The San Francisco Giants may have their eye on David Bednar, but the real hurdle isn’t just whether he fits. It’s what it would cost to get him.
Bednar could step in as the proven closer the Giants didn’t have in 2026. He saved 35 of 39 chances and finished with a 2.47 ERA for the Yankees, while San Francisco had to patch together the ninth inning with 12 different pitchers recording a save and 27 blown opportunities. With Randy Rodriguez still working back from Tommy John surgery after an Arizona Fall League setback, the Giants have plenty of reason to shop for help at the back end of the bullpen.
The problem is the qualifying offer attached to Bednar. New York gave him a one-year, $23.15 million offer, and he has until Tuesday to accept and stay with the Yankees for 2027. If he turns it down, any team that signs him before the 2027 draft would face draft-pick compensation.
For the Giants, that’s not a small detail. Spotrac projects them to finish below the luxury-tax threshold, and under MLB’s rules a revenue-sharing payor in that spot would lose its second-highest pick, along with the bonus money tied to it, plus $500,000 from its international signing pool. San Francisco already used that international pool to sign shortstop Luis Hernandez for $5 million in January.
“I think it’s going to be harder for us with the QO,” Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said at the general managers meetings, according to the San Francisco Chronicle (subscription required).
Posey also made clear the club has to be careful about how it spends while trying to protect the farm system it has been building. The Chronicle reported that the Giants are looking for a closer, and Bednar’s appeal comes down to whether he’s enough of an upgrade to justify the penalty.
Raisel Iglesias offers a useful benchmark. He saved 34 games with a 2.55 ERA for Atlanta and reached free agency without a qualifying offer. Bednar is four years younger than Iglesias, which is where the argument for surrendering the pick starts to take shape: the Giants would have to believe Bednar can provide more seasons of steady late-inning work.
There’s another layer to the decision, too. San Francisco still needs to address its starting pitching, and that affects how far it can go for a reliever.
If Bednar declines and options like Iglesias disappear, the Giants would need a deal that still leaves room to fill rotation spots. A closer matters more when the starters are giving him leads to protect.
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