Camilo Doval Among San Francisco Giants Four Worst Contracts Next Season

Camilo Doval, the San Francisco Giants' closer, has one of the worst contracts on the team going into the 2025 season.

Sep 15, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Camilo Doval (75) throws a pitch during the tenth inning against the San Diego Padres at Oracle Park. / Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants have a long way to go to be contenders in the National League West, consistently being the fourth-best team in the division.

The offense has done its best to be a boon to their chances, for the most part, but with a park built for doubles and triples, home run hitters fall to the wayside, and pitchers have a greater effect on winning and losing.

The four worst contracts on the payroll for 2025 is a list dominated by pitching, so let's dive in and take a look at what is holding the club back.

All figures accurate as of December 3

RP Camilo Doval

At this time last year, there were discussions about Camilo Doval potentially being one of the best closers in the sport, as he led the National League in games finished (60) and saves (39).

After 2024, the question now becomes, "Was 2023 or 2024 the fluke?"

The difference comes down to the effectiveness of his secondary pitches, his cutter and sinker, with each saw a decline in their effectiveness, thus the pitcher leaned more on his primary pitch, his slider, throwing it 51 percent of the time.

It does grade as one of the better sliders in the sport, but it becomes predictable when you throw it that much and batters can sit back and wait on one of his fastballs.

This is not a one-year decline, either, as his fastballs have progressively declined each year, so it will be interesting to see how he approaches the mound in 2025.

Arbitration Projection of $2.9 Million

CF Jung Hoo Lee

The Giants signed Jung Hoo Lee to a six-year, $113 million contract ahead of the 2024 season as an international free agent from the KBO.

As is the case for many of the international free agents from the Asian leagues, Lee was unable to stay on the field for a full season, playing in only 37 games in 2024.

In those games, he failed to adjust to the increased caliber of pitching, too, batting only .262/.310/.331 with two home runs, eight RBI, and an 86 OPS+ across 158 plate appearances.

He could certainly turn things around in 2025, but he would need to stay healthy for the whole year and be much more productive at the plate.

To this point, he has not lived up to the contract that brought him to MLB.

Five-Years, $105.1 Million

SP Jordan Hicks

San Francisco signed free agent pitcher Jordan Hicks to a four-year, $44 million deal ahead of the 2024 season with a bold plan to convert the reliever to a starter.

Spoiler alert: it did not work.

Hicks did perform better as a starter than he did as a reliever, pitching to a 4.01 ERA across 98 2/3 innings in 20 starts, and a 4.91 ERA across 11 innings in nine relief appearances.

It was a failed experiment that only cost the club $6.5 million in 2024 but will cost them $12.5 million a year for the next three years.

Three-Years, $37.5 Million

SP Robbie Ray

The Giants knew what they were getting themselves into when they traded Mitch Haniger and Anthony DeSclafani to the Seattle Mariners for perennially injured pitcher Robbie Ray.

It was a bad-contract trade for both teams, and neither came out the better.

Ray pitched in only seven games in 2024 and reached an ERA of 4.70 across 30 2/3 innings with an 83 ERA+.

There was an opt-out in Ray's deal after 2024, but obviously, he declined and is now under contract for two more years at $25 million each.

All San Francisco can hope for from the aging pitcher is a handful of serviceable starts where their offense puts six or more runs on the scoreboard.

Two-Years, $50 Million