Deal shows team is retooling, not rebuilding — but is that wise?
The 98-loss team is not rebuilding. The Giants are simply retooling. That’s the intention they consistently signaled even as the 2017 season crumbled around them. And that direction became more obvious Wednesday with their acquisition of 32year old Evan Longoria, in their most significant move of the offseason.
The men in charge of the Giants have never accepted the concept of rebuilding. They don’t believe their fans will stand for it. They don’t want to lose season-ticket revenue, which might happen if they strip down the team. They think much of what happened last year was an aberration, a dirt-biking one-off. They think they still have the foundation of a proud, competitive team.
As executive vice president Brian Sabean said Wednesday, the Giants have a plan to “plug the holes and go forward and be competitive right out of the gate.”
Welp. We’ll find out. Is this just rearranging the Titanic deck chairs? Or is it a realistic bid to have a competitive couple of years while Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Madison Bumgarner are still in their primes?
Check back in about six months.
Longoria is another Dirtbag at third base — he played for the Long Beach State Dirtbags, before Matt Duffy, who went to Tampa Bay in the Matt Moore trade in 2016. Longoria provides right-handed power and is a legitimate star. Longoria is a massive upgrade from the rotating list of ineffective names who manned third last season: Pablo Sandoval-Eduardo Nuñez-Conor Gillaspie-Christian Arroyo.
Arroyo was the team’s firstround draft pick in 2013. His April call-up provided momentary excitement in what was already a season spinning out of control. Arroyo then slumped, and injuries ended his season. Now, he goes into the dustbin of first-round picks who won’t contribute directly to the Giants, along with names like Zack Wheeler and Gary Brown. Sabean said the team “wasn’t sure” what Arroyo is or will become.
The Giants hope giving up Arroyo doesn’t come back to bite them. The most exciting part of Wednesday’s deal might be saying farewell to Denard Span and his $11 million salary, which — combined with offloading Moore — could help the Giants avoid the luxury tax.
The Giants just might have gotten significantly better in 2018. But this move is a gamble for the long-term future. Longoria has $86 million remaining on his deal, a lot of salary to absorb for a player in his 30s.
The outfield is still a mess. There are rumors that Jay Bruce could be on his way to AT&T, but he’ll be 31 next season. The Giants are going to be an old team next season. Will they again be an old, bad team?
Longoria said all the right things on a conference call: that it’s an even year, so the Giants should win, he’s excited to play in front of enthusiastic fans rather than the empty warehouse where the Rays play, he’s happy to play on forgiving grass, and growing up in Southern California, he was more of an Angels fan than Dodgers fan.
He’ll be a good fit for 2018. But what about beyond?
It was interesting that the lead voice Wednesday was Sabean’s. General manager Bobby Evans was on the media conference call, but Sabean did a lot of the talking and also did a radio interview later in the day (though Evans did with the team’s flagship station).
Whether that was calculated or not, one can’t be sure. Many fans have lost faith in Evans; Sabean has long been a more forceful, no-nonsense voice for the Giants’ moves. Even in his new position, Sabean’s input and approval has been required, but the disaster of 2017 seems to have forced him to be more out front.
It’s also worth noting that Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy have two more years remaining on their contracts. They would like to end their careers with their legacies intact, not in the midst of a painful rebuild and massive fan disgruntlement.
The Giants aren’t going to rebuild. The 2018 strategy: Retool and say a prayer.