San Francisco Giants' Conservative Offseason Approach Receives Tepid Grade

The San Francisco Giants ended up taking a conservative approach to their offseason decisions, which cost them in the final gradebook.

Dec 12, 2024; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey speaks during the introductory press conference for shortstop Willy Adames (not pictured) at Oracle Park. | Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

With the start of the regular season right around the corner for the San Francisco Giants, the franchise is hoping for some improvements from this winter. 

It has been a challenge for a number of years for the Giants of late. The team has been under the .500 mark for three straight seasons, and, in one of the toughest divisions in baseball, that record has felt a lot worse than it really has been. 

Now, San Francisco has a new man in charge with Buster Posey, but his first offseason with the team wasn’t anything outlandish. 

The Giants made two notable moves with the signings of Willy Adames and Justin Verlander. However, they also saw a free agents sign elsewhere, with Blake Snell and Michael Conforto both joining the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

On paper, it’s hard to say that San Francisco improved this winter with the loss of Snell, but their lineup at least got better with the addition of Adames. With the offseason coming to a close, the team should be fairly set heading into the new campaign. 

David Schoenfield of ESPN.com+ (subscription required) recently gave the Giants a final offseason grade of a ‘C-‘ for their efforts this winter. 

“Call it a conservative first offseason (which isn't necessarily a bad idea) for Buster Posey, the new president of baseball operations. But in a loaded National League, it's also hard to envision the Giants as a playoff team," he wrote.

This is a very fair grade for San Francisco considering the moves they made this winter. With a desire to shed payroll a bit, they did accomplish that with a projected payroll of $30 million less than last season. 

However, on the field, it’s hard to say that this team will be better. Adding the slugging shortstop was a needed move and should help this year, but the slugger has never made an All-Star team, and the Giants gave him nearly $200 million. 

For the starting rotation, replacing Snell with 42-year-old Verlander wasn’t an ideal move. The future Hall of Famer is coming off a year in which he dealt with a lot of injuries and didn’t pitch well. 

San Francisco is taking a big risk of relying on him to do really anything productive in 2025 based on last year. 

For Posey, he didn’t inherit a great situation with the current roster of the Giants. With shedding salary and improving the lineup being the main goals, he did accomplish that. However, this team still doesn’t appear to be anywhere near being ready to compete with the best in the division. 

Taking a bit of a long-term approach is likely the right move for San Francisco, and this offseason is an indication they are thinking that way as well.