Giants Sign Jake McGee

by Hayden Diluzio February 9th, 2021, 2:55 PM PST

The San Francisco Giants are in agreement on a deal with left handed relief pitcher Jake McGee, pending a physical. The deal is 2 years worth 7 millions dollars.

After being somewhat of an average reliever for the Colorado Rockies for a few years, Mcgee signed with the Dodgers last season and had a great 2020. In 20.1 innings pitched, McGee finished with a 2.66 ERA, 1.67 FIP, and a 0.7 WAR. McGee finished with a 41.8% K rate in 2020. This was good for fifth in the MLB among pitchers who pitched 20 innings or more.

McGee, 34, gives the Giants some much needed veteran presence in their bullpen. He immediately becomes the favorite to be the Giants closer when favorable for a lefty. If not closing, Mcgee can be used to pitch in high leverage situations late in games.

This signing is an intruging one from Farhan Zaidi. The Giants had already made a number of moves to improve their bullpen this offseason with signings like right handers Matt Wisler and John Brebbia. However, McGee is different from these in that he is a lefty. The Giants already had a lot of depth with their left handed relievers. Lefties Sam Selman, Caleb Baragar, Jarlin Garcia, and Wandy Peralta all contributed to the Giants bullpen last season and will be fighting to make the opening day roster this season. Jake McGee becomes another lefty to add to that list. It will be interesting to see how many lefties Farhan Zaidi decides to keep on the big league roster with a good amount of depth at the position.

Overall, this was a great signing by the Giants. Paying 3.5 million a year for one of the best relievers in baseball isn't much at all compared to Liam Hendriks getting 3 years 54 million earlier this offseason. The Giants continue to get great value when sigining free agents with another great signing by Farhan Zaidi.