San Francisco Giants May Struggle Despite Significant Offseason Investments

The San Francisco Giants made significant investments in the franchise in the offseason, but will it lead to more success on the field?

Dec 12, 2024; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants shortstop Willy Adames reacts during his introductory press conference with president of baseball operations Buster Posey (left) and manager Bob Melvin (right) at Oracle Park. / Robert Edwards-Imagn Images

With Spring Training here for the San Francisco Giants, the team will be hoping to snap out of what has been years of mediocrity.

Before the start of the offseason, the Giants made a significant decision in their front office to fire Farhan Zaidi and hire president of baseball operations Buster Posey and general manager Zack Minasian.

Due to San Francisco missing out on marquee-free agents the last several years, the hope was that adding Posey especially would help them gain credibility.

This offseason, the Giants were able to land one of the top free agents on the market in Willy Adames, which will help be a boost for their lineup. The offense of San Francisco has been lackluster for quite some time, but adding a slugging shortstop is a step in the right direction toward fixing that.

After not being able to sign players like Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, the Giants will be hoping that Adames can be a part of new-found success at the plate.

The other move that also shouldn’t be forgotten was the extension given to Matt Chapman. The veteran third baseman put together a strong season for San Francisco after signing a 1+1 deal last winter.

Now, the Giants shouldn’t have to worry about the left side of their infield for quite some time, but there are concerns elsewhere.

In the starting rotation, they saw Blake Snell leave in free agency and sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite actively pursuing Corbin Burnes, the Giants missed out on signing the former Cy Young award winner.

To seemingly replace Snell, San Francisco signed 41-year-old Justin Verlander, who is coming off a poor season with the Houston Astros. It’s impossible to predict if the poor campaign was because of injury, age, or a little bit of both.

Regardless, it would be shocking to see the future Hall of Famer be able to replace the production of Snell.

Overall, the Giants committed over $300 million in contracts if the Chapman extension is included. That is a significant amount of money, but it doesn’t appear like it moved the needle a lot.

While the lineup should be improved with Adames, the starting rotation likely will take a step back without Snell.

For a team that has been living in mediocrity for most of the last decade besides 2021, it feels like they are destined for more of the same in 2025.

The National League West is once again going to be one of the best divisions in baseball with the best team in baseball in all likelihood. Unfortunately, the Giants will be playing a lot of their games against potential playoff contenders, making it all the more difficult to have a winning season.

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