Why offseason retrenchment could actually be good for SF Giants

After spending big in free agency last offseason, all signs indicate that the SF Giants are going to reduce payroll in 2025. This strategy of retrenchment may not be the worst considering it worked for two National League playoff teams in 2024.

While fans often want teams to spend as much as possible in free agency to be competitive, the strategy does not always work. Just look at the 2023 San Diego Padres and New York Mets. Both teams were considered juggernauts on paper going into that season yet they both had bitterly disappointing seasons.

SF Giants can still succeed with payroll reductions

With San Diego, they added Xander Bogaerts in the offseason prior to the 2023 season. They also still had outfielder Juan Soto who they had traded for in 2022. On paper they had one of the more formidable rosters in all of baseball, and yet they finished the year with a record of 82-80.

Then, in 2024 they traded Soto to the New York Yankees and lost Blake Snell in free agency to the Giants. And yet, they got better finishing the year with a record of 93-69 before losing to the Dodgers in the NLDS. This shows that being super aggressive is not the only way to win.

According to FanGraphs, San Diego had an estimated payroll of $255 million in 2023. The estimate for 2024 payroll is $169 million. They cut payroll by nearly $100 million and were still a better team.

Now let's turn to the New York Mets. They tried to build a Super Team of their own in 2023. They went out and got Justin Verlander for their rotation to go along with Max Scherzer. After winning 101 games in 2022, it seemed the sky was the limit for the Mets. Until it wasn't as they finished 75-87 on the year.

Fast forward a year and the Mets found themselves in the NLCS with less payroll than in 2023 and contributions from players like Sean Manaea.

Of course, the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers went out and bought the World Series. But if the bats of the Padres had not flown south for the winter early in the last two games of the NLDS, Los Angeles would have been bounced early yet again despite all their spending. And the Mets held their own against the Dodgers in the NLCS.

This just shows that there is no one way to build a successful team. You cannot be completely cheap, but you also cannot be reckless.

With the Giants looking to cut payroll, they can look towards the Padres and Mets as examples of how to succeed while tightening the belt a bit.