Austin Slater
Bar far the most affordable player on this list financially and acquisition cost is Austin Slater. I touched in Slater before; he is not the second bat that needs to be acquire this offseason, but acquiring Slater after the Garver trade could prove to be one of the best and most underrated moves of the offseason.
In the table below, you can see how good Slater has been since 2020, he has been one of the best bats versus left-handed pitchers during that span. Since 2020, Slater's combined numbers are .285/.380/.486 which was good for a 141 wRC+. Among hitters with 350 plate appearances during that time, Slater ranks 19th in wRC+ and 14th in on-base-percentage. There is no doubt that adding Slater to platoon with Canzone/Deloach/Trammel would give you one of the best options available.
PA | BB% | K% | Slash | wRC+ | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | 49 | 22.4% | 10.2% | 316/469/658 | 200 |
2021 | 193 | 10.9% | 19.2% | 284/373/521 | 141 |
2022 | 182 | 11.5% | 25.3% | 277/379/445 | 139 |
2023 | 147 | 8.8% | 27.2% | 288/361/439 | 123 |
Slater just turned 31 years old and is in the final year of arbitration, expected to earn $4 million. This is a relatively inexpensive option considering the type of production that you could get out of him. Slater is now in a crowded outfield with guys like Jung Hoo Lee, Mitch Haniger, Michael Conforto, Mike Yastrezemski, and former top 100 prospect Luis Matos. The Giants could use some pitching depth; I could see a young, MLB ready bullpen arm like Ty Adcock making this deal work.