San Francisco Giants Have Impressed Former MLB Exec Despite Free Agent Shortcomings

Not much was expected from the San Francisco Giants coming into the 2025 MLB regular season, entering a new era with former catcher Buster Posey leading the front office.

The three-time World Series champion was hired as president of baseball operations, replacing Farhan Zaidi in the franchises’ first major move of the offseason.

Posey wasted no time making an imprint on the organization with a huge splash in free agency.

The Giants agreed to a massive seven-year, $182 million deal with shortstop Willy Adames, addressing what was identified as the team’s biggest need. One of the most productive players at his position in the game, San Francisco was hopeful that he would infuse some power into their lineup.

To this point, Adames has not lived up to expectations after agreeing to the largest contract in franchise history.

But, he is starting to show some life at the plate. The more concerning development for him is the drop off defensively, continuing the troubling trend from 2024.

In need of some pitching depth, the second major move Posey made was signing Justin Verlander away from the Houston Astros.

The 42-year-old has been able to stay healthy but hasn’t provided much of a positive impact, going winless through his first nine starts with a 4.31 ERA.

Despite their two biggest offseason additions getting off to slow starts, the Giants have been one of the biggest surprises in baseball with their stellar performance.

Jim Bowden of The Athletic (subscription required) has been impressed by what San Francisco has accomplished to this point, highlighting them as one of the 10 biggest surprises of the campaign.

“I think the Giants have been the biggest surprise team in baseball…Both are off to slow starts: Adames is hitting .225 with a 94 OPS+ and Verlander is winless with a 4.31 ERA over nine starts. And yet, the Giants are 25-18, sitting in third place in the West but only two games out of second and 2.5 games out of first,” the former MLB executive wrote.

Since the article was published, they now sit three games behind the San Diego Padres in second and 3.5 behind the first place Los Angeles Dodgers after dropping to 25-19.

Both teams are loaded and will present challenges to remain within arm's reach of.

Keeping pace in the National League West will be a challenge, but the Giants certainly have the pitching to remain competitive and battle for a playoff spot.

What will determine their level of success is offensive output. They need to find more consistency offensively and Adames turning things around would be a massive help.