What Led to Bob Melvin Being Let Go by the San Francisco Giants

After another disappointing season that ended with the San Francisco Giants missing the postseason, Buster Posey has decided to make a major change. After just two seasons at the helm, manager Bob Melvin has been relieved of his role.

While the move doesn’t seem like that big of a surprise after two underwhelming years, Melvin did have his option picked up just under three months ago. He did have the support of the clubhouse and it seemed as if everybody enjoyed playing for him, but there were plenty of questions regarding the intensity Melvin could bring out of players.

Let’s take a look at what led to the firing of Melvin and who could possibly replace him.

An Underwhelming Era

At the time of Melvin’s hiring in San Francisco, it seemed like a perfect fit. He’s from the Bay Area originally and spent time with San Francisco as a catcher back in his playing days. It was a match made in heaven and, quite frankly, he was the closest thing the team could get to Bruce Bochy, who had won three World Series titles in five seasons with the organization.

However, he was the choice of the previous regime, led by Farhan Zaidi, who was fired after the conclusion of the 2024 season. Simply put, Posey didn’t hire Melvin, and it seems like he wants to go in a brand new direction heading into year two as the president of baseball operations.

The way both seasons went with Melvin at the helm also didn’t help. In 2024, the Giants had a huge offseason, signing Matt Chapman, Blake Snell, Jorge Soler, and Jung Hoo Lee. However, even with a new group of big names, the team finished under .500 and missed the playoffs.

Fast forward to 2025, and one could argue that things got even worse.

The Giants made a big splash this offseason by signing Willy Adames to the biggest deal in franchise history and then went on to trade for Rafael Devers in the middle of June, a clear sign the team had World Series aspirations.

With a full year of Jung Hoo Lee, an extended Matt Chapman, and the emergence of Heliot Ramos as an All-Star in 2024, the Giants had a real core that went up with other contenders in the National League.

However, they simply couldn’t put it together. After starting the year as one of the best teams in baseball and tied for the lead in the division going into play on June 15, they went 20-37 from then until August 21. This was one of the worst runs in baseball and included a stretch of home games where the team went 1-15.

However, the team then did the unthinkable when everybody thought they were dead in the water.

They went on a 12-4 run to make up ground in the wild-card standings and actually get into the postseason picture. Unfortunately, that only lasted about two hours, as the team would then go on to fall apart against the eventual division winning Los Angeles Dodgers.

They closed the year on a 8-10 run, signaling the team’s second collapse in the same season and leading to them missing the playoffs by a mere two games, a feat that would’ve likely saved Melvin’s job.

While a lot of this falls on the players, blame tends to fall on managers for not being able to steer the ship in the right direction when everything goes wrong.

This isn’t unfamiliar to Melvin, either. During his time with both the Oakland Athletics and San Diego Padres, he had an issue of not performing to expectations consistently. Known as one of the best managers of the 2010s with nothing to show for it and failing to win with the lineup he had in San Diego stand out as negatives in the long career Melvin has held in baseball.

The writing seemed to be on the wall when after the Giants’ last game of the year, Melvin responded to a question about his future with the organization in an interesting manner.

“It is what it is. We’ll see what the next day brings.”

– Bob Melvin

These rumors and speculations were confirmed on Monday morning.

pic.twitter.com/AFuPDfRSMD

— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) September 29, 2025

What seemed like a perfect fit between a coach and an organization ended rather abruptly. After just two seasons in what was his “dream job,” Bob Melvin leaves San Francisco without a winning season or postseason birth to show for it.

Rumored Possible Replacements

• Bruce Bochy – 3x World Series Champion with SFG, 1x World Series Champion with TEX.

• Skip Schumaker – 2023 NL Manager of the Year with MIA, most sought-after managerial option across MLB this winter.

• Nick Hundley – Played 12 seasons as catcher (backup to Buster Posey for two seasons), front office role with TEX currently, Willie Mac Award winner with SFG.

• Mark DeRosa – Played 16 seasons (two with SFG), managed Team USA in the World Baseball Classic.

• Craig Albernaz – SFG bullpen and catching coach from 2019-23, Associate Manager with CLE currently.

• Mark Hallberg – Buster Posey’s teammate at FSU, Giants’ third/first base coach since 2020.

• Tony Vitello – 1x CWS winning head coach, turned around University of Tennessee baseball program, coached recent acquisition Drew Gilbert.