Five things that will define the San Francisco Giants in 2020
It’s impossible to know how the 2020 season will play out, but barring a dramatic turn of events, the San Francisco Giants will not arrive in Scottsdale this February with visions of hoisting a World Series trophy.
With the current roster structure, the Giants aren’t expected to challenge the Dodgers for NL West supremacy and while there’s still plenty of turnover on the way, it would be a surprise to see the team in the Wild Card hunt this summer.
Under second-year president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, the Giants won’t brand 2020 as a “rebuilding year,” but they are willing to admit the organization is in a transitional phase. In other words, you’ll likely hear a lot more about player development than playoff dreams.
If winning won’t define the Giants next season, what will? We look at five things we’ll be monitoring closely to gauge the franchise’s progress.
1. Gabe Kapler’s managing abilities
Zaidi put his reputation on the line by hiring Kapler to succeed a franchise icon, Bruce Bochy. A polarizing figure who came under fire for the way he handled assault allegations against Dodgers minor leaguers when he served as Los Angeles’ director of player development, Kapler was also maligned by Phillies fans for failing to lead the team to a winning season in either of his two years as manager.
Outside of retaining Ron Wotus as the Giants’ third base coach, Kapler has hired a new staff of coaches who are all under the age of
40. Most are short on experience at the major league level, but the Giants are gambling on Kapler and his staff’s ability to maximize the potential of a roster that includes a handful of veterans and a growing number of unproven talents.
Kapler has the impossible task of following one of the sport’s best in-game strategists in Bochy, but he’ll have plenty of chances to win over fans if the Giants exceed expectations and some of the team’s upand-coming prospects become immediate impact players.
2. The July 31 trade deadline
If the season unfolds as expected, July 31 could be the biggest day of the year for the San Francisco Giants.
A season after Zaidi flipped relievers Drew Pomeranz and Ray Black for a promising infield prospect, Mauricio Dubon, he’ll have another shot to improve the Giants’ future outlook.
New general manager Scott Harris said he was impressed by Zaidi’s ability to move Mark Melancon (and his entire contract) to Atlanta for pitching prospect Tristan Beck and it’ll be up to the front office duo to provide the organization with similar flexibility moving forward.
Pitchers Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto stand out as the most likely trade candidates, but by the middle of the summer, it’s possible infielders including Evan Longoria, Brandon Crawford
and Brandon Belt will find themselves on the trade block as the Giants attempt to clear future payroll space and create opportunities for emerging young players.
3. The June amateur draft
It’s not a stretch to say this year’s draft is one of the most important in the recent history of the franchise and one that could have the most impact on how Zaidi and second-year amateur scouting director Michael Holmes’ tenures are ultimately viewed.
After pitchers Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith turned down qualifying offers and signed with new clubs, the Giants now own five top-100 picks in the 2020 MLB Draft. The organization will have its best chance to infuse the farm system with top-tier talent in a draft since 2007, when San Francisco controlled six of the first 51 picks and used its top choice to draft Bumgarner.
The Giants’ farm system made great strides last year and continues to receive promising returns from recent international signees, but there’s no question the 2020 draft presents a golden opportunity to add young talent to the organization.
4. Oracle Park attendance numbers
The Giants had about 26,000 season-ticket holders for the 2019 season, ensuring the club would never announce a home attendance total underneath that numbers.
After the team’s third consecutive losing season, that figure is expected to drop in 2020 and it’s likely that the Giants’ 2020 season attendance is even lower than the 2.701 million total from 2019 that marked the lowest in the two-decade history of Oracle Park.
The front office believes that publicly unpopular decisions such as non-tendering Willie Mac Award winner Kevin Pillar, hiring Kapler and allowing free agents such as Bumgarner and Smith to depart will benefit the Giants in the future, but fans still expect to see a compelling product each year.
The San Francisco market is not like Baltimore or Miami where fielding non-competitive clubs and “tanking” is considered acceptable.
Giants fans hold the franchise to a high standard and will let their wallets speak for them. If the team is bad, there are plenty of other places potential ticket-buyers are happy to spend their money.
The Giants won’t like this, but if the product is bad, empty-stadium pictures will fill up social media during the summer months.
5. Joey Bart’s impact as a rookie
The Giants’ 2018 first round draft choice, Joey Bart, has only taken 79 at-bats above the Single-A level, but it’s increasingly clear that Bart could be the Giants’ most exciting player in 2020.
Many in the organization believe Bart will play a big role on the 2020 squad and it’s not out of the question that he makes his big league debut during the first half of the year. How Bart performs during spring training and how catcher Buster Posey fares during the early parts of the season will play a role in dictating how soon Bart arrives, but the expectation is that the former No. 2 overall pick will become a middle-of-the-order force and one of the future faces of the Giants’ next core.
Some of the game’s top prospects of late have proven it doesn’t take long to become a star at the major league level and it would be a great development for the Giants if Bart is clearly one of the team’s best players by the end of the 2020 season.