The San Francisco Giants went after New York Yankees star Aaron Judge last winter. They missed out on him. San Francisco was among the finalists for reigning AL MVP Shohei Ohtani before he signed a record contract with the division-rival Los Angeles Dodgers.
Despite being willing to spend money and generally viewed to exist in an attractive city, president Farhan Zaidi and Co. just have not been able to add the top talent needed to compete in the National League West.
Signing Korean sensation Jung Hoo Lee could change the dynamics here. But there is a certain narrative being thrown around regarding the Giants’ inability to attract free agents.
MLB insider Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic relayed an interesting theory from former Giants star Buster Posey recently. In short, “they have a city problem.”
“Players, for whatever reason, have a negative perception of San Francisco right now. Not all players. But they are running into this,” report on San Francisco Giants’ free agent failures.
Ohtani presented the same offer to the Giants that he ended up signing with the Dodgers. That is to say, $680 million of his $700 million contract being deferred to later years. It’s something Giants owner Charles B. Johnson and Co. had no issue with. Finances were not a deal breaker. Ohtani simply chose the Dodgers over the Giants.
“Every financial target or request that was made from their camp was met and was met pretty quickly,” Zaidi said.
For his part, Posey was in on the pitches to both Judge and Ohtani. He detailed how they went and what the selling points were.
“I just wanted him to understand my level of love for the San Francisco Giants and city of San Francisco and for him to understand how much I’ve come to appreciate the history here and wanting him to be a part of that history going forward. It was such a unique opportunity.
I just feel that him coming to the Giants could have been transformative, obviously for the baseball team but it also would’ve given the city a boost that we’ve all been looking for.”
Buster Posey on San Francisco Giants pitch to Shohei Ohtani
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Do the San Francisco Giants have a “city” problem?
This seems to be absolutely ridiculous on the surface. If we’re taking crime and the perception of homelessness or an unkept city, why choose Los Angeles? All major cities have their issues. Existing in a metropolitan area has drawbacks.
According to World Population Review, San Francisco doesn’t rank among the 20 cities in the United States with the highest violent crime rate. Other MLB cities such as St. Louis, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Cleveland rank within the top 10.
Brookings Institute looked at the prevalence of homelessness within major cities in the United States. San Francisco came in at No. 1 with 959 unhoused per 100,000 citizens. However, New York City, Boston and Los Angeles all also ranked within the top five. None of those MLB cities have had issues attracting big-name players.
We can talk about San Francisco in the post-COVID world (if that’s actually a thing). Posey pointed to a change in the dynamics, including downtown offices largely being empty with the work force working remotely. But that’s still the case in other major cities, too.
We can also look at California’s high tax rate and cost of living. But Los Angeles exists under the same umbrella as San Francisco in that regard.
It seems as if the largest issue for the San Francisco Giants is a lack of top-end players who believe they can compete for a World Series title.
San Francisco has lacked that star power since Posey’s retirement. It is coming off a 79-win season in which fans grew tired of the dull on-field product. Meanwhile, the Dodgers have built up one of the best lineups in modern MLB history.
Sometimes, we simply read too much into things in the sports world. The Giants don’t have a city problem. They have a brand problem. They had a geopgraphy problem when it came to Ohtani choosing the Dodgers.
“It did seem like geography mattered,” Zaidi said. “It wasn’t an absolute must or a deal breaker, obviously, given the pool of teams that were interested, but we did sense there was a preference to stay in Southern California and we knew that would be a challenge for us.
Indeed.