It’s been a while since we did a mailbag, so let’s dive right in.
What did you make of Buster Posey’s comments on free agents being afraid of San Francisco?
» You mean the company line?
Posey was not the first to blame the city of San Francisco for the Giants’ high-profile free agency failures when he made such comments to the Athletic. Hell, Farhan Zaidi preemptively blamed the city before free agency even started.
And because this tactic works, the Giants will keep using it.
But it’s a diversion from the real issue.
Now, there is no doubt plenty of negativity towards San Francisco floating around these days.
The city and region are seen as the epicenter of liberal values in this country, and because of that, a pretty nasty negative PR campaign is being waged against it by bad actors trying to prove a perverse point.
At the same time, it’s true that you can’t walk prospective players too far down Market Street. Oh, and avoid that area over there, there, and there, too.
The highs of San Francisco are incredibly high. But the lows are very low these days.
The Giants can’t do anything to change players’ (or, if we’re being honest, their partners’) TikTok feeds. (Get better news diets.) Those perceptions of San Francisco are real, even if the problems being presented are overblown or downright false.
Now, let’s be clear: San Francisco does have problems. It’s a real city, after all.
But I’ve seen the same issues in Fort Lauderdale, Dallas, Seattle, Phoenix, Nashville, and Los Angeles. The expensive housing isn’t just a San Francisco issue these days. Fentanyl use certainly isn’t.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a better place to live than the Bay Area, though. Pick a direction — Novato, Danville, or Atherton would love to have another Giant.
So, while the negative perception of San Francisco is real, I think we’re falling into a trap set by the Giants to blame something they cannot control instead of something they can.
What big-time free agents dislike most about San Francisco isn’t homelessness or the plexiglass on deodorant at Walgreens.
It’s the damn ballpark.
The Giants have chased after four big-time bats since Zaidi took over as director of baseball operations.
Two of them have hit lefthanded (Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani). The other two love to hit the ball hard to the opposite field.
Geez, I wonder why those guys wouldn’t want to play 81 games at Oracle Park…
The ballpark’s homer-zapping powers in right field (and every field at night) are legendary and, in this case, well deserved.
So while the money would always be right with the Giants, even with California taxes, the truth is egos are getting in the way.
If you’re a top hitter, used to blasting 45 homers a season, why would you want to play in a ballpark that will cut your home run output — guaranteed — when you can get the same sort of money to play home games in a park that doesn’t?
The answer is you wouldn’t unless you are Barry Bonds and your shoe size grows from a 10.5 to a 13 in short order.
And so they haven’t.
Now, this logic should apply in reverse for pitchers. The big names should be lining up to play at Oracle Park.
Sure enough, the Giants have succeeded with short-term reclamation projects where the ballpark was undoubtedly part of the calculus for the player.
The problem for the Giants is that free-agent starting pitchers who are worth signing to a big-money, long-term contract are infrequent at best.
Such a pitcher hits the market every other year. Maybe.
Amid an epidemic of elbow injuries, it’s bad business to pay sticker price, much less enter a bidding war, for anyone but the very best (and perhaps not even them) in free agency.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto might be the rare exception, as he is 25 years old (most starters are near or beyond 30 when they hit free agency). And wouldn’t you know it, the Giants have a real shot with him.
But with hitters? San Francisco has no shot until they change the dimensions of right field.
What does this indefinite suspension mean for Draymond Green’s legacy?
» It hurts it. And I don’t think that’s in-the-moment thinking.
This, too, shall pass. But the fact that Green is being suspended for an ambiguous term won’t soon be forgotten.
Green is still one of the greatest defenders of all time. He’ll still be a great broadcaster when his playing career ends. He’ll still go into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
But now I think he will need to wait a bit longer than before to give a speech in Springfield.
Had Green played his final few seasons in the NBA with grace, his reputation as a dirty player wouldn’t be as pronounced when his name comes up for enshrinement.
But his lashing out amid declining play brings it to the forefront. The NBA’s need to take such radical action with this suspension ensures it’ll be a big part of the conversation.
Green will get in. Calvin Murphy and Bill Bradley are in. Vlade Divac is in. All three members of Run TMC are in.
He might have to sweat it out for a while, though.
How tall is Jonathan Kuminga, really?
» A strange question that I might be uniquely equipped to answer.
I can say that he’s as tall as me, and I’m 6-foot-8.
This is not to boast. There’s more downside than upside to height in my life. I’m not an NBA player, so I still have to fly economy.
That said, my height does make it easy to figure out who is accurately listed on the NBA rosters. (I looked slightly up to talk to Kevin Durant, slightly down to talk to Green.)
But I think I know what this question is really about:
Kuminga is one of the only players on the Warriors who can play above the rim, and with the Dubs not being able to protect the rim — at all — it’s easy to think that Kuminga should be helping.
But that’s complicated by a few factors.
First, he’s 21 years old. He’s not strong enough to be a rim protector just yet.
Second, the Warriors desperately need his skills on the perimeter on defense. The fact that you can put a big body outside the arc and he can stay in front of smaller, faster dribblers is a massive advantage.
Third, his offensive game is still perimeter-based — as are 99 percent of players in this game today. It’s hard for a young player to think perimeter on one end and post on the other.
Would I like to see more experimenting with Kuminga as a “smallball” 5? Absolutely.
But are the Warriors really in a position to test that out right now?