Evans: S.F. won’t stray ‘far away from our game’

Two days after the 30 major-league teams completed a season in which they hit a record 6,105 home runs, the four Giants officials who conducted Tuesday’s postmortem news conference at AT&T Park acknowledged how badly their team missed out.

Homer-starved fans in San Francisco would have liked to hear executive vice president Brian Sabean and general manager Bobby Evans say, “We’re going to scour the free-agent and trade markets for a bunch of big boppers so we can join the fun.”

Instead, in laying out the blueprint for refurbishing a 98-loss team and being competitive in 2018, they said the Giants have to be true to who they are. Yes, they need to bolster the middle of their lineup, which was as scary as a puppy this season, but that is not Priority 1.

“We don’t want to get too far away from our game,” Evans said. “We’re a pitching-anddefense team. If we compromise too much in the area of power and give up too much defensively, that can hurt us as much as the benefit of adding the power.” Sabean echoed the thought: “Lord knows, everybody wants power, and I know Bobby and his staff are desperate to figure out how to add that, but there’s a huge emphasis, past and present, on timely hitting. That’s how we’ve done things here.”

Defense will be the keyword this offseason.

The Giants have one of the best infield defenses in the majors, but their outfield was one of the worst, and that is where the Giants believe they need to start what they continue to call a retool, and not a rebuild.

Evans will search for outfielders who are younger and more dynamic, and can cover the vastness of AT&T Park and catch balls that this year went to the wall.

“Defense is something we’re very concerned about,” Evans said. “It’s important that we support our pitching with excellent defense, and we struggled in that area this year.

“We’ve seen the trends of the game move toward more and more power. We’ve got to do everything we can to fight against that from our pitching staff. (Although) our pitching gave up the third-least number of home runs, it still felt like we gave up way too many.”

The Giants not only were outhomered 182-128, but they also allowed 285 runs via the home run while scoring 177. That staggering 108-run margin means they gave up a lot more two- and three-run homers than they hit. The front office believes the Giants can narrow both gaps through better pitching and defense, which can go hand in hand.

None of this means the Giants plan to ignore their glaring need for more pop.

The Giants could solve three issues at once by trading for a player such as Miami’s Marcell Ozuna, a young (26) outfielder who plays a good left field and hit 37 homers this year. The Giants have had many discussions with the Marlins, who plan to move a lot of their better players to save money, maybe even Giancarlo Stanton.

Manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged the Giants could have a better lineup by advancing Buster Posey rather than batting him cleanup now that he no longer hits a lot of home runs. To do that, the Giants need to find a true cleanup man.

Evans suggested the answer is not throwing gobs of money and years at free agents who are older when the Giants need to get younger. Though Evans did not mention names, that would seem to rule out someone like center fielder Lorenzo Cain, who turns 32 in April and could get a three- or four-year deal.

“Free agency could be the part of the answer, but it’s not necessarily the core answer,” Evans said.

The Giants will search for upgrades at all three outfield positions, even if it means Denard Span and Hunter Pence changing positions, or even sharing one. Evans said they also will explore third basemen and not simply give the job to Pablo Sandoval or Christian Arroyo.

“I think it’s very important to have a presence and build the heart of your order,” Evans said. The Giants could do that through a combination of better years from existing players such as Posey, and asking some hitters to change their approach at the plate, as others in the majors have.

Evans also revealed that the Giants are mulling changes in their player-development staff and the way they instruct minor-leaguers how to hit, to change with the times.

“You always want to look at the trends (in) the game and creative ways to get better,” Evans said.

Sabean made it clear he expects the Giants to get a lot better quickly.

“We had a last-place season,” he said. “That can happen in sports. It’s like you have a lost year in life. But we’re not lastplace people, and we’re not a last-place organization. We’re the furthest thing from that.”