Giants: Five bold predictions for the MLB offseason

The Giants will fail to acquire a frontline starting pitcher

The natural rule of things states that the San Francisco Giants must be publicly humiliated in pursuit of a big-name player at least once every offseason.

So instead of a powerful outfielder like the last two years, this time around it will be a starting pitcher.

If I am right and Madison Bumgarner ends up with some other team, then Zaidi will almost certainly try to appease the fan base by pursuing another top-tier starter like Gerrit Cole or Stephen Strasburg.

They will fail in their pursuit, in much the same way they did with Jon Lester and Zack Greinke in years past. Instead, they will settle for the next Drew Pomeranz, as they have already done with their waiver claim of Tyler Anderson.

But because the front office will want to signal to fans that they are at least trying to be competitive, the Giants will pursue Cole or Strasburg, only to have them sign somewhere else. Then we can all revel in the annual tradition of Scott Boras blaming it on high state taxes or whatever else, instead of the real reason which is that they don’t want to play for a bad team.

So there you have it, five bold predictions for the San Francisco Giants offseason.