The San Francisco Giants have excellent players in place at three infield positions. They’re looking to upgrade at the fourth.
Second base was not a strength for the Giants during the 2025 season. Tyler Fitzgerald came back to Earth after a strong 2024 season, going from a .280/.334/.497 slash line to .217/.278/.327 and striking out in 29% of his plate appearances. He homered in five straight games in 2024, and homered four times, total, in 2025, though he did get derailed by a broken rib.
Casey Schmitt hit 12 homers and slashed .237/.305/.401 and Christian Koss hit .264, but with little power and walks. Overall, the Giants’ second basemen slashed .217/.273/.343 with a 73 wRC+, though Schmitt hit far better when he wasn’t playing second for whatever reason. All three players should get a chance to stick as utility players, especially with Fitzgerald’s ability to play the outfield, but second base is an obvious place for an upgrade.
Nico Hoerner won his second Gold Glove last season, but has suddenly become expendable after the Chicago Cubs signed third baseman Alex Bregman to a five-year, $175M deal. That move would seem to displace rookie third baseman Matt Shaw or Hoerner, if they move Shaw to second, where he’s played in college and the minor leagues.
Hoerner is due to make $12M in 2026 and can be a free agent after the season, making him a more likely trade candidate, since Shaw is under team control for five more seasons. He slashed .297/.345/.394 last season in one of his best offensive seasons, while stealing 29 bases in 35 attempts. Hoerner has stolen 103 bases over the last three seasons with a success rate of 84.4%, and it’s safe to say this kind of base running has not been a part of Giants baseball for a number of years.
The Giants have picked up a number of players with local ties in recent seasons, like Joc Pederson and Mitch Haniger. Hoerner attended Head-Royce high school in Oakland, then went to college at Stanford, so the Giants can continue to lower their carbon footprint by shopping locally for players. Getting Hoerner would also provide some all-important family crowd shots for Kruk and Kuip.
Brendan Donovan may be more available as part of the St. Louis Cardinals’ salary-slashing offseason under their new team president, Chaim Bloom. They have traded Sonny Gray, Willson Contreras, and Nolan Arenado already, while sending out $54M to get out of the unwanted deals. Donovan only makes $5.8M in 2026, his second-to-last arbitration season before he can become a free agent after 2027. Last year he slashed .287/.353/.422 with 10 home runs and made his first All-Star team, before missing a month late in the season with a groin strain.
This might mean the Cardinals are less motivated to trade Donovan, or that his price could be higher. Both Hoerner and Donovan will be 29 next season and both have experience playing multiple positions, though Donovan was used as a utility man far more than Horner recently.
Donovan played 100 games at second last year, along with six games at shortstop and 18 in the outfield. Over his four MLB seasons, Donovan has played 225 games at second, 186 in the outfield (mostly in left) and 46 at third, with limited time in right field, first base, and short. Hoerner was the Cubs’ primary shortstop in 2022, but moved to second after they signed Dansby Swanson, and has played only 137 innings at short in the last three years.
It’s not clear what “aggressively pursuing” entails for the Giants when it comes to these second sackers, but this appears to be the area of focus for Buster Posey’s front office, with the starting rotation reportedly set.
Both would represent large upgrades on the Giants’ current crop of free agents. Donovan’s outfield versatility might be appealing for the Giants, while Hoerner provides elite defense up the middle — Donovan has been slightly above-average as an infielder the last two seasons and slightly below-average in left.
How do they decide? It might come down to merch. With the Giants years past having a Kung Fu Panda in Pablo Sandoval or a Brandon Belt who would move captain’s hats or giraffe headwear, the pun possibilities for Nico Hoerner are much stronger than for Donovan, because someone across the street from Oracle Park will inevitably start selling hats with horns on them. Donovan’s nickname is “Donnie,” which really doesn’t evoke a single animal.
We’re calling it here. Expect a trade for Nico Hoerner and hundreds of fans wearing Viking headwear in the bleachers in 2026.
