Don’t bet on Giants landing Harper

Things to know about Bryce Harper and the Giants, with a prediction:

Nobody appreciates power hitting more than new president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, who leaves the Dodgers’ organization after

nine L.A. players hit 20 or more home runs last season (factoring in the American League totals for Manny Machado and Brian Dozier). It seems that every team has at least two or three such players — except the Giants, who have none. Add Harper and the lineup becomes infinitely more dangerous.

The Giants are concerned about immediate and longterm attendance if they keep trotting out uninspiring, punchless teams. Harper is a huge draw, especially when he’s on a hot streak, and the Giants’ fortunes would become a nationwide talking point.

By his standards, Harper didn’t have much of a 2018 season, batting .249. He also hit 34 homers, had a career-high

100 RBIs and led the majors with 130 walks.

With the Dodgers and Yankees apparently not interested, the Cardinals reportedly backing off and Harper rejecting a 10-year, $300 million offer in Washington, the most interested teams might be the Phillies and White Sox. But there’s inevitably a surprise team, jumping in at the last minute, and agent Scott Boras will work these negotiations to the financial limit — testing teams’ patience if he drags it into January (as he has done before).

Ten years? With the rarest of exceptions, that’s an untenable commitment. Totally ridiculous. Zaidi has a history of working shorter deals — leaning heavily toward three years — and good for him. That’s just smart business sense, and the Dodgers won every division title during his tenure there.

During his Wednesday news conference, Zaidi said that “no one player is going to turn the fate of a franchise around.” Team CEO Larry Baer said essentially the same thing. Harper offers marquee value and a spiritual uplift, but he’s just one player.

The Giants have been extremely careful to stay under the luxury-tax threshold. They have a ton of money to spend. Boras might be asking for a $400 million Harper deal before too long, and it would be outrageous to break the bank in that manner. The Giants will back off, focusing on multiple acquisitions, and that makes a lot of sense.

Bruce Jenkins is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. Email: bjenkins@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1