It appears the Giants did not review a lot of tape from the first half of the 2022 season during the All-Star break.

More errors, more unprepared relievers, and more not adding on led to another loss Thursday night in Los Angeles, the final 9-6 with a firm gut-punch right at the end. And of course, the Dodgers are very skilled at making the obvious talent gap between them and the rest of us look even more enormous in person.

By all accounts, the loss wasn’t as brutal as the ESPN Dodger suck-fest made it out to be. The Giants buried themselves early with lame defense, then made a nice comeback, but their lackluster bullpen didn’t hold. And regardless of it all, the Dodgers are 30 games over .500 with lots of good-to-really good players, Giants are competitive with OK-to-good players, mostly OK ones. Anyone surprised by the outcome might want to tune in to this year’s Giants more to catch up.

The Dodgers have a guy named Mookie Betts who’s pretty good. Whenever he plays anyone but Shohei Ohtani and the dumpster fire Angels, he is the best player on the field. Having the best performer in any competition between two opposing parties pretty much sets you up for success in any scenario you can think of.

Although he is not yet on Mookie’s level, I would strongly consider Juan Soto, currently of the Washington Nationals, one of these players. And if you believe in the previous sentiment like I do, doing whatever it takes to acquire a player like that is typically a good call. Here’s Soto at a glimpse.

He is 23 years of age.

He has won a World Series. He is twice an All-Star, Silver Slugger Award winner, and 1st team All-MLB. He has won a batting title. He also just won the Home Run Derby.

He is 23 years of age.

Seems like getting him would be ideal for anyone in the business of winning baseball games, right?

After the outfielder turned down 15 years, $440 million from the Nats, the Juan Soto sweepstakes have encapsulated the baseball world for about a week or so, and it JUST had its All-Star Game two days ago. Since then, the Giants have been mentioned frequently as one of the teams interested in acquiring the young phenom.

What Juan Soto brings to the table has been well-documented, so no need to list all the things that make him great. What does matter is what he can potentially do for the San Francisco Giants, both short and long term.

Here’s the short.

As presently constructed, the Giants have allotted 2 seasons of performing well over expectations (1 COVID season, in fairness), with a cavalcade of nice complementary players that fit nicely into their roles on the team. Mike Yastrzemski, Darin Ruf, and even Joc Pederson are among these players, specifically proven guys for cheap that can take advantage of favorable matchups. Austin Slater, Lamonte Wade Jr., and Thairo Estrada are of the same caliber, but on the younger side, with a little bit of room to grow and even improve further due to their athleticism. You have salty vets to bring stability on both ends in the usual suspects: the Brandons and Evan Longoria. And finally, bright babies of the future Joey Bart, Logan Webb, and Camilo Doval currently represent your future at the big league level, all of whom have had moments this season and in seasons prior to let you know they aren’t a complete waste of time.

So you have all that good stuff. But, whether you’re good, bad, or somewhere in between, it doesn’t really all click until that guy walks in the door. Convenient example, the Dodgers.

Lotta damn good teams the past decade. Lotta damn good players with that Dodger jersey on. Adrian Gonzalez. Darvish. Muncy. Machado. And that’s not counting all the incredible talents that were homegrown. And yet, they could never seemingly get over the hump. When did it all come together? When Mookie Betts came in.

The Nationals had a lot of talent throughout the mid-2010s as well. They had prodigal son Bryce Harper leading the way, sharing the mantle of being the face of Major League Baseball with Mike Trout, as far as I’m concerned. But they couldn’t find a way to make all that talent translate into winning the big one: Rendon, Trea Turner, Scherzer, Zimmerman, Strasburg. Nothing, until…I’ll let you guess what player helped them finally win the World Series in his 2nd season.

There are just certain guys who are so freakin’ good, they help everyone else do a little bit less, so that everyone else can do a little bit more. That’s the kind of player Juan Soto is, and I think regardless of the asking price, you do what you can to get him and let the chips fall. You ride out whatever magic dust the vets have left, and continue to build around Soto and win as much as possible for as long as he’ll have you. That’s just how it goes with guys of his level, in any sport.

Now I’m very aware that the current Giants don’t much resemble the talent of the pre-Mookie Dodgers or the pre-Soto Nats, but we did just win 107 games last year with essentially the same roster minus Buster Posey, Kevin Gausman, and half a season of Kris Bryant.

Now, the long term.

There’s concern Juan Soto won’t stay to where he’s traded to. That’s viable cause for concern of anyone who doesn’t want to burn their prospects for nothing, especially an organization like San Francisco who has worked so hard to rebuild its farm system almost from the ground up.

But he’s under contract for the next 2 seasons following this one, and I think you remember the part where I said he’s only 23 years old. Heliot Ramos is 22. Kyle Harrison, Marco Luciano, and Luis Matos are all 20. This isn’t Bryan Reynolds for Cutch, or Zach Wheeler for Beltran. You get 2+ years of Soto guaranteed, who we’re already certain is good at baseball, plus whatever potential agreements you can come to to extend his tenure beyond his age 25 (!!!) season.

And did it dawn on anyone else that maybe he turned down the years, not the money? A deal of a similar payout based on the years, with less years, might be more enticing, especially in a bigger market with a better opportunity for winning right now. And any “But the Farm System!”ers are still sore after Wheeler and Reynolds, who I already mentioned, and Luis Castillo for Casey McGehee. Otherwise it really hasn’t mattered that much in a trade situation, especially when you have the luxury of saying there were 3 World Series titles sprinkled in despite those bad moves.

So, again, get him if you can. Be aggressive. This isn’t a complete rent job like those were. If you can get him in the door, and he likes what he sees and stays awhile, he’ll be in his prime. And he’s already good now.

My last bullet for long term Soto is quite the pipe dream, but you’re going to read it anyway.

Great players, have fun playing with other great players. There are two players in particular with Giant ties who may or may not also agree with that.

Aaron Judge grew up a Giants fan for God’s sake, and I’d advise anyone who didn’t take that interview response to his Yankee future during the All-Star break seriously to reconsider. You think joining Juan Soto in the outfield at Oracle Park where his favorite team as a kid played isn’t a great pick-up line?

I will go even further down a path of delirium.

…The Giants fell out of the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes because he didn’t want to play the outfield, and the universal DH wasn’t a thing just yet.

It is now, though.

Imagine Soto, and potentially Judge, are already there come 2024 when Ohtani is a free agent…

Good lord, the fantasies. Correct me if I’m wrong, but Ohtani doesn’t strike me as a dollars and cents guy.

Look, can teams that are better now offer better packages? Of course. Do I even think the Giants will end up with him? My stance is incredibly leaning towards no. I’ve got half a toe in the door, at least.

I’m just saying don’t leave anything off the table in this situation. None of the cons outweigh the pros. Despite costing a pretty penny, potential great players, or both, superstars like Juan Soto ultimately shorten the gaps between winning and not winning. It again helps if they’ve already got the hardware. And stars attract stars. We might not be New York or LA, but San Francisco ain’t a bad place to play either.

Keep dreaming, Giants fans. Who the hell knows. Until then, believe in Joey Bart with me.

Cheers.