Giants Interested In Matt Chapman

The Giants are fascinated with free agent third baseman Matt Chapman, studies Jon Heyman of The New York Post, although he provides that the Blue Jays are making a giant push to maintain Chapman.

Chapman, 31 in April, has been a speculative match for the Giants this offseason for a couple of causes. For one factor, the membership’s new supervisor Bob Melvin was the skipper in Oakland whereas Chapman was there. Past that, it’s broadly believed that the Giants are planning so as to add a star participant or two this winter after simply lacking on Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa a 12 months in the past.

The Giants have additionally had some query marks round their protection in recent times, which occurs to be Chapman’s specialty. After successful 107 video games in 2021, the membership fell to .500 in 2022, with glovework seeming to play a task in that. The membership was collectively graded as being value -53 Defensive Runs Saved that 12 months, the worst mark within the majors, whereas their tally of -33 Outs Above Common was third worst. In 2023, they received the OAA into the highest 10 however their DRS was nonetheless within the backside third, which maybe helped contribute to a different underwhelming season.

Chapman has been among the best defensive third basemen within the league throughout his profession, having present counts of 92 DRS and 53 OAA since his 2017 debut. The previous quantity is tops within the majors throughout that timeframe whereas the latter quantity is second solely to Nolan Arenado.

His bat has been a bit much less constant, notably in 2023. He completed the season with a batting line of .240/.330/.424 and a wRC+ of 110, although in pretty uneven trend, having excessive highs and low lows all year long. Some have framed his 12 months as a scorching scorching April adopted by 5 tepid months, however Chapman was additionally fairly sturdy in July, hitting .247/.402/.506 that month for a wRC+ of 154.

On August 13, when Chapman damage his finger in a weight room incident, he was slashing .255/.346/.449 on the 12 months for a wRC+ of 121, which was pretty consistent with his 118 wRC+ from the 12 months earlier than. He tried enjoying by way of the finger problem, even happening the injured listing for a time, however hit simply .163/.250/.302 the remainder of the way in which, diminishing his full season manufacturing.

Blaming the damage could be a charitable approach to take a look at issues but it surely stands to cause that the membership that indicators Chapman might be going to be one that appears on him favorably and is extra keen to miss the ultimate weeks of the 2023 marketing campaign. His 28.4% strikeout charge for the 12 months provides some pause however optimists can look to his 10.7% stroll charge and bloody Statcast metrics. MLBTR predicted Chapman to get a contract of six years and $150MM.

The Giants used J.D. Davis as their main third baseman in 2023 and he may be retained for another season through arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting a wage of $6.8MM in 2024. He had a high quality season, hitting 18 house runs and slashing .248/.325/.413 for a wRC+ of 104. Hitting has all the time been his forte, together with his protection extra questionable. DRS continued to frown on him in 2023, giving him a grade of -11 for the 12 months, pushing his profession mark to -38. OAA gave him a +5 on the 12 months however his profession tally remains to be simply -7.

Davis is a wonderfully serviceable participant on the scorching nook however Chapman would clearly be an improve. If the Giants have been in a position to get a deal carried out with Chapman, Davis would nonetheless have a little bit of commerce worth given his modest wage, maybe permitting the Giants to place him in the marketplace and bolster their roster elsewhere.

Becoming Chapman onto the Jays’ roster is maybe a better match, since he may simply slot again into his outdated spot. The Jays are known to be on the lookout for a number of place gamers in an effort to improve their lineup this winter, which may embrace a Chapman reunion. The membership already supplied him an extension in some unspecified time in the future, although Chapman turned it down. However they’re additionally looking into Shohei Ohtani, Cody Bellinger, Jeimer Candelario and others. Candelario, specifically, would probably be a backup plan for the occasion that they don’t retain Chapman. Candelario can also be a 3rd baseman however doesn’t have the identical observe file as Chapman, thus resulting in a lesser contract projection of 4 years and $70MM.

As talked about, the Giants are clearly on the lookout for a big improve this winter, having been linked to huge names like Ohtani, Bellinger, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and others. Chapman is on the listing as nicely however they determine to be competing with the Jays and different golf equipment for lots of the identical targets.

Each golf equipment appear to have some powder dry for such pursuits. Roster Resource at present pegs the Giants’ payroll at $147MM subsequent 12 months. They’ve been within the $200MM vary previously, giving them loads of room to work with. If their want for star participant additions this winter is as sturdy as suspected, maybe they’re keen to push that and subsequently have much more room. The Jays are at $205MM for subsequent 12 months, per RR, however with a bigger arbitration class and some non-tenders may give them some extra respiratory house. Their aggressive steadiness tax calculation is at present estimated at $216MM, with subsequent 12 months’s base threshold at $237MM. The Jays have been keen to pay the tax final 12 months membership president/CEO Mark Shapiro has suggested the payroll scenario must be in roughly related vary to 2023.