San Francisco Giants walk away from Winter Meetings with little to show, for now

The San Francisco Giants went into the winter meetings knowing they had missed out on Giancarlo Stanton and Shohei Ohtani. Now they’ll walk away with little to show for their three and a half days in Orlando.

Most San Francisco Giants fans had the anticipation that they would know what the 2018 opening day lineup was going to be. In the words of Donald Trump: “WRONG!”

The Giants didn’t come away with anything to show for their efforts in the winter meetings, and some fans might be having heart palpitations over it. My advice to you? Don’t. It’s just sports. It’s not life or death. So what if they end up signing nobody this offseason and we get to watch a mix of rookies try to play ball with the big-boys, and Denard Span and Hunter Pence together making up a quarter of what they once were?

More from Around the Foghorn

• SF Giants activate Alex Wood, option Sammy Long, and DFA Chadwick Tromp
• SF Giants: Hard-throwing reliever could be key in playoffs
• SF Giants: Kevin Gausman’s sacrifice fly leads to walk-off win
• SF Giants activate 2B Donovan Solano, option Thairo Estrada
• SF Giants place closer Jake McGee on IL, recall Jay Jackson

Look. Winter meetings in the past usually have well developed free agent markets by the time it hits. Free Agency took a while to get to though, because almost everything hinged on the Giancarlo Stanton trade and then the Marcell Ozuna trade, and then so on and so forth.

So that means, that instead of the free agent meetings happening in the weeks or two leading up to the meetings, it happened during the meetings, and will continue to happen after.

Another factor? A lot of the top teams and contenders are now very “aware” of the Luxury Tax line, meaning most teams are likely to try and fill holes via trade so they can control their spending.

What that means is that a lot of the prized free agents- who are likely looking for winning situations not the highest bidder- are going to wait out the market to see who offers up bonafide offers.

So what am I trying to tell you? Have patience. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. The Giants need the following:

• Corner outfield power bat
• Center Fielder
• Third Baseman

None of the *free agents who would fill those needs have even come off the board yet. That’s why they haven’t been signed yet.

*trade market is different, and I believe there are still plenty of power bat corner outfielders that the Giants could trade for.

Next: Giants add Fernandez in Rule 5

When they do get signed? Who knows, and frankly who cares. The rosters don’t need to be set for spring training until like February. It’s not like they can’t sign anyone after the winter meetings is over. Every free agent they would need to make a move on is still on the table. Until they start signing elsewhere, relax. If they do, and the Giants aren’t doing anything? Then you have every right to be concerned.