If we make it to the end of 2018 without the Giants winning the World Series, it will mark four years since they last did it. And if you look at the mess the Giants were last year, it’s easy to think that they’re pretty far away from their next championship parade. And they might be.
It’s an even year and the Giants are interesting, so be careful
Saturday’s Say Hey, Baseball looks at the new-ish Giants, the dream of a collusion-busting team, and the Rays’ new stadium site.
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But they also might not.
Okay, that’s a major exaggeration. But for the first time in a few years, the Giants are truly interesting. Baseball has been glacier slow this offseason, but the Giants have made the two most significant trades in the National League. In December, they traded for third baseman Evan Longoria, and in January they acquired Andrew McCutchen. Those two get added to a lineup that already includes Madison Bumgarner, Buster Posey, Hunter Pence, Joe Panik, and Brandon Belt. They have Johnny Cueto, who could have a great bounce back year. The Giants didn’t spend a lot of money, but they traded what they had and made their lineup appreciably better.
It doesn’t mean the Giants can make the leap to where the Dodgers lived all last season. But imagine the NL West with even a slightly competitive Giants team. The race that could break out between the Giants, Diamondbacks, and Rockies could be pretty interesting. And when you factor in other possible wild-card teams, that could make for a thrilling September.
We’re getting way ahead of ourselves here, of course. There are an exceptional number of free agents still available, and signing one of them could change the game for any number of teams. But we’ve got an interesting Giants team in an even year. It’s a long shot for sure, but never make the mistake of counting them out.
- The owners are probably all colluding, but there’s a chance that one of them could seriously take advantage of the situation and sign All The Free Agents. Please, please let this happen.
- Folks, miracles do happen. The Tampa Bay Rays have a stadium site. Next stop, a new stadium! There’s hope left for you, Oakland.
- Bo Porter has decided to leave the Braves to pursue other opportunities, and his current pursued opportunity is being the manager of the free agent spring training camp.
- Eventually Yadier Molina won’t be the Cardinals’ catcher anymore, and that means there has to be a transition to Carson Kelly.
- The Brewers might be interested in Lance Lynn, but they would apparently rather a trade than a free agent. Because of course they would.
- The Padres have gotten better at every single position since last season, which is certainly the right direction for them to go in.
- Glendon Rausch was a pretty uremarkable pitcher, but going through his career stats proves to be very interesting.
- This is not a drill. There is footage of Shohei Otani taking batting practice. Watch it and feel joy. Do I really need to say more?
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