The Giants Are Wasting a Good Offense

We’ve talked about the San Francisco Giants being one of the worst teams in baseball all year. However, we haven’t fully broken down what has led to that outcome.

In the early goings, a lot of blame fell on the offense. A handful of the biggest names on the roster got off to extremely slow starts and, because the team was losing, they were easy to pinpoint.

Now that we’ve gotten into the dog days of summer, though, that hasn’t been the case. The offense has been fine and, in all honestly, it’s the only thing that has kept this team afloat throughout the last few months.

Well, is it Tony Vitello and his unexperienced staff?

Of course, there have been bumps in the road, but when he was handed a roster as flawed as this one in his inaugural season in professional baseball, it’s hard to truly grade what effect he’s had on the team.

That leaves one group to blame: the pitching staff.

The Good

It always felt as if no matter how bad it got, most of the Giants lineup would inevitably turn it around. At the end of the day, names like Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, and Willy Adames were given the contracts they signed because they’ve been so predictable over the course of their careers.

We’ll start with Devers.

His name dominated social media through the first month of the season thanks to how bad he was. To be fair, from Opening Day to the end of April, he held a mere .537 OPS with just two home runs.

However, since the calendar flipped to May, Devers has been one of the best hitters in baseball. Not only has he launched 18 home runs in the 67 games that followed, but his .911 OPS, 146 wRC+, and .303 ISO rank in the top 15 of qualified hitters during that span.

That’s the guy that the Giants traded for to lead their lineup.

Now, for Adames and Chapman, it hasn’t been nearly as good. However, Chapman was the best offensive third baseman in baseball from the middle of May to the middle of June and, while it’s been rough in every other aspect, Adames’ 14 home runs leads qualified NL shortstops since May 1.

Even if it hasn’t been perfect, the core of the Giants hasn’t been the anchor holding them down. The supporting cast, on the other hand, has been absolutely outstanding.

Luis Arraez was the only position player from the Giants to represent the organization in Philadelphia for the All-Star game and is looking like arguably the best bat available at this year’s deadline.

He’s heavily in contention for the NL batting title with a .327 clip and his 127 wRC+ is his best mark since 2023.

While it may not make sense because of the club’s record, there was a real argument to be had that the Giants should have had two other All-Stars as well.

Casey Schmitt and Jung Hoo Lee are both in the midst of what look like true breakouts. On one hand, Schmitt has already launched a career-high 19 home runs with 50 RBIs, while Lee has been hitting comfortably above .300 for the majority of the season while striking out just 10% of the time.

The last piece of the puzzle has been rookie Bryce Eldridge cementing himself as the future of this franchise. While his counting stats are slightly behind due to a delayed promotion, Eldridge’s .366 OBP, .477 SLG, .843 SLG, 134 wRC+, and 12.8% walk rate all sit within the top five of rookies with at least 150 plate appearances.

While it may have been a slow start for this group, they have fully caught their stride. Since the calendar turned to May, they have undoubtedly been one of the best offenses in all of baseball.

This is exactly what Buster Posey and company envisioned when entering the 2026 campaign. Unfortunately, the Giants have been one of the league’s worst on the other side of the ball, which has seriously hindered their opportunities to string together wins all year.

The Bad

Outside of a few names, there’s been little to be excited about on the mound in San Francisco.

The rotation is where you find the most positives from the staff. Logan Webb was the NL Pitcher of the Month in June and ended up being one of the club’s All-Star representatives.

Landen Roupp had an amazing start to the season but has had some bumps in the road since. He does, however, lead the team’s arms with 2.2 fWAR, nearly surpassing his career-high in innings before August and a strong 9.17 strikeouts per nine.

The last is Robbie Ray, who is arguably having the best season of the three with a 3.38 ERA in 106.2 innings. At this point, though, it seems like every time he takes the mound he’s trying out for whatever team trades for him at the deadline.

The other three starters with north of 50 innings — Tyler Mahle, Adrian Houser, and Trevor McDonald — all have ERAs above 5.00. No matter how good the offense is, it’s hard to win games when you’re trying to come from behind so consistently.

It’s hard to take any positives from the bullpen — a group that has been putrid for the majority of the year — but names like Keaton Winn, Caleb Kilian, and Dylan Smith have had some nice moments and give the front office some reason to think they could be part of this group beyond 2026.

The bullpen as a whole, though, has been atrocious. Not only is their 4.41 ERA the ninth-worst mark in baseball, but their -0.1 fWAR, 20% strikeout rate, and 8.9% strikeout to walk ratio all rank in the league’s bottom five.

Final Thoughts

It never quite made sense why Posey chose to go into the season with such a questionable pitching staff from top to bottom.

Mahle and Houser were supposed to be two significant additions to the rotation but have both been borderline unplayable. The bullpen was built on injury bounce-back candidates and minor-league free agents, all while never bringing in or naming a true closer.

This has all been evinced thanks to an offense that has been one of the league’s best since the start of May. While fans were quick to blame Adames, Chapman, and Devers for San Francisco’s lost season, it’s now clear who should truly be receiving said blame.

Sure, you can criticize the pitching staff, but shouldn’t we really be asking why it was constructed that way in the first place?