The San Francisco Giants are expected to have even more of a budget this winter after starting pitcher Carlos Rodón officially opted out of his contract over the weekend.

Rodón, 29, signed a two-year, $44 million with the Giants last offseason. The contract was fully guaranteed and included an opt-out clause after the 2022 season if he pitched more than 110 innings for the Giants.

Despite the team’s lackluster season as a whole, Rodón produced one of his best statistical years in the MLB, making his second All-Star team in his career. He finished with a record of 14-8, pitching a stellar 2.88 ERA in 2022. The Miami native also added 237 strikeouts to his name, a record for one season in his career. He also led the majors with a 2.25 FIP and produced a Giants record of 11 double-digit strikeout games in 2022.

Carlos Rodón has officially opted out of his contract and is now a free agent.

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) November 6, 2022

Rodón joins a free-agent pitching market that already includes Jacob deGrom and Justin Verlander, expecting to command a salary in the ballpark of his fellow ace pitchers.

Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi hinted at this day coming last month, also stating that they will remain in touch with Rodón, and his agent Scott Bora, if another deal can be struck in the offseason.

“Obviously we expect Carlos to opt out and that’ll create an opening in our rotation,” Zaidi said last month. “He’s going to have plenty of suitors…I’m sure we’re going to be talking to Scott Boras about bringing him back and the feedback from Carlos and from Scott is that he enjoyed being here, he enjoyed pitching in our park, and I would say there’s mutual interest and we’ll just have to see how it plays out.”

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