Alex Pavlovic weighs in on what comes next for the Giants’ rotation after Kevin Gausman accepted his $18.9 million qualifying offer on Wednesday. Is SF willing to spend big on free agent pitcher Trevor Bauer?
The moment the Giants' 2020 season ended in disappointing fashion, the front office made one thing clear: They wanted to bring back Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly.
Both pitchers proved to be well worth their one-year contracts. But only one pitcher is returning to San Francisco.
Less than a week after Gausman returned to the Giants, the Drew Smyly era is over in San Francisco. The Atlanta Braves announced Monday that they signed the lefty to a one-year, $11 million contract.
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SIGN UP HERE Smyly signed a one-year, $4 million contract with the Giants last offseason. When healthy, he proved to be worth much more than that. He appeared in seven games -- five starts -- and went 0-1 with a 3.42 ERA. Smyly struck out 42 batters in 26 1/3 innings, had a ridiculous 14.4 strikeouts per nine innings and a career-best 1.101 WHIP.
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While Smyly's strong season helped the Giants and made Farhan Zaidi look like a genius once again, it made it that much harder for San Francisco to re-sign the veteran.
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Gausman is back after accepting the one-year, $18.9 million qualifying offer, but the Giants must sign at least one more veteran arm this offseason. Losing Smyly will hurt, but this front office has proven it can find hidden gems on the open market.