After the Dodgers closed the deal on Yoshinobu Yamamoto and made yet another splash this offseason, fans of the San Francisco Giants were understandably upset. Not only did the Giants yet again fall short in the bidding for top-end talent, they had to watch LA once again make yet another improvement of a roster that was already one of the best in baseball.
It is bad enough to have multiple top player targets for the Giants go elsewhere the last couple of offseasons. Aaron Judge was almost a Giant...until he was a Yankee again. Carlos Correa could have been a Giant until his failed his physical and ended up back with the Twins. Shohei Ohtani was a top priority for San Francisco and $700 million wasn't enough for him to land him.
However, making things worse this offseason is that each Giants' failure has been leading to an ever growing gap between them and the Dodgers. Not to discount the Diamondback who have a great young core or even the Padres who are still dangerous with the bats in that lineup, but the Dodgers have separated themselves in the NL West during an offseason that was supposed to be San Francisco's chance to make up ground.
Yamamoto signing with the Dodgers is a disaster for the SF Giants
To be clear, the Giants aren't going to just pack it in this offseason. There are a lot of Scott Boras clients still available that are just going to be looking for top dollar and San Francisco has the means to pay it. Matt Chapman and Cody Bellinger aren't uninteresting and Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery will remain options until they sign somewhere. They will sign SOMEBODY that can help them in 2024 and beyond. If they don't, Farhan Zaidi should be fired before the 2024 season starts.
That doesn't change the fact that this offseason has been a disaster for the Giants, though. For the next decade, San Francisco is going to have to deal with not only the Corbin Carroll-led Diamondbacks in the division who also have more help coming from the minors, but a Dodgers juggernaut that now has both Ohtani and Yamamoto for the next decade. Who out there has any confidence that the Giants will finish higher than third in the division over the next 5 seasons? Best guess is that there are not many of you.
Right now, the Dodgers are leaving the Giants in the dust. If the Giants don't figure something out fast, it could stay that way for a long, long time.