Answer to what ails Giants might be across the Pacific
Is it Sho Time for the Giants?
Opportunity will knock on the lads’ door next offseason. Will Larry Baer, Bobby Evans, Bruce Bochy and the boys have the courage, cash and creativity to open the door?
You’ve probably heard of Japanese baseball sensation Shohei Otani. He’s 22, 6-foot-4 and 225, a right-handed power pitcher (100-plus mph) and a power-hitting lefty outfielder.
Otani will almost surely sign with an MLB team next season, and not necessarily with the highest bidder. He wants to pitch hit in the big leagues, and he probably will sign only with a team that guarantees him a shot at being the first two-way star since Babe Ruth.
He’s a gamble, no question. Could be a bust. But what if Otani turns out to be Willie Mays and Juan Marichal in one guy?
Many teams won’t bother to bid. Otani’s price will be steep, and many old-school baseball people believe the kid’s twoway dream is pure folly.
But at least a few teams will be interested, and there will be a recruiting war. American League teams might have an advantage because of the designated hitter, but the Giants have some shiny objects to wave in the young man’s face: a team capable of contending, a great ballpark, a fantastic city, a chance to play in the outfield, a large Asian population and (relative) proximity to Japan.
Speaking of those last two items, imagine the infusion of energy at AT&T Park and wherever the Giants play. Otanimania.
This two-way thing might be too zany for the Giants, but they should seriously consider a change of heart. They have a Buster Posey-Madison Bumgarner window of opportunity that won’t be open forever. They have a hole in the outfield created by the reckless gamble that five mediocre guys would congeal into one serviceable left fielder.
As the Giants contemplate a heroic and historic gamble, they should keep in mind the Wayne Gretzky Law of Probability: You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.