Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here and subscribe to the “Section 415” podcast wherever you listen.
The A’s, the team that abandoned Oakland, ignored its fan base, and hasn’t won more than 76 games in a season in four years, have exactly what the Giants want.
Yes, the team owned by John Fisher, widely considered one of the worst stewards of a professional sports franchise, has built the type of young, exciting core that should have people who work inside the walls of 24 Willie Mays Plaza jealous.
2 days ago
5 days ago
Friday, Jan. 23
The signings of Bader, Arráez, Adrian Houser, Tyler Mahle, Sam Hentges, and Jason Foley will cost the Giants a combined $67 million and will help patch up the holes of a flawed roster. The reason Posey needed to hit the free-agent market so hard is that the Giants have failed to draft, sign, and develop prospects worthy of the type of extension Wilson just signed.
The 2025 All-Star is the fourth homegrown A’s player to sign a deal worth at least $60 million in the last 13 months. He joins outfielders Lawrence Butler (seven years, $65.5 million) and Tyler Soderstrom (eight years, $86 million) and DH Brent Rooker (five years, $60 million) in securing the bag, a proposition that seemed unfathomable for A’s players of previous generations.
Of course, the A’s dynamic pool of position player talent doesn’t guarantee much. There’s little evidence Fisher will provide GM David Forst with the resources to sign top free agents, and the team’s inability to develop elite pitching prospects could hinder its ability to contend for postseason berths.
What’s the Giants’ answer to all these exciting young players for a former geographic rival-turned-MLB nomad? It’s 2023 first-round draft pick Bryce Eldridge and a crop of promising but inexperienced shortstops who have never played above A-ball. But as Tim notes, this is the most interesting group of Giants prospects in more than a decade, which could eventually enable the franchise to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West.
The A’s temporary move to Sacramento means the days spent comparing the franchises are largely over. Fisher’s franchise will (supposedly) be in Las Vegas by 2028, and the Giants viewed their Bay Area departure as an opportunity to court East Bay fans. Theoretically, the A’s will fade from relevance, but that might not be what commissioner Rob Manfred has planned.
If MLB expands and realigns — plans Manfred has publicly discussed — the San Francisco Giants and Las Vegas A’s could wind up in the same division. Those pesky A’s would be farther away, but the Giants might see them up close a lot more often.
It’s on Posey to make sure that a homegrown core is ready to contend within a few years.