At face value, the 2022-2023 offseason for the San Francisco Giants can be described in three words: heartbreaking, disappointing, and underwhelming. 

Following a subpar  .500 season, the club promised a big offseason of spending and shaping the future of the franchise. This, of course, would never come to fruition with the Giants swinging and missing out on two of baseball’s brightest stars.

Prior to the offseason starting, the Giants knew they had pits in the roster that they had to fill. One of these holes is the void that Giants all-time great catcher, Buster Posey, left when he retired. They were missing their headline player.

Going into the winter, the front office knew that this missing piece needed to be filled. They had their sights set on the 2022 AL MVP and home run champ, Aaron Judge. Judge was due for a huge contract after betting on himself and declining a $213.5 million 7-year extension from the New York Yankees in April. He then proceeded to set the AL record for home runs hit in a season and also won the MVP award, making him the biggest free agent on the market.

 Due to Judge’s Bay Area roots, the orange and black believed that they may be able to lure the slugger into coming to San Francisco where he dreamed of playing during his youth. They even went as far as to bring former Giant, Rich Aurillia –Judge’s favorite player growing up – to talk to Judge about what it was like to play ball in the city. Despite their efforts and a $360 million 9-year contract offer, Judge would return to the Bronx on those same terms.

Even with the AL MVP turning them down, the Giants were determined to get their superstar player. And they did, with Minnesota Twins shortstop Carlos Correa agreeing to the terms of  a $350 million 13-year contract. The Giants had a press conference scheduled  for Dec. 20 to introduce the new superstar to San Francisco and to state that long-time Giants shortstop, Brandon Crawford, would be moving positions to 3rd base. 

Shortly before the press conference was to take place,  the club postponed the meeting until further notice.  This was due to an ankle issue that the platinum glover had on his physical, causing the front office to back out of the deal and effectively making Correa a free agent again.

The loss of these players forced the club to pivot to other options in outfielders; Mitch Haniger and Michael Conforto, along with pitchers Ross Stripling, Sean Manaea and Taylor Rogers – twin brother of Giants reliever, Tyler.

The off-season didn’t end up exactly as the Orange and Black had envisioned, but it still turned out solid in the shaping of this franchise’s future. 

In an interview with Riordan alumnus Steven Rissotto ’20 of SF Bay, long-time bench coach of the San Francisco Giants, Ron Wotus stated, “Well, you know spring is eternal –everybody is looking forward to get to spring training. One thing I’ve learned in all my years is we were never picked to be the best team in all the years we went to the World Series.”

 He continued, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. So right now, I think we’ve improved in certain areas. We’ve changed the mix a little bit. I think we’re going to have some fresh faces and some fresh attitudes in the clubhouse. It’s going to boil down to us now getting the most out of the players and getting it done.” 

Not every fan was disappointed, though, Andres Roca ’25 expressed his contentment with the offseason. Stating that he believed the offseason was underrated. 

“I think our offseason was very underrated and we improved more than we regressed and I think a lot of people ignore that because we missed out on the big fish in the market.”