MLB News: Joc Pederson accepts qualifying offer from the Giants after career year in San Francisco

San Francisco Giants fans can rejoice as Joc Pederson will return to the team in 2023 after accepting a qualifying offer from the team. Pederson will be paid a reported $19.65 million for next season, more than three times as much as he made in 2022.

"Joc Pederson has accepted the $19.65M qualifying offer and will return to the #SFGiants in 2023. As expected, Carlos Rodon declined the QO and the Giants will be compensated if he signs elsewhere." - Steven Rissotto

Coming off the best season of his career, the two-time World Series champion will remain with the Giants, where he led the team in home runs last year with 23 bombs. He also finished the season with a career-high batting average, hitting .274. While that is merely a solid number, not an elite one, Pederson had never hit above .249 in his career before last year.

There is room for optimism that he will be able to maintain or even improve upon that number as the MLB will enforce restrictions on defensive shifts, something that has plagued the pull-heavy left fielder for the bulk of his career.

"Among the takeaways for some leaving the GM meetings: there is a big spike in the perceived value of left-handed hitters, with the impending restrictions against defensive shifts. For example: the Joc Pederson qualifying offer." - Buster Olney

It remains to be seen if Pederson has made any real adjustments or if his 2022 season was just a flash in the pan. Considering that he has now played for four different teams, it may be the latter.

Re-signing Joc Pederson is only the beginning for the Giants

Bringing back Pederson was only the beginning of a potentially long offseason for the San Francisco Giants. The team has been linked to every big-name free agent on the market, most notably Aaron Judge.

"SF Giants appear willing to match whatever the Yankees (or whomever else) want to offer Aaron Judge. It's not going to be a matter of "whoever offers the most money." It's going to be completely based on where Aaron Judge wants to play baseball." - Danny Vietti

While Judge is the sexiest name on the free agent market, San Francisco will also need to address the loss of Carlos Rodon, who declined a qualifying offer from the club. While they are not ruling out a reunion with their star pitcher, they will also need to find a replacement if the team hopes to improve upon a disappointing 2022 campaign.