watson is kind of a question mark. They’ll be interested in DeSclafani and Wood, but at what cost, and against what options?

Surely they want Gausman back, but it’s unclear if they’ll see eye to eye on contracts. The same with Bryant, but times ten.

And Belt? Well I just expect him back at this point.

We’re going to start getting updates on the future of a lot of these players soon. It should be a fascinating offseason.