Giants’ Farhan Zaidi stoops to new low and gives Padres reason to be thankful
The Giants were supposed to be big spenders this offseason, but we haven't seen that yet.
Well, Padres fans, it could always be worse. After seeing outfielder Juan Soto traded to the New York Yankees earlier this offseason, some of the wind was taken out of sails of the San Diego fanbase. But at least Farhan Zaidi isn't running the show.
The San Francisco Giants President of Baseball Operations went on The TK Show, a podcast hosted by The Athletics' Tim Kawakami, and discussed his team's offseason spending - or lack thereof.
During the conversation, Zaidi brought up the fact that there's more to running a professional baseball franchise than just paying the players. Zaidi cited factors like paying benefits and resources to the people who work within the Giants organization and investing in their facilitates.
Giants’ Farhan Zaidi stoops to new low and gives Padres reason to be thankful
Miss me with all of that nonsense. While there are bits and pieces of truth within Farhan Zaidi's comments, we're talking about a Major League Baseball team in one of the biggest markets in the United States. Sorry, but I've got a hard time hearing the San Francisco Giants' management crying about money.
This offseason has been an utter disappointment for the Giants. Outside of Jung-hoo Lee, San Francisco has done little-to-nothing to improve their major league roster. This is on the heels of last offseason when the Giants failed to land Aaron Judge and essentially let Carlos Correa walk during free agent negotiations.
Gabe Kapler has since moved on, and about the only relevant move the Giants have made this offseason was to lure away former Padres manager Bob Melvin. Everything else has been just talk.
The San Diego Padres haven't been very active in their own right. Though it's likely that the Friars will lose both Cy Young Award-winner Blake Snell and closer Josh Hader to free agency, at least the core of the Padres lineup still resides in southern California. Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts, and Fernando Tatis Jr. will still be hitting atop the San Diego batting order next season.
The seven-player deal that sent Juan Soto and Trent Grisham to the Big Apple still stings a little bit, but at least the Padres didn't lose them for nothing. A.J. Preller was able to restock the farm system and add quality depth throughout the organization.
So while it hasn't been the best offseason for San Diego Padres fans, the Friars' faithful can take some solace knowing that their division rival is having an equally bad, and perhaps even worse offseason so far this winter.