The one way for Buster Posey to appease SF Giants fans (and why it won't happen)

In light of the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the World Series and then making aggressive moves to try and win another, SF Giants fans are miffed. There may be only one way for Buster Posey to appease Giants fans and that is to be just as aggressive.

The Dodgers recently bolstered their starting rotation by stealing Blake Snell from the Giants. Now, many fans are hoping the Giants will make a bold move of their own to replace Snell in the rotation.

SF Giants are unlikely to appease fans by going big this offseason

The best free agent starter available on the free agent market is Corbin Burnes. The Giants have been connected to Burns in light of Snell jumping ship which is welcome news to many fans, but after being burned so many times in free agency the last few years many will refuse to believe it until he is wearing a Giants uniform.

However, Burnes will not be enough to appease many fans. With a self-professed desire to add a shortstop this offseason, Posey has put some pressure on himself to deliver. Willy Adames is the best free agent shortstop on the free agent market. He brings power to the plate and has also historically been a solid defender if you ignore his down year defensively in 2024. 

There are many fans out there who would only be appeased by the Giants landing Burnes and Adames. Even though the Giants would still be behind the Dodgers if they landed those two players, the gap would be a little smaller and one can envision a more realistic path for the Giants to make the playoffs as a Wild Card team. 

However, despite fan expectations, it seems unlikely the Giants would go all out to sign Burnes and Adames. We already know about ownership’s desire to cut payroll, and adding Burnes and Adames, no matter how much they may make sense on the Giants, seems to go directly against that. 

Plus, with Adames and Burnes both rejecting the qualifying offer they were issued by their respective clubs, the Giants would cost themselves draft compensation for the second straight offseason by signing either of them like they did by signing Matt Chapman and Blake Snell last offseason. Posey has professed a desire to build a solid farm system, so he is probably not keen to surrender any more draft capital. 

This seems more like an offseason where the Giants sign Ha-Seong Kim, who would not put them over budget and would not cost them draft capital, and call it a day.

That would tick off a lot of fans, but it’s honestly not a bad strategy. The Giants are probably a .500 team without Kim, maybe an 85-win team on paper with him. If they over-perform expectations a bit they could win 90 games and find themselves playing postseason baseball next year.

However, if Posey and ownership really want to appease fans then they could not do much better than signing Burnes and Adames. Those two would not guarantee success in 2025, but it would at least get many fans excited about 2025. Unfortunately for those fans, it is also a very unlikely outcome.