The 2025 season was an extremely interesting one for the team by the bay. At times, they looked like true contenders that could go on a legit playoff run. At other times, they looked like one of the sloppiest teams in Major League Baseball.
This ended in another season right around .500, this one being a perfect 81-81. That being said, despite the mediocrity of the season as a whole, the San Francisco Giants are heading into their first offseason in a good while where they have legit stars locked down long-term.
Rafael Devers, Willy Adames, and Matt Chapman are all going to be Giants for north of the next half-decade. Throw in names like Logan Webb, Jung Hoo Lee, Heliot Ramos, and Patrick Bailey, and you get an extremely solid core of guys.
After a full year as the president of baseball operations, Buster Posey is going to try to add whoever he thinks will make this a playoff team. Tony Vitello, the Giants’ new manager, will also use the recruiting skills he learned at the University of Tennessee to try and lore guys to go up against the big bad Dodgers in the National League West.
Let’s take a look at the needs for the Giants and some possibilities to fill them this upcoming winter.
Top Priorities for the San Francisco Giants
Strengthen the Starting Pitching
Posey has repeatedly preached that he thinks pitching and defense wins games. When you look at the Giants’ rotation at the conclusion of 2025, a lot is going to need to change for that belief to come to fruition in San Francisco.
Webb is a legit ace and is coming off a season in which he led the National League in innings and strikeouts. Robbie Ray is the No. 2, as of now, and had a huge 2025 which was highlighted by an All-Star appearance. Rounding them out, Landen Roupp is coming off a breakout season in which he quickly became the Giants’ third starter, before struggling with injuries in the back half of the season.
The last two spots of the rotation are wide open.
Yes, there are some internal options — Hayden Birdsong, Trevor McDonald, or the team’s top pitching prospect, Carson Whisenhunt. However, if they’re trying to compete in a loaded National League, one would only expect that the Giants would want more from those last few spots.
Free Agent Fits: Ranger Suarez, Tatsuya Imai, Michael King, Shota Imanaga, Max Scherzer
Before getting into specifics, basically every starting pitcher on the market is a fit for the Giants. While Dylan Cease and Framber Valdez seem like fits, ownership has stated that they’re going to be “cautious” about long-term starting pitcher deals.
However, two of the arms at the top of the market might just be worth getting a little risky for. Ranger Suárez has quietly been one of the more consistent pitchers in recent memory. Since the start of 2022, he has a 3.59 ERA across just under 600 innings.
More importantly for San Francisco, he’s been very good against division rivals like the Dodgers and Padres — 6-3 with a 2.94 ERA against them — which isn’t the case with other top free-agent arm Dylan Cease.
Now, on the most recent episode of the Giants Talk podcast, Posey talked about how important it is for them to tap into the Japanese market. After watching what Yoshinobu Yamamoto just did in the World Series, they might be inclined to throw big money at Tatsuya Imai, who is coming off a NPB season of 163.2 innings with a 1.92 ERA and right around 10 strikeouts per nine.
After some ownership comments heading into this offseason, Michael King and Shota Imanaga look like fits simply because they’ll most likely get two to three-year deals, and potentially throwing in Oracle Park raises both of their floors.
On the back end, Max Scherzer almost seems like a shoe-in to replace Justin Verlander in the 40-and-up club in San Francisco because of his relationship with the club’s new skipper. Vitello was Scherzer’s pitching coach at the University of Missouri and even attended the 18-inning World Series matchup to watch his good friend start.
Potential Trade Targets: Freddy Peralta, Joe Ryan, Sonny Gray, Mitch Keller
While Tarik Skubal and Hunter Green have been rumored to be on the trading block, the Giants would likely lose if a bidding war were to take place. However, the names mentioned above make a little more sense for San Francisco
Peralta seems like a slam-dunk fit. The one year remaining on his deal will make him slightly less expensive, and the Giants’ biggest free-agent signing ever, Willy Adames, and Peralta are very close friends going back to Adames’ days in Milwaukee.
Joe Ryan is another arm who could be moved and one who the Giants would likely be all over. He’s coming off his first All-Star appearance and is originally from the Bay Area, making him a natural fit.
Sonny Gray and Mitch Keller are the other two starters that’d make the most sense here. The Giants would gladly bring in any of these options to help bolster their rotation and slide right behind Logan Webb. It’ll simply come down to what type of package they can put together for whichever team is willing to listen.
Revitalize a Barren Bullpen
Through the majority of the first half, the Giants had the best bullpen in baseball in terms of ERA. Randy Rodriguez was an All-Star, Tyler Rogers was reliable as always, and Erik Miller looked like a legit southpaw in the pen.
However, Miller went down early in the year with a season-ending arm injury, Rogers got dealt at the deadline, and Rodriguez went under the knife for Tommy John in September. Out of nowhere, the group that was winning San Francisco games on a nightly basis was in absolute shambles.
Fast forward to now, and the group needs to be completely rebuilt. The organization hopes that Ryan Walker can have a bounce-back season, but outside of him, there aren’t a lot of lockdown options in that pen.
There are a number of viable free agent replacements, but San Francisco is unlikely to hand out big money to a reliever, making the trade market the more likely option.
The Giants will most likely build the bulk of this group from the Rule 5 Draft and minor-league signings, seeing who can win a spot out of Spring Training. However, it would be malpractice to not mention what free agents make the most sense.
Free Agent Fits: Tyler Rogers, Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley, Pete Fairbanks
A reunion with submarine sensation Tyler Rogers makes all the sense in the world. For a group that has zero reliability as of now, he is arguably the most reliable reliever in the game.
He brings elite availability, consistency, and an underrated ability to prevent runs. The Giants should sign the veteran reliever yesterday.
While San Francisco absolutely needs a closer, paying for one isn’t really their style. When asked if they need to go out to get a closer or if it will be an internal competition, POBO Posey was very clear.
“It’s probably more likely to come down to a competition…I think is the way that it’ll play out.”
– Buster Posey
That being said, Devin Williams, Ryan Helsley, and Pete Fairbanks are all closer options on the open market that are slightly more affordable than the top names and have track records of being lockdown ninth inning guys.
Fans will have to wait and see how serious the organization is about that competition, or if it’s all just smoke and mirrors for them to spend big.
An Everyday Outfielder
The Giants had the worst defensive outfield in baseball last season. Left fielder Heliot Ramos posted a -11 Fielding Run Value while Jung Hoo Lee racked up -18 Defensive Runs Saved. This seemed partly due to some coaching flaws and hopefully improvement here can come from offseason work and fresh voices in the coaching staff.
With that being said, outfield defense is definitely somewhere they will look to improve. Offensively, the Giants could probably use another big bat, but paying for one seems unlikely, as of now.
With how outspoken the front office has been about pitching being the main focus of the offseason, spending on an outfield bat appears to be out of the picture. However, San Francisco is one of the biggest markets in all of baseball, and the organization has been trying to pay a superstar for years.
Drew Gilbert, Grant Mccray, and Luis Matos are the likely Opening Day right field options, as of now, but the solution is almost certainly external. Gilbert has the biggest advantage due to his relationship with Vitello but has yet to prove anything in the big leagues outside of being an above-average defender.
Free Agent Fits: Kyle Tucker, Cody Bellinger, Harrison Bader, Mike Yastrzemski
It’d be malpractice to not mention the two big names at the top of the market. If they wanted to, the Giants could simply outbid everybody and bring in one of the these names. Kyle Tucker would finally give them their huge free-agent signing and form a lineup that truly rivals the Dodgers.
Cody Bellinger‘s bat, on the other hand, seems like less of a fit for a place like Oracle Park. However, his defense would drastically improve the Giants outfield group, and the upside in his bat is second to few when it comes to available outfield options.
Harrison Bader seems like the perfect fit here. Throughout his career, he’s posted 67 Defensive Runs Saved and 77 Outs Above Average, making his glove a perfect fit. You could even move Jung Hoo Lee to right field if this signing comes into fruition and you want to get the most value out of Bader.
He’s coming off the best offensive season of his career with a 122 wRC+. This makes him more expensive than he was a year ago, but the Giants should have no problem opening up their pockets.
A reunion with Mike Yastrzemski seems highly unlikely, but would surprisingly make a lot of sense. He’s quietly been one of the most consistent third outfielders in baseball and would answer a lot of the team’s questions in the outfield.
Potential Trade Targets: Steven Kwan, Taylor Ward, Lars Nootbar
Steven Kwan is originally from the Bay Area, and bringing him to the Giants has been a rumor since the most recent trade deadline. He’s exactly what this power-dependent lineup needs and his elite defense would benefit this outfield mightily.
It seems like a match made in heaven, it just depends if the Giants can put together a package good enough for the All-Star.
Taylor Ward just had one of the quietest 35-plus home run seasons we’ve ever seen. He also does one thing extremely well that the Giants have struggled to do for years: hit southpaws. Against left-handed pitching, he had a .918 OPS and a wRC+ of 149.
Lars Nootbar rounds out this group as the cheapest option of the three. He’s coming off his worst season to date, meaning the Giants would be buying low. Despite that, in the three seasons prior, Nootbar posted an average wRC+ of just over 118.
There’s clearly an above-average bat in there, and the Giants would hope that it returns if they bring him to San Francisco.
Final Thoughts
While catcher and second base are the other two positions where San Francisco could potentially look to upgrade, their focus should be on the three spots noted above. If they want any chance at competing in the National League West, they’ll have to add real talent to this roster.
San Francisco fans should hope that they bring in at least two starting pitchers, a few relievers, and one more outfielder in order to call it a successful offseason. This winter will give us a good idea of how committed the organization is to winning in the Devers, Adames, Webb, and Chapman era of Giants baseball.
Buster Posey has shown an ability to convince ownership to spend big in the past, but can he do it again? Only time will tell.
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