Well, San Francisco Giants fans, wouldn’t it be nice to see Framber Valdez in the starting rotation next season?
In a recent article for Giants Roundtable, I recently put forth a possible option that Valdez could be for the ballclub.
Of course, it’s not much of a stretch to pin Valdez to any MLB team that has a need for starting pitching. That could be said for all MLB clubs heading into 2026.
No team can go toward winning a World Series championship without it.
Additionally, the Giants want to be back in postseason play and conversations. Valdez is a stout left-handed pitcher who is known for having a wicked, wicked curveball. Valdez, when he’s on his game, is one of baseball’s best groundball pitchers.
Would Valdez be a sweet deal option for the Giants?
An article for The Athletic puts forth this possibility.
“The idea of pairing up Valdez, one of the game’s best southpaw sinkerballers, with Logan Webb, the best right-handed sinkerballer, is too good to pass up,” according to The Athletic.
“The Giants are expected to land one of the major free-agent pitchers this winter,” the article indicates. “The duo of Valdez and Webb could serve up plenty of grounders for elite fielders Matt Chapman, Willy Adames and others.”
Valdez has spent his entire eight MLB seasons with the Houston Astros. In the past five seasons, Valdez has pitched more than 130 innings in each one. His high-innings mark was 201 1/3 innings in 2022 when he also posted a 2.82 ERA in helping the Astros win their second World Series championship.
In 2022, Valdez finished fifth in the American League Cy Young Award race.
Last season, though, wasn’t one of Valdez’s finest. He finished with a 3.66 ERA in 31 starts for Houston but he did have two complete games, which are rarities in his analytics-driven MLB world these days.
Also, the Giants might have to weigh whether or not Valdez will have a proper attitude when either on the mound or in the clubhouse. There have been rumors that Valdez can be a little bit of a head case at times. Of course, last season he had a well-vetted issue on the field by crossing up an Astros catcher after throwing a grand-slam home run ball.
But Giants manager Tony Vitello wouldn’t mind seeing Valdez as an option for his starting rotation.
Let’s see if the Giants look at Valdez as a potential Black Friday-type of pickup for the team heading into 2026.
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