There's no question that the San Francisco Giants are willing to splash the cash to improve the team to try and compete with the likes of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves for National League supremacy. The Giants were reportedly willing to match the contract that Shohei Ohtani eventually signed with the Dodgers — that's how willing they were to break the bank. However, major free agents, such as Ohtani, reportedly have other concerns which led to their decision to spurn the Giants, according to power agent Scott Boras.

According to Boras, free agents are reportedly concerned that signing with the Giants means that they're doomed to a life of finishing second, what with the Dodgers' unlimited coffers, elite prospect pipeline, and overall organizational health making them shoo-ins for NL West dominance for the foreseeable future.

“The players’ major focus is the structure of the organization and winning and competing. The biggest issue the Giants have is the fact that the Dodgers are getting better. Players want to know if they come here, will they be able to compete with the Dodgers? And now Arizona. That’s the real major question that San Francisco has to answer,” Boras said, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.

That is the catch-22 the Giants organization is currently facing; as presently constructed, there's no way they dethrone the Dodgers as the king of the division, health permitting. This is why the Giants are in pursuit of the top free agents — to compete with the Dodgers. So how can the Giants start inching more closely to the Dodgers' level if there isn't a single top free agent who would take a leap of faith on the organization?

Now, with the Dodgers having secured two of the best free agents on the market to add to a roster that already boasts the services of Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, among others, the gap between LA and the rest of the NL West only becomes larger, even with the Arizona Diamondbacks coming off an epic run to the World Series. Scott Boras may be right in what he said, and it's difficult to see things changing anytime soon.