SF Giants Face Massive Roster Crunch With 55 Players for 40 Spots

The San Francisco Giants have had a rough year. The injured list has been overflowing and the end of the season isn’t any different.

At times, it has been a struggle to find enough healthy players to fill the roster.

In a remarkable twist, the organization is soon to have the exact opposite problem.

San Francisco is headed toward a somewhat complicated 40-man roster crunch once the 2026 season comes to a close, which is in just days for this organization.

There is a massive group of players who are currently residing on the 60-day injured list and soon they are going to need to be accounted for yet again by the team.

There are 16 to be exact. That’s right 16 players are currently on the 60-day IL. FanGraphs’ Jon Becker recently reported that no team withint its roster data, which dates back to 2021, as ever finished a season with that many players on the 60-day IL.

Becker was just as intrigued as I was but I arrived here differently. I started researching how many free agents the team had and what sort of decisions they would have to make. Well, that’s easy. There’s just one: JT Brubaker.

So, that’s not all that interesting but in looking through the roster and contracts the problem became clear: a lot of names and only 40 spots.

Giants Could Have 55 Players for 40 Spots

San Francisco Giants pitcher JT Brubaker Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The players who are placed on the 60-day roster don’t count against the 40-man roster during the regular season. That has allowed San Francisco to continue to add replacements as the injuries have literally piled up.

That luxury goes away in the offseason. That means the Giants have to make decisions about a lot of players.

With JT Brubaker being the only Giant who will become a free agent, that leaves 55 players under team control for only 40 roster spots. That’s just internal players that the team already has. This doesn’t even consider any outside additions that might occur over the offseason.

Now, let’s consider some of the players who are on the 60-day IL: Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman and Casey Schmitt. They aren’t going anywhere.

The list also contains pitchers that the team will certainly retain including: Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt, Trevor McDonald and Randy Rodriguez. Whisenhunt, Birdsong, and McDonald all have had Tommy John surgery.

Adrian Houser, Harrison Bader and Jose Butto are also on the 60-day list.

If we only consider keeping the obvious players, there are several decisions that are left to be made.

Difficult Decisions to Be Made

San Francisco Giants center fielder Harrison Bader Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The bottom of the roster is where things are going to get interesting and complicated.

When Becker looked at the list he created a classification of players who are on the 40-man bubble. That list included Jason Foley, Ryan Walker, Andrew Knizner, Sam Hentges, Joel Kuhnel, Christian Koss, Victor Bericoto, Daniel Susac, Matt Gage and Joel Peguero.

Now, this doesn’t mean that all of these players will be removed, but it does represent an incredible dilemma facing this team. There are a lot more players than spots.

Then there’s Harrison Bader. He creates an interesting challenge ahead. Does the team keep him? He still has $10 million remaining on his contract, and so far he’s been a complete disaster.

Rowan Wick has a club option for 2027 worth $800,000 and that will give the Giants an easy way to open a roster spot if they decide to move on.

Players like Drew Cavanaugh, Joel Kuhnel, Reiver Sanmarter and others filled in as injuries increased. Some have earned another look for 2027, but there simply won’t be enough spots for everyone, even those who got good MLB experience this season.

If only we could stop there, but then there are the Rule 5 Draft players. The 40-man roster is used to protect the Minor Leaguers it doesn’t want to risk losing.

Roster Crunch Could Consume Offseason

Players can be designated for assignment, non-tendered or placed on waivers so there is some flexibility for the Giants. Volume is the issue. There are so many decisions to be made.

Of course, then there is the obvious. San Francisco needs to get better. Just making internal moves won’t be enough to elevate this team.

This is the fifth consecutive year the Giants have finished outside the postseason, and that has to change. Players will need to be brought in and moves made to get this team to a position of contention any time soon.

The job ahead is huge for Buster Posey and the front office.

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