The San Francisco Giants missed the postseason by two games. Two games that feel like a canyon of difference when looking at the remaining National League teams that are still playing baseball in 2025.
Are there some future free agents playing in the division series that could help San Francisco close the gap in 2026?
Los Angeles Dodgers against Philadelphia Phillies
Phillies Free Agents
J.T. Realmuto, catcher (34 years old)
Patrick Bailey was arguably the best defensive player on the field in about every
game he played in 2025, as well as one of the worst offensive players. Do the Giants need to outsource a contingency plan for Bailey? Posey is excited about Jesus Rodriguez as a back-up solution, who they acquired from the Yankees in the Camilo Doval trade, but a multi-positional prospect comes with just as many questions.
J.T. Realmuto on the other hand is a 12-year veteran. He’ll be more expensive (Spotrac as his estimated AAV next year at $13 million), and I’m sure he won’t be champing at the bit for a “a back-up backstop role,” but at this point in his career, taking away a good chunk of innings behind the dish would probably give him more life in the box. Realmuto’s past season has arguably been his worst at the plate (.384 SLG, .699 OPS) with 132 appearances rating as a below average defensive catcher.
Asking a 35 year old catchers to squat through 130+ games isn’t going to benefit the team or the player — maybe Realmuto is wise enough to stare into the wizened face of Father Time and look for a role that gets him out from behind the plate. Sharing responsibilities with Bailey could be an interesting situation. Maybe a two-off, one-one schedule, or splitting the role right down the middle; or even a more adaptable, day-to-day, situation-dependent arrangement?
Kyle Schwarber, designated hitter (32 years old)
Kyle Schwarber’s bat would benefit any line-up in the Majors. This winter, he’ll play host to a banquet of salivating suitors throwing cash and considerations his way.
While every team will send some feelers out, I can’t imagine the Giants making a serious push for a seat at that table, nor can I imagine Schwarber noticing their absence. It’s just not a great fit, from Oracle Park to the current make-up of the roster. Rafael Devers and his long-term contract boxes Schwarber out of the line-up in a lot of ways. He’s played first once-or-twice, and is a corner outfielder in name-only. He’s made just 13 appearances in left field over the last two years and it’s no coincidence that those two years have been his best offensively. Any contract negotiation between Schwarber and the Giants would be a pretty half-hearted stretch to find common ground:
Posey: Would you want to play left field?
Schwarber: Do you want me to play left field?
[Awkward silence.]
Ranger Suárez, LHP (30 years old)
Posey has made it clear that pitching is the key to the Giants return to postseason relevancy. They’ve had intriguing arms, an enviable rotation in April which has not proved durable enough to produce effective results in August and September. Bolstering the rotation is going to be a priority for the off-season, and considering the park they play in and the reputation they have, it feels like their best sell to free agents. Philadelphia’s Ranger Suárez will be one of the bigger rotation names available and should be a target. He’ll be price-y and come with the additional cost of a qualifying offer, but the 30 year old southpaw seems worth it. He’s logged 150+ innings in three of his last four seasons. He’s a pitcher not a thrower (note his average FB velo at 90.5 MPH) and is very good at shuffling through a five-pitch mix that deadens dangerous contact from opposing hitters. He also has some impressive postseason chops over the past three years (1.43 ERA, 10 G, 37.2 IP).
If you like the cut of Suárez’s jib, you might hope for some missteps in the coming Division series to keep his market value down. But then again, what’s another 10-20 million dollars of not-your-money if he completely shuts down the Dodgers?
Other PHI FA:
David Robertson, RP (40 years old) – only threw 17 innings this year, old
Jordan Romano, RP (32 years old) — terrible year, left off of postseason roster
Dodgers Free Agents
Michael Conforto, OF (32 years old)
Anyone? Anyone?
Other LA FA:
Miguel Rojas, INF (36 years old) –
Kirby Yates, RP (38 years old) — signed to $13 million deal, couldn’t stay on the field due to injuries and performance
Michael Kopech, SP/RP (29 years old) — only pitched in 11 innings due to injuries, 2.2 of those IP came against the Giants
Chicago Cubs against Milwaukee Brewers
Cubs Free Agents
Kyle Tucker, OF (28 years old)
The outfield was another soft-spot for the Giants in 2025. Heliot Ramos exhibited symptoms of a sophomore slump after his All-Star year last season. Right field was a bit of a conveyor belt of shoulder-shrug solutions, especially after Jerar Encarnacion dealt with early and recurring injury problems and Mike Yastrzemski was traded.
There are names on the 40 man that could ostensibly patch together a season of coverage. We could pray one of them has a breakout year like Ramos did in ’24, but I imagine Posey would like to simplify things and lean on one man. Kyle Tucker would be that man. He was in the 90th percentile in terms of batting run value. His defense lingered around average, but he has been stellar with the glove at times.
Tucker absolutely checks a lot of the Giants boxes, but, believe it or not, the Giants aren’t the only team that needs a young-ish, experienced, top-tier bat and glove to patrol an outfield corner. The future Tucker bidding — which will be exorbitant — feels like another Aaron Judge situation, just another in a long-line of position players the Giants just-miss on.
Brad Keller, RP (30 years old)
The right-hander signed a one-year, $1.5 million deal with the Cubs before the 2025 season, then conjured up a career year seemingly out of nowhere. After 9 years scuffling as a starter and bullpen arm for Kansas City, Boston and Chicago White Sox, he followed the lake up to the North Side and transformed himself, appearing in 68 games, threw 69.2 innings, and posted a 2.07 ERA.
He’s a big dude with a big arm, and with the Cubs, he figured out a way to translate that physicality into fastball velocity. His average jumped from 93.7 MPH in 2024 to 97.1 MPH. Those extra clicks on the radar gun made all the difference and gave him permission to rely on the offering more. His 4-seam usage increased to 43% in 2025. The rising tide of his fastball lifted all the other ships in his harbor. The leftover pitch-type options from his starter days got better, including a sweeper he used exclusively against righties and hard change-up he used exclusively against lefties.
Are these results a one-year fluke, so common amongst relievers, or something to invest in? Tough to say, but based on the metrics on his Baseball Savant page, it’d be silly not to give him a serious look.
Caleb Thielbar, RP (38 years old)
Chicago has a bevy of mid-to-late 30s arms, like Taylor Rogers and Drew Pomeranz, heading to free agency. Among that aged scrap heap, the nearing-40, lefty Thielbar is coming off one of his best seasons thanks to an impressive movement profile on his pitches.
His four-seam fastball, which he threw 42% of the time in 2025, averages just 92.8 MPH, but in terms of vertical movement, the pitch is a frisbee. It’s wicked in the sense that it defies gravity. Thielbar’s other offerings all have positive run values as well. While his fastball got more rise than others in the leagues, his curveball earned more drop and limited opponents to a .135 BA and .231 SLG. An AB against Thielbar was clearly a pain during the regular season. In the inimitable words of Neil Young, singing the“Rust Never Sleeps” classic “Ride My Llama”: It’s old, but it’s good. Those two things don’t have to be mutually exclusive, and Thielbar has shown in can get outs in late-innings for a while now. A lefty like him to plug in high-leverage situations would be a huge boost for the Giants in 2026.
Other CHI FA:
Aaron Civale, SP — back-end rotation arm
Michael Soroka, RP — got traded from Washington at deadline, dealt with a shoulder injury, but his fastball has shown some life down the stretch after being reinstated from the IL
Brewers Free Agents
Shelby Miller, RP (35 years old)
Shelby was a Giant once. Could he be a Giant again? Miller was the key-piece of the mid-season trade that sent him (and Jordan Montgomery) from Arizona to Milwaukee. He was really good in the desert, and has been injured and so-so as a Brewer. His past couple years since being a Giant in 2022 have been defined by streakiness. He’s played for four different teams and has been hot in LA and cold in Detroit, hot in Arizona and cold in Milwaukee. Is there a geographic variable at play here? Do more northern latitudes affect the feel for his splitter? It’s a mystery, but you can’t deny that he’s got serious stuff that has played at the Major League level. Still, he’s a bit of a loose cannon, a fickle machine that seems to be breaking down more and more frequently.
A great postseason could sway some potential suitors like the Giants.
Other MIL FA:
There aren’t a ton of players from Milwaukee moving out onto the open market. The oft-injured Brandon Woodruff, who will miss the NLDS, has a mutual option. There’s a club-friendly $8 million option on Freddy Peralta. Jordan Montgomery is a free agent having not thrown a single pitch this year since he’s still recovering from Tommy John surgery.
