Another 2017? Buster Posey has seen the SF Giants spin out of control before

The SF Giants might just plain stink this season. They are 6-12 on the season now after losing to the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night and look completely bereft of answers. The offense is bad, the pitching isn't all that consistent, and it seems like things could spin out of control.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey was brought in to restore the franchise to its former glory, but this season is beginning to look like the darkest season for the team during Posey's playing career back in 2017.

SF Giants may be repeating some bad history in 2026

Posey actually had a pretty nice season that year. He was his typical self, hitting .320/.400/.462 with 12 homers and 67 runs batted in. But the Giants were absolutely atrocious that season with a record of 64-98 which was one of the worst years in franchise history.

That team started the season 6-12. They were projected to be a decent team and win 88 games ahead of the season. The 2026 Giants have started 6-12. That does not necessarily mean the Giants are going to lose 90-something games, but this team just looks really, really bad and frighteningly reminiscent of that 2017 club.

The lineup is not strong. Matt Chapman, Casey Schmitt, Luis Arraez, and Daniel Susac have been the three most consistent contributors so far but the production from the outfield has been nonexistent and Rafael Devers has been awful. At least he used his bat to hit something hard on Wednesday night.

The starting rotation is not that great. The Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle additions are just as uninspiring as they were when those signings were announced in the offseason. Mahle gave up eight earned runs in four innings of work against the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday and looked like he simply could not find the strike zone at times.

The bullpen is unreliable and it is full of inconsistent arms with no clear pecking order. The Giants are just winging it and seeing which arms are trustworthy and which are not and that process seems like it could take quite a while.

Manager Tony Vitello obviously doesn't deserve all of the blame. He isn't the one who put the roster together. But weren't these the sort of losing streaks (the Giants have dropped four games in a row now) he was supposed to prevent with his energetic managerial style?

There's just a bad mojo and vibe surrounding this team right now and that comes with the territory when losing and looking terrible while doing so, but the hope was that Vitello and his coaching staff would help elevate this group. That has not been the case so far.

2017 was a year in which everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Madison Bumgarner fell off his dirt bike and missed a few months. Big free-agent closer Mark Melancon was injured and ineffective when he was on the mound. The rest of the team was just not very good and things got off to a bad start and did not get any better.

That season could be explained as penance for the championship years. Giants fans had it too good for too long and the baseball gods were looking to even the score.

This season? Well, maybe it's the baseball gods telling Posey he can't be a great player and a great executive.

Maybe the Giants turn it around. Maybe we will look back at this article in three months and laugh at what a reactionary doofus I was. Or maybe this team is just bad and is not going to get better anytime soon.

If that's the case, then buckle up because it's going to be a long year. Posey at least got to be an All-Star the last time this happened. This time, he will only be able to watch from a luxury suite as he wonders how to answer the question of how it all went so wrong.

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