It’s no surprise Farhan Zaidi isn’t eager to land a “big-splash acquisition,” in his words. The Giants’ laundry list of problems can’t immediately be fixed with $300 million-plus thrown at Bryce Harper.

This will take a while. The Giants, with hard-to-move contracts and glaring holes in the outfield and rotation, aren’t in position to make a quick return to glory or threaten the Dodgers for division supremacy.

Let alone league supremacy.

On the other hand, there are reasons for optimism in 2019, not the least of which is the notion that the Giants play in a division that’s expected to be one of the two weakest in the majors.

Welcome to the National League West, where second place is up for grabs.

In light of Zaidi’s comments to The Chronicle’s Henry Schulman — the Giants’ new boss is focused on “which guys we think are productive players for us, and not which guys grab the most attention on the ESPN ticker” — it’s clear the Giants aren’t all in on Harper and that Zaidi doesn’t believe a big-money signing is the answer.

Last season, the Giants moved up a notch from last place, finishing behind the Dodgers, Rockies and Diamondbacks and ahead of the one-day-they-just-might-be-good Padres. Before melting down in September, the Giants were a .500 team despite several extensive injuries and without any of their projected front-line players flirting with a career season.

And now, though rosters are far from settled, signs across the division suggest the Dodgers could win their seventh straight NL West crown by virtually standing pat.

Consider the Diamondbacks, who led the division through August, are pulling back after trading their best hitter, perennial MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt, to the Cardinals and losing their best pitcher, free-agent lefty Patrick Corbin, to the Nationals. The next to go will be center fielder A.J. Pollock, who appears to be waiting out the high-end market so the teams that don’t get Harper or Manny Machado would accelerate for him.

For a team that went 8-19 in September and will be missing three major in-their-prime components, the Diamondbacks clearly are in a rebuilding mode (not that they admit it), yet aren’t exactly flooded with prospects ready to burst into the majors.

A reminder: Zack Greinke, who’s signed for three more years, remains trade bait as well. Why hold on to a $100 million-plus contract — or any veteran contract, for that matter — if contending isn’t realistic in the near future?

The Padres won’t contend any sooner than 2020. Until then, it’s about being patient with shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., second baseman Luis Urias and catcher/outfielder Francisco Mejia along with the young starting pitchers. To contend in two years, the Padres need to find a No. 1 starter and third baseman, but that could come later rather than sooner.

The Rockies are the wild card, literally and figuratively. Manager Bud Black got the most from a rotation featuring Kyle Freeland and German Marquez, 23, but maintaining success at altitude is never simple, never a given. Black is the first Rockies manager with consecutive playoff appearances, but he will be hard-pressed to claim a third straight given the depth in the NL Central and NL East.

Then again, playing the Giants, Diamondbacks and Padres 57 times, more than one-third of the schedule, could make it possible to rack up enough wins.

At this point, only the American League Central, with just one winning team last year, appears weaker than the NL West.

So posting a winning record isn’t unrealistic for the Giants, especially considering the intradivision competition and the fact they were a run-of-the-mill 68-68 through August before going a hard-to-fathom 5-21 in September, leaving them 73-89.

It was a nine-game improvement from the pathetic 2017 season, and a similar upturn would prompt the Giants’ first winning record since 2016.

We’re way ahead of ourselves, of course. Zaidi’s only free-agent hire so far is ambidextrous reliever Pat Venditte, and he’ll add more bodies before Opening Day. But at this juncture, the division is not intimidating beyond the Dodger Stadium occupants, and that might not change.

Like the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers made their biggest offseason news to date not by acquiring players but by discarding them, shipping outfielders Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp to Cincinnati in a salary dump.

The Rockies signed Daniel Murphy to play first base but are losing second baseman DJ LeMahieu and setup man Adam Ottavino to free agency. The Padres signed Ian Kinsler, a Gold Glove second baseman whose presence could move Urias to short until Tatis emerges.

As we speak, no team has made offseason moves that’ll lead to a dramatic spike in the standings. It’s another slow-developing market, particularly in the NL West, and the baseball world is waiting for Harper and Machado to sign to move it along more quickly.

The Dodgers will be favorites with or without Harper, but second place is there for the taking. For the Giants, despite consecutive losing seasons and plenty of roster-building to go, that should be reachable.

John Shea is The San Francisco Chronicle’s national baseball writer. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey