He just turned 30. He bats left-handed. He boasts a career 124 OPS+ — the same as Nolan Arenado and Rafael Devers — and he was a free agent this winter. By those measures, you’d expect a bidding war for a long-term centerpiece. But Michael Conforto was a special case.

The former New York Mets outfielder slumped in 2021, his original contract year, and didn’t play at all in 2022 after undergoing shoulder surgery. Then the San Francisco Giants signed him for two years and $36 million, with an opt-out after Year 1 that he can activate by batting 350 times and hopes that despite missing out on Aaron Judge and Carlos Correa, they signed a forceful focal point for their lineup anyway.