Giants

Pitcher Alex Wood Signs Two-Year, $25M Deal to Return to Giants

Wood returns to Giants, filling key starting rotation hole originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea

Like Anthony DeSclafani, Alex Wood came to San Francisco last season to rebuild his value. Like DeSclafani, he found that the next big deal was ultimately with the team he knew best.

A week after they signed DeSclafani to a three-year, $36 million deal, the Giants announced a two-year, $25 million deal with Wood, a veteran lefty who had a strong first season in orange and black. Wood's deal, which was finalized with a physical Monday, comes hours before an expected lockout that will freeze offseason transactions and guarantees that Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris will go into that break with at least four of their rotation's spots filled. 

Wood, DeSclafani and Alex Cobb -- who signed Tuesday -- will follow Logan Webb in some order, although the Giants do still have a couple of gaps to fill. A few hours before Wood's deal was announced, the Toronto Blue Jays announced a five-year deal with Kevin Gausman. Max Scherzer, another potential addition, signed a record-breaking deal with the New York Mets this week. 

The Giants signed Wood for just $3 million last January, although he made another $1.5 million in performance bonuses by recording at least 10 outs in 24 separate outings. He has $2.5 million in performance bonuses available each of the next two seasons and will make $12.5 million in base salary in both 2022 and 2023. 

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Wood nearly signed with the Giants two years ago, but he returned to Los Angeles, where he mostly pitched out of the bullpen while winning a World Series ring with the Dodgers.

The Giants felt Wood could stay healthy and give them high-quality innings, and they couldn't have asked for much more from the 2021 season. Wood had a 3.83 ERA and 3.48 FIP in 26 starts, with 152 strikeouts that marked his most since 2014. He threw 4 2/3 shutout innings in Game 3 of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium, which the Giants won 1-0. 

Wood's competitiveness was one reason Zaidi, who knew him from Los Angeles, wanted to add him to the rotation, and he served as a de facto stopper for a team that did not have many losing streaks. The Giants were 12-1 when Wood started after a loss and 19-7 in his starts overall. 

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