Full article linked here:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/46346687/mlb-2025-full-season-grades-all-30-teams-brewers-phillies-dodgers-mets-yankees

Agree with us falling short, but feel like Buster did a good job putting together the best team on paper we’ve had in a while. Also feel like Devers wasn’t that bad and caught unnecessary shade at the end…

29 comments

  1. seems at most a little harsh, highest I’d go is maybe B- ?Buster did what he could and made the big moves, so criticism of that doesn’t really make sense. it’s the players that somewhat underperformed for one reason or another, hoping it’s just the adjustment process and a full offseason with the team will put them in the right direction.

  5. Rafael Devers had a good season, but it wasn’t a superstar-level performance. No one’s calling him a bad player, but the drop in production after he moved from the Red Sox to the Giants is a head-scratcher. Some people on this subreddit thought it was due to a small sample size, but I disagree—I think the sample size is significant.

  7. We wasted a decade under Farhan and Evans but they want to torch Buster after his first season.

    I think the trades were ones we all would have made 10/10 times. The BP can be rebuilt in the offseason

    Melvin and Co probably cost us a good 10-15 wins and the season was lost post All Star Break so anything after that was really just noise.

    If Melvin is still around in February I might have some more criticism towards Buster but I think he’s trying to get us going in the right direction and cleaning up Farhan’s mess is a long term project

  8. If Devers could access his pull side power, mccovy cove would be his playground. He has the bat to own this yard.

  9. This a multi year process for Buster. Devers will be better starting out the season with us. We all know it’s harder to get free agent hitters to sign with us. This the first season since 2014 that we don’t need to get a middle of the order bat in the offseason. He can go sign a solid hitter and focus his attention on getting a couple of solid pitchers for the rotation and bullpen.

  11. I don’t even see a take there, just that the Giants remain mediocre.

    It’s a nothing article, which is exactly what I would expect from ESPN.

  12. seems generic, almost like AI wrote it, its just a rundown of major events and average opinions from the internet as the ‘authors’ opinion, its not any kind of actual analysis. This team does not represent the last team its offense heavy and pitching is decimated, it doesn’t resemble the team we started the season with much less the ‘previous 3 teams’.

  13. Hitting in Oracle was the least of Devers’ problems. Sure there were a few fly balls that would have been hits otherwise, but it was more his cold stretches with lots of strikeouts that hurt him. Either way, he’s hardly the problem. We had poor management, poor hitting approach and adjustments, poor fundamental baseball that got worse as the year went on, a totally taxed and defeated pitching staff, and one of the worst bullpens in baseball in the second half.

  14. I think the team is improving under Posey, but there’s a long way to go. The snippet you posted is 100% right that this is a .500 team.

    Maybe I’m wrong, because I’m not a GM or expert, but while I love having a Devers like player who can mash, Oracle is for a team with fantastic pitching (including great bullpen) and pure hitters who can hit gaps (I think Luis Arraez would kill it at Oracle). If we go out and try to build a team around home runs, we’re in trouble.

    I do think that Posey gets it and will build something like that. We definitely need improved production from the outfield.

  16. I’m happy with the direction Posey seems to be taking the team. Greater personnel continuity (less fringe roster madness). More stability, better communication to players, and the clubhouse seems more positive than it’s been in a long time. Posey wasn’t afraid to sell at the deadline, and seemed to give young players a longer runway to succeed (Gilbert, for example).

    I’m excited about next year. Retain Verlander, Lucchesi and Dom Smith. Re-acquire Tyler Rogers. Sign another top flight starting pitcher (preferably a lefty?) and I could see this same core winning 90 games.

  17. The Rodgers trade was great. All time robbery BP trade right there. Have to give credit for that move

    Devers, I mean I think Posey could have gotten Boston to cover some of the back end of his contract like the Yanks did with Stanton, and Devers didn’t hit well enough. 1.4 bWAR and .785 OPS in 86 games in SF has to be disappointing

  18. interesting article in the WSJ about the Padres:

    [https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/san-diego-padres-sac-bunt-1cf73bd4](https://www.wsj.com/sports/baseball/san-diego-padres-sac-bunt-1cf73bd4)

    They changed something. They did something to see if they could be more successful. We didn’t. We did the same old thing all season long and just hoped for success and hoped people would “get hot” . That’s the main problem I have. We didn’t try anything

  19. It’s kind of spot on tbh. I’m convinced they can sign Tucker, any collection of starters they want, start 2026 20 games over .500 and still finish around 81-81

  20. A lot of pressure on Buster right now. He pushed all in and added a ton of salary on players only to produce the same result. They are already top 10 in salary commitments next year and top 5 the year after.

    They are desperately in need of young cheap contributions to balance the roster, but also make it better. There are not many avenues to improve the roster in the short term without committing a bloated payroll. This will hinge on how fast he can build the farm, because he started the competing expectation clock with his additions.

    It might take some outside the box thinking and trades to get them competitive. Their pitching is rough right now with little hope on the horizon. Currently, mediocre play seems to be on the menu for the foreseeable future. How does he get over the hump, Idk. We’ll see how long fans will be patient with this continued play.

  21. I don’t think they resemble the last 3 years teams at all (other than the record). They’ve got players with star power, even though that hasn’t translated to wins or putting it all together yet. I’m excited to see how Posey handles this offseason, but they’re far more entertaining than the last few seasons. A younger manager similar to Vogt, or Counsell would make me optimistic for next year.

  22. Fairly lazy take on the ballpark. Any struggles with hitting has been contact related for Devers.

    Again, opposition has little trouble teeing off at Oracle lol

  23. Fair assessment but they left out us shitting the bed against bad teams like the White Sox and Pirates. Not showing up against beatable teams has sunk this team’s WC chances over the past few years more than not being able to win series against better teams.

  26. We finished roughly where most predictions had us finishing before the season.

    We didn’t exceed expectations, but didn’t totally shit the bed either.

    We made some moves for the future that give some hope in 2026.

    A ‘C’ is the correct grade for this season. It’s been a true mixed bag that ended about where it was expected to.

  27. The opposition never seems to have a problem hitting in our park. Only the Giants have a problem hitting in our park (as well as in the rest of the MLB parks).

  28. Losing Hayden Birdsong on July 21 and Roupp the next day cost the Giants the season. They were never able to replace them on the rotation and after that it was pretty much a two man rotation with a mostly unreliable Verlander. A team can’t make the playoffs if their rotation collapses each season.

  29. I think the article is pretty accurate. While our division is very competitive, and the 100-win season aside, it feels like we’re often battling for a wildcard spot rather than focusing on the division title. It’s clear we need to step up our game to make that leap.

    That said, I do think Posey’s first year as a leader has been a positive one. The winning culture is showing signs of returning, which is the foundation of any successful team. While fans, myself included, are eager for immediate success, it’s important to recognize that building a championship contender is a longer process than just one season.

    Looking at our roster, I believe pitching has traditionally been easier to find than hitting, and with our top 6 hitters solidly in place, we’re not far off from competing at a high level. What we need now are a few key additions—namely a second baseman and some reinforcements in both our starting rotation and bullpen.

Leave a Reply