San Francisco Giants' Massive Free Agency Splash Could 'Crash and Burn'

It has been a busy offseason for the San Francisco Giants, who have been trying to snap out of their funk for the last few years.

For several seasons, the Giants have been stuck in mediocrity, with the exception of their incredible 2021 season in which they won 107 games. But that ended with an early playoff exit.

This is certainly a tough place to be as a franchise, but the hope is that the new president of baseball operations Buster Posey can help them break through.

One of the reasons for the struggles over the last few years has been their inability to sign top free agents. The hope was that bringing in Posey would help with that.

So far this winter, he was able to sign two notable free agents, Willy Adames and Justin Verlander. San Francisco was in on Corbin Burnes, but he ultimately decided to go to the Arizona Diamondbacks, which is near where his offseason home.

The Giants still could make a couple of more additions before spring training to try and continue to close the gap between them and some of the other teams in the challenging National League West.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about some offseason decisions that have the potential to crash and burn. For the Giants, he highlighted the move to bring in Adames to a long-term deal.

“In the spirit of attempting to identify offseason moves (or non-moves) that could end poorly, though, the Giants paying top dollar to finally land a top-five free agent after all of the marquee close calls in recent years has the potential to blow up in their face," he wrote.

Adames was certainly a signing that made a lot of sense for San Francisco, but like with any signing, there is risk. While the shortstop deserved to get paid, he has notably never been selected to an All-Star team, and while that isn’t the only measuring stick for success, it is notable to mention.

On the field, he did struggle defensively in 2024 for the Milwaukee Brewers. Luckily, he will have Matt Chapman next to him at third base for a long time, and the Gold Glover can cover up some of those mistakes. But, again, this is an area of concern.

The real concern is how his batting average and power will translate this into playing 81 games in San Francisco. As one of the best pitchers parks in the league, slugging is not an easy thing to do in the Bay Area.

It’s been since 2004 when the Giants last had a batter hit 30 home runs, and one of the reasons why they signed Adames was to snap that streak. For a hitter that relies on slugging and power to provide value, a dip in that category could result in this being a move that crashes and burns.