{"id":443968,"date":"2026-01-28T23:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443968\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T23:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:47:09","slug":"mlb-mailbag-giants-framber-valdez-eugenio-suarez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/443968\/","title":{"rendered":"MLB Mailbag: Giants, Framber Valdez, Eugenio Suarez"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week’s mailbag gets into the Giants’ rotation, why Framber Valdez<\/a> remains unsigned, a thorough look at where Eugenio Suarez<\/a> could land, the Tigers and Nationals, and more collective bargaining thoughts.<\/p>\n

Paul asks:<\/p>\n

Who makes sense for the Giants to add to their rotation?<\/p>\n

Daryn asks:<\/p>\n

Why is Framber Valdez not signed yet? He is the best starting pitcher in the market. Is it his age and asking for a lot of years, or it is the clubhouse thing we hear about?<\/p>\n

At present, the Giants’ rotation looks like this:<\/p>\n

Like every team, they’ll need reinforcements for injuries.\u00a0 Ray is 34 and 2025 was his first full season in three years.\u00a0 Houser is 33 and tossed a career-high 164 1\/3 innings last year (Triple-A included).\u00a0 Roupp missed 24 days with elbow inflammation and then saw his season end in August with a deep bone bruise to his knee.\u00a0 Mahle missed over three months with shoulder soreness.<\/p>\n

On the Mahle conference call, Giants GM Zack Minasian said, “I don\u2019t know if we\u2019re ever done. I think we\u2019re very comfortable with the five that we have and then the bundle of arms behind them. Our depth is in a much better spot than it was at the beginning of the offseason, so we\u2019re happy with where we\u2019re at. We\u2019ll keep working at it, but we do think this is a solid five-man rotation going into the spring.”\u00a0 That quote comes via Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That bundle behind the starting five may include Hayden Birdsong<\/a>, Kai-Wei Teng<\/a>, Carson Seymour<\/a>, Blade Tidwell<\/a>, and Carson Whisenhunt<\/a>, all of whom made big league starts last year.\u00a0 Trevor McDonald<\/a> and Keaton Winn<\/a> are options as well.<\/p>\n

The Giants are paying $21MM in AAV for Houser and Mahle this year, but neither can be counted on for a 2-WAR season.\u00a0 I don’t know that Zac Gallen<\/a> would be enough of an improvement over the Giants’ existing back-end options, but slotting Framber Valdez in behind Webb would be huge.\u00a0 The Giants have a good team at present, but Valdez could add a crucial three wins over whoever he replaces.<\/p>\n

Back in November<\/a>, Giants owner Greg Johnson expressed reluctance to sign a pitcher to a long-term deal.\u00a0 Just before that, MLBTR predicted a five-year deal for the 32-year-old Valdez.\u00a0 Ranger Suarez<\/a> signed a five-year deal two weeks ago, so it is possible to get that type of contract in January.\u00a0 That said, we haven’t seen a free agent starter get five years on January 28th or later since Yu Darvish<\/a> in 2018.\u00a0 As we get closer to pitchers and catchers reporting, the chance of Valdez getting a true five-year deal like Suarez decrease.<\/p>\n

There are several factors that likely contribute to Valdez being unsigned on January 28th:<\/p>\n


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