Here we are, a month into the MLB offseason and movement is starting to slowly pick up in the hot stove arena and although things will slow down through the Thanksgiving weekend, you can bet things will heat back up early next week as the Winter Meetings is just a few weeks away.

As I've stated many times here, probably as recently as our last post below, this is one of my favorite times of the baseball schedule by far because this is the time when teams get a blank slate (or as close to one as they can have) and have multiple avenues they can take to improve their respective rosters.

Today, since Will Smith was the first to depart from the club and open up a glaring hole at the end of the games in the Giants' bullpen, I thought I'd delve a bit into what the Giants have coming back in 2020 while including some of the better options who are out there on the market, both trade and free agency.

Before we delve into the more exciting potential positional players the Giants may go after, or the possoibility of them landing a upper-end rotational starter to replace Bumgarner, I wanted to first touch on some of the relief options who could make some sense to bring in this winter. The Giants pen was up and down in 2019 but all in all it performed well as a group and I have a feeling that without a ton of impact relief arms out there this year, that could be the first area the Giants attach in the coming weeks.

So far, the only prominent player from the Giants' 2019 team who surely won't be returning is closer Will Smith, who inked his 3-year deal with Atlanta earlier this month. We already talked a bit about that in our previous post so no need to harp on that any further, however, one topic to discuss now is who will slot into the ninth inning role for the Giants for the 2020 season? First off all they'll fully assess a few of the in-house options who've shown glimpses of ability to become the end of game stopper for this club. San Francisco does have some intriguing up-and-coming arms in their bullpen that will make strong cases for prominent roles in 2020.

Tyler Rogers (14 G, 0.63 ERA, 0.89 WHIP in September) should be penciled into a middle relief role. Right-handers Trevor Gott, Jamdel Gustave and Sam Coonrod will also have tentative spots reserved for them (at least at this point) as each showed glimpses in brief  '19 showings. With Smith gone, the lead left-hander will be the veteran of the bunch, Tony Watson, who's coming off a bit of a down year but is still one of the more reliable left-handed relievers in the game.

There are a handful of other guys who will head into camp hoping to make a roster push, from the likes of Shaun Anderson, Andrew Suarez and Wandy Peralta, but the one guy in house at this moment and the only one capable of possibly shouldering that 9th inning role is right-hander Reyes Moranta. The 26 year-old right hander has about as filthy of stuff as anyone on the Giants pitching staff and has the ideal arsenal of weapons you'd look for in a closer. He throws hard, has big time movement, seems to handle pressure very well and has no problem getting the strikeout when needed. The only slight area the youngster needs work on is cutting down his free passes by about 30%. He really reminds me a bit of a harder-throwing Sergio Romo. Not quite the frisbee-slider but the low 3/4 release and a nice biting bender in the upper-80's to go with a fastball that can rise and sits in the upper 90's. It's no surprised opponents hit under .200 against him in his career.

Now, would I just anoint Moronta closer this winter based on their lack of options coupled with his success the last couple of years? I don't think they should do that at all, even if they don't find another guy they'd feel more comfortable with in free agency or trade. That being said, as of November 23rd, Reyes Moronta looks like your closer if the season were to start on December 1st. Watson would probably be the set-up man with either Coonrod or Rogers also in the mix for 8th inning work.

So that's where they sit now, entering free agent season and there really isn't a sure-fire closing option out there that I'm sure Farhan would feel good about shelling out Will Smith-type money too in order to replace the lefty. Daniel Hudson is the top name on that list, but he'll have plenty of leverage because he knows it and despite having a terrific run for Washington last summer, he's going to be 33 next season and I would not offer him a package that Smith got. I think perhaps the most intriguing, roll the dice option our there is former Rockies and Royal closer, Greg Holland. He'll be 34 and is coming off a couple of less than stellar seasons but he's had some injuries he's dealt with constant changing of roles while pitching in some live yards. After seeing Smith set the marker for relievers, maybe Holland on a 2-year/$10M deal with incentives to double the AAV if he takes the closer gig full time, wouldn't be such a terrible scenario.

Of course there are a whole other plethora of options out there that could be available via trade, but I myself have my eyes on two guys in particular. In fact, I'd be ecstatic if the Giants could somehow swindle one of the following closers from their respective clubs. Problem is these are the type of guys who may require the likes of Yaz, Beede and/or Moronta in return. Those two names are Alex Colome and Ken Giles. Colome is one of the most underrated stoppers in the game because he plays for the White Sox, and Giles is also under the radar due to past injuries and pitching for Pittsburgh and Toronto over the years. One possible bargain name to consider would be Ian Kennedy from Kansas City. He really came into his own as a closer for the Royals in 2019 and in terms of trade capital, he would be the most affordable of any closing option mentioned in this piece.

I'm sure the Giants will be scouring for more mid-relief options as well, but focusing on the late innings will be priority. They'll also be pursuing at least one starting pitcher to help come in and eat up some of Bumgarner's lost innings and we'll also glance at some of those options, as well as a possible outfield options in free agency and maybe even another corner infielder.

Next post though, we'll be evaluating the returning positional roster and where they stand now, what they can do to improve realistically, and some players I think they should go after in order to better their offense. It may include cutting loose some long-tenured Giants and making some positional moves around the diamond but I don't wanna get into that tonight.

Which big first move do you think Farhan, Harris Co. make to kick off the Giants offseason? Pass on your thoughts in the comment section!