Originally posted by CatchMaster80:
LA only has one reral championship in recent years. The 60 game Covid season doesn't really count.
I have a problem with owners that aren't willing to spend in order to build a good solid team. Spending on free agency and even more so on the minor league system is a given if you want to win consistently. Giants ownership cut back on the number of scouts which is contrary to trying to be frugal. If you build through the minors then you don't have to overpay for free agents. All these owners are billionairers and most buy teams for fun. Not as a way to make money. It doesn't matter if a team loses a little money each year. If they build a winner, fans will come. If they decide to sell they always make a huge profit.
The Giants are spending money. What you have to analyze is what kind of money. In today's market what the Giants spend is not nearly enough to build the complete team. It may not win all the time but will be perennial contender and exciting team in the hunt. Giants' resources are running up against the budget and stop there. The budget that allows to spend up to the point in the constant relationship of spending enough to create the mirage of the contender to entice the fan base every year and make the yearly operating profit. Economy 101, keeping at most profit and become a 55–60-win team will drop attendance and defeat the purpose of the spendings / profit relationship. Interesting how they are always on the biggest names in FA and had never gotten single one of them. Possible some are at the feet of FA, using the Giants as leverage. But I don't believe it is on all of them. Some the Giants could have had if they were not just "teasing" the fan base. Enough money talk if they wanted to.
The other point is of course the farm system, drafting and developing players. I am not going to speculate on something I don't know.
Thirdly, the statement "All these owners are billionaires and most buy teams for fun" holds true. Not really for fun but prestige first and foremost. Their investment is tied up on the back end (Lacob bought the team for $450m, it is worth 10 times that right now). He can afford to run amok with spendings and swim in dynasty, because he'll make up all the losses and then some at the back end. In the meantime, millions around the world know who he is. Not the Giants group. Most of that group holding the pies (31 or 32 of them I believe) are there strictly as an investor. The'd love for the Giants to win when they make money, not so much if they'd be losing money year over year. Some of the investors are not the individuals but Corp conglomerates. Ask them if they like to lose money on the operating basis. Giants biggest shareholder (Johnson) owns only 26% of the team. The rest is spread over group of non-publicly listed silent investors.
