For the past four seasons, no team has been stuck in the mud of mediocrity more than the San Francisco Giants. Their unremarkable win totals over those years — 81, 79, 80, 81 — stand in stark contrast to the astonishing highs of 2021, when San Francisco surged to 107 wins and an unlikely NL West title, not to mention the three World Series championships collected at the beginning of the previous decade. Now, the face of those title teams, Buster Posey, has embraced the challenge of returning this franchise to its previously lofty heights, this time as president of baseball operations.
After taking over at the conclusion of the 2024 season, Posey didn’t wait around to make his mark in his new role, making a sizable splash last winter with the signing of shortstop Willy Adames to a seven-year, $182 million deal and adding another high-profile name to the rotation in Justin Verlander. With the Giants off to a solid start — San Francisco was tied with the Dodgers for first place on June 13 — Posey then executed one of the more shocking trades in recent memory, acquiring slugger Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox. But things went south from there, and by the end of Posey’s first year at the helm, San Francisco had arrived at a frustratingly familiar destination: right at .500 and nowhere near the postseason.
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Posey’s second offseason in charge began with another stunning move, this time involving a new manager following the dismissal of Bob Melvin after two unsuccessful seasons. The Giants hired Tony Vitello, a college baseball lifer with zero professional baseball experience but an impressive résumé building the University of Tennessee’s program into an unfettered powerhouse, including a national championship in 2024. In an offseason filled with managerial turnover league-wide, no hire raised more eyebrows — for better or worse — than Posey’s bold choice of Vitello.
But since Vitello’s hire and the restructuring of the coaching staff around him, the Giants have been relatively quiet on the transaction front, despite several clear holes on the roster. So far, the team’s spending has amounted to a fraction of what was already committed to Adames by this time last year: $22 million over two years for right-hander Adrian Houser, plus one-year deals for relievers Jason Foley ($2 million) and Sam Hentges ($1.4 million). San Francisco’s only trade has been to acquire Daniel Susac, whom the Twins selected in the Rule 5 Draft, to presumably compete to be the backup catcher. Vitello aside, Posey and Co. haven’t exactly been grabbing headlines, but there’s plenty of offseason left for the Giants to change that.
Here are the five biggest questions still facing San Francisco this winter:
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1. Is there appetite for another Adames-level signing?
Although their high-profile pursuits haven’t always succeeded, the Giants have shown a willingness to hand out sizable contracts in recent years, whether it be in free agency with guys such as Jung Hoo Lee and Adames, extending players such as Logan Webb and Matt Chapman, or trading for an established star on an enormous contract in Devers. FanGraphs currently projects San Francisco’s luxury-tax payroll for 2026 at a shade over $200 million, which ranks roughly 10th in MLB but is a far cry from the first competitive balance tax line of $244 million.
By that measure, there would seem to be room for another major addition before San Francisco would have to worry about luxury tax penalties, but based on their messaging and activity so far, it’s not clear the Giants are preparing to make such a splash. This despite several of the top available free agents fitting their roster brilliantly, whether that’s Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger filling one of their unclaimed corner outfield spots, Bo Bichette addressing the clear hole at second base, or a top-tier starter such as Framber Valdez or Tatsuya Imai reinforcing a rotation featuring uncertainty beyond Webb and Robbie Ray, who is scheduled to hit free agency after next season.
Perhaps San Francisco is staying patient and waiting for the right deal to line up rather than jumping the market like, say, Toronto did with Dylan Cease. But there are glaring deficiencies on a roster that already wasn’t good enough, and the Giants might be better served by acting with urgency to ensure they don’t finish this offseason without any impact additions.
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2. Do they have the prospects to make a major trade?
If San Francisco is less inclined to spend big in free agency, perhaps Posey and Co. are more comfortable dealing prospects for proven major-league talent on more affordable salaries. In other words, rather than committing nine figures to someone such as Valdez or Bichette, the Giants could make a trade for someone such as Brendan Donovan or MacKenzie Gore.
A farm system that was widely regarded as one of MLB’s weakest at this time a year ago took some notable strides in 2025 and is now considered closer to the middle of the pack. But it remains to be seen if the Giants have assembled the requisite depth to put together a package that beats those offered by clubs with deeper collections of top-100-type talent. Besides top prospect Bryce Eldridge, who is assumed to be virtually untouchable in trade discussions, most of San Francisco’s enticing talent is years away from the majors, such as teenage shortstops Josuar Gonzalez and Jhonny Level, or infielder Gavin Kilen, drafted 13th overall earlier this year.
Even among rebuilding clubs, it has become increasingly rare to see lower-level prospects headline major trades, with most teams preferring to target talent closer to making an impact in the majors, and that San Francisco currently lacks. Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt, who made his debut in 2025, is an example of the kind of prospect who could appeal to clubs in trade talks, but he might factor into San Francisco’s rotation plans in the short term, so the team would have to weigh that when contemplating trading him to address another need on the roster.
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Overall, we’re still in the early stages of understanding how Posey values his players and how aggressive he’s willing to be to make a deal happen — especially if spending in free agency isn’t the preferred route. And with the trade market yet to really heat up across the league, there’s plenty of time to find out more about Posey in this regard.
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3. Will Bryce Eldridge be in the Opening Day lineup?
Even if we assume Eldridge isn’t going anywhere in a trade anytime soon, the 21-year-old first baseman occupies a very interesting position on the Giants’ roster, and his outlook could impact the club’s priorities for the rest of this offseason. There’s no sense in putting too much stock in the hulking slugger’s struggles in his ultra-brief cameo in September (.476 OPS across 37 plate appearances), but it’s worth wondering if San Francisco is counting on him being part of the Opening Day lineup or if more seasoning in Triple-A is needed. Eldridge raced through the minors in impressive fashion, but that speedrun left him with a relative lack of reps — just 43 games in Double-A and 74 in Triple-A — that could make the jump to the majors harsher than normal.
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As things stand, Eldridge projects to get the bulk of the at-bats at DH in San Francisco, with a likely rotation with Devers at first base to continue his development as a defender. Even if the left-handed-hitting Eldridge is protected against tough southpaws by a right-handed platoon partner such as Jerar Encarnacion or someone of that ilk, this is a lot to ask of Eldridge considering his lack of experience. Perhaps he adjusts quickly and is able to deliver meaningful production in the middle portion of San Francisco’s lineup immediately — he is a top prospect, after all — but if not, an offense that currently projects to be thin beyond the top four hitters could prove to be even weaker than expected. If anything, the amount of pressure put on Eldridge to contribute right away will likely depend on how much proven offense the Giants are able to add this winter — something they haven’t done in any form to this point.
4. How much more pitching is needed?
While the starting pitching market has yet to unfreeze, and several impact bats remain unsigned, the free-agent relief market has been moving fast and furious, leaving very few obvious high-leverage arms available. That’s a troubling trend for San Francisco, a team currently projected by FanGraphs to have the second-worst bullpen in MLB by fWAR, ahead of only the Rockies. Foley and Hentges represent intriguing buy-low options as two pitchers who displayed back-end stuff a few years ago before injuries derailed their careers, but if the Giants are interested in adding any proven late-inning commodities, they are rapidly running out of options.
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Pete Fairbanks and Seranthony Dominguez are the biggest names left, and based on the recent activity, it’s a safe bet that those two arms will find new homes in the near future. Will the Giants emerge as the highest bidders for one of them? Given their actions so far, it’s hard to believe that’ll happen, so it’ll be interesting to see how many more arms (if any) are added to this undermanned unit headlined by Ryan Walker and rookie flamethrower Joel Peguero.
As for the rotation, Houser was a curious first add for San Francisco. The soon-to-be 33-year-old right-hander seemingly offers far less upside than some of the other starters on the market, profiling more as a back-end innings-eater who can provide value in the regular season but isn’t much of a needle-mover in a postseason context. That said, there’s a huge difference between having Houser as your No. 3 starter, as currently projected behind Webb and Ray, and having him as No. 4 or 5, so now it’s on the Giants to go out and add a superior starter (or two) to slot in ahead of Houser and make the rotation more formidable. That’s easier said than done, of course, but unlike with the relief market, several worthwhile rotation options are still available, so it’d be unfair to close the book on San Francisco’s quest to upgrade the starting staff just yet.
5. What’s the plan at second base?
The bullpen isn’t the only position that FanGraphs has projected as the second-weakest in MLB, as the keystone is another area of concern for San Francisco. Casey Schmitt, Christian Koss and Tyler Fitzgerald handled the bulk of reps at the position in 2025, and all remain in the organization. Schmitt showed some promise offensively in spurts, but in general, these are glove-first players whose ideal roles on a championship-caliber club would be in a bench capacity rather than regular at-bats.
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If San Francisco is seeking an upgrade at second base, a trade would seem to be most likely. That’s because if Bichette is an unrealistic option based on the price, there are essentially no other second basemen available in free agency that make sense for the Giants to target. The trade market, however, offers a bounty of possibilities, including the aforementioned Donovan, Ketel Marte, Brett Baty, Brandon Lowe and Nico Hoerner, whom San Francisco was linked to earlier this week. As noted, landing any of those players will require Posey to outbid other potential suitors, but if improving at second base is indeed a goal, a trade is the most logical path forward.
