When the offseason arrives, the SF Giants’ top priority is clear: find pitching, and find it however they can. Buster Posey has already said the club will look at every possible path, from free agency to the trade market, and with the Giants’ long-running reluctance to hand out big pitching contracts, a deal may be the most realistic route.
That naturally sends people toward the team’s stash of young shortstops. Josuar Gonzalez, Luis Hernandez and Jhonny Level give San Francisco plenty of middle-infield depth on paper, but there’s a real argument for letting that group marinate a little longer before dealing one of them away. And if the Giants are chasing a legitimate starter, the other club may want someone who can help right now rather than a prospect with a distant payoff.
That’s where Casey Schmitt enters the conversation. He’s on a manageable contract, coming off a strong year, and looks like the kind of player another team could ask about in a pitching trade.
Jung Hoo Lee could also come up in those talks, but his contract might make him tougher to move. Schmitt, by contrast, is the kind of big league piece that can get traction fast.
If the Mariners called with Emerson Hancock, though, the calculus gets interesting. Hancock posted a 3.57 ERA in 25 starts last season, is the same age as Schmitt, and, like Schmitt, won’t reach free agency until after the 2030 season. From the Giants’ side, that’s the sort of return that would be hard to dismiss.
Still, any Schmitt discussion brings up an old wound for this franchise: Adam Duvall.
Back in 2015, the Giants were searching for pitching at the deadline and sent Duvall, along with top prospect Keury Mella, to the Reds for Mike Leake. San Francisco got a 4.07 ERA in nine starts from Leake, missed the playoffs, and watched Leake leave in free agency after the season. Duvall, meanwhile, became an All-Star, reached the 30-homer mark multiple times, and later helped the Atlanta Braves win the 2021 World Series.
There are similarities worth noting. Duvall and Schmitt could both move around the field, and neither has lived in the high on-base neighborhood. But Duvall’s bat made the deal sting for years, and that’s the warning sign here: if Schmitt blossoms elsewhere while the Giants get only middling pitching back, the move could age badly.
The Hancock comparison isn’t a perfect one, because San Francisco wouldn’t be dealing for a rental like Leake. The hope would be to land a starter who can anchor the rotation for years.
Even so, the Duvall trade hangs over this kind of decision for a reason. If Schmitt ends up launching 30-plus homers for Seattle while Hancock settles in as a 4.00 ERA starter in orange and black, the Giants would be left regretting it all over again.
This is the sort of offseason debate that can run in circles, and Schmitt’s name is likely to stay in it. But the memory of Duvall makes one thing plain: trading away a hitter with real upside in the name of pitching help does not always pay off.
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