Buster Posey — the beloved catcher turned front office exec — recently reflected on the Giants' attempts to sign Ohtani, calling the two-way superstar a "once in 150 years" talent. He also suggested San Francisco might have had a better shot during Ohtani's second free agency stint than the first. Which is a bit like saying you almost won the lottery — twice — and expecting people to feel better about it.

Look, nobody doubts Posey's sincerity or his competitive fire. The guy literally played through a broken leg in the World Series. But this kind of retrospective only sharpens the sting for a fanbase that has watched the organization spend years in a frustrating middle ground — not bad enough to land elite draft picks, not bold enough to land the generational free agents.

The Ohtani sweepstakes were always going to be a long shot. The Dodgers offered a contract structure that was essentially a deferred-payment cheat code, pushing most of the $700 million into the future to keep their payroll flexible now. It was creative. It was aggressive. And it was exactly the kind of deal the Giants' historically cautious ownership group was never going to match.

That's the real issue here. It's not that San Francisco lacked the money — it's one of the wealthiest markets in baseball. It's that the organization lacked the institutional willingness to swing for the fences, pun fully intended. You don't land a once-in-150-years player with a once-in-a-while mentality.

Posey deserves time to build something. But if the Giants want to stop being a "what if" franchise, the front office needs to stop looking back at the ones that got away and start making moves that ensure the next generational talent doesn't slip through their fingers. Again.