When Will the San Francisco Giants be Good Again?

The San Francisco Giants are in the midst of a nasty losing streak. Their 2018 season has been a disappointing one, so it’s only natural to look ahead to next year and try to figure out if it will bring better results.

That’s the thing though, will 2019 be better for the San Francisco Giants? I think we all have ample reason to believe that it won’t be. This may just be pessimism, but I think that common sense bears this out as well.

What would make the Giants better next year? Fewer injuries? Core players playing up to their potential? Landing a big free agent like Bryce Harper?

That sounds like a good start.

However, all three of those things seem unlikely. With guys like Brandon Belt, Buster Posey, and Joe Panik not getting any younger, I think it’s a safe bet to assume they’ll spend some time on the shelf at some point, if they’re even on the team next year.

The same goes for production.

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Brandon Crawford and the rest of the core bunch are all getting a year older, and nothing hurts production like getting older. Plus, the chances of the Giants landing Harper (at least in my view) are exceedingly slim.

So, with all that negativity out there, it appears that the Giants might, in fact, be worse next year. This begs the question: when will the Giants be good again?

It may very well take some time, especially with a front office that seems unwilling to rebuild. The one promising sign is that they have young talent in the form of Dereck Rodriguez and Steven Duggar who (if they stay healthy) should be big parts of the Giants’ future.

But will they be enough to propel the Giants into playoff contention? Probably not. With players like Heliot Ramos and Joey Bart waiting in the wings, it may not be until those guys are ready for the big leagues that the Giants start contending again.

This, of course, assumes that they are as talented as we believe they are. Since it’s very tough for the Giants to lure big-name free agents due to California’s high taxes and (for hitters at least) the pitcher-friendly park, I believe the Giants will have to rely on developing homegrown talent if they want to contend again.

Adding all this up, I don’t think the Giants will be true playoff contenders until 2021. I think this is a conservative estimate as to when Bart and Ramos will be called up.

I hope I’m wrong, I hope the Giants can find a way to put themselves in the playoff hunt next year, but I just see too many indications that that won’t be the case.