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Sun. Sep 15th, 2024

Three San Francisco Giants players who won’t be back in 2025 after Matt Chapman leaves the team due to his expensive contract

Three San Francisco Giants players who won’t be back in 2025 after Matt Chapman leaves the team due to his expensive contract

Matt Chapman, to the surprise of many, signed a six-year, $151 million contract that will keep him in San Francisco through the 2030 season.

While this is incredibly exciting for the San Francisco Giants, this massive deal will have some negative effects. With Chapman signed to such a large deal, the team will not have the money to keep all the players they wanted.

But which current Giants player won’t be back next year because the team decided to spend so much money to keep their third baseman long-term?

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The obvious players to keep an eye on are the 2024-2025 free agents. One of the Giants’ most expensive upcoming free agents is 2024 trade signing Mark Canha.

Canha was added on deadline day in a trade with the Detroit Tigers. He was added to try to earn a spot in the postseason for the Giants, but unfortunately the chances of earning a spot are very slim. Canha was good in San Francisco, though. In 21 games, Canha is slashing .280/.362/.320 with an OPS just above league average.


But as the veteran enters free agency, he’ll likely end up with the highest bidder. The Giants would love to have him back, but they won’t, and they likely don’t have the money to overpay for the versatile veteran.

Canha is likely to sign a one- or two-year deal with a team that needs depth across the board. He provides a role in the secondary that isn’t very common in today’s game. The Giants can’t afford to pay someone like him more than $10 million per year, especially if they’re looking at big names like Blake Snell and potentially Juan Soto.

The San Francisco Giants are set to lose Michael Conforto in the upcoming offseason. Conforto is one of the highest-paid players on the roster this season, and he certainly isn’t playing like an $18 million player.

He’s slashing .227/.307/.428 with 42 extra-base hits this season. He has an above-league-average OPS, but the Giants wouldn’t be able to get him for the value he was signed for. We also can’t forget that Conforto was a potential trade candidate at the lockup, and even received reports of interest from his former team, the New York Mets.

Since Conforto is a Scott Boras client, he will likely end up with the highest bidder, as most of his clients do. With that in mind, the money San Francisco has on the books will keep them from giving up on Conforto.

He’s only 31 years old and despite his low average, he can play with decent power, and his above-average OPS makes him a bit more valuable than what the Giants are spending.

It will be a tough decision for the Giants to pass on re-signing him this offseason, but as they look to add other names to fill out the roster, it’s a decision that will have to be made. Unfortunately, Matt Chapman’s contract extension should be the final nail in Conforto’s coffin with the Giants.

The biggest loss in this situation will be Giants ace Blake Snell, who is on the rise. Snell has a player option for the 2025 season for $30 million.

Snell started the season badly, but has turned around since then. Many expected him to accept his player option for next year, but after his return this year, culminating in a hitless game against the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 2, there is no way Snell won’t be a free agent again this offseason.

Snell will be looking for more security and a longer contract in free agency this year. The money the Giants just gave Chapman is the same amount they would have tried to spend on Snell.

There is still a chance the Giants could do something to extend Snell’s contract, but it certainly doesn’t seem very likely.

The left-handed prospect will likely sign with the highest bidder this offseason. His Giants ties likely won’t factor into any negotiations, especially considering his incredible value to the team. I’d be very surprised to see Snell in a Giants uniform next season.

By meerna

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