SAN FRANCISCO - There has been a widespread belief that Giancarlo Stanton and Shohei Ohtani have held up an entire offseason, but it doesn't hold up. You can blame agents, free agents, general managers, owners, or some combination of all of them, but it's not quite fair to blame this entire freeze on an MVP with a $295 million deal that's unmovable to most teams and a Japanese star who just chose the Los Angeles Angels over a seven team field of suitors.
Regardless, there has been a remarkable lack of action this offseason, including in San Francisco, where the Giants have basically held up their other plans to wait for decisions from two players. They have contributed to the slowest offseason in recent memory, but for the front office, that's actually a positive.
Late Thursday night, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Stanton does not want to play in San Francisco or St. Louis, instead preferring - at the moment - the Dodgers or Yankees. The Giants have not said whether they have indeed been eliminated, and sources have not indicated that it's Plan B time yet. But if they do have to move on in the coming days, they'll find that the market has not moved on without them.
The silver lining of this incredibly slow period has been that the offseason has not left the Giants behind. For whatever reason, 29 other teams have mostly closed their checkbooks, and that means that the Giants will still have plenty of options if they are ultimately told that they need to move on from Stanton and Ohtani.
Andrew McCutchen? He's still a Pirate, and the Giants have checked in on him this offseason. If he's their backup plan, he's still on the table.
Defensive upgrades in center field? This was the original offseason focus and all the free agents are still out there, as well as the original trade targets the organization focused on during the second half of the season. The only big-name center fielder to be moved over the past month is Dee Gordon, and he was a second baseman until the Mariners called on Thursday.
An upgrade at third base? Mike Moustakas is highly unlikely because he's tied to draft pick compensation, but he hasn't been mentioned at all over the last month, and he's still out there if the Giants want to kick the tires. Todd Frazier would provide right-handed pop, and he also remains on the market, along with every other free agent third baseman.
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Relievers? A couple have come off the board, but they weren't seen as great fits for the Giants anyway, and just about every free agent reliever will head into the winter meetings looking for a job.
Again, the Giants have not said they're moving on to Plan B yet, but if they have to, they'll find that even in the second week of December, they're right on schedule. Two months ago, team executives sat at a podium and talked of fixing center field, third base and the bullpen. Stanton sucked all the air out of the room after that, but if the Giants choose to move on when they land in Orlando, they'll find that the original names in their offseason playbook are all still available.
