San Francisco Giants

Cody Bellinger declining his 2024 mutual option with the Cubs doesn't rule out him playing in Chicago next season.

The Cubs are one of three favorites to sign the NL Silver Slugger-winning utility player in free agency, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale.

The New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants are also in the running for Bellinger, per Nightengale.

Bellinger slashed .307/.356/.525 with 97 RBI and 26 home runs for the Cubs last season, his best totals in every category since his All-Star 2019 campaign with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Now the center fielder and first baseman will be looking to cash in on 2023 with a contract larger than his $12 million Cubs option. Spotrac projects Bellinger's market value at $22.5 million per season.

The New York Post's Jon Heyman also named the Yankees, Giants and Cubs as leading bidders for Bellinger earlier this week.

Each team has reason to shell out big money for a hitter who recorded a .881 OPS through 130 games in what looked like a bounce-back campaign from inconsistent stretches that left former MVP Bellinger non-tendered by the Dodgers in 2022.

The Yankees and Giants were two of the most ineffective teams at the plate in 2023, with their team batting averages higher only than the nosediving Oakland Athletics. After batting a collective .227 in 2023, the Yankees are "investigating the top of the hitting market" this offseason, according to Heyman.

Both clubs are also reportedly interested in free agent Shohei Ohtani, so their interest in Bellinger could depend on how close they are to snagging the Los Angeles Angels' two-way star.

The Cubs, meanwhile, want Bellinger back after his bounce-back campaign helped the club reach the right side of .500 for the first time since 2020.

One point potentially in the Cubs' favor is that the team on Monday extended Bellinger a qualifying offer, meaning any other club singing him will forfeit a draft pick to Chicago.

There is also always the possibility another team could enter the bidding race. After the Dodgers declined holding onto Bellinger through arbitration last winter, he reportedly received interest from the Colorado Rockies and Toronto Blue Jays as well as the Giants and Yankees. Heyman noted Tuesday that there are "many, many teams in on" Bellinger.

Veteran outfielder Michael Conforto will return to the San Francisco Giants after he picked up his $18 million player option for the 2024 season, according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman.

The 30-year-old earned the opportunity to opt out of his two-year, $36 million contract after making 350 plate appearances. The structure of the deal allowed him to cash in if he enjoyed a return to form after he missed the entire 2022 campaign.

That didn't happen as Conforto's production closely mirrored his 2021 returns.

In 125 games, he hit 15 homers and drove in 58 runs while posting a .239/.334/.384 slash line. His 99 OPS+ was the second-worst of his career and well below his career average (120), per Baseball Reference.

Little went right for Conforto in the second half. He slugged .327 after the All-Star break and landed on the injured list in August with a hamstring strain. He had just four hits in his final 44 plate appearances after coming off the IL.

There was a time when it looked like Conforto could potentially command a nine-figure payday. MLB.com's Anthony DiComo reported in April 2021 the belief within the league was that he'd "seek $200 million or more, after George Springer received a six-year, $150 million deal from the Blue Jays" on his next contract.

Quite a bit has changed since then.

Conforto injured his shoulder while working out in January 2022 and underwent season-ending surgery that April. With that in mind, it's perhaps concerning his power numbers were well below what he was doing during his peak with the New York Mets.

According to FanGraphs, he had a .145 isolated power and a .315 wOBA. His barrel percentage (7.9) was a personal low, as were his expected slugging (.414) and sweet spot percentage (31.9), according to Baseball Savant.

In defense of Conforto, such a poor year by his usual standards meant he was still a league-average hitter. His on-base percentage was the fourth-best on the Giants.

Still, there's no getting around the fact the current version of Conforto is a far cry from the one that punched a ticket to the 2017 All-Star Game.

Perhaps a bounce-back is in store in 2024 without the lingering effects of his lengthy rehab from surgery. But his expectations will be reset accordingly given what looks like a sustained trend.

San Francisco Giants chairman Greg Johnson confirmed the organization has "agreed in principle" on an extension with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi through the 2026 MLB season.

That matches the length of Bob Melvin's contract after he was officially hired as San Francisco's next manager.

Some fans may have wondered whether Zaidi's long-term future in the Bay Area was in a bit of jeopardy. He joined the Giants in November 2018, and they have enjoyed just one winning season and one playoff appearance since then.

Johnson indicated in September that San Francisco intended to retain both Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler, but Kapler was out of a job two weeks later.

The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly made a blunt assessment on Sept. 8 when he wrote, "You can't say that the Farhan Zaidi tenure has been successful thus far."

"The Giants are not a good team," he posited. "They are not in a strong organizational standing. They certainly are not one player away in 2024. (Sorry, Shohei dreamers.) And this is a business where, even on the South Side of Chicago (given a decade or two), GMs and managers are held to account."

Baggarly later added he was "not sure there's any way to sell a multiyear extension for Zaidi to the fan base."

Yet, that's exactly where the Giants find themselves.

Realistically, though, it would've been tough to move forward with Zaidi as a lame duck effectively working to save his job.

Managerial candidates, especially ones as experienced as Melvin, probably wanted some sort of assurance about the structure of the front office beyond 2024. Maybe it's a case of throwing good money after bad, but allowing Zaidi to retool the roster this offseason with a reasonable chance he's gone in a year wouldn't have made a ton of sense, either.

San Francisco was at a point where it either needed to commit to Zaidi or put someone else in charge. Ownership is obviously choosing the former.

Bob Melvin is going to be managing in the National League West in 2024, but it won't be with the San Diego Padres.

Per The Athletic's Andrew Baggarly, the San Francisco Giants are set to name Melvin as their next manager after a "swift" interview process.

The Giants' managerial job came open on Sept. 29 when Gabe Kapler was fired going into the final series of the regular season.

Kapler went 295-248 in four seasons as Giants skipper, but his only winning year and playoff appearance came during the 2021 campaign (107-55).

It's a bit unusual for a team within the same division to allow another club to interview its manager, but the relationship between Melvin and the Padres has reportedly been on the decline for some time.

Specifically, according to The Athletic's Dennis Lin, Melvin and Padres general manager A.J. Preller "clashed" on a variety of issues, including communication and roster construction, basically since Melvin was originally hired in November 2021.

Lin and Baggarly reported on Oct. 22 that the Padres gave the Giants permission to speak with Melvin, who was under contract to San Diego through the 2024 season, about their vacant managerial position.

This season was a major disappointment in San Diego after the team spent significant money last winter to upgrade its roster. The Padres entered 2023 with the third-highest payroll in MLB at $248.995 million, trailing only the New York Mets ($353.5 million) and New York Yankees ($276.999 million).

Melvin had a successful two-year run with the Padres. He went 171-153 and an appearance in the 2022 National League Championship Series. It was the franchise's first trip to the NLCS since playing in the World Series in 1998.

In 20 total seasons as a manager, Melvin has a 1,517-1,425 record with eight playoff appearances and four division titles. His longest stint with one club was 11 seasons with the Oakland Athletics from 2011 to '21. He's also managed the Seattle Mariners (2003 to '04) and Arizona Diamondbacks (2005 to '09).