Never let anyone say folks in the Bay Area aren’t clever.
The baseball team from The City made a sharp move late Friday night.
The football team in the South Bay did the same thing hours later.
For the Giants, the move was getting Matt Chapman – the former MVP candidate third baseman – to agree to a deal that is preposterously team friendly. Three years, $54 million is a far, far cry from the seven-plus year, nine figure deal Chapman and his agent, Scott Boras, wanted at the start of free agency.
When I wrote then that I thought the Giants should pass on Chapman, it had nothing to do with the player.
Ok, almost nothing to do with the player.
It was a vote of no confidence that Chapman would not be able to perform at at a high level – one commensurate with his pay – should he be signed to such a mega-deal.
But there’s almost no downside for the Giants with this deal.
He’s worth $20 million this season.
After that, if he wants to hang around – he has opt-out clauses after the first and second year of the deal – he can make $18 million and $16 million, respectively.
He’ll probably opt out. That’s ok. Baseball’s absurd free agent market – one that desperately needed revamping in the last round of collective bargaining, only for the player’s union to errantly stand pat – is self correcting.
If Chapman wants another go at the market this time next year, I doubt he’ll find a number any larger than what the Giants will give him. Which, of course, is a fair number. He’s a really good player.
But credit to director of player operations Farhan Zaidi for waiting out Chapman and the market. A lesser GM in Zaidi’s position would have panicked in January and thrown an absurd contract Chapman’s way. That long-term deal would have been a real problem for the team’s next head personnel person.
The 49ers made a bit of a different move. They promoted from within for their vacant defensive coordinator position. Former secondaries coach Nick Sorensen is now the man in the charge.
And that’s fine. After failing with an outside hire this past season, the smart money was always on Sorensen to land the job, despite the fact that this was his first time – to my knowledge – interviewing for to be a defensive coordinator.
The particularly shrewd move Kyle Shanahan and the Niners made, however, was adding former Chargers’ coach Brandon Staley to the team’s staff.
Officially, Staley will be an assistant coach.
Unofficially, he’ll be the team’s defensive tactician.
Perhaps the Niners felt the stench Staley carried from his time as the Chargers’ head coach was too strong to immediately make him defensive coordinator.
Perhaps Staley felt the same way. I can’t tell you – this whole search has been exceptionally clandestine.
But does it really matter? The Niners are getting one of the finest defensive minds in football to be on their staff. This can do nothing but help Sorensen.
And while I doubt this is the case — if Sorensen cannot handle the pressure of Staley being under him on the coaching depth chart, then he’s no better than Wilks.
I don’t know if Sorensen is going to be a good defensive coordinator. I do know that he’ll have a good staff behind him, with Staley being at the top.
Like Chapman for the Giants, Staley might be a one-and-done for the Niners. So be it.
Every team is operating year-to-year. Long-term stability is a myth in sport.
And bringing in both Chapman and Staley – even if for just one year — will be a boon for both teams.