Are the Giants just cursed when it comes to signing the biggest free agents on the market? Maybe! But Posey doesn’t think so.
Good morning, baseball fans!
The San Francisco Giants are well known to be “also rans” in the race to sign most big-name free agents. It’s a tale as old as time. There are as many theories as to why this is the case as there are free agents that the Giants have lost out on.
Some say it’s the high cost of living in San Francisco, but that’s the same as in Los Angeles and New York and…well, just about every major metropolitan city in America. Some believe that the ballpark is off-putting to hitters, but that’s never stopped the big names of the league from hitting well here when they’re visiting.
If you ask Buster Posey, and Tim Kawakami of The San Francisco Standard did just that, he says it’s the on-field product.
“I mean, I think you’re in a better position if you go and get in the playoffs, make a deep run in the playoffs — it’s going to be attractive.” Posey says in the interview with Kawakami.
I agree to a certain extent. It’s quite true that the team has not exactly been competitive in the post-season over the last 10 years. Their magical 2021 run ended in the first round. And well, we don’t talk about 2016.
That said, the Giants were THE playoff team of the early 2010s and even then, the free agents weren’t exactly lining up for career deals.
I think that the reason the Los Angeles Dodgers have become the premier destination for baseball’s brightest stars is that they have built a reputation for being a consistently competitive team over the course of the 2000s. The last time they didn’t make the playoffs was over 10 years ago.
That’s not something the Giants can hope to turn around any time soon, especially being in a division that is arguably one of, if not the, most competitive in baseball right now.
If you ask me, the only way to really turn things around in that area is for the owners to write a blank check for greatness. Outspend the competition, a la the New York Mets. They land their fair share of big targets and no one would dare accuse them of having a successful playoff reputation.
But they do have a reputation for spending and really going for it. Which I think probably makes a difference in the eyes of free agents, and not just because of the dollar signs.
How do you guys think the team can turn things around?
How many days until Opening Day?
69 days to go now. Preemptive “nice.”