Friday BP: The Giants are ready to spend, baby

Good morning, baseball fans!

The San Francisco Giants have somewhat come to be known by their fans as being “in the mix” on a lot of huge free agents and trade targets over the years, only to end up as also-rans. From Giancarlo Stanton, to Bryce Harper, to Juan Soto. The Giants talk a big talk, and might actively have tried to make a deal happen, but generally speaking, it’s all been hype over the last several years.

That said, it does seem like this offseason might be a different story. The 2022 season saw them crashing back to .500 after their historic 2021 107-win season. To say that fans were underwhelmed with the on-field performance this season would be an understatement. And it seems as though the front office knows that, at least based on the lip-service they have been paying thus far.

At the winter meetings, President of Baseball Operations, Farhan Zaidi, said “From a financial standpoint, nobody is out of our capability. It’s about mutual interest and how we put together the best possible team” per a tweet from Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area.

I’m no expert, but I do believe that spending money is a big part of what puts together the best possible team. They currently lag behind their more successful division rivals severely in terms of spending on talent. And it showed in the 2022 season.

The Giants have the flexibility to go big this offseason, and while it is nice to see that the current company line is that money isn’t a problem, we’ll see how much of that actually gets spent on top tier talent. Obviously a couple of high profile free agents isn’t going to fix all of the Giants’ problems, but it’s a good start.

Happy Friday, everyone! And Happy Veterans Day to everyone who has served.