On today's Locked On Giants podcast, host Ben Kaspick discusses the top free-agent position players for the San Francisco Giants to pursue. Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi recently told The Athletic's Andy Baggarly "We’ll be in that outfield market and adding another right-handed bat, particularly one that hits for power with good at-bat quality, kind of fits our team.” So Ben decides to look at all right-handed hitters on any of MLB Trade Rumors, ESPN, or FanGraphs' Top 50 free agents lists, and he eliminates players with below-average chase rates. As a result, he's left with Kris Bryant, Chris Taylor, Seiya Suzuki, Mark Canha, and Tommy Pham. Ben examines the average predicted contract for each, and discusses which players make sense for the Giants and which don't.

He then examines the players who were eliminated based on not having better-than-average chase rates in 2021. Those players were Nick Castellanos, Starling Marte, Avisaíl García, and Jorge Soler. Castellanos, García, and Soler rate as well-below-average defenders by Statcast Outs Above Average. Among this group, Ben considers Marte the best fit, and his ability to hit for average and make contact could be part of "at-bat quality" Zaidi was referring to.

Finally, Ben looks at right-handed infielders who might match Zaidi's criteria. He lands on one big name near the top of the list as a prime potential target: Marcus Semien. Semien had a monster season in Toronto, and now seems in line for a deal in the five-year, $125M range. Ben considers that a pretty strong buy considering Semien's all-around excellence. He hits for power, has elite discipline, plays great middle infield defense, is a plus base-runner and runner in general, and is known as a great clubhouse presence. For all of these reasons, Ben thinks he may be one of the more attractive free-agent options for this Giants this offseason. He would play second base, giving the Giants a potentially elite infield defense, if Brandon Belt returns. Tommy La Stella could move to DH duties more regularly, assuming it comes to the National League in 2022.

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