Ownership is largely to blame for the SF Giants missing out on Corbin Burnes

The SF Giants missed out on ace starting pitcher Corbin Burnes who signed with the Arizona Diamondbacks on a six-year, $210 million contract. The blame game has begun, but Giants ownership is the main culprit to blame.

Ever since the news came out about Burnes signing with Arizona, a lot of things have been blamed. USA Today reporter Bob Nightengale was quick to blame California's high taxes, saying Burnes rejected a higher offer from the Giants. Jon Heyman of the New York Post noted that Burnes' family lives in Phoenix.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle refuted Nightengale's claim that the Giants had a higher offer than Arizona which makes one believe that ownership did not give president of baseball operations Buster Posey a very long leash when it came to the pursuit of Burnes.

Ownership is to blame for SF Giants missing out on Corbin Burnes

This section from Slusser's recent article on Burnes is very telling: "The Giants were in a good position to land Burnes had they been willing to go over $200 million. He played at St. Mary’s, he loves pitching at Oracle Park and he wanted to play for a West Coast team, but it looks as if San Francisco’s payroll will remain significantly lower than last season’s approximately $249 million."

Payroll reduction has been a narrative all offseason. After the Giants made a huge splash by signing shortstop Willy Adames to the largest contract in franchise history, there was some thinking that perhaps the Giants would spend big after all.

Yet, all along Posey and manager Bob Melvin have made clear that they did not feel adding a pricey pitcher in free agency was a must. Posey has repeatedly talked up the young pitchers the Giants have and Melvin has even mentioned that dreaded p-word when talking about the young starters.

Both men probably knew that ownership would not entertain a massive spending spree to try and revamp the team. Slusser has reported recently that ownership is wary of spending big when the team spent big and went over the luxury tax last offseason and was not even able to break .500, finishing 4th in the NL West.

This is understandable, especially given the fact that big spending does not always guarantee success for teams. Yet, it is hard to envision how the Giants will be able to be competitive next season without a strong starting rotation. Posey and Melvin are right that the team does have promising young talent, but there are too many question marks about how consistent they will be to consider the rotation a strength.

It seems like ownership let Posey get his shiny new toy with Adames, but now they are cutting him off. It would be surprising if the Giants make any large deals the rest of the offseason and it seems like the Giants may just role largely with what they have going into 2025.