This can’t be it.
The Giants have put together a nice enough offseason so far. The signing of shortstop Willy Adames (seven-year, $182 million contract) and the addition of 42-year-old Justin Verlander (one-year, $15 million) are nice, solid pickups.
But if that’s all Buster Posey is offering, it’s simply not enough.
Not in a division with the Dodgers. Not in a division with the Padres or Diamondbacks, either.
And it’s certainly not enough to take the Giants seriously as a playoff contender in the National League (much less a team that could do something in the playoffs) following three straight seasons of .500 or worse baseball.
Spending lavishly on a shortstop and then taking a flyer on a future Hall of Famer trying to recapture his youth in California is not an offseason to celebrate if you’re trying to add 10-plus wins year-over-year.
No, instead, it’s merely treading water a bit faster.
I have long believed that if the Giants want to find happiness (and competitiveness), they need to create stars, not buy them.
But since it will be a while before this organization can produce a built-not-bought core, why not buy a few more players to hold us over?
I don’t want to hear that the Giants “tried” to sign Corbin Burnes this offseason. Every year, it’s the same story: Well, we tried, here are some consolation prizes.
Prizes that, conspicuously, always cost less than what was budgeted for the top target.
That’s the most annoying part of it all.
Last year, the Giants were more than okay with giving Shohei Ohtani more than $700 million. The offseason before, they were comfortable giving Aaron Judge more than $360 million.
But when both of those superstars turned out to merely be using the Giants for leverage with their preferred teams, the Giants didn’t take those big budgets and spend anything close to them.
No, $70 million a year for Ohtani turned into $50 million, total, for Blake Snell and Matt Chapman. Snell’s already Ohtani’s teammate with the Dodgers. Chapman signed a six-year extension in September. That’s a win and a loss.
And $40 million annually for Judge turned into $32.5 million for Michael Conforto and Mitch Haniger. Conforto is also now a teammate of Ohtani with the Dodgers. They can have him.
But that’s the pattern. Budget big, spend less. I presume the differences went into some real estate holding.
The Giants weren’t in on Juan Soto this offseason — they learned their lesson from failed negotiations past — but they landed Adames, their top target. Again, it was a nice win.
But they were budgeted for Adames and Burnes — roughly $60 million annually.
I’m no accountant, but it seems as if they still have $20 million to spend this winter.
That is, coincidentally (or not), roughly the same amount of money the Giants are believed to be under the luxury tax threshold.
That said, last time I checked, the Giants are the only baseball team in the richest metro area in America. Why are they worried about the luxury tax?
If the Giants want to be able to sell this offseason as something more than status quo — something worthy of excitement, then they need to keep spending.
The good news is that players worthy of big contracts are still on the market.
Pete Alonso has averaged 37 home runs a year in his six-year career. He can play first base (a position where the Giants could desperately use an upgrade), but he’s having difficulty landing the kind of long-term deal he wants.
That’s the kind of situation that makes a power hitter amenable to nights amid a marine layer.
Make the offer. Go big. The idea that you’re keeping first base open for top prospect Bryce Eldridge is laughable. Eldridge might be the Giants’ first baseman of the future, but this team needs to do something for the present — and it’s not as if Eldridge can’t play the outfield or Alonso can’t be the designated hitter.
And if not Alonso, what about Anthony Santander? Tony Taters has averaged 95 RBI per season for the last three campaigns and is coming off a 44-homer season. Even better? He’s a switch hitter with power both ways.
Why not add him to an outfield with Jung Ho Lee and Heliot Ramos? That move doesn’t block anyone from the minors, only 34-year-old Mike Yastrzemski.
Ha-Seong Kim, Carlos Estévez, Tanner Scott, Jack Flaherty — give any one (or two, or three) the money to come to San Francisco.
Because the Giants organization doesn’t need to buy anymore real estate, it needs to build a quality, exciting baseball team, if only for the 2025 season.
And what they’ve done so far this offseason — while nice — hasn’t come close to fulfilling that mandate.
