There’s been growing speculation that the San Francisco Giants may land star outfielder Aaron Judge in free agency. While that hasn’t come to fruition just yet for the Giants, they did add another former All-Star in the outfield on Tuesday night.
According to MLB insider Jeff Passan of ESPN, the Giants agreed to terms with outfielder Mitch Haniger on a three-year $43.5 million contract.
Outfielder Mitch Haniger and the San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a three-year, $43.5 million contract, sources tell ESPN.
Signing Haniger does not take the Giants out of the running for Aaron Judge. They have been pursuing both throughout free agency.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 7, 2022
While both are typically used as corner outfielders, Passan added that this signing does not take the Giants out of the running for Judge.
Haniger had a bit of a down season for the Seattle Mariners in 2022, slashing .246/.308/.429 with only 11 home runs on the year.
Giants fans will hope that Haniger can return to his 2018 form, where he made the All-Star game following an impressive campaign where he sported a .858 OPS.
Regardless, Giants fans seem to be excited overall about this signing, and even more excited that Judge still appears to be on the table for them moving forward.
Haniger grew up in Mountain View and went to Cal Poly. Hit 39 home runs in 2021 and has an above average glove, but has dealt with injuries.
The $43.5 million is the most the Farhan Zaidi-led front office has committed to a position player…so far. https://t.co/IIQZIW6MFt
— Danny Emerman (@DannyEmerman) December 7, 2022
thank you to Jeff for announcing the Giants big OF signinghttps://t.co/SHrIdS2x1y
— Just For The Craic (@cdgoldstein) December 7, 2022
https://twitter.com/BenKaspick/status/1600304247735664640
Awesome for Mitch… just a great dude. Happy for him, as he will get to move much closer to his hometown. https://t.co/q6bqTAyJRg
— Ryan M. Spaeder (@theaceofspaeder) December 7, 2022
Crushed to see him go. Best of luck in SF. That one stings https://t.co/anUERiighn
— Mike Hawk (@MikeKISW) December 7, 2022
Bay Area guy headed home https://t.co/xZ9uS29RHU
— Abbey Mastracco (@AbbeyMastracco) December 7, 2022
While Haniger is certainly a nice signing for the Giants, their offseason will ultimately come down to whether or not they can convince Judge, or another elite hitting option to sign.
There have also been reports that link free-agent shortstop Carlos Correa to the Giants along with Judge.
No big deal. Just Carlos Baerga saying that he's hearing both Aaron Judge AND Carlos Correa might be coming to the Giants. pic.twitter.com/5bRXOWsEHi
— Grant Brisbee (@GrantBrisbee) December 7, 2022
There will surely be more news to come on those two in the coming days, but it certainly seems clear that the Giants have some big plans to revamp their roster this offseason.
