It looks like the speculation can be laid to rest regarding the San Francisco Giants and their pursuit of a top tier free agent starting pitcher. They're targeting someone who can play the outfield for them.
According to ESPN's Jim Bowden, the Giants are out on James Shields and were never in on Max Scherzer. Instead, the team is pursuing a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays for Ben Zobrist, who is under contract for 2015 at $7.5 million. San Francisco was never linked to Scherzer so that report is nothing new, but they have spoken with Shields and his agent multiple times.
The Giants were involved in the bidding for left-hander Jon Lester before he signed with the Chicago Cubs and have since been looking for another starter to put at the top of their rotation. They re-signed Jake Peavy for two years and have Tim Hudson for one more season as well. Matt Cain will be returning from elbow surgery, but it's unknown how effective he'll be. The back end of the rotation is also still a question mark since Tim Lincecum was demoted to the bullpen during the season and Yusmeiro Petit has only made 56 starts in seven seasons.
It's possible the Giants trust who they have for 2015, but it wouldn't be surprising if they made one last cost-effective addition to the rotation before spring training.
As for other needs, their interest in Zobrist stems from last season. They inquired about the veteran at the trade deadline because they needed a second baseman when Marco Scutaro and Joe Panik went down with injuries and Dan Uggla performed poorly. Now the Giants are in need of a corner outfielder and Zobrist has much experience in that department, having played 404 combined games in each outfield position.
Zobrist, 33, is entering his 10th MLB season and owns a career stat line of .264/.354/.429 with 114 home runs, 511 RBIs and 102 stolen bases. Tampa Bay picked up his option likely because they knew they could get good value for him in a trade. The longest tenured Ray could be on the move before spring training.
