There’s a covenant teams create with their fans when it comes to a rebuild.
The process is going to be long and difficult — when you’re tearing it down and building it back up, there’s no way around that — but the promise is that, in the end, it’ll be worth it.
The Giants aren’t at the end yet. They’re barely past the beginning of their rebuild under Farhan Zaidi. But the signs are undeniable now — the Giants looked poised to make good on that promise.
Reasons for optimism always show up in subtle ways at spring training. There’s the positive inning from a young pitcher or a developing hitter taking a walk after years of swinging at everything. Those little things should not be overlooked, but don’t make mountains out of molehills — every team has those in camp. Still, fans should take solace in the number of little, positive things we’ve seen from the Giants’ next generation of players in Arizona.
But the real reason to think that everything is on track for future success — the kind of winning that isn’t cyclical, but sustainable — comes from the big names. The kind of young players that Giants fans have been told for years now would make up not just the roster, but the core of the team’s future lineups. The players who will make that lineup one of the best in baseball.
It’s a tall order, no doubt. But when 21-year-old Heliot Ramos rockets an outside fastball the opposite way over a tall right-field wall in Goodyear, it’s impossible not to believe.
There’s Major League talent, and then there are guys like Ramos — players who, if developed right, can turn into not just regular players, but All-Stars; daily centerpieces of lineups that compete for titles every year.
Those kinds of players are unmistakable to laypeople like us. You only need to hear the sound of the ball coming off their bats. It’s different.
Heliot Ramos hits his second home run of the game, this time to the opposite field. pic.twitter.com/U85gclyzuE
— Electro (@ImNotHuman123) March 7, 2021
The beauty of baseball is also its challenge — one player can’t do it all. It’s an individual sport masquerading as a team sport, and to be a successful team, you need waves of elite talent.
The Zaidi regime has proven in its first two years that it can find that kind of talent. Mike Yastrzemski is an All-Star caliber player the Giants found at the scrap heap. They have developed a reputation around baseball as a place for starters to go to get their groove back. The team’s bullpen has been rebuilt in the last two seasons — after years of trotting out down-and-out starters and crafty veterans, the Giants now boast flamethrowers and spin gods all the way down the bench.
There’s no doubt, in my mind, at least, that if Zaidi wanted to build a team that could win a wild card spot every season, he could do it. Despite inheriting what was widely known around baseball as the game’s toughest roster to rebuild — personnel-wise — he has effectively done that. The Giants’ goal this year is to make the postseason and while the odds aren’t in their favor (roughly 10 percent, according to my averaging of favorite sportsbooks), it’s hardly a ridiculous notion.
But that’s not what Zaidi wants to build. That’s small market thinking.
Of course, no one would complain if this team did make the postseason, but the goal is to build a title contender that will sustain — one that will come in waves and never relent. The goal is to beat the Dodgers, but to beat them in any meaningful way, you have to get on their level.
Ramos has been sold as part of that equation. If you didn’t buy before this spring, now’s the time.
Joey Bart is another part. His offseason adjustments that have his hands more active and his stance a bit more closed off have him scorching the ball in Arizona. He also had a homer Sunday.
Joey Bart crushes a home run. pic.twitter.com/BVMBywj4pv
— Electro (@ImNotHuman123) March 7, 2021
Alexander Canario, Hunter Bishop, and Marco Luciano are right behind them.
These are young players. Their time isn’t now. In some cases, they’re a few years away. But they can be the core of this team’s renaissance, and this spring, they’re showing their potential isn’t merely conceptual.
Every indication is that these guys will be worth the wait — that they are going to make good on the Giants’ promise that if you do a rebuild right the first time, it’ll be a long time before you ever have to do it again.
