What to Make of the Giants’ Extension of Logan Webb

The San Francisco Giants announced on April 14 that the team agreed to a five-year, $90 million extension with homegrown ace Logan Webb. The move will keep Webb in San Francisco into his early-30s, and give the Giants a steady presence in the rotation amidst an impending injection of youth in the Bay Area.

Related: 2023 MLB Fantasy: Braves SS Vaughn Grissom is Back, and He’s Worth Snaring in Leagues

A Look at Webb

Right-hander Logan Webb first made his Major League debut with the Giants in 2019 as a 22-year-old. His initial run in the Majors didn’t go well, as he owned a 5.22 ERA over 39.2 innings that year. In the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign, Webb didn’t fair much better. Webb went 3-4 with a 5.47 ERA and a less-than-stellar 4.0 BB/9 rate over 54.1 IP.

Things changed, however, for Webb in 2021. Webb went 11-3 for the Giants in 2021, and struck out 158 over 148.1 innings for a Giants group that surprisingly won the NL West. The young right-hander went on that fall to put on a clinic in the NLDS against the Dodgers, as he struck out 17 over 14.2 innings and recorded a very impressive .61 ERA along the way.

Webb continued to dominate in 2022, as he finished 11th in the NL Cy Young award voting last fall after a 15-win campaign that saw the righty have a 2.90 ERA in 192.1 innings. As of April 14, Webb had an 0-3 record with a 4.76 ERA, but also a 1.6 BB/9 and 22 strikeouts over 17 innings.

The 26-year-old won’t blow anyone away with his fastball, which tops out in the 91-93 MPH range. He does, however, have the ability to play his changeup and slider off the sinker, to generate above-average Whiff% and Chase% rates. And thanks to his sinker, he gets plenty of ground balls. Webb’s 57.8% GB% rate in 2022 was second-best in the Majors last year, behind only Astros LHP Framber Valdez.

The five-year extension will keep Webb in the Bay Area through his age-31 season in 2028, per Spotrac. The deal also buys out the remaining two years of Webb’s arbitration eligibility, plus three additional years before he can become a free agent.

What it Means

After the Giants lost Carlos Rodón to free agency this past winter, it’s not a shock that San Francisco didn’t want to lose a homegrown ace that could have hit at the market at the ripe age of 28. Now, San Francisco will retain Webb for the long-term.

It makes sense to keep Webb around, for a few reasons. The obvious one is that Webb’s been one of the better right-handers in the game over the past few seasons. Webb won 15 games and posted a sub-3.00 ERA in 2022, and a 3.03 ERA a year earlier. The right-hander excels at working the inner half of the plate and down out of the zone with his sinker/changeup/slider combo and does possess above-average command. Not to mention, this deal also comes with some, but not much risk. Since Webb is set to hit the market as a 31-year-old, it doesn’t lock the Giants into a lengthy deal that can backfire.

With Webb in tow for the long haul, the Giants can now set up its rotation of the future. LHP Kyle Harrison is one of the baseball’s brightest pitching prospects, and figures to factor into the equation at some point in the future. Prospects Carson Whisenhunt, Reggie Crawford, and Mason Black are also coming up the pipeline, but still need work down in the Minors. And with a good amount of cash, the Giants could complement its budding group of young pitchers with a reliable arm in either this coming or the following winter.