Farhan Zaidi’s tenure with the Giants left fans split, but one of his quietest moves may end up being one of his most useful.
Jonah Cox is starting to look like a real answer in center field for San Francisco. At minimum, he appears positioned to share the job with Drew Gilbert next season, and MLB Pipeline already has him pegged as the organization’s breakout prospect of the year. If that kind of momentum holds, the Giants could have landed something more than a stopgap.
The route to get there was a sneaky one. San Francisco picked up Cox from the Athletics in 2024 in a deal for Ross Stripling and some cash.
That came during the same winter Zaidi also pulled off the Robbie Ray trade with Seattle, sending Anthony DeSclafani and Mitch Haniger the other way. For a stretch there, he was making teams pay.
Stripling posted a 6.01 ERA for the A’s in 2024 before retiring, while Cox has brought a different kind of energy entirely. He’s one of the fastest players the Giants have had in years, with 13 stolen bases in 17 attempts.
He’s played only 54 games, so a 30-steal season isn’t out of the question over a full year. The last Giant to reach 30 stolen bases in a season was Dave Roberts in 2007.
The speed is obvious, but Cox hasn’t been a one-tool player. He’s hitting .295/.333/.443 with four home runs and 14 runs batted in.
The strikeout total is loud - 50 in 122 at-bats - and he has only seven walks, so there are clear warning signs if the bat cools off. Even so, the speed alone keeps him dangerous.
There’s also credit to go around for the current front office. Posey and his group showed plenty of confidence by calling Cox up directly from Double-A.
It was a risky decision and looked, at the time, like a move meant to inject some life into the roster. Cox has had moments where he’s looked overmatched, but overall he has looked like a player who belongs in the big leagues and should have a place on the 2027 roster.
Not everyone will be eager to hand Zaidi credit for this one, and that’s fair. But Cox is another reminder that Zaidi did uncover some useful pieces, and the Giants are still benefiting from those finds.
In Other News...
Bryce Eldridges Sudden Absence Leaves Giants With One Big Concern
Bryce Eldridges night took an unexpected turn shortly before the Giants faced the Dodgers, when the team scratched the first baseman from the starting lineup because of a head laceration. Brett Harris stepped in at first base and slid into the seventh spot in the order, leaving San Francisco to reshuffle on the fly against a division rival with little time to plan around the change.
For a club still trying to manage its roster carefully, any sudden absence involving Eldridge is worth watching closely. The Giants did get some encouraging development elsewhere, as top pitching prospect Jackson Flora opened his Double-A stint with two perfect innings and four strikeouts, while infielder Marcelo Mayer remains a possible late-season addition. Even so, Eldridges status is the immediate concern, especially with the Dodgers on the other side of the field and no clear sense yet of how long the issue might linger. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Face One Uncomfortable Final Week Decision After Logan Webb
Logan Webbs season ended the way the Giants hoped to avoid, with the ace landing on the injured list because of a finger blister and closing out a year that had already made him the clubs most important arm. Even with the rough finish, he still took the ball 27 times and logged 160 2/3 innings, and now San Francisco is left looking at a final week that says as much about caution as it does about competition.
The bigger question is what the Giants do next with the rest of the roster, because Webbs shutdown naturally pushes attention toward other players who could be candidates to sit as well. Landen Roupp, Jung Hoo Lee and Dylan Smith all fit into that conversation as the organization weighs present-day usage against longer-term health, and the uncomfortable part is that those choices can shape how this season is remembered well after the standings stop changing. [Read more 🡒]
Jackson Flora May Be Forcing The Giants To Rethink His Timeline
Jackson Floras first taste of pro ball arrived in September, and it was hard to imagine a better first impression for the Giants top draft pick. The right-hander made his debut with both the clubs Class A and Double-A affiliates, and over three scoreless innings he punched out six without allowing a run, a line that did exactly what a first-round arm is supposed to do: remind everyone why he was taken fourth overall out of UC Santa Barbara.
For the Giants, the performance doesnt change the fact that Flora is still at the beginning of his professional climb, but it does add some early intrigue to how quickly he might move. His debut was brief, yet it was sharp enough to raise the question every organization likes to have about a premium pick: is the original plan still the right one, or has the pitcher already started making a case for something faster? [Read more 🡒]