Tony Watson: 7-4, 3.38 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 53/20 K/BB, 66.2 innings
Three years, $7 million
After growing up in Iowa, attending Nebraska for college, and pitching for Pittsburgh for the first six and a half years of his career, Tony Watson was traded to the Dodgers in 2017 and I guess he liked the West Coast, as he has signed a three year deal with the Giants. San Francisco is desperately trying to turn its team around, having already acquired Andrew McCutchen, Evan Longoria, Austin Jackson, and Gregor Blanco this year while more or less losing only Denard Span and Christian Arroyo, but they haven't touched the pitching staff yet. The bullpen has some upside with Mark Melancon, Hunter Strickland, Sam Dyson, Will Smith, and Cody Gearrin pencilled in, among others, but they all come with their own question marks (except maybe Strickland), and the team's core of lefties (Smith, Ty Blach, Josh Osich, Steven Okert) is pretty mediocre. Watson, a lefty, hasn't posted an ERA above 3.38 since his rookie 2011 season, and was one of the most reliable lefties in baseball for the Pirates from 2013-2015 (1.97 ERA, 0.95 WHIP in 224.1 innings). His ERA went up in 2016 (3.06) and again in 2017 (3.38), and though his 1.38 WHIP in 2017 was the worst of his career, it may have been due to some batted ball luck. His .317 opponents' BABIP was also a career high, indicating bad luck, and his 22.5% hard contact rate was actually his lowest since 2014. However, on the down side, his 18.2% strikeout rate was a career low, so Watson ultimately has factors working for and against him in 2018, and we'll just have to wait and see. For his career, Watson is 33-17 with a 2.68 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP over 474 appearances.
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