Back in November, I looked at the Giants’ payroll situation and filtered it through my pessimistic outlook based on recent history*. It’s only fair to revisit this now because the entire offseason has dismantled my preconceptions and reversed that recent history.
The San Francisco Giants have a projected Opening Day payroll of $211.85 million (+12.7% vs. 2023) and have committed roughly $400 million long-term (omitting Jung Hoo Lee’s posting fee). Wow! That’s a spicy mea culpa on my part! I didn’t think they had it in ‘em.
On the other hand, if the plan was to pursue Shohei Ohtani and/or Yoshinobu Yamamto, then at least $400 million in commitments had to be in their plans.