Logan Webb extension an important first step for Giants’ future

Rowan Kavner

MLB Writer

After whiffing this winter on obtaining a new face of the franchise, the San Francisco Giants turned their attention toward securing their homegrown star.

Logan Webb, the Giants’ Opening Day starter and the lone member of the rotation under the age of 30, has agreed to a five-year extension worth $90 million that will keep him in San Francisco through the 2028 season. The contract is the longest handed out by Farhan Zaidi since he took over as president of baseball operations in November 2018.

The deal, which starts next season, buys out Webb’s final two years of arbitration and first three years of free agency, giving the Giants a stalwart on the mound for the long term at a reasonable rate. Webb will make $8 million in 2024 and $12 million in 2025 before the deal escalates to $23 million in 2026 and 2027 and $24 million in 2028.

It’s the largest deal signed by a Giants player since the team extended Buster Posey for nine years and $167 million in March 2013. Webb becomes the latest homegrown star to carry the franchise forward.

The Giants’ glory days in the early 2010s were built around long-term fixtures on the mound in Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner. Now, that hope lies in Webb. The club feels comfortable staking its hopes in the Northern California native, a player who has pledged to commit $450,000 of his new deal over the next five years to the Giants Community Fund to go toward fentanyl awareness and who said in February on the “Chris Rose Rotation” podcast that “it would be incredible to be a Giant for life.”

He told reporters after signing his extension that remaining a Giant was important not only for him but for his family and home community. It’s similarly significant for the organization. With a dearth of young standouts on a veteran roster filled with short-term alliances, the 26-year-old’s presence is paramount.

While this isn’t a Posey contract that would keep Webb in San Francisco for the length of his playing career, it is an extension that will make him the face of the franchise for the time being and still allow the ace to cash in again before his age 32 season in 2029.

With his new deal, Webb becomes the only Giants player on the books through the 2026 season (excluding arbitration-eligible deals). The only other Giants signed through 2025 are outfielder Mitch Haniger and reliever Taylor Rogers. The Giants also have a club option on reliever Luke Jackson in 2025, while infielder Wilmer Flores has a player option that year.

For Webb, who is making $4.6 million in his first year of arbitration, the $18 million average annual value of his new deal represents a significant upgrade. For the Giants, it’s a fair rate for a pitcher of his caliber if they wanted to keep him after 2025, when he would’ve become a free agent.

The $18 million AAV is the same that 36-year-old Padres starter Yu Darvish received on his six-year extension. It’s less than the Blue Jays paid to extend José Berríos in November 2021 (seven years, $131 million, $18.7 million AAV). Webb is younger than both and, at least by bWAR, was more valuable over the past two seasons.

Despite a dip in strikeout rate in 2022, last season marked a career year for Webb. After breaking out in 2021, the ground-ball savant finished 11th in Cy Young Award voting with career bests in ERA (2.92) and innings pitched (192.1). He was worth 4.8 WAR, according to Baseball-Reference’s calculations, which ranked ninth among all NL starters.

This year has started with more of a stumble.

Uncharacteristically plagued by the long ball, Webb has allowed four runs in each of his first three starts. Prior to this year, Webb had allowed multiple home runs in a game just twice in his career. He has already surrendered two home runs in two of his first three games of 2023.

But the underlying numbers don’t suggest any major causes for concern. His strikeout rate is up, his hard-hit rate and walk rate are down, and his expected batting average is actually better than last year.

This is not a team that often gifts long-term deals to pitchers, but this is also not a team with a particularly robust farm system after a string of first-round misses. They couldn’t afford to lose the only young, proven commodity in their rotation, particularly after missing out on this winter’s marquee free agents. Webb has seized a leadership role paving the path to the next generation of Giants baseball, as San Francisco awaits the eventual debuts of prospects Kyle Harrison, Marco Luciano and Casey Schmitt.

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If the Giants can eventually build a contender around Webb, the right-hander has already demonstrated his postseason mettle. While San Francisco’s resurgent 107-win season in 2021 ended with a five-game defeat to the Dodgers in the NL Division Series, Webb embraced the pressure by posting a 0.61 ERA with 17 strikeouts and one walk over his two starts.

Last year, the Giants dropped back into mediocrity with a .500 season, as the Dodgers won 111 games and the Padres advanced to the NL Championship Series. At a time when the Dodgers and Padres again look playoff-bound, Webb’s extension gives the fans in San Francisco a reason for optimism about the future.

Rowan Kavner covers the Dodgers and NL West for FOX Sports. He previously was the Dodgers’ editor of digital and print publications. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

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