Just How Good Have the San Francisco Giants Been Despite New Additions Struggling?

Easily one of the biggest surprises to begin 2025 has been the play of the San Francisco Giants.

Coming into the season, the Giants weren’t expected to be that much better of a team than in years past. For the most part, the offseason was rather quiet for San Francisco. However, after one month, the team is right in the thick of things in the National League West.

While the division to going to be a gauntlet for the Giants the rest of the year, San Francisco might have the ability to compete with the best of the best.

With an improved lineup, a solid rotation, and one of the best bullpens in baseball so far, the Giants might be here to stay after a strong April.

David Schoenfield of ESPN (subscription required) recently wrote about team grades for April. For the Giants, he gave them the excellent grade of an ‘A’ for their efforts so far.

“The interesting thing is it's not due to anything new that president of baseball operations -- and Giants legend -- Buster Posey did in the offseason.”

The success of San Francisco is certainly surprising, but it is even more surprising when looking at their two most notable additions struggling.

Willy Adames was one of the best slugging shortstops in the league last year but is off to a slow start. So far, he has slashed .218/.298/.306 with two home runs and 15 RBI.

Considering the poor numbers from a hitter who is supposed to be one of the best on the team in the middle of the order, it shows the improvements from others early on in 2025.

Furthermore, coming into the year the starting rotation was supposed to be the strength of the team. The early results have been mixed with some starters performing well, and other struggling.

One of the pitchers struggling has been the other main offseason addition, Justin Verlander. The veteran right-hander has totaled a 0-2 record and 4.38 ERA. Fortunately, the last couple of starts have been better, but he is still winless on the campaign.

Luckily, the Giants have been led in the lineup by second-year outfielder Jung Hoo Lee and in the rotation by Logan Webb. Both players are trending toward being All-Stars this season and have helped pick up the slack.

It wouldn’t be the first time in recent years that San Francisco came out of nowhere with a great record. In 2021, the team won 107 games, in what was an outlier of a campaign.

Furthermore, with a couple of key contributors still struggling, there is reason to believe that the Giants will get even better in May.