LA is giving a huge extension to a utility player who made too much sense with the SF Giants

The Los Angeles Dodgers aren’t slowing down. Just days after stealing Blake Snell from the SF Giants, they extended utility man Tommy Edman, who always felt he should have been a Giant. Now he will be a thorn in San Francisco’s side for years to come.

I admit it: I like Tommy Edman. I’ve always admired the way he plays the game. The fact that he’s a switch-hitter who can play virtually anywhere on the diamond has always been appealing. He’s like a younger version of Ben Zobrist. From his time with the St. Louis Cardinals, he always seemed like a guy who could end up in a Giants uniform one day.

Last offseason, I argued that the Giants should trade for the Stanford product. I argued again in July that the Giants should trade him. Then I lamented the fact that the Dodgers were able to get him at the trade deadline instead. In Part IV of my Edman saga, as he led the way for Los Angeles in the 2024 playoffs, I once again expressed my frustration that the Giants let him fall into the hands of the enemy.

Dodgers extend Tommy Edman, who the SF Giants should have acquired

Apparently I could never reach Farhan Zaidi.

Edman proved to be a great reliever for the Dodgers. While his regular season slash line of .237/.294/.417 with 6 home runs and 20 RBI wasn’t particularly impressive, he showed it in the playoffs. In the 2024 postseason, he hit .328/.354/.508 with 2 home runs and 13 RBI and was the NLCS MVP. It’s no wonder they rewarded him with a five-year, $74 million contract extension.

He expects to play a lot of center field for LA next season, but he can play shortstop or second base just as well. If the Giants had traded for Edman sometime last year, he would likely be the starting shortstop through 2025 and would have stabilized the team defensively. Unfortunately, he will now torment the Giants for the foreseeable future.

In this fifth and final chapter of my Tommy Edman Chronicles, I once again express my frustration that the Giants didn’t get him. On paper, he made so much sense for the team, and yet a deal was never made to sign him. Now the Giants have an Edman-sized hole at shortstop and it’s not clear if they’ll be able to adequately address that issue this offseason.