San Francisco Giants: Preparing For a Mediocre 2019 Season

It is still very early in the offseason, so it would be unfair to rush to judgement. However, it seems that the San Francisco Giants know they probably will not be able to seriously contend in 2019.

This is reflected in reports that the Giants might not be all that interested in Bryce Harper, as well as them thinking about trading players like Brandon Belt and Will Smith. Thus far, it seems that Farhan Zaidi is taking the long view.

Such a strategy is probably wise. The Giants tried to “reload” instead of “rebuild” last season, and though we won’t know how the team would have fared if it hadn’t suffered so many key injuries, the end result was failure.

The Giants appear to understand that their window for winning will open up only by the time the next decade rolls around. Unfortunately, this means that the 2019 season could be a bit of a wash.

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That does not mean it is a pointless season, though. When Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch took control of the San Francisco 49ers, year one appeared to be a disaster until the acquisition of Jimmy Garoppolo.

Perhaps the Giants will be able to land a star of the future in a trade if things don’t go as planned in 2019. But 2019 is also important to figure out what the Giants currently have.

Is Steven Duggar truly an everyday starter in center field? Will Dereck Rodriguez and Andrew Suarez be staples of the rotation going forward? These questions and more will likely be answered in 2019.

While it won’t be that riveting to see the team amass seventy-something wins, the manner in which they do so will have serious implications going forward.

So if you’re beginning to dread next season in which, barring any huge, surprising off-season moves, the Giants most likely won’t be serious contenders, understand that next year could be very necessary if they want to compete going forward.