The Baseball Effect

Yet another interesting deal from the newly restructured San Francisco Giants front office. They have just agreed on a two-year deal, with an option, worth $6 million with fan favorite utility-man Wilmer Flores.

This is the first sign of commitment we have seen from the Giants all off-season and even so, it’s only a two-year deal. Flores on the other hand has shown that he is worth potentially keeping for that third year option. He finished 2019 with a slash line of .317/.361/.487, but he did appear in his fewest amount of games in the last five years, so Flores will be looking to continue his progress from last season. Aside from that, Flores has been a fan favorite in New York for the past half-decade. Anyone remember when he broke down crying in the outfield, thinking the Mets had traded him mide-game? Only to realize it was a rumor, Flores went on to hit a walk off homerun in the 12th inning of the very same game! This is the type of player the Giants signed, but where does he fit in?

Flores comes into a situation where almost everybody on the 25-man could be considered a question mark (with the exception of Buster Posey) in one form or another. One could almost assume that Flores could play almost everyday filling in for whomever happened to have the off-day. He is typically an infielder but on rare occasion played the outfield for the Mets, as he did on the day he wasn’t traded, so he may be able to contribute to filling the gaping whole that is the Giants outfield. Another possibility/rumor/option could be the movement of Mauricio Dubon (barring any troubles at the plate) from second-base to center field. This may not be the most likely situation but would open up a slot for the newly acquired infielder to flash his glove at second.

Assuming Flores is able to get an elephant’s share of playing time somewhere within the Giants infield, he should be able to provide adequate, if not slightly-above-average, defense where ever Gabe Kapler decides to play him. Over the last three years, Flores has played all of his innings at either first, second, or third base. According to Baseball Savant, he has outperformed his expected success rate (meaning the number of defensive play attempts versus the number of attempts expected to result in an out) in every year while playing first base by an average of 4% , under-performed while defending third base by an average of 5%, and generally performing in line with expected results while playing second base. There are rumors that the Giants would like to rest Brandon Belt a bit more at first base, so this along with the Pablo Sandoval deal could be moves to support that theory. Either way, it looks as though we will be seeing more Wilmer Flores out on the field at Oracle Park and Giants fans can only hope that an offensive improvement comes with it.

While Flores is not exactly a superstar bat that is going to drastically change the construction of a team’s roster, he is versatile enough in the field and able contribute in the batters box. In seven season in the big leagues, Flores has a career slash line of .268/.310/.432 and an average home run output of 11 per season or one home run per 27 at-bats. Last year, Flores improved his overall output and line but only played in 89 games, which brings to question whether or not he can continue his new-found success. His BABIP is almost 60 points higher than average, initially suggesting its more likely Flores will bat closer to his career average of .268. With that said, he was able to increase both his hard-hit rate and line-drive rate by 5%. If Flores is able to sustain these numbers, an increase in average and even home runs is by no means out of the question. Another point to support the notion that Flores still has room to grow could be the fact that, at 28, he is surprisingly younger than a majority of the hitters currently on the 25-man roster. Who knows? Maybe Flores ends up as everyone’s favorite Giant by the end of the season.

While nobody will be taking the title of fan favorite as long as Buster Posey is around, Flores could very well be one of those players that softens the edges of a rebuild. Not to mention, the edges of a new manager in town. Now, this is not some deal that is going to change the expectations for the Giants in 2020. They are in full rebuild mode, but it doesn’t hurt to sign a guy who fits the misfit mold so greatly embraced by Giants fans everywhere over the last decade. Walk-off home runs don’t hurt either.