MLB Spring training is underway, but the Giants might not be done adding key pieces to their roster just yet.
San Francisco reportedly is among the four finalists for the services of free agent utility man Kiké Hernández, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported on Saturday, citing sources briefed on his discussions.
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At 32 years old, Hernandez offers veteran leadership and experience that can effectively slot in nearly anywhere on the diamond.
In 54 appearances for the Los Angeles Dodgers last season, Hernandez made multiple appearances at every position in the field, except pitcher and catcher.
Hernandez also has a penchant for raking against left-handed pitching, which could be extremely valuable for the Giants, per The Athletic's Eno Sarris.
"This fit is more about the bat than the glove for the Giants and Hernández, probably," Sarris wrote. "The Giants were 24th-best against lefties last year (about six percent worse than league average). For his career, Hernandez has been 15 percent better than league average in those situations. He represents a right-handed stick with power and patience against left-handed pitchers, at the very least.
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"The glove does matter, though. Last year was a tough year for Hernández defensively by any metric. But he's demonstrated a career's worth of ability at second, shortstop, and center field – with 1000+ innings at each of those positions – and can play any of those in a pinch.
"For the Giants, the most natural platoon partners are probably Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski in the corner outfield, but history tells us we'll see Hernández all over the diamond."
Hernandez has appeared in more than 1,000 regular-season games during his 10-year MLB career and is very familiar with the NL West after spending parts of seven seasons with the Dodgers.
The veteran utility man also brings substantial playoff experience, logging over 200 at-bats across 72 postseason appearances in his MLB career.
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