SF Giants have obvious move after Dodgers land Kyle Tucker, but they won't do it

Well, it happened. That thing everyone joked about and said probably wouldn't happen came to fruition. Wouldn't it be hilarious if the Los Angeles Dodgers signed Kyle Tucker? Well, they did.

LA signed Tucker to a four-year, $240 million deal. Most people considered him the top free agent on the market entering the offseason and now he is a Dodger. Because of course he is.

This will fuel speculation about a lockout next offseason and bring back calls for a salary cap, but what does this mean for the SF Giants? Beyond the fact that they now have to contend with an even more fearsome Dodgers lineup, they have an obvious move to make even though they will not do it.

SF Giants have obvious move to make after Dodgers land Kyle Tucker

If the Giants were more reactionary and felt like they could really compete with the Dodgers, then the next logical move would be to sign Cody Bellinger. He is the top remaining outfielder in free agency and the Giants have no plan in right field currently.

San Francisco has been linked to Bellinger throughout the offseason, but it has always seemed like a bit of a stretch to think the Giants would make a serious play for the left-handed slugger.

He is reportedly seeking more than the rumored five-year, $155 million that the New York Yankees offered him. To think that the Giants, with their current self-imposed austerity and reluctance to break out the check book this offseason, would even match that offer is somewhat laughable.

Maybe president of baseball operations Buster Posey can convince ownership to approve an exorbitant deal for Bellinger in the name of trying to compete with the Dodgers, but that just does not seem to be in the cards.

Instead, it seems the Giants are content to be a .500 team on paper with the hope that they can get a little lucky and maybe sneak into the playoffs as a Wild Card team by winning somewhere in the neighborhood of 85-90 games. That has basically been the strategy for the last four seasons and it has resulted in abject mediocrity.

Signing Bellinger is not going to close the gap with the Dodgers overnight. Agreeing to some exorbitant seven-year deal would be short-sighted and could hurt the team later on, but it is just frustrating to see the Dodgers continue to add elite talent to an already stacked roster when the Giants have not improved very much at all this offseason.

In some different universe in which the Giants are doing everything they can to compete with the Dodgers, signing Bellinger would be an obvious move. But we do not live in that universe which is why that move almost certainly will not happen.