The Giants are squarely below even what we'd call the rest.
In San Francisco, a storied franchise finds itself at a crossroads familiar to many great institutions: the gap between reputation and results. Less than two years after appointing beloved icon Buster Posey to lead baseball operations, the Giants sit among the worst teams in the National League, preparing to trade away the expensive stars they assembled in hopes of contention. It is a story about the difficulty of rebuilding not just a roster, but an organizational philosophy — and the steep cost of getting the foundational decisions wrong.
- The Giants are 30-43, 17 games out of first place, and already fielding trade offers on their highest-paid players — Devers, Adames, and Chapman — before the deadline even arrives.
- The Devers acquisition, meant to anchor the franchise through 2033, has backfired badly: he's hitting .234 with negative WAR while earning $29 million a year, and the prospects traded away are thriving elsewhere.
- Willy Adames, signed to anchor shortstop, has seen his plate discipline and defense collapse simultaneously, leaving the Giants with a $26 million liability through 2031.
- The farm system offers little rescue — a handful of promising youngsters cannot paper over the structural failures that left the major league roster thin and fragile.
- The Dodgers, absorbing injury after injury, keep winning because of organizational depth and analytical rigor — the exact qualities the Giants' rebuild has conspicuously lacked.
- Posey now faces a fire sale barely 20 months into his tenure, raising urgent questions about whether the franchise has the vision to compete in a division dominated by one of baseball's most sophisticated operations.
The San Francisco Giants entered June with 30 wins and 43 losses, already preparing to dismantle a roster that was supposed to contend. Reports from multiple outlets confirm the front office is fielding trade calls on Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, and Matt Chapman. Only the Rockies have been worse in the National League. The Giants trail the Dodgers by 17 games and sit eight games out of the final wild-card spot.
Buster Posey, the franchise's beloved former catcher and World Series champion, was appointed president of Baseball Operations in October 2024. His arrival was framed as a return to baseball fundamentals after years of analytical experimentation under Farhan Zaidi. In his first season, the Giants went 81-81. In his second, they are tracking toward something far worse — despite raising payroll from $175 million to $210 million.
The centerpiece of Posey's strategy was trading for Rafael Devers, betting the former Red Sox star could anchor the lineup through 2033. The cost was steep: prospects Kyle Harrison and James Tibbs III. Both have flourished since leaving San Francisco. Harrison is posting a 2.47 ERA with 80 strikeouts in 65 innings for Milwaukee. Tibbs is hitting .305 with 19 home runs in Triple-A for the Dodgers and ranks among the top 25 prospects in baseball. Devers, meanwhile, has nine home runs, a .234 average, and negative wins-above-replacement at nearly $29 million per year.
Adames, signed to stabilize shortstop, was excellent in 2025 but has seen his plate discipline and defensive metrics collapse this season. He is worth negative WAR while earning $26 million annually through 2031. The pitching staff has underperformed, and the farm system offers little immediate relief.
The contrast with Los Angeles is stark. The Dodgers are 48-27 despite losing multiple key players to injury for extended stretches. They succeed because of organizational depth — a Triple-A roster ready to contribute, analytical precision in roster construction, and an ability to find bullpen contributors in overlooked corners of the market. These are the unglamorous competencies the Giants have failed to develop.
Now, less than two years into his tenure, Posey is preparing to sell off the expensive pieces and begin again. The Giants have the market size and resources to compete — but resources alone cannot substitute for the organizational vision that separates sustained contenders from the rest.
The San Francisco Giants walked into June with a record of 30 wins and 43 losses, already mathematically eliminated from serious contention and preparing to dismantle what was supposed to be a championship roster. The front office has begun fielding calls on its most expensive players—first baseman Rafael Devers, shortstop Willy Adames, third baseman Matt Chapman—according to reports from MLB.com, ESPN, and The Athletic. Only the Colorado Rockies have performed worse in the National League this season. The Giants sit 17 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers and eight games out of the third wild-card spot, with six teams standing between them and that final playoff berth.
Less than two years ago, in October 2024, the Giants' ownership appointed Buster Posey as president of Baseball Operations. Posey is a franchise icon, a former catcher and World Series champion who spent his entire playing career in San Francisco. He replaced Farhan Zaidi, a data-driven executive who had overseen a 107-win season in 2021 but was eventually fired after three consecutive years of .500 baseball. Posey's appointment was framed as a return to baseball fundamentals, a rejection of the analytical methods that had failed to sustain success. In his first year, the Giants went 81-81. In his second year, they're tracking toward something far worse, despite increasing payroll from $175 million to $210 million.
The centerpiece of Posey's strategy was acquiring Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox. Devers had developed into a star in Boston before clashing with the organization over a positional shift. The Giants traded several prospects to acquire him, betting they could build around him through the end of his contract in 2033. The trade sent away two notable pieces: Kyle Harrison, a top prospect, and James Tibbs III. Both have flourished since leaving San Francisco. Harrison, traded to the Brewers, has struck out 80 hitters in 65 innings with a 2.47 ERA and just 18 walks, posting a 1.7 wins-above-replacement mark while earning $782,000 annually. Tibbs, dealt to the Dodgers, has hit .305 with a .423 on-base percentage in Triple-A, with 19 home runs in 67 games, and ranks as the 24th-best prospect in baseball according to Keith Law. Devers, meanwhile, has nine home runs, a .234 batting average, and a .294 on-base percentage, with negative wins-above-replacement. He makes nearly $29 million per year through 2033.
Willy Adames, signed as a free agent, was supposed to anchor the shortstop position. He was a well-above-average player in 2025, posting 4 wins above replacement. This season, his plate discipline has collapsed and his defensive metrics have deteriorated sharply. He's worth negative 0.3 wins above replacement while earning $26 million annually through 2031. The pitching staff has been disappointing across the board, and the farm system offers little relief. Some young players—Bryce Eldridge, 18-year-old Josuar Gonzalez, Luis Arraez, and Casey Schmitt—have shown promise, but they cannot compensate for the organizational failures at the major league level.
The contrast with the Dodgers is instructive. Los Angeles is 48-27 and headed toward another division title despite missing Will Smith, Teoscar Hernandez, and Tommy Edman for significant stretches. Blake Snell has pitched three innings all season. Tyler Glasnow is on the 60-day injured list. Edwin Diaz had an ERA over 10 before getting hurt. Yet the Dodgers succeed because they have built organizational depth—a Triple-A roster stocked with talent ready to step in when injuries strike. They use analytics to optimize defensive positioning. They find bullpen pieces in unexpected places: Blake Treinen, Alex Vesia, Kyle Hurt, Jack Dreyer, Edgardo Henriquez. The Dodgers excel at the unglamorous work of roster construction.
Posey's Giants have failed at this fundamental task. They whiffed on the Devers trade, giving away prospects who are now thriving elsewhere. They signed Adames only to watch him decline sharply. They increased payroll without building a complete roster. Now, less than two years into his tenure, Posey is preparing to sell off the expensive pieces and rebuild again. It is a failure of organizational vision, the kind of misstep that separates the best franchises from the rest. The Giants, despite their market size and resources, are squarely in the latter category.
Citações Notáveis
Maybe it's time to admit that the Buster Posey experiment has already failed.— Analysis of Posey's tenure
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does the Devers trade look so bad in hindsight? Was it just bad luck?
It wasn't luck. The Giants traded away two young players with upside—Harrison and Tibbs—for a star who had already shown signs of decline in Boston. They bet everything on Devers being a franchise cornerstone, but they didn't account for the possibility that he'd continue to struggle.
But Devers was a star. Didn't that make sense at the time?
On paper, yes. But the Giants gave up too much for a player who was already 30 and had just had a difficult season. And they didn't have a backup plan if he didn't work out. The Dodgers, by contrast, never bet the farm on any single player. They build depth.
What's the difference between what Posey did and what Zaidi did?
Zaidi built a 107-win team but couldn't sustain it. Posey was supposed to fix that by going back to basics. Instead, he's made worse decisions faster. He's not just failed—he's failed while spending more money.
Is there any way this gets better?
Not quickly. The farm system is weak. The pitching staff is weak. The expensive players they're trying to trade away aren't worth what they're being paid. Posey would need to make several perfect moves in a row, and his track record suggests he won't.