MLB 2025: San Francisco Giants Over/Under For Wins

• In 2024, the San Francisco Giants had their third straight season of hovering around .500
• In response to the rampant mediocrity, the club fired President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi
• Former Giants star Buster Posey was named new President of Baseball Operations
• Oddsmakers have them at around .500 again

The Giants Reach Into the Past for the Future

In 2021, the Giants’ third year with Zaidi at the helm, their roster was a mishmash of the remnants of their three World Series winners in five years and Zaidi’s and manager Gabe Kapler’s preferred, stat-based strategy. They won 107 games and the NL West before losing 3 games to 2 to the Dodgers in the NLDS.

In subsequent years, they stumbled. Kapler was fired near the end of the 2023 season and replaced for 2024 by veteran MLB manager Bob Melvin. But San Francisco continued to wallow around .500. Finally, ownership returned to its glory days and hired the front office neophyte Posey.

Stars Come and Stars Go

The 2025 Giants allowed pitcher Blake Snell and outfielder Michael Conforto to leave for the Dodgers as free agents. Posey reportedly initiated the decision to re-sign third baseman Matt Chapman before Zaidi had even been relieved of his duties. Over the winter, they signed star shortstop Willy Adames to a 7-year, $182 million deal. They also signed the legendary Justin Verlander to shore up the starting rotation.

The Team Is Different, if Not Better

Apart from boosting the offense and defense with Adames, the team exchanged Snell for the return of Robbie Ray and Verlander, are hoping for a productive and healthy year from Jung Hoo Lee, and believe a front office and manager thinking along the same lines in a more old-school fashion will yield better results on the field.

Their problem is that they are the fourth best team in the division behind the Dodgers, Padres, and Diamondbacks. It will take Posey time to undo much of what Zaidi put in place and get back to what it was that worked when the catcher was leading the team to championships in 2010, 2012, and 2014. That equates to another year of finishing around .500 with the likelihood that they will fall somewhere below the break-even line.