Buster Posey took risks in 2026, including in the dugout with Tony Vitello, and few paid off as the Giants end the season barely above the Rockies
It would be difficult to draw up a worse season for the San Francisco Giants. Coming into 2026, they didn’t project to be much better than the .500-ish team they’ve been the last few years, but injuries and ineffectiveness resulted in their worst season since their 98-loss campaign in 2017. Two years into Buster Posey’s front office reign, the Giants are arguably in a worse place than they were the year before he took over.
“I think everyone deep down felt we’re gonna take the world by storm,” rookie manager Tony Vitello told The Athletic about the club’s season recently. “And when we didn’t right out of the chute, it put everybody on their heels, and I’d be guilty of that too.”
Injuries have certainly played a major role in San Francisco’s disappointing season. They currently have 17 players — 17! — on the 60-day injured list, and no team has the depth to cover that. Between injuries and the subsequent trade deadline sell-off, the Giants are running out the string with a lineup that more closely resembles a Triple-A team. This is unfathomable:
The roster construction and the contracts on the books almost force the Giants to be a win-now team. They have highly paid veterans on long-term deals who won’t be the players they are today after a rebuild. The good news is the Giants do have a solid talent base, including several interesting young players, and the third wild-card spot is very forgiving. Contention is not too far away.
Here now are three questions facing Posey and the Giants as they head into the offseason and begin their 2027 planning.
1. Will Vitello improve in Year 2?
Give Posey this: He’s willing to be bold and think outside the box. The Giants hired Vitello away from the University of Tennessee last offseason, making him the first person to jump straight from college to an MLB managerial job with no prior professional playing or coaching experience. Posey took a risk, for sure, but he didn’t shy away from doing something unconventional.
Vitello’s first season with the Giants was … rocky. He made headlines for all the wrong reasons early in the season, including his “fire and brimstone” speech before Opening Day and letting old college grudges bleed into his relationships with umpires. He also questioned his team’s effort level in May. Fans may like to hear that when the team struggles, but veteran players will take offense.
Like every other manager, Vitello’s on-field strategizing has stood out at times and been questionable at others. The big question is in the clubhouse. There is clearly some tension there. Posey has already said Vitello will be back next season, so how does the manager adapt in Year 2? This is the big leagues. What works at the college level doesn’t always work with grown men in The Show.
2. Will the veterans rebound?
Rafael Devers held up his end of the bargain. Acquired in that blockbuster trade with the Boston Red Sox last May, Devers authored a .258/.340/.525 slash line with 37 home runs this season, the most by a Giant since Barry Bonds hit 45 in 2004. Devers did that in only 148 games, too. With the team out of the race, he got a head start on his offseason and had core muscle surgery on Sept. 15.
Devers did exactly what Posey envisioned when he made the trade. The rest of the veterans? Not so much. Even in the three-wild-card era, it’s difficult to contend when these guys do this:
| Games | WAR | Remaining contact | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
121 |
0.4 |
5 years, $140M |
|
|
84 |
1.3 |
4 years, $100M |
|
|
143  |
0.9  |
3 years, $63M |
All three played through injuries at various points and are on the injured list right now. Chapman hasn’t played since June 30 after having core muscle surgery. Adames is out with an injury to his non-throwing elbow. Lee is nursing a groin injury. You can add Harrison Bader to this group too. He played 30 games, put up minus-0.4 WAR, and ran his scooter into a fire truck.
The injuries shouldn’t be ignored. These guys all played hurt for a while, but that’s three players making big money who simply didn’t perform. Ace Logan Webb belongs here too. He had his worst season, throwing 160 ⅔ innings with a 4.31 ERA before a knee issue ended his season. There was never a path to the postseason if Adames, Chapman, Lee, and Webb played like this.
There is no such thing as an untradeable contract these days, but it will be difficult for Posey to unload these players (other than Webb, who would still generate major interest). Posey has to find a way to improve the roster around these veterans while hoping they all return from their injuries well and perform in 2027. That is imperative. It is the easiest way to improve the results.
3. Which young players will take a step forward?
The upside of a lost, injury-plagued season like this one is that it gives you an opportunity to audition young players, and the Giants auditioned A LOT of young players this season. San Francisco has used 70 players this year, one short of the all-time record, including 17 who made their MLB debuts. The Giants have used 28 rookie-eligible players, easily the most in baseball.
Top prospect Bryce Eldridge has been the best of the young players in the game, hitting .269/.364/.461 with 17 home runs in 107 games after coming up on May 5. Drew Gilbert, who came over in last year’s Tyler Rogers trade with the New York Mets, looks like he’ll be at least a platoon/fourth outfielder. Righty Trent Harris has been a bullpen force. Those are wins in a lost season.
Outfielders Bo Davidson and Victor Bericoto and lefty Matt Wilkinson are among others who have debuted this season and could assume larger roles next year, assuming they’re given the opportunity. Righty Jackson Flora, the No. 4 pick in this summer’s draft, has the skill set to rocket up the minors and reach San Francisco next season, perhaps as soon as April.
The Giants acquired shortstop Marcelo Mayer from the Red Sox at the deadline and he made his Giants debut on Monday after dealing with a foot injury. With Eldridge and Gilbert cementing their place on the roster, Mayer will headline next season’s group of young players the Giants hope will take that step forward and make the jump from prospect to building block.
San Francisco already has $159 million on the books next season, the eighth most in baseball, and we have no idea what the next collective bargaining agreement will bring (salary cap? more punitive competitive balance tax penalties?). It seems unlikely Posey will be a big spender this offseason. In that case, it’s on the young players to elevate the team in 2027.
