Despite Changes San Francisco Giants Still Land In Top 20 of Latest Power Rankings

The San Francisco Giants approach free agency one ace lighter, but still place well in the latest power rankings.

D. Ross Cameron-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants had much higher hopes for their 2024 MLB season after bringing in the reigning, defending, undisputed National League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and third baseman Matt Chapman.

Instead, they finished the 2024 campaign with an 80-82 record, which was better than they did in 2023, but still nowhere close to their 107-win effort in 2021.

Now that we have officially reached the offseason and the division rival Los Angeles Dodgers are your 2024 World Series Champions, the Giants find themselves one ace lighter as Snell chose to opt out of his contract, heading to free agency for the second time in as many years.

San Francisco finds their future hopes and dreams in flux currently, but all may not be lost just yet for the organization.

In a recent article for Bleacher Report, Joel Reuter gave his MLB Power Rankings as we approach free agency, placing the Giants as the 18th-best team in the sport.

"Will new president of baseball operations Buster Posey have better luck luring elite free-agent talent to San Francisco?" asks Reuter.

Posey was the driving force behind the Chapman extension earlier this year and looks to be a prevalent piece of the team's decisions moving forward, and the fans have enjoyed them thus far.

There is a plethora of free-agent talent available on the market this winter, and multiple options could choose to play in the Bay Area, especially pitchers.

Max Fried, a left-handed pitcher from the Atlanta Braves would be a good fit in San Francisco, a team known for their infield defense, as he is a groundball pitcher and could benefit greatly from the vast defensive improvement he would get by leaving the Braves.

Corbin Burnes is another groundball pitcher available on the market this year, perhaps the best available, and would also benefit from the Giants' defense backing him up every fifth day.

Of course, the club could try and bring back Snell, it would just take many more years and many more millions of dollars to do so, but they already know what he is capable of when he dons a jersey emblazoned with San Francisco across the chest.

No matter who they try to bring in, they still have work to do if they plan on contending with the Dodgers or the San Diego Padres, though they are in a better situation than things may seem.