Rumored SF Giants pitching target likely would not fit within budget goal

The SF Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers are reportedly in on Max Fried according to Jeff Passan of ESPN (subscription required). However, the Giants' rumor interest seems to be in contrast to the organization's desire to shed payroll.

Rumored SF Giants pitching target likely would not fit within budget goal

The Giants had a projected 2024 payroll of $250.8 million against the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT) according to Cot's. That number represents how baseball is calculating a team's payroll for the purposes of the luxury tax.

However, every team has two sets of books. As an accountant, that sounds like nails across a chalkboard. Kids these days may never know noise by the way!

The second set of books is the team's actual payroll, which factors in how contracts are structured. For example, if a player signs a contract that averages $10 million per seasons, that deal could be frontloaded or backloaded depending on the language in the contract. For the Giants, they set a franchise record with a payroll of $216.6 million.

Some of that money is coming off of the books with both Michael Conforto and Blake Snell hitting free agency. However, the Giants do not expect to get back to that level if the initial reports are true, which is frustrating but understandable given that they only won 80 games last season. The return on investment was not worth it.

If we assume that the Giants have in the neighborhood of $30 million or $40 million, that would likely take them out of the market for many of the high-priced free agents. In theory, they could go out and make one move by signing someone like Max Fried, but that would not leave much money leftover to address the rest of the roster. And, this is a roster that has quite a few holes.

More than likely, the Giants will pursue a handful of additions that allow them to address some soft spots on the roster while remaining within their budget. Plus, the organization does seem poised to allow their younger players to get more runway next season.

Even a modest upgrade like reuniting with Michael Conforto would not make much sense because he would be taking at-bats away from players like Luis Matos or Grant McCray.

Of course, things can always change depending on how the offseason plays out. However, the Giants have been giving off the impression that they will be working more within a budget than they had in the past couple of years.