Grant Cohn: Giants thought they had talent to win, and they were wrong

Do not cry for the Giants.

They’re not victims.

They’re not suffering from bad luck.

They’re not a quality team that’s underperforming.

They’re not a left fielder or a third baseman or a starting pitcher away from being good.

They’re not the second-worst team in the MLB just because Madison Bumgarner fell off a motorcycle and injured his shoulder.

They’re not a few free-agent signings away from bouncing back and contending for the playoffs next year.

They’re not going to reload during the offseason.

They’re just bad.

And they’re going to stay bad for a long time. They need to blow up their team and start over. The sooner the better.

The Giants should have seen this catastrophe coming. The signs were there last season. After playing well against an easy schedule before the All Star break, and despite finishing the season 12 games over .500, they were 12 games under.500 in the second half of the season.

And yet, for some reason they really thought they’d be good this year. Giants management paid more than $180 million - the fifth-largest opening-day payroll in baseball - on a team that can’t pitch, hit or field, and is on pace to lose 105 games.

Time for the Giants to be honest with themselves. This is what they should do if there were no encumbrances and they could dump whomever they want.

Dump Hunter Pence. Pence is 34 and can’t stay healthy - he has injured his hamstring the past two seasons -he can’t field his position anymore and he can’t hit for power. He has five home runs and only 12 extra-base hits.

Dump Denard Span. Another old outfielder who can’t stay healthy or hit for power. Dump him.

Keep Eduardo Nunez, but only as a backup who can play a few infield positions and pinch run. He’s not as a starter.

Dump Brandon Belt, for Pete’s sake. He’s batting .229 and has a team-high 78 strikeouts, and he has the worst body language. Every time he strikes out, he slumps his shoulders and trudges back to the dugout with his head down. He looks like a loser. Get rid of him.

Keep Joe Panik. He’s a fine player, although he isn’t special. If the Giants could trade him for a power-hitting prospect, they should. But they probably can’t.

Keep Brandon Crawford, although he’s having a horrendous season, batting .239. If the Giants could trade him for a power-hitting prospect, they should. But they probably can’t.

Keep Buster Posey, but move him out of the cleanup spot in the batting order. He’s a great player and he could win the batting title this year, but he has limited power. And when runners are scoring position, he is hitting a mere .255 with one home run. Teams don’t win many games if their cleanup hitter doesn’t produce with runners in scoring position. On a good team, Posey would bat sixth.

And another thing about Posey. When he transitions full time to first base, which could happen in the next couple of seasons, he will be just an above-average player at that position. Not a great player. Not the cornerstone of a World Series team.

Dump Matt Moore. His 6.04 ERA is the worst in the National League.

Dump Matt Cain. No explanation necessary. The Giants would have dumped him years ago if they could have.

Trade Johnny Cueto before this season’s trading deadline. He’s a good No. 2 pitcher who gets exposed when he has to be an ace. Theoretically, the Giants could get a good prospect for him.

Trade Jeff Samardzija. Some people like him even though he’s inconsistent, his 4.63 ERA is 26 points above the league average and he’s even worse on the road when he can’t pitch in the Giants’ huge ballpark. Plus, he seems to give up a home run or two every time he pitches.

Keep Ty Blach. Or dump him. Who cares? At best, he’s a No. 5 pitcher or a long reliever, not someone you build a pitching staff around.

Keep Madison Bumgarner, but on two conditions. One, will he still be the old Madison Bumgarner when he returns from his shoulder injury? The Giants should not keep damaged goods.

And two, make sure he has mended fences with the players. I know how locker rooms work - no matter what players have said publicly, some will feel Bumgarner let down the team, because he did.

Dump Mark Melancon. He’s a good closer but the Giants almost never have a lead late in games, so what’s the point of having him? He’s a wasted asset. Trade him for prospects.

I just listed 11 people the Giants should consider getting rid of, and I’m not done.

The Giants should at least consider replacing manager Bruce Bochy, pitching coach Dave Righetti and hitting coach Bam Bam Meulens. These three have been great for the Giants in the past and Bochy is a future Hall of Famer. But they may not have the energy or patience to go through a long, frustrating rebuild. The Giants may need younger coaches.

And they may need a new general manager. Every move Bobby Evans makes backfires in his face. He has assembled one of the least-talented franchises in baseball and has consistently overpaid longtime Giants for past production. Two mortal sins.

Evans and the rest of management are the reasons the Giants probably can’t get rid of most of the people they should. They’ve created their own encumbrances.

They’re stuck with Pence for one more season - he has a full no-trade clause.

They’re stuck with Span for one more season. Who would trade for him?

They’re stuck with Melancon until 2020. Full no-trade clause.

They’re stuck with Samardzija until 2020 unless one of eight teams he chooses wants to trade for him.

They’re stuck with Brandon Belt until 2021, because they signed him to a $72.8 million extension last year. No team will trade for Belt’s contract.

The one player the Giants probably can trade is Cueto, although he may not bring much in return. He can opt out of his contract after this season and teams won’t give the Giants a premium prospect for a half season of Cueto.

All of this means the Giants can’t blow up their roster yet. They have to be an expensive bad team for a couple more years before they start over and become a rebuilding bad team.

Do not cry for the Giants. They’re hemmed in by their own choices.

Grant Cohn writes sports columns and the “Inside the 49ers” blog for The Press Democrat’s website. You can reach him at grantcohn@gmail.com.