Jorge Soler, a Legit Free Agent Power Bat, is Coming to The SF Giants

As I tossed and turned Tuesday morning I flipped on KNBR to help drown out the horns and nonsense that is the morning commute on Van Ness. That’s when I heard it! The Murph and Marcus Show brought to my and every other listener’s attention that the San Francisco Giants have added their second bat to the lineup. This one with some actual pop! For the love of God, thank you Jesus. Giants GM Farhan Zaidi finally did something: He landed slugger Jorge Soler after Soler opted out of his final year with the Miami Marlins. It’s reported that he and the Giants agreed to a 3 year deal for $42 million. Exact details have yet to be released.

Soler is a big dude at 6’4″ 234 lbs. He was the 2021 World Series MVP after batting .300 for the Atlanta Braves in that series. Soler is coming to the Giants on the heels of making his first ever all star appearance in 2023. Last year with the Marlins, Jorge managed to take 36 pitches yard. To put Soler’s 36 homers into perspective and how starved the Giants are for some power, only 3 Giants had more than 15 home runs on the season according to Baseball Reference. Lamonte Wade Jr. had 17, J.D. Davis 18, and Wilmer Flores with 23. Soler’s bat will be a blessing if he can keep those power numbers up in the much less home run friendly ballpark found at 3rd and King streets.

While there hasn’t been an official announcement, one would guess that Jorge Soler will be filling the designated hitter role that was left when Joc Pederson signed a one year deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks. This will be an immediate power upgrade with Soler having hit 21 more home runs than Joc. For those doing the math at home, that means Pederson had a total of 15 homers last season.

Under new manager Bob Melvin, we can hopefully expect to see more everyday players unlike the platoon methodology used by Giants former manager Gabe Kapler which relied heavily on analytics. Bob Melvin is an old school skipper who most remember from his time at the helm of the Oakland A’s. While he is not Bruce Bochy when it comes to trusting your gut managing, he is cut from an old school cloth and is also a former catcher.

Soler will join San Francisco’s other major off season signing and new face to the lineup, Jung Hoo Lee. Lee may prove to be a fan favorite coming over from the KBO league in South Korea two years removed from league MVP. A safe bet with not a lot of power who hits for high average and contact. Soler will need ducks on the pond as we say.

Still sitting on the free agent market is what we can pretty much refer to as the Boras boys. The name comes from Scott Boras who, as a free agent, is notorious for dragging things out well into spring training until his requests are met. With most teams having pitchers and catchers report this week, this year is no different. Two Boras bats the Giants have been eyeing are centerfielder Cody Belinger and former A’s third baseman Matt Chapman. I’ll be keeping my eye on those, and hopefully breaking some good news to the readers of BAS, but I won’t be holding my breath. For now I’ll take Soler with the hopes of another all star season to build on. Farhan, you’re still on the clock and we’re all watching.