I very much doubt Giants will get Burnes, there will be a steep competition for him now among the Soto losers and Giants will be outbid for him. We had seen how Bay Area ties play when going after Judge. Same will probably apply to Fried.
I would try hard to sell Sasaki on the pitcher friendly AT&T, while keeping strong connection with Flaherty. If Sasaki situation is failing, get Flaherty and hope he repeats last year, with Ray leap to his old self. Then I would part with a couple of relatively highly taught youngsters (except Eldridge) and trade for a DH guy. Couple of guys are on the block right now: Vlad Jr and Castelanos. In that case, I don't see the reduction in payroll, but it is either competing or reduction. Combining the image of competing (in reality half ass competing) with reduction will not work well.
[ Edited by tl57 on Dec 9, 2024 at 12:20 PM ]