UPDATE: Alex Gordon is seemingly the Giants' top target.
As the market now begins to shift toward the unsigned outfielders, rival evaluators see the Giants as frontrunners for Alex Gordon.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 9, 2015
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The San Francisco Giants have already addressed their need in the starting rotation with the addition of Jeff Samardzija, and now they'll be tasked with filling their vacancy in left field.
San Fran has been linked to a number of high-profile free agents in previous rumors, but a report on Tuesday has perhaps narrowed the field in terms of who they might sign next to take over in left field.
Sources: #SFGiants talking with several free-agent outfielders, prefer Heyward, Gordon, or Fowler to Cespedes or Upton due to defense.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 8, 2015
Earlier in the day it was reported the Giants were specifically zoned in on Gordon.
Hearing the @SFGiants are hot for Alex Gordon. @Royals won't be able to keep up with the money Gordon is hearing.
— Pedro Gomez (@pedrogomezESPN) December 8, 2015
Earlier in the offseason in our "Three Destinations" series, we predicted the Giants would land Gordon for a number of reasons. First, Gordon is the type of player that fits in San Francisco. He's seemingly a low-key guy and is very team oriented. His balance on offense and defense also fits the Giants' philosophy.
Gordon, who will turn 32 in February, will also be much cheaper than Heyward, Upton and Cespedes due to his age. ESPN's Jim Bowden predicts Gordon will get five years and $90 million and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports believes he'll get fives years and $100 million - both of which are in the exact range of the deal (five years, $90 million) the Giants gave Hunter Pence a few years back.
Aside from Gordon, Upton and Cespedes are the only other left fielders, which is why Gomez's report makes sense. San Francisco has center fielder Angel Pagan under contract for another season and Pence will be a Giant through 2018, so Fowler and Heyward make little sense for them. If they were thinking about shifting their outfielders around, that still doesn't seem to be the smartest idea since Pence has played 1,168 out of his 1,262 career games in right field and Pagan hasn't played a position outside of center field since 2010.
The market for all of these outfielders, however, is not yet clear. The rest of the MLB jumped on this year's class of free agent starters first, so this stellar group of outfielders has taken a back seat for the time being. Their market should begin to heat up, though, because most of the top starters are off the board.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post mentioned the Giants have interest in Cespedes as well, so perhaps he could be a backup option if the team fails to land Gordon, who at this point seems to be their top target.
Upton and Heyward have been garnering attention from the Los Angeles Angels, which perhaps gives the Giants a perfect opportunity to swoop in and sign Gordon before another mega contract drastically affects the market.
