The San Francisco Giants are preparing for a very important offseason, as the franchise is now being led by Buster Posey as the President of Baseball Operations. 

After missing the playoffs for three straight years, ownership decided that it was time for a change and that Posey would be able to turn things around. 

It is not going to be an overnight fix for the Giants, as they have a few areas where they need to find improvements. 

In addition to looking for added help, they will also have one of their top pitchers likely hitting free agency. Blake Snell will likely be declining his player option this offseason, as he will be one of the top pitchers on the market. 

Even though the southpaw didn’t have a great season with San Francisco, he had a really strong second half of the campaign. The left-hander started the season behind the eight-ball by signing just before the season started. 

He will likely be trying to avoid that this offseason, and he should also be able to get the long-term deal he desires. Recently, Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report spoke about the San Diego Padres being a great landing spot for Snell. 

“Well, here we go again, because it is very likely Snell will decline his option to return to the Giants in 2025 and will be easily a top-five free agent. And when that happens, a reunion with the San Diego Padres makes a ton of sense. They didn’t want to do it last winter because they were in cost-cutting mode and felt pretty good about their rotation following the Soto trade. But with Joe Musgrove destined to miss all of 2025 following Tommy John surgery while Dylan Cease and Michael King are in their final year of arbitration eligibility, bringing Snell back home on a semi-long-term deal could be the play.”

It was another excellent season for the Padres in 2024, as they reached the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, and unfortunately, just came up short. 

However, a reunion with Snell could make a lot of sense for a team that has a need now in the starting rotation with Joe Musgrove out with Tommy John surgery. 

In three seasons with San Diego, the southpaw was excellent, especially in 2023, as he won the National League Cy Young. Since the Padres have a superb core in place and are capable of winning now, a reunion with Snell makes a lot of sense. 

The San Francisco Giants are facing the severe need to upgrade across the lineup after missing the postseason for the seventh time in the last eight years while the roster has simply not been good enough as of late.

One player who went into the 2024 season looking to take the next step coming off of a career best 2023 was utility infielder Wilmer Flores, but it just didn’t really work out for the veteran as he suffered through numerous injuries throughout the season. Flores went from 126 games played in 2023 to just 71 in 2024 with his numbers dropping like a rock as well.

From a career best .863 OPS to a career worst .595, Flores was simply a different player this season than he was the previous season as it became apparent that injuries were impacting him. When it comes to what the Giants are going to do with the struggling Flores, they may not end up having much of a choice as to whether to keep him or not. While there is a mutual option, Flores will have the chance to opt in for $3.5 million, something that Jeff Young of Around the Foghorn says is all but a guarantee.

“The good news is that Flores has assurances of guaranteed money in 2025. If he was an unrestricted free agent, he might struggle to get a major league deal given how badly he hit in 2024,” Young wrote. “Flores will exercise his player option for next season. This could be a case where he begins the offseason on the books while the Giants look to move the veteran bat.”

If Flores somehow declines his option, there is an $8.5 million option on the team’s end, a number San Francisco certainly would not pay rather than letting him hit free agency.

It’s not a great situation the team finds themselves in owing a chunk of change to a player who was a liability at the plate this season, but given that the Giants will likely be paying him regardless, Flores will get the chance to prove that he’s recovered from his various injuries and that the player he was in 2023 is still who he is in 2025.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — In San Francisco where the average rent price is $3,000 – $4,000 a month, renting a sleeping pod for $700 a month is a deal.

“I was living in the Presidio before and was kind of looking for cheaper options just so I could keep working on the stuff I wanted to and working on open-source projects,” said Ben, one of the residents and entrepreneurs.

The majority of people who live in the building have the same goal; build a tech start up and make it big. So, paying high rent prices is not part of that equation.

“I’m originally from China, but I just graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and moved here after graduation,” said Ruidi. “Almost everybody is a founder. They want to achieve something greater and build something that creates more impact for society.”

Each pod is the size of a twin bed, 4 feet tall with two fans, a mirror, and a curtain for privacy.

But after this housing concept went viral in 2023, many here were at risk of losing their housing because the city said the people running it didn’t have the right permits.

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“There was never anything illegal about the pods. It’s just that we didn’t have a change of use because this building used to be bank. So, we went through that process for about a year. In the meantime, the planning department at some point said that we can’t list it because people were complaining thinking we were renting illegal housing,” said James Stallworth with Brownstone Share Housing.

For the first time, we are hearing exclusively from James Stallworth with Brownstone Share Housing, the company that runs the pods. We got a look inside their building, a place he said almost didn’t survive because of how long the permitting process took in San Francisco.

“There really wasn’t anything that we had to change about the building. If we had to do all sorts of retrofitting to make it safe, I would have accepted that. I’m a human and know we have to provide a safe place to live but there were no safety concerns. There was really no construction that we had to do to improve the building,” said Stallworth.

After over a year, he is glad they finally have the right approval for the pods.

We contacted San Francisco’s Department of Building Inspections, and they confirmed that on Sept. 5, the planning department issued “a letter of approval for the sleeping pods.”

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They also asked him to obtain paperwork for their shower stall and fix the front entry lock.

The entrepreneurs who live in the building hope the city makes the permitting process easier.

“It’s affordable and convenient and I think it’s something that strengthens people doing venture stuff. If this existed three or four years ago, we probably wouldn’t have lost so many early-stage startups to Austin, Denver or places like that,” said Ben.

Stallworth said they are planning to have a bigger place in San Francisco despite the one year permitting process they experienced.

“We are in the process of opening a place that is five times this size. Early next year it will be opening,” said Stallworth.

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San Francisco’s Building Inspection Department explained the violations:

“(1) File for and obtain a change of use permit with City Planning approval to legalize the installation of the sleeping pods OR remove and revert to last known legal condition. 2) Replace front entry lock with a type that does not require a key to exit in case of an emergency within 5 days. 3) File for and obtain a building permit for the installation of the shower stall. A separate plumbing permit is required. Permit application must state to comply with NOV. Obtain all required inspections to abate this NOV.

On September 5, 2024, the Planning Department issued a letter of approval for the sleeping pods. The Planning Department’s Property Information Map has information about their determination and the Planning Department would be your best source to detail the process and timing behind this determination.

On October 13, 2023, a DBI inspector confirmed that the property owner replaced the front door lock so that a key is no longer required to exit.

So items # 1 & 2 have been addressed but item # 3 is outstanding.

As such, Notice of Violation 202313896 remains unresolved and the associated Order of Abatement issued on April 12, 2024 remains in place.”