San Francisco Giants Miss Critical Opportunities to Enhance Offseason Roster

The San Francisco Giants could have done more this winter to improve their situation as they prepare for their upcoming season.

Feb 13, 2025; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander (35) watches players work out in the bullpen during spring training camp. | Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

With Spring Training underway for the San Francisco Giants, the franchise will be hoping to snap a streak of finishing under .500.

It wasn’t as busy of a winter as many would have expected with new leadership in charge for the Giants.

Buster Posey took over as the president of baseball operations, and while he got off to a strong start in the offseason, things fizzled out quickly.

After years of spending somewhat inefficiently, San Francisco seemingly focused on trying to dial it back a bit this winter. Currently, the payroll is projected to be noticeably below where it was last year.

Overall, the offseason has been a bit lackluster for the Giants and it’s hard to see that this will be an improved team overall in 2025. However, they should at least have an improved lineup, which was a primary need.

The Athletic recently gave the Giants’ offseason a grade of a ‘C’ and highlighted that they didn’t fix a lot of their needs.

“Middle infield was the Giants’ most glaring need, and they addressed it in a big way by signing Willy Adames to a seven-year deal. Their other needs, however, were met with far less significant solutions.”

The most significant move that San Francisco pulled off this winter was the signing of shortstop Willy Adames. Slugging has been an issue for the Giants for many years and getting one of the best power-hitting players in the league at the position was a strong addition.

However, while Adames should improve the lineup, some other areas weren’t addressed this winter.

In the starting rotation, losing Blake Snell was certainly noteworthy after the amazing second half of the year that he put together. The southpaw was arguably the best pitcher in baseball after the All-Star break, but San Francisco didn’t get a reliable or viable replacement.

While Adames was the most significant move, the Giants also signed Justin Verlander. The future Hall of Famer is certainly a notable name but is coming off the worst season of his career.

While the right-hander did deal with a lot of injuries, but it’s hard to imagine him being an All-Star caliber pitcher at this stage of his career.

Besides those two signings, San Francisco was pretty much quiet this winter. For a team that finished under .500 and lost a few notable players, led by Snell, they certainly didn’t do enough to improve the team overall.

While the lineup should be better with Adames in the middle of the order, the starting rotation will likely be taking a step back.

Overall, it has been a disappointing offseason for the Giants, with the team seemingly leaving a lot of question marks before the start of the season.