Tuesday, October 13

SAN FRANCISCO -- For the ninth time in the last 10 seasons, the Giants will be stuck watching postseason baseball at home. 

Their hopes of playing into October faded quickly during their disappointing 97-loss campaign this year, a grim reality that wasn’t lost on president of baseball operations Buster Posey. 

"This is kind of off-topic, but I was just sitting here thinking about it," Posey said during the club’s end-of-season press conference last week. "I guess this is more for our fans than anything else -- as excited as we were about how well some of our young guys played, I just want to say it out loud: We don't have blinders on that the wins and losses were still not there with that group.”

The onus for building a better roster will now fall on Posey, general manager Zack Minasian and manager Tony Vitello, setting the stage for another consequential offseason for the Giants. 

Here are four questions the group will have to address this winter:

1. How competitive can the Giants be in 2027? 

While the 2026 Giants fell significantly short of expectations, Posey said he believes that the club has enough core pieces to pull off a rapid turnaround next year. 

“If you’re asking, ‘Do you think we can contend next year?’” Posey said. “I do. I do believe that we can.” 

Whether that goal is realistic will likely depend on how aggressive the Giants are in upgrading a pitching staff that has some serious holes in both the starting rotation and the bullpen. The Giants recently earned Farm System of the Year honors at the 2026 MiLB Awards, but most of their top prospects remain in the lower levels of the Minors and might be years away from impacting the big league club. 

San Francisco still has a star slugger in Rafael Devers and two other promising young bats in Casey Schmitt and Bryce Eldridge, but it’ll need a lot more internal improvement if it plans to progress in ‘27. 

“As far as development goes, I'm a big believer that you have to be developing all the time, no matter if you're a 23-year-old or you're a 34-year-old,” Posey said. “The game's constantly changing, and you're having to adjust. So that's always going to be part of it.”

2. Who will fill out the starting rotation? 

The Giants’ pitching depth was hit hard after four young starters -- Hayden Birdsong, Trevor McDonald, Carson Whisenhunt and Blade Tidwell -- all went down with Tommy John surgery this year. Birdsong will likely be back at some point next year, but the other three might be sidelined until 2028, leaving Logan Webb and Landen Roupp as the only locks for the 2027 Opening Day rotation.

The Giants spent the final weeks of the regular season evaluating in-house options like Anthony Molina, Matt Wilkinson, Yunior Marte and Cesar Perdomo, but they’ll almost certainly be on the hunt for more established rotation arms this offseason. 

Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize and Nick Martinez will be among the options available on the free-agent market, but the Giants could also consider trading some of their prized prospects for a young, controllable starter.

3. Will Camilo Doval be back? 

Doval couldn’t stop smiling after the Giants surprisingly brought him back for a second stint in the orange and black last month. The former All-Star closer endured bumpy stints with the Yankees and Pirates this year, but he flashed dominant stuff in his two September appearances for the Giants, striking out four in two scoreless innings against the Dodgers. 

Doval is under team control through 2027, but he’s arbitration-eligible and will be due a raise from the $6.1 million he earned this season. Posey has acknowledged that he didn’t do enough to beef up the bullpen last offseason, so it could be practical for the Giants to bring Doval back and reunite him with fellow All-Star reliever Randy Rodríguez, who is expected to return from Tommy John surgery next year. 

“I think we'll just have to keep having conversations with our group and try to make the best decision we can with the bullpen,” Posey said. “But it's nice to have [Doval] in the fold.”

4. Are more coaching staff changes coming? 

The Giants almost completely overhauled their coaching staff after dismissing Bob Melvin last year. Drastic changes aren’t expected to be in store for Vitello’s staff this winter, but it’s hard to believe the entire group will be retained given the Giants’ degree of underperformance this year. 

The Giants already had a rare midseason swap in June, when Gary Pettis was hired to replace Hector Borg, who had a rough go as the club’s third-base coach before being reassigned to a player development role.

The Arizona Fall League always seems to be loaded with quality athletes. In its first 33 seasons, the developmental circuit featured multitooled talents such as Ronald Acuña Jr., Mookie Betts, Byron Buxton, Carl Crawford, Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, Francisco Lindor, Andrew McCutchen, Mike Trout and Trea Turner.

This year, Giants outfielder Dakota Jordan (San Francisco's No. 7 prospect per MLB Pipeline) may be the most athletically gifted player in the Fall League. A member of the Scottsdale Scorpions, he comes with double-plus raw power and speed and can become a plus defender in center field with more refinement. He was a three-star wide receiver recruit as a Mississippi prepster and initially committed to play two sports at Mississippi State before deciding baseball was his true love. More >>

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