Another San Francisco Giants offseason is (quietly) coming to a close. Much like the past seven offseasons, the Giants fell painfully short in a search for a bonafide superstar on the free agent market.
The offseason was not a total loss. They did add the top shortstop in Willy Adames for a franchise-record, seven-year, $182 million deal. They did bolster their starting rotation by adding a former Cy Young-award-winning pitcher on a Hall of Fame trajectory in Justin Verlander. Those are two very good baseball players who, together, pale in comparison to the offseason the Los Angeles Dodgers offseason had.
The Dodgers did not raid the superstar cupboard this winter in the same way they did last year when they signed Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (the Giants’ valiant efforts landed them in second place for both) but they did come away with a transcendent, superstar talent in Roki Sasaki, and former Giants pitcher Blake Snell. It is unclear which of those signings makes Giants fans feel more sickness in their stomachs.
But those signings are enough to remind Giants fans that their favorite team does not have the free agency swagger that their rivals in the south possess. Falling short of signing big names is pretty lame. Watching the Dodgers express a level of superstar rizz the Giants fail to possess is an extra level of suck.
At some point that has to change… right? The Dodgers cannot sign ALL the big names in free agency… right? The answer to that rhetorical question is yes, things will change, and the Dodgers, indeed, are not going to sign all the big names.
But at some point, the Giants will sign their superstar too… right? There are certainly hopeful voices out there who believe it will happen at some point in the future. It is only a matter of when.
To that I say, are we sure about that?
Superstars to the caliber of Ohtani, Sasaki, Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper are looking for two things: to get paid, and to win. Contrary to what your local billionaire owner might suggest, all teams can cover the “get paid” goal. When it comes down to a chance to win, that is where the teams that receive the final rose separate themselves from the teams that receive the sadness and disappointment of falling short.
The truth is the Giants do not have the winning appeal that players of that ilk desire. Until they do, the disappointing free agency periods will continue.
“We've got to take care of business on the field going forward,” Buster Posey told Tim Kawakami on the TK Show. “You're in a better position if you go and get in the playoffs, make a deep run in the playoffs, [the Giants are] going to be attractive.”
Buster Posey joins Tim Kawakami on the TK Show
In order to become an attractive destination, the Giants have to win, and do so consistently. But to win consistently, they are going to need superstar players. But in order to get superstar players, they have to be an attractive destination. And in order to become an attractive destination…
You see where this is going.
You are seeking the next Giants superstar, and you are looking up to the sky full of free agent stars for answers when, in reality, the answer is sitting right before at this very moment.
It is not bold to proclaim that the Giants next superstar is currently in the organization right now. Logan Webb could ascend to that level. Or maybe it’s Hayden Birdsong, or Kyle Harrison. Heliot Ramos just broke a nearly 40-year-old curse that forbade the Giants from sending home grown outfielders to the All-Star Game. Perhaps Ramos is The Chosen One.
Maybe it’s one of them. But more likely, it’s going to have to be Bryce Eldridge, the slugging, 6-foot-7-inch lefty first baseman in the Giants farm system. The good news? He has all the tools and talents to be a franchise cornerstone and star for years to come.
The bad news is that that previous sentence just made you think of Marco Luciano, a cruel reminder that Eldridge is only 20 years old and has just 35 plate appearances at the Triple A level.
It’s a ton of pressure and expectations to place on a kid who can’t legally drink alcohol. And while he may not be a guarantee, it is not against the rules to say that he will be a star. It has to start with someone, and Giants history is full of players who indeed were that someone.
This is not the first time the franchise has pinned its hopes, dreams (and jobs) on a young, unproven player. This is the same Giants team that nicknamed Tim Lincecum “The Franchise” before he threw a pitch against big league hitters because the expectations were so high.
Things worked out pretty well there.
Posey might know a thing or two about having the expectations of the franchise placed on one’s shoulders. He assumed responsibility for the Giants’ World Series-caliber pitching rotation in the summer of 2010 as a fresh-faced, buzz cut-sporting rookie.
Things worked out pretty well there.
Eldridge, even if it’s premature, is showing all the right signs that he will follow in the steps of the greats of Giants past and provide the organization with the centerpiece their lineup has craved since Posey’s retirement after the 2021 season.
Maybe one day, a superstar-level free agent will view the Giants’ Bryce Eldridge-led as the can’t-miss destination and hitch their wagon to what the Giants are doing.
But until that day the Giants find their home-grown star to anchor them, they will languish in the purgatory of second place-ism in free agency.