The San Francisco Giants’ 2026 season hasn’t turned out the way they hoped.
Through the first month or so of games, San Francisco holds a record of 18-25, only 1.5 games up on the lowly Rockies.
After an active year or so in trades and offseason additions, the Giants walked away with Rafael Devers, Tyler Mahle, Adrian Houser, and Luis Arraez.
Unfortunately, whatever help the Giants have mustered hasn’t been enough to keep them competitive.
MLB analyst Russ Dorsey spoke on the Bay’s early-season sputtering:
“The Giants are the third-worst team in Major League Baseball, right there with the Colorado Rockies and the New York Mets,” said Dosey. “That was not supposed to be the case when Buster Posey put this team together. They are just not clicking as a cohesive unit.”
Dorsey built the team’s disconnect from what was supposed to be a winning season.
“They’re just not hitting. Rafael Devers, Jung-Hoo Lee, Willy Adames, Matt Chapman. Those guys just aren’t hitting well. You start to ask yourself, ‘What are the Giants going to do?’ We’re gonna get to a point here where the Ginats have to look themselves really closely and say, “We’re not a good baseball team, and how do we address this? Not only for the interim, but also for the future?”
Dorsey’s question may have been answered after the Giants moved on from defensive wizard catcher Patrick Bailey. However, he might’ve been the easiest player for them to move.
The Giants Have Financial Walls to Scale
The biggest problem the Giants face if they want to rebuild is their financial commitment to so many different bodies.
Notable contracts include: Rafael Devers ($22.6 million), Jung-Hoo Lee ($85 million), Matt Chapman ($125 million), Willy Adames ($161 million), Robbie Ray ($115 million), and Logan Webb ($90 million). Some of these deals have aged much better than others, but regardless of return on investment, none of them would play during a rebuild.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today recently wrote the Giants would “love” to berid themselves of Lee, Devers, Chapman, and Adames.
All of this failure comes in the first season of Tony Vitello’s MLB career. The Giants manager was famously signed from collegiate baseball and went straight to The Show, an extreme rarity.
If San Francisco wanted to clean house and mulligan, the first task for Buster Posey would be to offload superstar contracts that are stapled to struggling talents. Some of which have hit rock bottom.
San Francisco’s Struggling Stars Are Sinking the Boat
Adames, who was the first Giant to blast 30 home runs since Barry Bonds, has a 72 OPS+ and a .222 average through 171 at-bats.
Devers, whom the Giants picked up from Boston in a mega-deal, is slumping. His bat speed has dipped, leading to worse contact. Devers currently has a .691 OPS, and that’s with a recent hot streak.
Chapman isn’t just struggling on the surface; his underlying metrics are screaming for help. The lockdown third baseman remains an above-average fielder, but his bat has stalled. An xSLG of .284 tells you all you need to know about the pop being zapped from Chappy’s bat.
Beyond all of the offensive woes, Webb hasn’t been himself on the mound. It’s no surprise that the ABS has affected one of MLB’s best strike stealers. In eight games started this season, Webb has a 5.05 ERA. Anything but ace-like. After all the poor performance, Webb ended up on the IL with a knee injury.
With so much middling talent, who do the Giants have to trade if they decide to reset?
The Giants Still Have Good Players to Trade
With the emergence of young arm Landon Roupp, San Francisco is no longer tied down to holding onto Ray. If made available at the deadline, the left-hander spearheading the Giants’ rotation would be one of the most coveted arms on the market.
The clearest piece Buster Posey has to dangle is Arraez. The contact-oriented second baseman had a nonexistent market this offseason and ended up in San Francisco on a one-year prove-it deal. Prove it, he did. Arraez reinvented his defense and maintained his consistent bat. So far, it’s led him to a .302 average and eight outs above-average. If his defensive breakout persists through July, he’ll be one of the more intriguing pieces available.
The Bay is in dismay. With a front office led by a local legend, the team on the field doesn’t reflect the experience in the suits upstairs. The Giants will have some important decisions to make come the trade deadline.
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