What if the SF Giants are not able to land a shortstop this offseason?

In an ideal world, the SF Giants would sign a solid shortstop this offseason and move Tyler Fitzgerald over to second base. If they are unable to do that, what does that say about the new Buster Posey-led front office and the franchise as a whole.

Buster Posey has not promised much to Giants fans since becoming president of baseball operations. He has expressed a desire for Giants baseball to get back to being a "memory-making" business and he has said that he wants the team to go out and get a shortstop.

Offseason becomes complicated if SF Giants do not land a shortstop

This is not anything earth-shattering. Anyone who watched the 2024 Giants saw that the revolving door at shortstop was not sustainable. While rookie Tyler Fitzgerald eventually earned the everyday job thanks to the strength of his bat during the summer, it was clear he had plenty of room for improvement defensively.

The solution seeed pretty obvious which is why Posey's stated goal of getting a shortstop was not that crazy: get a solid shortstop and move Fitzgerald over to second base.

While it sounds pretty easy on paper, in practice it may be a bit harder. There are really only two free agent shortstops worth splurging on this offseason: Willy Adames and Ha-Seong Kim. Beyond them, things get very iffy in free agency. It is not an exaggeration to say that the best options in free agency outside of Adames and Kim would be Forever Giants Paul DeJong and Nick Ahmed.

Yikes.

Let's say the Giants lose out on both Adames and Kim. Let's say Adames goes to the Dodgers because they promise to pay to upload his consciousness into the Metaverse upon his death so he can be immortal. Through deferred money, of course. Then, let's say that Kim goes to, oh, I don't know, the Dodgers. Rob Manfred passes a rule saying the Dodgers can have a fifth infielder who plays between second base and shortstop because it would be unfair for someone like Brett Wisely to hit a dribbler up the middle with an exit velocity of 80 mph for a base hit off of the mighty Shohei Ohtani.

Then what?

If the Giants cannot get Adames or Kim, they are in a very tough spot. The one personnel goal Posey publicly stated at the beginning of the offseason, get a shortstop, would suddenly be in jeopardy. That is a bad look for any new regime, franchise legend or not.

That would probably force the Giants to make a desperate trade for someone like Bo Bichette or even Carlos Correa just to save face. That could work out, but there are no guarantees.

At that point, it may be a better idea to just leave Fitzgerald at short and see if he can grow into the role.

Of course, the Giants could certainly sign either Adames or Kim and make things a whole lot easier on themselves. But if they miss out on both, then the self-professed goal of Posey to land a shortstop becomes much more difficult to achieve.