photo from nbcbayareasports.com: San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy doffs his cap to the fans at the introduction of the Giants at the home opener at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Friday afternoon vs. the Tampa Bay Rays.

By Amaury Pi-Gonzalez

There is no guarantee sellout at SBC, Pac Bell, AT&T or Oracle Park anymore for San Francisco Giants fans and the dream of another World Series trophy in the near future is just that — a dream.

Looking at the National League West, there is little doubt that even the Padres have much more life, youth and talent than the aging Giants. You want a good surgeon,with lots of experience to operate on you, but in today’s baseball, youth is what is driving the game, not experience. Giants tried to sign Bryce Harper to a short two-year deal, but truth be said,why would he play in San Francisco, in a ballpark that is anything but a hitting paradise, when he could and did, wound up signing a lifelong contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, who play in a park that is truly a power-hitters dream.

Most teams are getting younger and younger, but the Giants obviously never got the memo, they live on days past,not on the present. Giants are anything but exciting. Their hitting is pathetic, they have no speed, and although their pitching is not bad, they feel a tremendous amount of pressure because when they are down early in a game, they can’t come back.

The most exciting player for the Giants is a guy who is getting paid by the Red Sox. Yes, Pablo Sandoval, who has been relegated to the most difficult job in the game, a pinch-hitter, and he seems to deliver, energize and excite the fans. Sandoval has all the passion that this team lacks.

The Giants made lots of mistakes giving huge contracts to players, whose best years were in the past: Buster Posey, Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto Jeff Samardzija, and Evan Longoria. There lies most of the big money on their payroll. They did this to please their fanbase. Loyalty might be very important in politics, when when it comes to baseball? Winning three World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014 recruited thousands of new Giants fans, but this is the Bay Area, and unless you are the Warriors, who just win, there comes a time where you cannot please your fans.

The Giants have a great propaganda machine in the Bay Area. When the Oakland A’s were winning titles and the Giants were not, the Giants were the favorite team to cover for the media, but I also remember when I could not give away free tickets for the Giants at Candlestick Park.

I was there to call the first ever game at what is today Oracle Park, back in the year 2000. The park was the talk of town, people were going to see the beautiful new facility, and even people that have never seen a baseball game, I remember a tourist family in SF from Italy that I met as they were walking to the park, just to be there. 10 years later, the people were going to see a championship team. The park is already 19 years old.

I looked at all the rosters in the NL West, and I just could not find a team inferior to the Giants starting this 2019 season.

It is early, yes, and although it might seem like a pessimistic look at these Giants, I am truly a realist, I like to look at the half of the glass that is full, rather than the half that is empty, but at this time, the Giants are empty. The Dodgers will win the division again, and it should not be even close, but the most interesting team in the NL West are the Padres, not only they signed Manny Machado, but Fernando Tatis Jr., the youngest player in the MLB, is truly an exciting player with great talent, an All-Star shortstop in the making. The Padres have lots of young and up and coming players, and I do not think they are a last place team anymore.

The Giants better get used to last place.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez is the Spanish radio voice for the Oakland A’s on 1010 KIQI San Francisco and does News and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com