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The Giants are building steadily, brick by brick in hopes the foundation will one day be unassailable, able to shrug off Tommy John surgeries and underperformance by having enough depth to plug holes.
It’s the same process Farhan Zaidi oversaw with the Dodgers, who have the stability that everyone is seeking as a model. The Padres, meanwhile, appear to have the foundation and are renovating to raise their roof a few more feet.
The Dodgers are the class of Major League Baseball and the reigning World Series champs, and their closest competition might be about two hours south. San Diego, which always loomed over the Dodgers’ shoulders last season before falling to LA in an NLDS, is going for it.
On Sunday night, the Padres imported a legitimate ace from Tampa, sending four prospects in exchange for 2018 Cy Young winner Blake Snell and adeptly replacing Mike Clevinger, who will miss the 2021 campaign after Tommy John surgery.
They lost a top-shelf starter and still will return what may be the best rotation in baseball, following Snell with Dinelson Lamet (2.09 ERA last season), Zach Davies (2.73) and Chris Paddack (who struggled last season, but posted a 3.33 ledger in 2019). Their No. 5 starter will be a competition, but the most intriguing inclusion would be MacKenzie Gore, who’s rated as the best southpaw prospect in baseball.
That is, unless they upgrade the rotation even more. Teams will need more pitching than ever next season after the truncated 2020 campaign, so why not add yet another front-of-the-rotation stud? According to various reports, the Padres are working on a deal for the Cubs’ Yu Darvish, the runner-up for the Cy Young last season.
The Padres do not have a hole in their bullpen, occupied by former Giant Drew Pomeranz. They probably don’t have one in their lineup, which also is beginning to bulge.
According to various reports, San Diego is close to signing infielder Ha-seong Kim, the former KBO star. Last season as a Kiwoom shortstop and third baseman, the 25-year-old batted .306 with 30 homers and 23 stolen bases. Translating that success to MLB is always tricky, but the Padres don’t need him to be a star — or even a left-side infielder. With Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. there for perhaps the next decade, it’s expected Kim will be primarily a second baseman but also move around. In a division with the Dodgers and Giants, that type of fit sounds familiar.
Will the Dodgers react to the Padres beefing up? They probably don’t need to, especially considering they’ll be getting David Price back after the lefty opted out of last season. They also dealt for solid righty reliever Corey Knebel from the Brewers and figure to even be stronger, although Justin Turner and Joc Pederson are notable free agents.
Elsewhere around the division, the Diamondbacks have been quiet and will mostly count on bounce-back seasons from players with pedigree, including Mason Saunders. The Rockies, meanwhile, are shedding salary and could move Trevor Story and/or Nolan Arenado, which, in this division, could make them the worst team in baseball.
So the Giants keep building as their competition throws in a couple finishing touches to buildings that really seemed finished already. San Francisco is coming off a nice, surprising season that left it, at 29-31, a game away from the playoffs. Zaidi & Co. will hope the expanded playoffs make a return because it’s hard to see how the Giants can compete when perhaps the sport’s two biggest giants are in their division.
This is the appeal of a club that both smartly bolsters its prospect depth and spends money to add to its major league star collection: A team can position itself as a powerhouse now and in the future.
The Giants hope they’re following the same blueprint, fortifying with pieces like Kevin Gausman and Anthony DeSclafani without detracting from their prospect haul. What may be the more alarming, if not immediate, issue is the Dodgers and Padres still possess outstanding, top-10 systems. In September, MLB Pipeline ranked even the Diamondbacks’ prospect base (ninth) ahead of the Giants’ (13th). The Giants will continue to climb, but it’s difficult to separate when the whole sport has realized constructing from within is the best route to sustained success.
As the Giants continue to work on their house, it’s only getting more dwarfed by the powerhouses.