The Giants are adding a veteran arm to their rotation, agreeing with right-hander Adrian Houser on a two-year, $22 million deal, according to a report by ESPN's Jeff Passan on Tuesday. The team has not confirmed the deal, which reportedly includes a club option for 2028.
Reports of Houser's agreement came shortly after San Francisco announced the signing of former Tigers closer Jason Foley to a one-year deal to bolster its bullpen.
Houser was one of the most pleasant surprises during the first half of the 2025 season, even though he didn’t pitch in a game until May 20. He started the year in the Rangers’ system, but Texas released him on May 15 after he logged a 5.03 ERA over nine appearances (eight starts) for Triple-A Round Rock. Houser signed a one-year contract with the White Sox a few days later and then tossed six scoreless innings against the Mariners in his season debut.
Over the next two-plus months, Houser produced a 2.10 ERA across 68 2/3 innings for Chicago and held opposing batters to three home runs, a .661 OPS and a 4.9% barrel rate.
On Trade Deadline day, Houser was shipped to the Rays, with whom he couldn’t quite replicate his first-half success. His ERA jumped to 4.79 over 56 1/3 frames with Tampa Bay. Batters hit seven homers and recorded a .767 OPS with a 7.9% barrel rate.
Houser, who turns 33 on Feb. 2, has played nine Major League seasons, the first seven of which came with the Brewers. He had a 4.00 ERA through 129 games (97 starts) with Milwaukee before he was traded to the Mets prior to the 2024 season.
He began that season in New York’s rotation but was moved to the bullpen after allowing 32 earned runs in 33 2/3 innings as a starter. Although he had better results as a multi-inning reliever, Houser was released on July 31. He would sign Minor League deals with the Cubs and Orioles later in the season but didn’t make it to the Majors with either club.
Houser has a five-pitch mix, but leans on his 94 mph sinker. He gets 17.1 inches of arm-side horizontal break on that pitch, 1.9 inches more than other sinkers thrown at similar velocities and release points. He has turned in a sub-20% strikeout rate in four of the past five seasons, but he does induce a good amount of grounders. Houser’s 48.9% ground-ball rate last season sat in the 79th percentile in MLB.
In San Francisco, Houser is poised to join a rotation that currently features Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and Landen Roupp. The Giants have been on the hunt for multiple starting pitchers this offseason, so they’re likely to remain active on that front even after bringing Houser into the mix.
San Francisco doesn’t seem inclined to splurge on free-agent pitchers, which could put top-tier arms such as Framber Valdez, Tatsuya Imai and Ranger Suárez out of reach. The club could still try to re-sign Justin Verlander or target another veteran arm like Max Scherzer, who is good friends with new manager Tony Vitello. The Giants have also been among the teams tied to the Brewers’ Freddy Peralta, so they could also look to deepen their rotation via trade.