The Giants feel very good about the way the organization has moved forward over the last nine months.
Gabe Kapler, an unpopular hire in November, has proven to be a strong choice to lead a franchise through a pandemic and a clubhouse through ongoing national discussions about systemic racism. His young coaching staff is innovative and tireless, and the players have bought in. General manager Scott Harris has become a strong partner for Farhan Zaidi.
The roster is slightly deeper and more versatile. The farm system is now top 10 in all of baseball, and few teams had a more exciting draft class arrive last month. The future appears bright.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
And yet, the Giants are about to get slapped in the face by reality.
They're traveling to Los Angeles Wednesday, and Thursday night they'll step on the field against a team that's in a different weight class. You can very easily make the argument that the Dodgers will be better at all nine starting positions in the opener. They have two aces and a better bullpen. Their top prospects are closer to contributing, too. Gavin Lux would hit third in San Francisco this season, but when he missed the start of camp, the Dodgers had the luxury of sending him to their alternate camp on Tuesday night, opting instead to go with Kiké Hernandez and Chris Taylor at second.
Or maybe it'll be Max Muncy, who has hit 70 homers the last two years.
This is what the Giants have been chasing, and that's before you ever mention Mookie Betts, the offseason acquisition who just signed the largest contract extension in MLB history:
This is, quite frankly, a nightmare scenario for the employees at Third and King, and not because it further stabilizes the season for a team that's won seven consecutive NL West titles but still is looking for that elusive ring.
[BALK TALK: Listen to the latest episode]
As with everything for the Giants right now, this is about the future, and Betts might have been a part of that.
Before all of this -- the pandemic, the shortened season, the uncertainty -- Betts loomed as a very likely target for the Giants this winter. This spring, some team officials already had started whispering about the possibility of stealing him away from the Dodgers in free agency, and while Zaidi keeps his cards extremely close, he already has tried to play this one once.
Betts would have been the Harper Chase 2.0, hitting free agency as a 28-year-old who could become the franchise player for the Giants now and still be in his prime when the Joey Barts and Marco Lucianos of the world are established. Except here's the thing: He's an even better version.
Betts has played two fewer seasons than Harper but has been worth 10 additional Wins Above Replacement. He is a better hitter, a better baserunner, a better fielder. He has four Gold Gloves and an MVP. He comes without any hint of drama. He is, apparently, a good family man who likes to bowl 300 in his spare time and would have been potentially the best player to ever hit free agency.
San Francisco Giants
The Giants were willing to offer Harper $310 million a year and a half ago when their future looked bleaker and their payroll was bloated. What kind of truck would have backed up to Betts' driveway?
[RELATED: Wilmer Flores no longer can be seen as the Forgotten Giant]
Yes, we're in the middle of a pandemic, one that has kept fans out of the ballpark. But look beyond those empty arcade seats and you'll be reminded of why this wouldn't have mattered with Betts. Lot A is a construction zone, but soon it will be filled with apartment complexes and retail spaces across the cove from right field. The Giants are rich, and they will stay rich, and they are very well positioned to keep spending as other teams deal with the fallout of 2020, especially with $70 million worth of contracts coming off the books after next season.
Zaidi has spent two years clearing those books for a brighter future, but his old boss, Andrew Friedman, was doing the same. He used that flexibility on Betts, the one player who could have dramatically closed the gap this offseason had he switched sides of the rivalry.
The Giants are doing a lot right, and they're much better positioned for the future than they were last Opening Day. But the path back to the top of the NL West just got a lot rockier, and they'll be reminded of that Thursday night when they step into Dodger Stadium and get their first look at Betts, a superstar they'll now have to try and beat for the rest of the decade.