There is very little that is known about what the new CBA will ultimately look like, but we can make at least one educated guess. Whenever the new deal is ratified, Farhan Zaidi will somehow come away from it with a spare Triple-A outfielder who hits 18 homers for the Giants during a shortened season.
The ability to turn someone else's minor leaguer into a premier bat has saved the Giants outfield in recent years, but more traditional help should soon be on the way. Heliot Ramos is close to the Majors and Luis Matos might turn out to be one of the most underrated prospects in the game, but for at least another season, at least, the Giants will rely on their ability to get the most out of players forgotten by other clubs. That's the reality for an organization that hasn't produced a homegrown All-Star in the outfield since Chili Davis.
Last week we looked at the makeup of the rotation, the bullpen and the infield. Today, a breakdown of the outfield situation for an organization that patched things together pretty well last season.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Already On The Roster
It doesn't jump off the page when you see that Giants outfielders ranked 14th in OPS in 2021, until you notice who they finished one spot ahead of. In a division decided by one game, the Giants got slightly better production from their outfielders than the star-studded and highly-paid group in Los Angeles. Most of the producers will be back in 2022.
Mike Yastrzemski, LaMonte Wade Jr., Austin Slater and Darin Ruf should again play significant roles, and the front office hopes to find more time for Steven Duggar, their best defender and someone who was much improved at the plate last season.
The 40-man roster is interesting, as it includes three others who have been a big part of the conversation at times but might not see much time at Oracle Park this season.
San Francisco Giants
Find the latest San Francisco Giants news, highlights, analysis and more with NBC Sports Bay Area and California.
Jaylin Davis was supposed to follow Yastrzemski's path at some point, but injuries limited him to 48 games last year and he got just nine big league at-bats. Mauricio Dubon was the Opening Day center fielder but ended up in the minors; both he and Thairo Estrada are out of options, and Estrada had the edge in the second half last year. Ramos is on the 40-man for the first time but almost certainly will start the season in Triple-A.
The roster also includes Austin Dean, a right-handed hitter who was added early in the offseason. He has an option remaining, which certainly helps his case to stick on the 40-man.
Who Will Be Missing
There was a day last year when Alex Dickerson broke through at the plate and explained that something in his swing had "clicked" as he went through it in the on-deck circle. The feeling was fleeting.
Dickerson spent the whole season trying to find the swing that made him such a dangerous hitter against right-handed pitching the previous two seasons, but in November he was DFA'd to clear a roster spot for the re-signed Anthony DeSclafani. That's 312 plate appearances the Giants need to make up -- mostly against righties -- and if the season started without another addition they would likely mostly go to Duggar.
There will be another addition, though, which brings us to the other notable departure. Kris Bryant made 27 starts in the outfield after the deadline trade, seeing time at all three positions.
The only other player who got notable playing time in the outfield and won't be back was already long gone but not forgotten. Mike Tauchman lasted about two months and didn't make an impact at the plate, but his two catches above the wall certainly helped the Giants win the NL West.
What You Might Have Forgotten
By the time the Giants got to the postseason, a struggling Yastrzemski was batting seventh. He went hitless in the series, bringing a disappointing end to a season he could never quite figure out.
Yastrzemski got hit on the hand during the final spring training game and didn't seem to have his normal timing after that. He recently told Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic that it was "in the back of my head, constantly." There were other bumps and bruises, including a thumb sprain when he slammed into the wall, but all of that should give the Giants a little bit of hope going into 2022.
Yastrzemski's OPS dropped 200 points from 2021 and he hit just .224, but he still crushed 25 homers in 139 games. If he can find the timing and plate discipline he had the previous two seasons, that could go a long way toward making up for some of the lost production with Buster Posey (and likely Bryant) no longer in the lineup.
The big drop-off came against left-handed pitching -- a .513 OPS -- and it was clear that Yastrzemski was being pitched differently. It's possible that's closer to the norm and Yastrzemski settles into a platoon like the other Giants outfielders, but Gabe Kapler will give him a chance to try and figure this out. Yastrzemski played a very strong right field and was fine in center, and the Giants will have a lot more options with their lineup if Yastrzemski more closely resembles the player who had a .852 OPS as a rookie and then finished eighth in MVP voting the next season.
Prospect Watch
Ramos was the breakout star last spring, but some rival evaluators were just as curious about two outfield prospects preparing for the low minors. Their seasons went in completely different directions.
Luis Matos burst onto the scene in Low-A, hitting .313/.359/.495 with 15 homers and 21 stolen bases. As a 19-year-old, he struck out just 61 times in nearly 500 plate appearances. Matos is rapidly moving up prospect lists, with Baseball-Prospectus listing him the highest at No. 30 overall. He's the No. 3 prospect in the organization on most lists, and you'll find some who slide him ahead of Joey Bart and behind only Luciano.
RELATED: How Giants first-rounder Bednar is preparing for first full season
Matos is headed for High-A Eugene, which is where Hunter Bishop started a season wrecked by a shoulder injury. The No. 10 overall pick in 2019 has had about the worst possible luck the last two years. What was supposed to be his first professional season was wiped out by the pandemic, and Bishop was kept out of Summer Camp at Oracle Park because of his own positive test. The shoulder injury limited him to five A-ball games last season.
Bishop is still only 23, though, and there might not be a better all-around athlete in the Giants' system. He should start the season back in High-A, getting an opportunity to rejoin Luciano, Matos and others on the fast track to Oracle Park.
What They Need
The Giants are returning a solid group of outfielders, but this is a position group that's more likely than the others to be impacted by the remainder of the offseason. Without Posey, the lineup needs right-handed help. The easiest way to do that would be to sign a big name for the outfield, whether it's Seiya Suzuki, Bryant or someone else.
As is, the Giants could run out a trio of Yastrzemski, Wade and Duggar against righties and Yastrzemski, Slater and Ruf against lefties, but they'll be better off with one more right-handed bat. That could let them slide Ruf to the DH spot and allow them to platoon Yastrzemski more often if he continues to struggle against lefties.
It's clear what the outfield needs. What is unclear, still, is how long the Giants must wait to remake the group.