Wednesday BP: The Giants are unlikely to prioritize a reunion with Kris Bryant

Good morning, baseball fans!

I hope you enjoyed Game 1 of the World Series last night, where the (Houston Astros/Atlanta Braves) won in a (tight game/blowout). As you can tell, this was pre-written. But we’ll probably talk more about the first two games in tomorrow’s BP.

For now, let’s take a look at one of the bigger question marks of the offseason for the San Francisco Giants. As we’ve discussed previously, Farhan Zaidi has expressed the organization’s top priorities as 1.) rebuilding the rotation, 2.) bringing back Buster Posey, and 3.) bringing back Brandon Belt.

Where does Kris Bryant fall on that list? Well, he might not even be on it. And that’s not to say that anyone in the organization wouldn’t want him back! They all speak glowingly of him, just look at what Gabe Kapler had to say to Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area:

“He’s a superstar talent coming in and doing everything he possibly could to fit in with a new team and his talent was evident at every turn. His pregame work was awesome. He’s a fast baserunner, he has big power to all fields, his preparation was excellent. I have really good feelings about what Kris brought to us.”

But, with that said, the Giants are unlikely to make Bryant the top priority. Zaidi has expressed interest in keeping this team together as much as possible going into next season, but it won’t be identical. And Zaidi has also made it fairly clear that the trade for Bryant was primarily about stacking the deck for the 2021 season, and that there weren’t necessarily long-term plans in mind.

That’s not to say that they won’t be in on him, but he is a client of Scott Boras, and Boras’ strategy tends to be to wait out the market and get the best deal for his clients. As he should, and if anyone deserves a big payday it’s Bryant, after the ordeal he went through with the Chicago Cubs manipulating his service time.

The Giants will certainly be keeping an eye on the market he draws, but they have to continue to make other plans in the meantime.

Old, random MCC article for you to read

This feels timely, unless you’re going for the Braves.

20 reasons why the Houston Astros are your new favorite baseball team (October 24th, 2017 - Grant Brisbee)

How many days until pitchers and catchers report?

The Giants pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in 113 days.