By Jerry Mcdonald | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group
That’s what Giants president of baseball operations Buster Posey said June 4, and he wasn’t talking about trading one of the few players on his roster who has met and even exceeded expectations a day before the trade deadline.
Tyler Rogers wasn’t the best player on the Giants or the most valuable. He’s the most reliable, however, and he has laudably maximized his skill set. Everyone on the team knows it, and they all watched as one of the most respected players on the team was sent packing while they were in the process of seeing their record fall to 54-55 with a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates in 10 innings.
It was a historic 0-6 homestand. The Giants have lost 12 of 14 and were 9-15 in July after once-upon-a-time being 40-28 on June 11 and then trading for Rafael Devers four days later.
The errors have been mental and physical. Heliot Ramos, an All-Star a year ago, ended the Wednesday loss snapping his bat at the handle over his knee after striking out. Ramos has been a defensive disaster in left field and equally as bad as a baserunner of late.
Only a team contending for the postseason has real use for a set-up man down the stretch and the Giants aren’t going to the postseason. When Posey was helping the Giants win championships as a catcher, you didn’t see Brian Sabean dealing Javier Lopez, Sergio Romo or Jeremy Affeldt as July turned to August.
The Giants are in free fall and with a third of the season left to play, a hard landing is inevitable. Posey isn’t going to fire himself after one year. The Giants picked up the option on manager Bob Melvin’s contract through the 2026 on July 1 at Posey’s behest, and it will likely wind up as the dreaded “vote of confidence” that is so often a kiss of death in professional sports.
Melvin may not make it through the season, and while there is some justification for that based on how the Giants are playing — they look like the worst team in baseball at the moment — it’s with the team Posey put together.
Even Kruk and Kuip are having trouble putting the Giants’ plunge into words. They looked demoralized on the Giants’ postgame show. Melvin and Logan Webb weren’t much better during postgame interviews.
“We haven’t given Buster and the front office any reason to add,” third baseman Matt Chapman told reporters. “We kind of did this to ourselves. It sucks. Obviously, you can tell that everybody is pretty upset. That’s not how we saw this thing going.
“I don’t know what to expect, but when you trade one of your best arms in the bullpen, I think that kind of shows where we’re heading.”
The Giants may not end up with a record any better than they had in 2023 when they fired Gabe Kapler with three games remaining and ended up 79-83 and five games out of the last wild card spot with three teams ahead of them. They’d have to go 25-28 the rest of the way to reach the Kapler standard and this doesn’t look like a team capable of being even mediocre as currently constructed.
Posey arrived with much acclaim, especially locally, with fans and media believing his headiness, confidence and integrity would more than balance out the issue of never having been a baseball executive.
Right now his management scorecard isn’t coming close to the back of his baseball card.
As a member of the Giants’ ownership board, he helped facilitate a contract with Chapman for six years and $151 million. Chapman has had his moments and is a spectacular defender, but has never developed into the hitter who looked to have .280-25-100 potential when he was with Melvin in Oakland.
Posey signed shortstop Willy Adames to a seven-year, $182 million contract on Dec. 1. Adames finally found his batting stroke in July and his average is up to .238, not far behind his career average of .247. But with the Giants stressing pitching and defense, Adames is an adequate defender who won’t make anyone forget Brandon Crawford.
When Devers arrived, the company line was that he was a premier hitter regardless of location. He’d hit at Oracle Park the same as in Fenway Park. Through 21 games, he’s hitting .160 in San Francisco and was .296 at home games in Boston. Yes, he’s had some tough luck, but it’s hard to dress up being 4-for-26 with runners in scoring position.
Devers’ contract doesn’t expire until 2033 and the Giants are responsible for $254 million. He may become a decent first baseman after spending his career as a below-average third baseman.
A sweep at the hands of the Pirates seemed to have given a sense of finality to the 2025 season even though 53 games remain. But the true indication that something is seriously wrong with the Giants’ DNA came on July 21 in Atlanta.
Hayden Birdsong melted down and couldn’t get out of the first inning, walking the first three batters and giving up a bases-loaded double. He was optioned to Triple-A. Ramos overthrew a cutoff man on a lob throw over Adames’ head and gave up an extra base. Center fielder Jung Hoo Lee and Ramos watched as a fly ball fell between them. Ronald Acuña scored from first on a single to right. Patrick Bailey had to frantically wave his arms to get Camilo Doval to throw a pitch before the pitch clock expired.
There are cleaner games played in under-13 travel ball.
The Giants actually recovered to beat Atlanta the next two days, scoring 18 runs in the process. They haven’t won since after being swept on a homestand by the Mets and then the 47-62 Pirates, and they never had to face second-year pitcher Paul Skenes.
Melvin called the Atlanta loss a “bad look” but it was more than that. It was an omen and harbinger of a lost season.
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