The Dodgers' rivals up the coast have had had a no good, very bad season. The Giants finished under .500 for the second year in a row, and two out of three of their big signings in the offseason have been busts this year. They did extend Matt Chapman, but Blake Snell is expected to test free agency again and opt out of his contract, and Jung Hoo Lee only played 37 games before dislocating his shoulder and sitting out through the rest of the season.
Aside from Chapman, the Giants just can't attract stars, and then they can't keep them, either. A lot of that has had to do with the fumbling of their (now former) president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, whose repeated gaffes throughout his tenure and clear failure to sustain success ended up getting him axed on Monday. Seems like the Dodgers may have foisted the right man onto San Fran.
The Giants extended Zaidi through 2026 in October of last year, but after finishing 18 games back of the Dodgers in first place, the buck had to stop somewhere. San Francisco gave him the bump and announced legendary Giant and likely Hall of Famer Buster Posey as their new PoBO in a clear effort to try to win fans back and reinvigorate the franchise by installing a beloved face.
Good luck with that, Buster.
Giants announce they have parted ways with Farhan Zaidi, hire Buster Posey as new president of baseball operations. pic.twitter.com/G6XvpWtAN5
— MLB (@MLB) September 30, 2024
Dodgers News: Farhan Zaidi out, Buster Posey in; Shohei Ohtani's 50/50 ball; Tony Gonsolin postseason update
In more Dodgers-centric news, Shohei Ohtani's 50/50 ball has been mired in (slightly silly) controversy ever since he hit it out of LoanDepot Park on Sept. 19. The fan who caught the ball opted to keep it instead of handing it back over to the Dodgers, and it was promptly put up for auction by Goldin. The price stands at $1.2 million now, and the auction will close on Oct. 16.
Two separate lawsuits have been filed in terms of ownership of the ball. Max Matus, an 18-year-old fan, was the first to try to stop the ball from going to sale, and another fan, Joseph Davidov, filed a motion against Goldin, the two original sellers, and Matus claiming ownership on Sept. 30. Suffice to say that Ohtani and the Dodgers probably won't be getting that ball back.
Looking forward to the postseason, Dave Roberts provided another update on whether or not Tony Gonsolin will rejoin the Dodgers in October, saying that "unless 'something really unforeseen' happens," they won't be carrying Gonsolin on the playoff roster. Roberts and the Dodgers have been equivocating on this point a lot over the past few weeks, but it sounds like another really poorly timed injury for a reliever is the only thing that will get Gonsolin back ahead of schedule.
This is definitely for the best. Although Gonsolin seems itching to get back to the majors and has already gone through all of the rehab motions — he completed a rehab assignment in September — asking a pitcher who hasn't appeared in a major league game since August of last year to handle playoff innings is too much of a risk for the Dodgers to take right now.
