Giants announce MASSIVE decision... First Moves of the Offseason

The San Francisco Giants made five roster moves earlier today and two guys are walking out the building. Grant McRae was claimed off waivers by Seattle, Braxton Roxby claimed off waivers by Washington, and three more guys, Matt Gage, Osleivis Basabe, and Jason Foley cleared waivers and were outrighted to AAA Sacramento. Justice De Los Santos of the Mercury News Group called it the first wave of offseason roster moves and said to expect more in the coming days. So is this just some normal cleanup, or is this just the start of a flurry of moves Buster Posey has to make? I think it is clearly the second one, and one of these five might just turn out to matter. Let's start with one of the guys who left. Before we get too deep into today's video, if you haven't yet, make sure to go down below, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button. About 75% of you guys watching these videos are not actually subscribed to SF Giants Digest. If you enjoy, make sure to hit those buttons. Grant McRae was a third round pick back in 2019, and for years the pitch was quite simple actually, speed, a real arm, and the glove to play center field. He got his first look in 2024, 37 games, a .202 average, 56 strikeouts in 124 at-bats. In 2025, it was worse. A .091 average over 22 games. Then in 2026, he got a much extended look. 43 games, a .143 average, and a .523 OPS. Across the three seasons in San Francisco, it's a .170 average over 102 games, with 95 strikeouts and 223 at-bats. And if we're being fair, he was a little bit unlucky this past season. His expected average off the contact he made was .206, about 63 points higher than what he hit. Still, not good enough. Once he got to two strikes, every at-bat was virtually over. His OPS with two strikes was 382 over 55 plate appearances, so pitchers just kept getting him there. But even if McRae hypothetically hit .206, that is still not the starting center fielder of the Giants. And Alex Pavlovich of NBC Sports Bay Area put it plainly, McRae was the most notable move, but not necessarily a surprise. The Giants already have 8 other outfielders on the 40-man roster, plus Casey Schmidt. And Jordan Cohen, Harber, all of them in the upper minors. Pavlovich's reason is the entire story. The Giants finally gave him a long look this year because the tools are so intriguing, but I think it's clear it was time for a fresh start. That's the entire Grant McRae conversation. A ton of tools, he just never put them all together at once. Seattle's getting an athletic 25-year-old outfielder who can run, throw, and maybe with the right swing fix can tap into a little bit more power. For the Giants, on the other hand, that's a lottery ticket that they don't necessarily have the time to keep. So, Grant McRae goes and the other three guys option to AAA Sacramento. This conversation starts with what Buster Posey said a month ago. On September 29th, Buster Posey took the blame for the bullpen. Quote, I'll take ownership for some of the failure of the bullpen this year, and we are certainly going to address that. He said the failure was, quote, probably overestimating some of the guys that we had. Then, on the Giants Talk podcast with Alex Pavlovich and Cole Kuyper, he said where they stand. Quote, I think the bullpen is where we'll start. That's where we'll start our process. And he knows it will not be easy. Quote, it's hard to get people to give up pitching. So let's take a look at what the Giants bullpen actually did this year, or should I say didn't. San Francisco relievers had a 4-1-4 ERA, 12th worst of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball. That was over 595 innings. The real problem was the finish. They saved 30 games and blew 27 of those opportunities. That's just 30 saves in 57 opportunities, a 53% conversion rate. About half the time they got to a lead in the 9th, they gave it right back. And arguably the biggest problem, no one single-handedly owned the 9th inning. 12 different Giants pitchers recorded a save this year, and the leader, Caleb Killian, had just 8, and of course was traded to the Phillies at the trade deadline. Compare that to Jason Foley, who was just outrighted to AAA in 2024. He had 28 saves for the Detroit Tigers, three and a half times what the Giants' best closer had this season. The Giants went 65-97, with a minus-91 run differential. When your bullpen blows a lead 27 times, a record like that is not all that surprising. That's the bullpen that Buster Posey built. A lot of arms, not much clarity, and nobody who ever owned the end of the game. So when Buster Posey says he's going to focus on the bullpen this offseason, two of today's first moves of the offseason are about that group. That's why I'm watching them closely. Matt Gage is a left-hander, and a bullpen full of right-handers needs some southpaws. He's 33, and his hard hit rate allowed this year was 25.5%, which is in the top 3% of Major League Baseball. Now the ERA was a 5-6-0 over 27 and a third innings, and he went on the injured list with a left elbow sprain, so he's probably more of a depth piece not part of the solution. In 2025, his debut with San Francisco, he was much better, a 3.91 ERA over 25 and a third innings with 24 strikeouts, so he has shown he can be effective in the job. Now Jason Foley is a name I would actually circle this offseason. In 2024, he was the Tigers' closer, 28 saves, a 3-1-5 ERA over 60 innings, and he was their closer when Detroit made the playoffs. It wasn't a one-off either. In 2023, he had a 2-6-1 ERA over 69 innings with seven saves before he officially became the closer. Then, of course, shoulder surgery wiped out his 2025, and the Giants signed him to a one-year $2 million deal last December. Yes, this year was rough at times, there is no denying that. A 4.15 ERA over 26 innings, a 1.50 WHIP, and a blown save. Just look at the arm. I know it was rough this year, but when you look at his tape with the Detroit Tigers, he was consistently touching 100 miles an hour. That's the type of velocity this bullpen desperately needs. And there is a little bit of a financial piece to this conversation too. Justas De Los Santos pointed out that Foley was eligible for arbitration this offseason, and this decision removes him from that process. My take is that Jason Foley can still bounce back to the guy that closed games for the Detroit Tigers back in 2024, and of course Sacramento is the cheapest place to find that out. Think about what the Giants are getting back, a southpaw, a former closer, and an infielder all in AAA, all one phone call away. That's pretty useful depth that costs absolutely nothing. That brings us to Oslevis Basabe, the quietest of all these moves. Oslevis Basabe is a 26-year-old infielder who hit .202 with a .609 OPS and five home runs in 46 games this year. Now, we know that the San Francisco Giants have mightily struggled against Southpaws, and Basabe's splits are pretty interesting. Against left-handers, he had a .748 OPS, against righties, a .509. Now, yes, I know that's a small sample, only 31 plate appearances against lefties, but it's the profile of a bench bat and a pretty good depth piece to have in AAA. This year we saw the Giants plagued by a handful of injuries. When that takes place in 27, you want somebody who's already in the system. Now here's why there's going to be much more than just these 5 moves the next few weeks. The Giants have roughly 56 players on their 40-man roster before these 5 moves. That's 16 more than the roster allows, of course, because players on the 60-day IL still count till the offseason starts. The bigger problem is who's not on the 40-man roster. The Giants have a couple of top prospects who are eligible for the Rule 5 draft, and they are not currently protected. I should probably mention we also have no idea what this year's Rule 5 draft is going to look like because of the looming lockout. Henry Lalanne, number 11, Jansel Villarreal, number 18, Joe Whitman, number 23, and Luis De La Torre, number 25, are the Giants' prospects who are eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Bo Davidson was also going to be eligible, but of course, the Giants protected him by promoting him in September. If Posey does not protect these guys, another team is obviously going to come in and maybe take them. If he does, somebody else has to come off the roster. Baseball and Stitch called it a logistical nightmare for Buster Posey and his team. So that's the issue that this organization is currently handling. A bullpen that blew 27 saves, a rotation that only has two guys locked into it, four prospects to potentially protect, and a 40-man roster that needs a lot of work. So here's what's probably going to come next. We'll see whether Gage Basabe, and Foley accept their designation to Sacramento or choose free agency. Second, there's going to be a lot of moves to be made to this 40-man roster. The Giants need a couple of starters, relievers, maybe an outfield bat and free agency this year, and if they want to add anyone, they need to make some serious room on this 40-man roster. And lastly, which of these Giants prospects get protected? Because that's the first time Posey has to choose between keeping a young arm and keeping a roster spot. Now, today was just the start of it. Cutting McRae, Roxby, Gage Basabe, and Foley takes almost no effort. Every move after this one costs something serious. And De Los Santos already said more are going to be coming. Let me know in the comment section your thoughts on this entire conversation and what moves you'd like to see Buster Posey make in the coming days. Make sure to hit that like and subscribe button. Thanks for watching.