SAN FRANCISCO -- As he stood at his locker before the final game of his first season with the Giants, outfielder Michael Conforto nodded toward Brandon Crawford and talked about how much was about to change in the clubhouse. He called it a bittersweet day.
"The realization that this group will not be back together is always hard," Conforto said.
Crawford will spend the early part of the offseason deciding if he wants to continue playing baseball elsewhere in 2024. Conforto and a couple of other veterans will spend October deciding if they want to return to San Francisco.
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Conforto, Sean Manaea and Ross Stripling all came to the Giants on two-year deals that included a player option for the second season. If they all decide to return, they'll account for $43 million of the club's 2024 payroll, a significant percentage. But as players packed their bags, there still was uncertainty with two of the three.
Stripling has made it clear he will pick up his option, but Conforto and Manaea said they have not made decisions yet. Both plan to spend October having conversations with family members before deciding whether they want to give free agency another shot this winter.
"It's going to be a hard decision. I think the good thing is it'll be a hard decision, but I don't think there's a bad outcome really," Conforto said. "It will be tough, just because I'm very close with these guys and the uncertainty there could give you a little bit of anxiety, but again, there are a lot of conversations that have to happen before I'm even close to knowing what I want to do."
Conforto and Manaea both said they tried not to think too much about their big decision as the season was winding down.
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"I do want to step away and take a look at it from a different viewpoint," Conforto said.
Stripling is an exception, and he was refreshingly honest when asked about his decision in September, saying "It seems obvious that I haven't pitched well enough to opt out." The right-hander entered September thinking he could opt out with a big month, but he ended up making just three relief appearances over the final six weeks.
Stripling and Manaea have the exact same contract and both pitched themselves out of the rotation early in the year, but they're now in very different spots. Manaea was dominant for long stretches when used out of the bullpen and he had a 2.25 ERA in four starts at the end of the year.
Manaea had the best fastball velocity of his career and the Giants could pretty easily use him in multiple roles if he decides to return. Given what he did in September, they'd be comfortable slotting him into what figures to be a young rotation. They also could shift him back to the bullpen, pairing him with Taylor Rogers from the left side.
When Manaea was carrying an ERA above 6.00 two months into the season, it seemed he would have no decision to make. But it's not hard to picture the Scott Boras client getting another multi-year deal if he goes back on a market that's light on pitching this winter.
Conforto is also a Boras client, and the Giants were counting on him to hit in the middle of their lineup all season. A hamstring injury ended up limiting him to 125 games, and the results at the plate were mixed.
Conforto hit 15 homers and had some big hits when the team was rolling, but his wRC+ of 100 put him exactly at league-average as a hitter and his .718 OPS was the lowest of his career. It was not at all what Conforto expected when he signed a deal that gave him an $18 million option for 2024. His contract is similar to the one Carlos Rodón signed, and at the time, all sides expected Conforto to follow Rodón's path, turning a big year in San Francisco into a lucrative long-term deal.
Conforto could try to see if there's more guaranteed money out there, perhaps looking for the kind of deal -- three years, $43.5 million -- Mitch Haniger got last offseason. But he's only 30, which has led some rival executives to predict that Conforto will return to San Francisco and hope that he's in a better position next offseason.
Given how much pitching a team needs to get through 162 games, the Giants will find plenty of innings for Stripling and Manaea if both are back. But Conforto's decision could have a huge impact on others.
Haniger has two more years left on his deal and Mike Yastrzemski and Austin Slater are arbitration-eligible. The Giants plan to pursue outfield upgrades in the offseason and also want to clear playing time for some of their young prospects, so if Conforto, Yastrzemski and Slater are all back, it could start to get crowded.
At his end-of-season press conference, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said the early opt-out decisions would have some impact on the rest of the offseason, but added that there's only one way for the Giants to view things right now.
"We're sort of operating like we will have all those players back," he said. "And if they choose to exercise their right to opt out, we'll be looking to fill those spots."
The immediate focus for Zaidi is on filling another chair. He needs a new manager after firing Gabe Kapler, and his players will be following closely. Kapler and his coaches were in on the recruiting of Conforto, Manaea and Stripling, and the three veterans are now finalizing their 2024 plans at a time when they don't know who will be managing or coaching them.
"I think there are a lot of things that factor in, but I'll definitely be watching (the manager search)," Conforto said. "I think it's important for me to watch, really the manager search and then organizationally as well, with the other coaches. Obviously, I'd like to know a plan moving forward. That's just part of a bunch of conversations that have to be had to kind of understand the landscape of everything."