With playoffs the goal for 2021, Giants believe progress has been made
At h i s i nt r o duc t or y press conference in November 2018, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said his hope for the club was to play “meaningful baseball” as deep into the season as possible.
Zaidi maintained the same goal for the team entering his second season with the organization, but after the 2020 Giants came within one win of securing a National League wild- card berth, expectations are shifting.
“That disappointment that I think a lot of us are feeling, mixed in with a lot of pride in what we accomplished, that disappointment is going to fuel us to have greater aspirations next year,” Zaidi said Wednesday. “It’s certainly going to be a goal of ours to be a playoff team next year.”
Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler held a press conference at the end of a condensed 60- game season in which the Giants exceeded nearly every projection yet still fell a game short of playing into October. The Giants had no shortage of oppor tunities to punch their postseason ticket as the club blew three ninthinning save chances in a four- game stretch in August and lost four games in the final five days of the season, but both Zaidi and K apler still v iewed the 2020 season as a step forward for a franchise that’s now posted losing records for four consecutive years.
“The worst feeling in the world is when you come into work and you come in for a game and that game doesn’t feel like it means anything, playing out the stretch,” Zaidi said. “We’re really proud of the fact that we played wire- to-wire meaningful games this year. In some ways, that pain that we feel is a sign of progress.”
The Giants’ 29- 31 record left them 14 games back of the f irst- place Los Angeles Dodgers and 8 games behind the second- place San Diego Padres, but they missed out on a postseason berth that went to the 29- 31 Milwaukee Brewers because of a new MLB tiebreaker rule that rewarded teams with better inter- division records. If the league kept its traditional 10 - team playoff format for 2020, the Giants would have finished within a few games of the second wild- card spot.
“A lot of progress made,” CEO L a r r y Ba er sa id Wednesday. “Really, in all respects, we advanced as an organization. Obviously disappointed we didn’t get to the postseason, but Farhan and Kap and the group, a lot of positive feeling about the direction we’re going and a lot to build on going forward. Really a big step forward in 2020.”
Zaidi knows the Dodgers are a juggernaut atop the division and the Padres are set up for a promising future, but the Giants believe they were only a few contributors away from posting a much better record. In what’s likely to be a chaotic and unpredictable offseason across the league due to changing financial dynamics resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, the Giants’ winter checklist is still relatively clear.
Zaidi said the Giants would “obv iously ” love to have free- agent starting pitchers Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly return, but the front office knows both could explore the market and potentially seek opportunities elsewhere. Finding reinforcements for the starting rotation is a top priority, but the Giants are also looking for a veteran right-hander or two for a bullpen that could use a leader following the departure of free- agent lefty Tony Watson.
Even with the strong seasons outfielder Mike Ya st r zemsk i a nd A lex Dickerson turned in and the c a reer yea rs f irst ba seman Brandon Belt and shor tstop Brandon Crawford enjoyed, Zaidi felt the Giants were typically “one lef t- handed bat short.” Finding a lefthanded hitter with positional versatilit y and the ability to spell Evan Longoria at third base on the occasional day off will be a goal this winter, particularly because the Giants saw how well the right side of their infield functioned by having three capable starters for two spots in Belt, Wilmer Flores and Donovan Solano this year.
The Giants won’t have to look far for their biggest addition in 2021 as Zaidi and K apler have openly discussed how excited they are to welcome catcher Buster Posey back to the fold. Even if rookie Joey Bart takes a big step forward next season, it’s clear the Giant s want Posey to regain his role as an anchor behind the plate.
“It’s going to be a deep catching depth chart when you have a future Hall of Famer coming back,” Zaidi said. “It gives us the luxury of doing what is right in the long run (for Bart), whether it makes sense for him to work in tandem with Buster or get more development experience in the minor leagues, it’s good to sort that out.”
Following Zaidi’s second year with the organization and Kapler’s first as manager, the Giants are no longer an organization focused solely on development and laying the foundation for the future. There’s a greater sense of urgency to win and to return to October, and that’s a change in tone from recent years.