San Francisco Giants Named a Top Landing Spot for Ace in Free Agency

The San Francisco Giants could end up landing a top ace during free agency in the offseason.

Jul 30, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles pitcher Corbin Burnes (39) delivers a first inning pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants are headed towards what should be a very busy and interesting offseason.

Both Matt Chapman and Blake Snell are widely expected to exercise their opt-out clauses to test free agency. They are both going to be highly sought after targets by many different teams across the league.

It seems likely that the Giants will try to re-sign both of them. However, that will be a very daunting task.

Should they end up losing Snell, in particular, they would need to go out and find a new ace for their rotation. Thankfully, there are a few that are going to be available.

With that in mind, San Francisco has been named as a potential landing spot for Baltimore Orioles' impending free agent ace Corbin Burnes.

Bleacher Report gave them that ranking in a recent article looking at Burnes' potential destinations.

"They arguably have two in Logan Webb and Blake Snell, but the latter is a candidate to opt out and test the free-agent waters again. The Giants could simply look to re-sign Snell if that happens, but pivoting to Burnes would arguably mean a chance to upgrade. Snell is as good as Burnes or anyone else when he's healthy and in a groove, but it would be a reach to identify that as his default state. He's also notoriously on the wild side, as his career walks-per-nine rate (4.1) is significantly higher than Burnes' (2.5)."

Burnes is in the middle of what has been an impressive first season with the Orioles. He has started in 28 games, going 13-7 with a 3.19 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, a 3.8 K/BB ratio, and 169.1 innings pitched.

At 29 years old and turning 30 in late October, Burnes is also nearly two years younger than Snell.

Spending big to acquire Burnes would give the Giants a legitimate long-term ace. He would be able to anchor the team's rotation for years to come.

Just like with Snell, Burnes is going to have a very large market interested in signing him. San Francisco will need to figure out what they want to do with their rotation very quickly to begin the MLB offseason.

Expect to hear a ton of rumors about the Giants as we get closer to the offseason. They're going to be a very active team as they try to get back into contention in 2025.

Burnes could be a name to keep a very close eye on.