It has been a disappointing season for the San Francisco Giants, as they missed the playoffs this year and their future is a bit uncertain.
This year, the Giants were expecting to compete with the other talented teams in their division. However, with three teams potentially making the playoffs in the National League West, San Francisco has a ways to go to catch up with the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks.
In the offseason, the Giants made a couple of notable moves to bring in some talented veterans in Blake Snell and Matt Chapman. Both of these players basically signed one-year deals, as free agency didn’t pan out the way they would have liked.
Due to a great season from Chapman, San Francisco elected to sign him to a long-term deal, as he would quickly become a leader and a cornerstone for the franchise. For Snell, his season got off to a tough start with injuries and poor play. However, he is pitching like the 2023 version of himself, and will almost certainly be opting out this offseason and testing free agency.
While the Giants haven’t been shy about spending money in free agency, a big building success is through their farm system. Recently, Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report ranked all of the farm systems at the end of the season, and the Giants came in ranked dead last.
“The Giants graduated Marco Luciano and Hayden Birdsong to the majors, along with breakout rookie Tyler Fitzgerald, while top pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt took a step backward with his command. They did add two of the top college bats in the 2024 draft class in James Tibbs III and Dakota Jordan, but the system as a whole is lacking in top-tier talent outside of slugger Bryce Eldridge.”
Having the worst ranked farm system is not something a franchise wants to see, as a good farm system leads to bringing up new players, or using them as capital for trades.
San Francisco saw some of their young players come up to the big leagues this season, which certainly impacted their farm system ranking now, but besides Bryce Eldridge, they are lacking premier talent as of now.
While some of their other young prospects will undoubtedly grow and develop, the current state of the system is concerning. If the Giants are going to compete in the NL West, they need to improve their farm system, as their rivals are frequently bringing up talented young players on a yearly basis.
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