Fifteen weeks ago, I composed a list of hopes and dreams for the 2025 San Francisco Giants. The team enters the All-Star break with a 52-45 record, their sixth-best \u201cfirst half\u201d record since 2010. It hasn\u2019t all been rainbows and walk-offs, but it\u2019s been successful enough, with the team just half a game out of the Wild Card. So, let\u2019s look at that list to see which hopes and dreams have been fulfilled, and which might already have been dashed.<\/p>\n
HopeThe Spring Training results transfer over to the regular season for the most part<\/p>\n
FULFILLED. The Giants ended April with a 19-12 record, and even though they\u2019ve gone just 33-33 since, they\u2019ve remained competitive.<\/p>\n
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Landen Roupp\u2019s spring carries over<\/p>\n
FULFILLED. He\u2019s been about the 65th-most valuable starter in the majors this season thanks to a 3.66 FIP. He\u2019s struck out 89 in 96.1 IP, too. But here\u2019s the thing: he\u2019s only gotten better. Unlike the team\u2019s overall record, his \u201csince May 1st\u201d numbers have provided even more value. He\u2019s got a 2.44 ERA (3.55 FIP) in 66.1 IP (13 starts) with just 4 home runs allowed.<\/p>\n
Hayden Birdsong is That Guy<\/p>\n
TBD. We have half a season to see which way this goes. It might wind up fulfilled rather than dashed. Admittedly, the results haven\u2019t been all that promising. His first 11 appearances came as a reliever, and in that role he posted a 2.31 ERA (4.71 FIP) in 23.1 IP. Since getting back into the rotation, he has a 5.10 ERA (4.66 FIP) in 42.1 IP and has made it through 5 innings in just 4 of his 9 starts. He\u2019s walked 12% of the batters he\u2019s faced over this span, too. He\u2019s not heading into the break on a high note and he\u2019s looking at a career innings threshold in the second half that could end any roll he might get on.<\/p>\n
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Logan Webb stays healthy<\/p>\n
JINX. I don\u2019t want to talk about this one. He\u2019s an All-Star. That\u2019s enough.<\/p>\n
SFGiants Next stop: All-Star Game \u2b50\ufe0f\u2708\ufe0f<\/p>\n
\u2014 SF Giants Bot (@giantbot.bsky.social) 2025-07-14T01:53:10.754730+00:00<\/p>\n
Ryan Walker regresses to an awesome mean<\/p>\n
TBD. It wasn\u2019t looking good there for the first few months, but he\u2019s made a mechanical fix that has him throwing 97+ mph again.<\/p>\n
The roster is Melvin-proof<\/p>\n
FULFILLED. He has Buster Posey\u2019s vote of confidence for 2026 and there hasn\u2019t been any weird lineup or position player controversy. Quite the opposite. The players are thrilled to have consistent roles in a predictable setting.<\/p>\n
The Giants win at least 82 games<\/p>\n
TBD. Now, this hope is far from DASHED because they\u2019re just 30 wins away with 65 remaining. Fans are right to cling to that 19-12 start and the half game out from a Wild Card position as the second half begins, but they\u2019re .500 since May 1st and going 30-35 the rest of the way would be in line with what we\u2019ve seen. They could still miss the mark, but if that comes to pass, I think it\u2019d be because something unexpectedly negative happened.<\/p>\n
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Heliot Ramos and Tyler Fitzgerald don\u2019t crater<\/p>\n
DASHED. Because I linked these two, I have to set aside Ramos\u2019s 119 wRC+. Tyler Fitzgerald has been a disaster at the plate and that power-speed combo nonexistent. He\u2019s a great defender up the middle, but so\u2019s Patrick Bailey, and having that many glove-only guys in a lineup that has a ceiling of league average is not something the team can afford. Enter Casey Schmitt as the starting second baseman going forward.<\/p>\n
Ramos has been awful the past month, too. In his last 28 games (120 PA), he\u2019s hitting just .176 with 30 strikeouts against 7 walks and 7 extra base hits. He\u2019s had just 2 extra base hits in July, too. This isn\u2019t to say that Ramos has been exposed and is destined for a bench role, only that it makes it easier to make a final judgment about this hope midseason.<\/p>\n
Willy Adames and Matt Chapman are the anchors<\/p>\n
TBD. Well, they were anchors of a different sort for most of the first half. Like concrete boots that sunk the offense to the bottom of the bay. Adames with his poor performance and Chapman with his absence. Chapman didn\u2019t get any rehab time after returning from the IL and now he\u2019s got to sit for the All-Star break, so I\u2019m a little bit afraid to see how much longer this funk will continue (he\u2019s 7-for-37 with 11 strikeouts since the sprained wrist).<\/p>\n
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Wilmer Flores torments major league pitching again<\/p>\n
FULFILLED. Look, that\u2019s exactly what he did coming out of Spring Training. He was 5th in RBI through May. Now, since June 1st, he\u2019s obviously hit himself into being a DFA candidate, but we did get to see one last flash of that professional hitter we enjoyed from 2020-2023, and that was the intent behind the hope in the original post.<\/p>\n
Bryce Eldridge is a luxury<\/p>\n
FULFILLED. That they were able to hold on to him in the Rafael Devers deal suggests he\u2019s something more than that in that he wasn\u2019t expendable, but the team isn\u2019t in such dire straits that they need to throw a Hail Mary and get him onto the major league roster. Of course, even if they wanted to, they couldn\u2019t, as he\u2019s spent a decent amount of time on the injured list already.<\/p>\n
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Jung Hoo Lee is a necessity<\/p>\n
FULFILLED. Has he been \u201cthe straw that stirs the drink,\u201d as I suggested he\u2019d need to be? Yes, I think so. And his hitting struggles have coincided with the lineup being sub-average. A lineup of Devers-Adames-Ramos-Chapman with Lee being that pesky guy at the top or just behind them is exactly the shape the offense needs to have going forward.<\/p>\n
DreamsKyle Harrison regains his velocity<\/p>\n
FULFILLED. In fact, he did such a good job that he was a useful part of a massive trade.<\/p>\n
At least one Giant hits 30 home runs this year<\/p>\n
DASHED. I\u2019m calling it. The Giants will go another season without a 30-home run guy. Heliot Ramos is at 14 with 65 to go. Rafael Devers has hit 17, but he has a disc injury in his lower back and he\u2019s already experienced the Oracle Park effect in some of his plate appearances.<\/p>\n
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Erik Miller is enough<\/p>\n
DASHED. He was already pitching in a danger zone with all the walks he allows but now he\u2019s got arm troubles and figures to miss a decent chunk of the second half. They\u2019ve already turned to Joey Lucchesi and they\u2019re probably going to need to find some bullpen help before the trade deadline.<\/p>\n
A zombie form of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry appears<\/p>\n
FULFILLED. It looks like the Giants might just barely avoid losing the historical head-to-head in the rivalry \u2014 which currently stands at 1,294-1,289-17 in favor of the Giants with 7 games left in the season series \u2014 and after this weekend\u2019s spirited series loss, I think the team has managed to reframe the situation. The Dodgers will always be better, but the Giants have managed to put together a roster that doesn\u2019t totally stink against them.<\/p>\n
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Looking back, these hopes and dreams were a little small. I know why I did that, though. I wanted to protect myself from disappointment. Low expectations, low disappointment. I have made peace with the Giants of today being different from the Giants of April 30th, but I recognize that some fans out there have not, and see a team that\u2019s half a game out of the Wild Card with 65 games to go as being a team that\u2019s fully in it with an exciting summer ahead, and it\u2019s more fun to write to that. Let\u2019s all set ourselves up to be crushed. Let\u2019s add some hopes and dreams.<\/p>\n
Remember, hopes are outcomes you believe are possible while dreams are basically wishes.<\/p>\n
(New) HopesPatrick Bailey keeps it up<\/p>\n
Bob Melvin asking him to bunt in extra innings today made logical computer sense, but asking it of the one guy who\u2019s had a penchant for dramatic game-winners felt antithetical to the Vibes Only Giants team that Buster Posey has foisted on us. Since the White Sox series, he\u2019s had a .730 OPS, a span of 15 games and 52 plate appearances. I don\u2019t think Patrick Bailey is a .730 OPS guy, but a .690\/.700 guy feels plausible once again and in a way that it hasn\u2019t since 2023?<\/p>\n
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Randy Rodriguez saves the bullpen<\/p>\n
Even if we allow for Ryan Walker\u2019s adjustment and Tyler Rogers\u2019 consistency, the rest of the reliever corps is starting to look a little sketchy. Camilo Doval is closer to being the closer by default rather than the guy who worked hard to seize it from Walker during Walker\u2019s struggles. Spencer Bivens and Tristan Beck are better as low leverage innings eaters, Scott Alexander and Joey Lucchesi are shaky relievers you only want in short bursts. Rodriguez provides the only consistent strikeout stuff in the group, and strikeouts are still the coin of the realm in MLB. He\u2019s been amazing through the first half (0.86 ERA in 41.2 IP). Let\u2019s hope he stays at this level of performance. The Giants will need it.<\/p>\n
(New) dreamsThe Giants clinch a Wild Card spot<\/p>\n
I\u2019m probably in the minority for thinking that this isn\u2019t all that possible. Since June 1st, the Giants\u2019 pitching has been in the bottom third of the league. That coincides with a 93 wRC+ lineup. But the Giants\u2019 lineup has been 5% worse than the league average overall and even if that improves some, I think the pitching is in a lot more trouble than we want to believe. Robbie Ray has been stellar, but he hasn\u2019t logged a full season in a few years. Landen Roupp and Hayden Birdsong oughtn\u2019t be expected to log 140+ innings. Justin Verlander? Boy, I don\u2019t know. So, this feels like a longshot, but that\u2019s why a wish is required.<\/p>\n
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The Giants trade for Kris Bubic<\/p>\n
The left-handed kid from Cupertino is an All-Star for the Royals this season and he\u2019s the kind of force the rotation could use. He has one last year of team control and is currently the 7th-most valuable pitcher in MLB. The ask would be pretty significant, and the Giants might\u2019ve emptied the clip landing Devers, but that\u2019s why it\u2019s here as a wish. They could certainly play around in the Tyler Anderson-Jeffrey Springs-Jose Quintana-Andrew Heaney realm, but I\u2019m just putting it out there that Buster Posey should Bring Bubi Home.<\/p>\n
What are your hopes and dreams for the second half?<\/p>\n
More from mccoveychronicles.com:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fifteen weeks ago, I composed a list of hopes and dreams for the 2025 San Francisco Giants. The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":175285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2408],"tags":[5,6595,945,9406,1090,162,203,851,32463,24039,375,388,309,2168,2005,112,379,4,7661,863,1822,946,378,66,4343,4340,8163,4344,4341,4342,18091,852,15812,1739,948,396,103,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-175284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-giants","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-buster-posey","10":"tag-camilo-doval","11":"tag-casey-schmitt","12":"tag-erik-miller","13":"tag-giants","14":"tag-hayden-birdsong","15":"tag-heliot-ramos","16":"tag-hopes-and-dreams","17":"tag-joey-lucchesi","18":"tag-jung-hoo-lee","19":"tag-justin-verlander","20":"tag-kris-bubic","21":"tag-kyle-harrison","22":"tag-landen-roupp","23":"tag-logan-webb","24":"tag-matt-chapman","25":"tag-mlb","26":"tag-patrick-bailey","27":"tag-rafael-devers","28":"tag-robbie-ray","29":"tag-ryan-walker","30":"tag-san-francisco","31":"tag-san-francisco-giants","32":"tag-sanfrancisco","33":"tag-sanfranciscogiants","34":"tag-scott-alexander","35":"tag-sf","36":"tag-sf-giants","37":"tag-sfgiants","38":"tag-spencer-bivens","39":"tag-the-giants","40":"tag-tristan-beck","41":"tag-tyler-fitzgerald","42":"tag-tyler-rogers","43":"tag-white-sox","44":"tag-willy-adames","45":"tag-wilmer-flores"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/175285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}