Lotta pros, lotta cons, lotta what-have-yous
Boy, this was going to be a much meaner article if they didn't sign Blake Snell after cutting Renel loose
Well, they’d better win.
Once you grant that Shohei Ohtani was absolutely never going to come to San Francisco, and that Yoshinobu Yamamoto wasn’t particularly eager to be a Giant either, this was about as good as this roster was going to look. Adding Blake Snell to Matt Chapman, who himself had been added to Jorge Soler and Robbie Ray, who were the next steps after Jung Hoo Lee (Also, Tom Murphy is involved somehow), was the icing on the cake. The team seems to be much, much better than they were last year.
Shame about the dickishness though.
Yes, after 24 years of being the Giants’ public address announcer, Renel Brooks-Moon…now isn’t. In a statement, the team described the parting as mutual; to her friends, Renel has apparently sounded a different note. According to John Shea (via at least one friend of Renel’s), she felt that her voice within the team was marginalized and that the organization did not appreciate her full-throated advocacy for Black Lives Matter.
Regardless of why exactly the Giants felt they could afford not to pay Renel what she was asking to be paid, the fact is that we’re here now. Announcement and arrangements have both be made, and we all just get to deal with it. “This is how things are,” say the Giants, and our job is to say, “Yes sir, here are the things you have deigned to give us, thank you, Mr. Giants.”
And look, if they win, it’ll probably work. People may have grumbled about Farhan during 2021, but those people were few and far between. Everything he did that year worked. If he can replicate that kind of success this year — and it doesn’t have to be 107 wins, but it does probably have to be more than 90 — then the fanbase will be happy. You will have a certain lunatic fringe (my coinage; I am very smart) that will still despise the team, mostly because they’re different from how they used to be, but if the experience of watching the team is fun, and they’re not doing a bunch of embarrassing bullshit night-in and night-out, then Giants fans will forgive them.
But what if they’re not good?
This offseason was as strong of an offseason as you could hope for the Giants to have, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. The Padres have two Offseason Champions banners hanging up in Petco Park, and they weren’t able to convert those successes into on-field ones. This could all go wrong.
Jorge Soler could hit .220 with 18 homers in 600 plate appearances. Matt Chapman might walk away from the plate in disappointment, making you tell your friends, “He’s really in there for the defense.” Blake Snell could walk too many guys, and lose a tick on his fastball too, so he doesn’t quite get the strikeout numbers we’re used to. Patrick Bailey might not hit at all, and shortstop might be a black hole, and Jung Hoo Lee might have trouble adjusting to the majors like Ha-Seong Kim did, and the outfield corners might be as much of a disappointment rotation as they were in 2023.
Each of those things is incredibly plausible. One of them is definitely going to happen. If you start seeing two or three — Wait! More! Jordan Hicks might not be able to cut it as a starter! Robbie Ray might come back a little late and not looking like Cy Young Robbie Ray! The league could learn to wait out Kyle Harrison until he walks them! — then the team is in trouble. And what do the fans want when the team is in trouble? Well, they want to see their favorites.
Kruk and Kuip and Jon and Dave are their favorites, and they’ll still be there. Pablo Sandoval might be in AAA, but the team will be able to work something out. People like Alyssa Nakken, and she’s still around; fans have take to Logan Webb for obvious reasons, and he’ll do nicely.
But without Renel in the park, announcing the hell out of the game, it will feel different. It will be different. And different isn’t necessarily good here; Renel brought a lot of energy, and the fans need that during tough times. Will the next person be as good as that? And even if they are as good, will the fans have the inherent connection that they do to Renel? Getting rid of that connection is a very, very big deal. A familiar voice makes the park feel like home, and without it, fans are a little bit more adrift.
And if the team is bad, then that will matter. Even if they just have a rough patch, it’ll be that much rougher because we won’t have as much of a reason to keep going to the ballpark. Renel is a universally beloved figure in San Francisco, and it’s impossible to imagine Pac Bell/SBC/AT&T/Oracle Park without her. It can get a lot easier to take, but the team’s gonna have to be real good to get us all there.
Maestro:
I'll try to suspend my disbelief in Snell's usefulness. He's missed most of ST, and might take a month to get up to speed - like having two Alex Cobbs.
I find it difficult to get attached to half a team that'll be playing for their next contract - Snell, R. Ray, Chapman, Conforto, Cobb, Slater - have I missed anyone?
I find it difficult to root for this team, period.
- fan since 1958 (not a typo)
They appear destined to be more watchable. This is a very good thing. But I still believe the verdict on Farhan will be did he improve the farm system such that we have a homegrown core/stars and don't have to take risks with long term free agent signings, have one and done contracts or platoon AAAA players. We are in year six, and it feels like a big one on the player development front.