This is PERFECT for the Giants...

This is almost too perfect for the San Francisco Giants. One of their free agent targets this offseason is showing out in the playoffs and headed to the World Series. With pitching the clear need for this roster, Buster Posey, Zach Manessian have to be taking notice. We're going to break that down here on SF Giants Digest. If you're new here, welcome to the channel. I am your host, Michael Monreal. And if you've been here before, welcome back to SF Giants Digest. We are so, so glad you found your way back to the channel. Now, before we get into today's video, let me know down in the comment section, who are you rooting for in this year's World Series? You're going for the Brewers, going for the Rays. It's a small market matchup, but I want to hear what you guys have to say down in the comment section below. Also, if you haven't yet, go down below, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. About 75% of you guys watching the videos are not actually subscribed to the channel. Completely free, takes just a second of your time, and really helps us continue to bring the best Giants content and analysis on YouTube. So if you enjoyed, hit those buttons. That'd be much appreciated by myself and everybody here at Digest Media. Now, we can get directly into today's video. It's that time of the year, of course, the Giants not in the playoffs, nowhere near the World Series, and we can strictly talk about free agency and how Buster Posey plans to make this team better. All of a sudden, Freddy Peralta is emerging as a real fit for the San Francisco Giants. And some of you are probably looking at me like, what are you talking about? He had an abysmal 2026 campaign. And yeah, it was rough. A 4.42 ERA in 169 innings struck out only 156 guys that came out to around 8.3 strikeouts per nine, gave up 23 home runs, which typically we don't look at that number when talking about Giants signing guys because that number will almost always drop when they, you know, throw half their games at Oracle Park. But either way, it was a rough start. The one good thing, he did start all 32 games that he was available for, which is something the Giants desperately need. Talking about all of the injuries, all of the Tommy John that hit this rotation and its depth. They need guys that can start the majority of their games throughout the course of 162, and Freddy Peralta is typically doing so. Now, just to let you guys know a little bit of what he's about, this is his arsenal, and his nickname is Fastball Freddy for good reason. And this year, his fastball was thrown 53% of the time. A lot of guys can't get away with that, but he is one of those rare breeds. The changeup 23.5% of the time, the curveball 11% of the time, and then he'll occasionally throw a slider, sweeper, and a slower curveball. But for the most part, it's that four-seamer, it's that changeup, and then occasionally that curveball. Now, Peralta obviously fills a clear need for the San Francisco Giants. He would slide right in towards the top of their rotation behind Logan Webb. And one thing that, when we talk about free agents with the Giants, a lot of you guys in the comments are saying, oh, I don't want that guy, I don't want this guy, because they have a qualifying offer attached to them. And that's true. We've seen in the past when they signed Blake Snell, when they signed Matt Chapman, they lost draft picks in the following season. And I'd understand why you do not want them going after guys with qualifying offers. Freddy Peralta does not have one, or he won't be able to have the qualifying offer given to him from the Rays, so you will not have to worry about that. Now, after seeing that it was such a rough year, he did turn things around. Freddy Peralta's final six games started in the regular season have definitely spurred some interest around him in this offseason. Let's get into what it looked like, but in his first 26 games of the season, he had an ERA of 5.33. He only had five strikeouts per game and 5.1 innings thrown, but the last six games of the year, he looked much, much, much better. Those last six starts, a .79 ERA averaged 5.2 innings per start, only four and a half strikeouts during that time. The strikeouts did take a little bit of a dip, but either way, seeing that ERA drop that significantly, it really does feel like the Rays started to figure things out and getting a little bit more specifically into what the numbers looked like. It was 34 innings, only 3 earned runs in September. Again, the .79 ERA, 27 strikeouts. He did end up winning the AL Pitcher of the Month for the month of September, which of course is something we saw Logan Webb win in the summer for the National League. A really cool award for a pitcher, especially like Freddy Peralta, who had such a rough first few months of the season with the New York Mets, but again, completely turned things around. Now, Peralta has also dominated the postseason so far. he did just capture the ALCS MVP which is really cool to see for again a guy that had such a rough start to the season but in the championship series in the American League 12 innings one earned run in his first start it was six shutout innings and then in his second start which of course ended up being the clincher for the Tampa Bay Rays it was five and a third innings of one run ball so in front of the entire country the entire baseball fandom of the United States and probably internationally Freddie Peralta put on a show in the playoffs and probably made himself a good chunk of change this offseason as well now part of you guys are probably thinking how did he turn things around and that is because after getting traded from the Mets to the Rays they completely overhauled his delivery we can talk about some of those adjustments right now first of all he went strictly from the stretch which is not typical for a lot of starting pitchers but that is something the Rays had him do he also moved his foot to the third base side of the rubber that can kind of help guys it's a smaller thing a smaller tweak that they don't really have to change a lot of their actual mechanics and it's an easy fix for some guys they also had him go into a wider stance and a quicker delivery so maybe they thought he was a little slow at some points of his mechanics but they quickened him up and then lastly they had him doing some specific leg strength drills during his warm-ups that i don't know what how they saw that or what they thought was going to happen but it ended up working because again a 0.79 era in september and his last six starts the year it was clearly working again taking that into the post season now we also did see some changes in his pitches the changeup is a little bit slower than it was before that and the sweeper was actually 2.2 miles an hour quicker so he doesn't throw the sweeper necessarily all that much but when he did it was quicker after getting with the Rays and then the fastball velocity did see a little bit of a tick up towards the end of the season on the year it was a 94.3 mile an hour average and then the last three to four games in the season it was close up close to 96 miles an hour so those drills that they had him doing those mechanical changes they were clearly working for fastball Freddie because that fastball was two ticks harder towards the end of the season he also touched 99 this season which of course is just nice to know he has that in the back of his pocket now the San Francisco Giants must decide what Freddie Peralta is worth if they think he's a guy who can help bolster their rotation because again we know that pitching is all this team needs I did want to point out what happened with Dylan Cease last year, because in 2025, Dylan Cease posted a 4.55 ERA with the Padres, and he ended up still getting 7 years, $210 million from the Blue Jays. So there is still a chance that despite the rough year this year for the most part, that Peralta still gets a multi-year deal, a 3-4-5 year deal, and a healthy chunk of change. however if he ends up wanting to do a one-year prove a deal if he wants to go out there with some team and prove hey I'm worth this seven-year 200 million dollar deal that I want a yada yada yada then he could absolutely go to a team for one single season and try to prove that however if he gets a multi-year deal what are the Giants willing to pay they wouldn't do two years 80 million or rather to go up to four years five years we know this Giants team does not like giving out long long contracts long big money contracts to starting pitchers but it seems like Buster Posey is going to have to start doing that at some point because this rotation is shot could he command even more than the 200 million that Dylan Cease got I don't think so but again I would not be surprised especially with the lockout looming we don't know what teams are going to do and how they're going to act before there is a work stoppage now let me know in the comment section below what do you think the Giants should offer Freddie Peralta do you want to see a one year prove it deal I think that's probably the most likely if he were to end up a San Francisco Giant do you want to see a long-term contract give him the big money do you believe in that last six game sample of the 2026 campaign or are you willing to pass you think he's going to be too expensive and not worth the contract let me know in the comment section below that's going to do it for today's video if you enjoyed hit that like button hit that subscribe button those are the two easiest ways to help support the channel and leave your thoughts on Freddie Peralta as a fit for the San Francisco Giants in the comment section below as always thank you so much for watching and we will see you next time