San Francisco Giants: Boring offseason a bust for baseball

The San Francisco Giants have had a relatively eventful offseason, from Giancarlo Stanton to Evan Longoria. But now free agency has hit a swoon, and that’s not good for MLB.

The MLB offseason has been incredibly slow and lame so far. After what was looking like an offseason for the ages about to shape up, with an MVP getting traded before the Winter Meetings, it’s now ground to a complete halt.

The NBA offseason might be the most entertaining offseason in all of professional sports. It’s petty, the draft happens right after they crown a champion, and free agency hits like five days later. For the NBA, usually there are like seven deals announced as the clock strikes midnight opening free agency.

The NHL offseason is usually a snooze-fest anyways, but it’s probably more exciting than whatever we’ve had so far. Outside of writing about the Giants for Around the Foghorn, I do a lot of soccer coverage as well for another outlet. The offseason for MLS has been significantly more entertaining and action packed than what is happening right now in MLB.

It’s really not that great of optics to have this slow of an offseason. It’s annoying for fans that teams aren’t getting stuff done and they’ve been able to negotiate with players for over two months now.

For writers, it’s miserable because we can only speculate so much, and once a few pieces land, it’s a whole lot easier to write and speculate on the future when we know what personnel is going to play a role in the 2018 season.

We’ve thrown out possibly every outfield personnel permutation possible that we literally don’t know what to tell you anymore. There is only so many times I can write, “The San Francisco Giants should sign Austin Jackson to a deal worth 3yrs/$30 million” before you get sick of reading it.

We could get petty and low and start up some more #BeltWars, but I’m pretty sure everyone is sick of that weekly argument over whether or not Brandon Belt is actually good. Because I sure know that I am.

But ultimately, this is incredibly bad for baseball. Nobody is talking about MLB right now. While the NFL playoffs usually dominate from Christmas to the Super-Bowl, MLB still gets thrown in there a lot. Now it’s so quiet that it has become irrelevant. The reason why the NBA and NFL continue to thrive amongst younger people is their ability to provide intrigue at virtually every time of the year. Now, the winter has gone by the wayside and nobody except the die-hards care about the Giants offseason. That’s bad for baseball.

Here is how I feel like things are going with the Giants right now:

T.V. Anchor: “And we now go to our live interview with Giants’ General Manager, Bobby Evans! Bobby how are you doing today? Do you have an update for us on any Giants movement?”

Bobby: *loud snoring*

T.V. Anchor: “Bobby?”

Bobby: *chokes on his own snot while snoring*

Bobby: “What? Oh! Hey. What?”

T.V. Anchor: “How are you doing today Bobby?”

Bobby: “The Red’s still want Heliot Ramos.”

Bobby: *rips mic off and walks away yelling at Sabean*

Camera: *still rolling*

Bobby: “SABES!”

Brian: “WHAT?!”

Bobby: “What about Jon Jay?”

Brian: “Yeah, what about Jon Jay?”

Bobby: “He’s a free agent.”

Brian: “Thanks for letting me know Bobby…”

Bobby: “Does Span money seem like too much?”

Brian: “Go back to sleep Bobby”

Ok, my short story is over. Hopefully the Giants get going soon, because this was the best I could come up with in 48 hours of writer’s block thanks to the Giants (and all of baseball’s) inactivity. Hopefully this isn’t the new norm for MLB free agency, because if it is, I’m all for a lockout in the next CBA. Here is what is happening:

• Small market clubs in Major League Baseball negotiated stiffer luxury tax penalties to help curb the upper class’ spending.
• It’s curbing them, but the lower budget teams are STILL not spending any money. That’s the standstill.
• The problem is not that the players want big contracts. They see the kind of contracts Martin Prado is on, and justifiably Todd Frazier will want more. The problem is that nobody is going to pay more than $15million AAV for Frazier, especially in a more competitive market that needs him, which, by the way, is likely closer to the luxury tax, WITH STIFFER PENALTIES!
• So two things need to happen: the Oakland A’s of the world need to step up and pay some dudes, or they, and the rest of the small market teams, need to chill out with the “even the playing field” luxury tax penalties.

Next: Three New Year's Resolutions for 2018

Hopefully things get going again soon so I don’t have to ramble on like I did in this. This is the best I could do after 48 hours of writer’s block. I’m sorry. I wish I could do better. Do you want better from me? Then blame Rob Manfred, the Red’s GM for wanting Heliot Ramos, and Bobby Evans for being asleep for the last month.

*pokes Bobby Evans with a stick*

DO SOMETHING.