The latest SB Nation Reacts polling had to do with a broader thought with meaningful implications for the San Francisco Giants.
Earlier in the week, Major League Baseball put out a new set of proposals (free to read) that were mainly designed with a salary cap in mind. Michael Baumann went over the pros and cons of the proposals over at FanGraphs (free), while Marc Normandin discussed for Baseball Prospectus (sub required) how none of the proposals actually require a salary cap. So, the owners are
sticking firm to there being a salary cap. The players don’t intend to budge on the matter; and, as much as we fans are “caught in the middle,” it’s worth it to me to point out that too many fans want a salary cap without bothering to learn anything about what it would mean for Major League Baseball to have one.
But that blissful ignorance is a topic for another day. I suspect we’ll have plenty of time to pick over everybody’s opinions and public statements during this inevitable lockout — and it will be a lockout, not a strike — and that’ll be in addition to my personal fretting about the missed development time for a lot of the players.
In case you hadn’t heard or had forgotten, players on the 40-man roster would be impacted by a lockout. Not the minor league clubs. So, not every Giants prospect would miss out on games during a lockout period — again, the minor league schedule will carry on as usual during a lockout of the MLB level — but some would. Notably:
- Bryce Eldridge
- Randy Rodriguez
- Yunior Marte
- Blade Tidwell
- Drew Cavanaugh
- Jesus Rodriguez
- Andrew Susac
- Nate Furman
- Marcelo Mayer
- Victor Bericoto
- Jonah Cox
They won’t be able to have contact with their big league clubs during the lockout period, which means coaching and training check ins and instruction are off the table.
The majority of Giants fans polled by SB Nation think that there will be fewer than 162 games played in the regular season, which would mean a substantial lockout. Indeed, 76% think games will be missed, ranging from “some” to “all,” and that’s probably a very exciting prospect for owners. Having the fans on their side to crush the players really does give them leverage the longer a lockout lasts beyond December (the current one expires on December 1st). Respondents might also simply be keeping up with the news and understand that this craven cadre of owners has dug in on a potentially sport-damaging issue that is merely reflective of the destructive nature of the billionaires of our time. Total value extraction at any cost.
While I don’t think a delay in the start of the season will meaningfully impact Bryce Eldridge — who’s still quite young — or Randy Rodriguez — who’ll still be recovering from Tommy John surgery — if games wind up being played in 2027, I wonder how much of a setback their careers might experience if an entire season is missed.
For most of the other players, they seem like they’re in a tough situation where missed time could really set them back. To what extent does offseason contact with the team matter? Well, I suspect we’ll find out if a lot of games are missed and then we look at the development of players like Jonah Cox, Victor Bericoto, and Blade Tidwell. With a lot of these injured players, we can already see how simply missing game action for an extended period of time hurts them. Sure, they could be receiving coaching and physical therapy during this time period (again, two things they’d miss in a lockout), but it’s tough to replicate game speed when trying to get back to playing shape.
Then there’s what a layoff might do for the actual coaching staff. It’s not like Tony Vitello and crew won’t be able to access the organization. So, a full offseason of scouting and preparation is still on the table. Plus, a longer layoff might do well in helping him close the knowledge and rhythm gap since he didn’t really have one prior to this disastrous season. He and his coaches will be able to interact with all of the minor leaguers not on the 40-man roster, too, but on the downside, it’ll be a long winter of him once again being separated from the major league level. It’s the drag coefficient on his career right now, to the point that major league umpires are giving him the business. No stretch to imagine how much of a gap there is between he and his players. But, a lockout has the chance to help TV out quite a bit. It might also provide him cover for an exit back to the college ranks… if he wants to go that way.
Another article for another time is how it does feel like Buster Posey is being graded on a curve here. There’s no evidence that the team will be better in 2027 anyway, so maybe my comments in this post amount to nothing more than some concern trolling when it comes to developing players and future outcomes. Nobody should anticipate the San Francisco Giants being a good baseball team any time soon. Easy knowledge to take with you to FanDuel. For a couple of years now, I’ve been saying that this is a lost decade and that 2030 is a nice target year for expecting the franchise to have turned things around. Now, obviously, being good in a specific season requires improvement in areas in the preceding years, but 2030 is still four seasons out. They don’t really need to start looking better or getting better for a couple more, and so a lockout of any duration isn’t going to meaningful improve or hinder what the Giants are trying to do in the near-term. Maybe that’s why respondents voted the way they did. Makes sense.
