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Tony Vitello was an expert recruiter at the University of Tennessee, and it’s a good bet he’ll be involved in the Giants’ process of pursuing free agents entering his first season as a big-league manager.

Monday was the first day free agents could sign with any team, and the annual general manager meetings – the precursor to the busier winter meetings – begin Monday in Las Vegas. The hot stove season is officially underway, the first on Vitello’s watch, and he’ll be available if called by the Giants’ brain trust that’s headed by Buster Posey and Zack Minasian.

“I think when it comes time to talk to players, in any scenario, for them to get to know the manager is important, obviously, but Tony in particular,” said Minasian, the Giants’ GM. “I think it’d be great for him to get in front of guys as we talk to them, and I think he’ll be tremendously received.”

The Giants have plenty of holes to fill beginning with the rotation and bullpen but also could use position-player upgrades. Outfield defense was a sore spot, and another big bat in right field could help bolster the lineup. A backup catcher is on the list of needs, and there’s a second base discussion.

The main talking point will be depth after the Giants were cut short in the final couple of months of the 2025 season. Depth in the rotation. Depth in the bullpen. Depth in the lineup. And depth on the bench. Last year, Posey’s main additions were Willy Adames and Justin Verlander, and the newcomer list figures to be much longer this time.

“Right now there are holes,” Minasian said. “It’s not to say that some of those holes can’t be filled from within. You always want to be open-minded of that, and we’re always going to challenge the players that we have internally. This year will be no different. But obviously, if we can bring some pitching in from the outside to continue to build up depth and try and find quality, we’re going to look at that as much as possible.”

The Giants need two starters beyond Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Landen Roupp, not to mention a closer and more setup men. It’s a prolonged wish list on the pitching side, but there are ample arms on the open market.

The top free-agent starters are Dylan Cease, Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez, Michael King, Zac Gallen, and Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai, who’ll likely be posted by the Seibu Lions. The best relievers are Edwin Díaz, Robert Suárez, Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley, and old friend Tyler Rogers.

Giants chairman Greg Johnson recently told The Standard that the Giants are “going to be very cautious” when it comes to signing a pitcher for more than $100 million, something the club hasn’t done since Johnny Cueto in 2015. It shouldn’t have been received as an alarming statement considering caution is exercised in all top-dollar contracts including with Adames and Rafael Devers. And remember Carlos Correa?

Cease, Valdez, Suárez, and even Imai are projected to command nine-figure contracts, but many other starters will be lower-priced, making Gallen and King reasonable targets for the Giants. It wouldn’t be a surprise if they land three starters from the outside – maybe even Vitello pal Max Scherzer to take Verlander’s spot – while hoping for advancement from their in-house crew including Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt, Blade Tidwell, Trevor McDonald, Kai-Wei Teng, and Carson Seymour.

“I would just say it’s important for us to make good decisions no matter what players are making,” Minasian said, “but also understanding when you’re getting into very lengthy deals, I think you do approach it with some caution because if there is a major injury, it becomes a very difficult hurdle.”

With Randy Rodríguez out for next season and Camilo Doval and Rogers moved at the trade deadline, the Giants’ bullpen is extremely thin. Ryan Walker and Spencer Bivens were the only relievers who stuck around from the Opening Day roster, though Erik Miller is expected to return from injury and join the likes of Joel Peguero, José Buttó, and Tristan Beck. Joey Lucchesi is eligible for arbitration.

Outfielder Kyle Tucker is the biggest-money player on the market, a lefty bat with power, speed, a relatively low strikeout rate, and a Gold Glove to his name. While he or Cody Bellinger would be a nice fit in right field, accompanying Heliot Ramos and Jung Hoo Lee, it’s questionable whether the Giants would give another position player a long-term deal with the commitments already earmarked for Adames, Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, and Lee. Johnson mentioned to The Standard the Giants’ desire to maintain payroll flexibility in the near and distant future.

“Similar to the pitching, we do have some players that have flashed some really good things, even at the big-league level,” Minasian said. “[Drew] Gilbert defensively, Jerar [Encarnación] with the power, [Luis)] Matos has had stretches where he’s played really well, [Grant] McCray, we all feel like he has big upside. Not to take away from some of the talent that we have here, but I think we definitely need to kind of see what’s available and what the cost would be, whether in a trade or free agency.”

Devers, Adames, and Chapman are locked into infield spots, though work-in-progress Bryce Eldridge could still enter spring training working to share first base and DH duties with Devers. That leaves second base, where Casey Schmitt appears the favorite, with Christian Koss in the mix, unless a veteran comes in and takes over.

Likewise, the Giants are considering acquiring another backup to catcher Patrick Bailey and have a depth piece in Jesús Rodríguez, acquired in the Doval trade.

“Schmitty showed a lot of improvement in a lot of different areas, and I still think there’s more to come,” Minasian said. “We’re excited about the progress, and I’d say the same thing for Christian Koss. It appeared like he got more and more comfortable swinging the bat over the course of the season.

“We saw last year how important the depth can be, how helpful it is when you have it in cases like Dom Smith, and then how detrimental it can be when we started to see some of the cracks in positions that we couldn’t fill.”

It’s a reason the Giants were quick to make waiver claims this week on Dodgers outfielder Justin Dean and Reds reliever Reiver Sanmartín. Dean will get a World Series ring after L.A. used him predominately as a defensive replacement and pinch-runner – he had just two plate appearances in 31 games (18 in the regular season, 13 in the postseason) and hit .289 with a .378 on-base percentage in Triple-A. Giants fans might remember him for raising his arms when a ball got lodged under the outfield wall in Toronto, leading to a Game 6-altering ground-rule double call.

“A lot of speed, and I think he’s a really good defender in center field, even potentially an elite defender in center field,” Minasian said. “So just adding that type of skillset to the team and potentially adding him into the mix with the rest of our group was intriguing enough to claim him. Along the same lines, Sanmartín (2.67 ERA in Triple-A) has got some versatility as a pitcher, an intriguing left-handed arm that we’ve liked for a little bit of time now.”

As for Japanese players, it’s a good guess the Giants would be more interested in pitchers rather than hitters especially because the top two hitters, Munetaka Murakami, who hit 56 homers in 2022, and Kazuma Okamoto, are corner infielders, where the Giants are set.

Minasian, who has taken several scouting missions to Japan and is familiar with the available talent, said, “It’s tough to handicap how involved we’ll get with one individual player, but when it comes to the market of Asian players, we’ll internally at least be able to formulate a pretty strong opinion.”

As Vitello and the front office work on creating a new coaching staff – his old college teammate, Jayce Tingler, is coming aboard, but pitching coach J.P. Martinez left to become Atlanta’s bullpen coach – the front office and fan base can be comforted that he can always turn to two of the most respected managers in team history: Dusty Baker is a special adviser with the team, and Bruce Bochy is returning in a similar capacity.

“Boch and Dusty have experienced it as much as anybody, and for Tony to have that type of resource, I think it’s huge,” Minasian said. “It’s not just that they’ve done it, but who they are as people.”