The Giants signed with the southpaw Alex Wood to a one year contract, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. It is a $ 3MM guarantee that includes up to $ 3MM more in performance bonuses for the ACES client, for Maria Guardado from MLB.com.
Wood, a former Dodger, will now meet with Giants baseball operations president Farhan Zaidi, who was the general manager of Los Angeles at the start of the southpaw’s career. Wood had some of his best seasons when Zaidi was in the LA front office, and the 30-year-old has remained quite steady since joining the major league with Braves in 2013. Overall, Wood recorded a strong ERA of 3 , 45 / 3.72 SIERA at 851 2/3 combined entries, although his drop in the past two years has made him a low buy-in this offseason.
LA sent Wood to Cincinnati as part of a highly successful business ahead of the 2019 campaign, and the Reds certainly expected him to give them quality innings that year. However, persistent problems kept him away for most of the season and limited him to just 35 2/3 frames of 5.80 ERA throwing.
The Dodgers brought Wood back to the free agency almost exactly a year ago (January 12, 2020) with a $ 4 million guarantee, but the meeting did not go as planned. Wood struggled with shoulder problems in the regular season, in which he played 12 2/3 innings and won nine races won (mostly outside the bullpen). But Wood recovered during the playoff of the winning Dodgers’ World Series with 6 2/3 entries of a ball and eight eliminations against three walks. Four of those entries, all goalless, took place during the Fall Classic against Tampa Bay.
In an ideal world for the Giants, Wood will perform more like last year’s playoffs than in the regular season. In any case, it is not so surprising that they are bringing him into the fold. Wood not only has ties to Zaidi and businessman Gabe Kapler, another former member of the Dodgers’ board, but Giants GM Scott Harris made it clear earlier this week that getting a left-hander was a priority for the team.
The giants lost the left-hander Drew Smyly for the Braves before at the free agency, after it served as a cheap robbery for the club in 2020, which left them temporarily with a well-designed projected rotation. Wood should provide some balance for an early Giants team that trusts two former Wood Red teammates – Kevin Gausman and Anthony DeSclafani – as Johnny Cueto and Logan Webb.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.