The San Francisco Giants have signed a free agent outfielder, but not the one on everyone's mind. The Giants have inked Mitch Haniger to a three-year contract, the team announced. CBS Sports HQ has confirmed the deal is worth $43.5 million. The Haniger signing does not take the Giants out of the running for Aaron Judge, reports ESPN.
Here is the salary breakdown via The Athletic:
- 2023: $5 million salary plus $6 million signing bonus
- 2024: $17 million salary (can opt out after season)
- 2025: $15.5 million salary
- $1 million bonus if traded
Haniger, 32 later this month, grew up in the Bay Area and spent the first seven seasons of his big league career with the Seattle Mariners. He slashed .246/.308/.429 with 11 home runs in 57 games around injuries in 2022. Injuries have unfortunately been the story of Haniger's career; since his 2017, his first full MLB season, he has played only 530 of 870 possible regular season games.
Our R.J. Anderson did not rank Haniger among his top 50 free agents, though he did highlight him as a former All-Star who just missed the cut. Here's his write-up:
When people talk about sports being a glorified random number generator, they usually don't mean with regards to injuries. They could, though, in the case of someone like Haniger. Here are his games played totals by season over the last five years: 157, 63, zero, 157, and 57. There's no telling how often Haniger will play in any given season. That's too bad. He's a good hitter whenever he's able to take the field.
The Giants came into the offseason intending to add multiple bats, including two outfielders. Haniger joins fellow righty hitter Austin Slater, and lefties Joc Pederson and Mike Yastrzemski, in San Francisco's current outfield. Pederson and Slater are platoon players though, and the universal DH means the Giants have plenty of room for Judge in the lineup as well.
San Francisco went 81-81 in 2022 and missed the postseason. A year earlier, they won an MLB-best 107 games.
