Buster Posey has no shortage of options to bolster SF Giants pitching staff

The SF Giants needs have been pretty obvious since the end of the 2025 season. The gaps in the starting rotation and closer role highlight these needs and president of baseball operations Buster Posey has no shortage of options to address these needs.

With the off-season under way, here are the free agent arms the SF Giants should target heading in to 2026.

Starting pitchers and relievers the SF Giants should target this offseason

The Giants who we can almost say for certain who will be in the rotation are as follows: Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, and Landen Roupp. With only three established starters, the Giants are in desperate need of another dominant arm. Here are the guys they should go after.

Zac Gallen

Coming off a down year where Gallen had an inflated ERA of 4.83 and a 13-15 record, signing Gallen would offer a low risk with high reward. Buyer beware though as his ERA has trended the wrong direction since 2023. But maybe Gallen will benefit from playing in Oracle Park. An All-Star in 2023, the Giants should take a nice long look at Gallen who will most likely require a multi-year deal, but on the cheaper end of some projected contracts. It seems that Gallen fits the SF Giants' bill.

Framber Valdez

One of the most consistent arms in the league, Valdez is the definition of an innings eater. Since he did not accept the qualifying offer from the Houston Astros on November 18, it's looking like Framber will be finding a new home this offseason. Buster Posey should be prepared to offer something in the four-year $80 million range. Although with the recent Dylan Cease signing, established free agent arms may be seeing an inflated price this year. While he is on the older side at 32 years olf, his high ground ball rate compensates for this, and he fits the profile of recent additions to the rotation in Robbie Ray and Justin Verlander.

Ranger Suárez

Another mid-rotation arm that won't cost Posey a leg to get, Suárez had a nice 2025 posting a 3.20 ERA and a 12-8 record. It seems Suárez is looking for a long-term contract after rejecting the Phillies' one year deal. Suárez is coming off a season where he threw a career-high 157 innings, and he is another arm the Giants should be looking at.

Tatsuya Imai

The talk of the proverbial town right now, Imai is the hottest thing smoking in MLB free agency. A guy who has based his identity around beating the monster in LA? Yep... get him on the first flight to SFO. Known for his velocity and ground ball leaning percentage on balls in play, Imai would be a perfect fit in SF. The only problem is you're paying a guy roughly $150 million who has never thrown a pitch in the MLB. The bright side is there are currently many success stories of pitchers transferring from the NBP to the MLB. Hopefully Imai is the next success story, and hopefully that story takes place with the Giants.

Closing Pitchers

The move to trade Camilo Doval to the Bronx was polarizing for many fans, but what can be said is that San Fransisco won the trade pretty definitively. But that is irrelevant due to the fact that the SF Giants have yet to replace him. Guys like Randy Rodríguez and Ryan Walker showed some promise but were largely inconsistent. After the fiasco that went down in the back half of the season it wouldn't be crazy for the SF Giants to spend at a spot they have had trouble with. Paying the price for an established closer could be well worth it. For a team that had an average margin of victory of .13 in 2025, boasting the bullpen is not a bad idea. Especially at a positon as pivotal as the closer.

Edwin Díaz

Díaz is the guy the SF Giants need. He has elite strikeout potential and can just come in and shut it down. For too long the Giants have left the door open for late game heroics. Fans are tired of it. Díaz is the nail gun who can close the coffin against teams with high-powered offenses. With a 1.90 ERA in 2025 and 28 saves, the Giants should consider paying out for an elite level closer like Díaz. Give the three time All-Star a contract with an AAV of $20 million if it means he can get the job done.

Devin Williams

Okay so he had a tough year in a hitter friendly park. So what? Oracle Park should give him the help he needs. With an elite ERA up until 2025, and assuming the Giants could get him at a discount after a rough 2025, Devin Williams could be the answer the Giants need at the closer position. We'll call his last season an outlier and hope he would come back to form when it's not a short porch in right field. Posting a sub-three ERA every season between 2019 and 2025, Williams might still have it, and maybe a change of scenery is what he needs. It's safe to say he'll be playing with something to prove in 2026.

While there is also chatter about needs for a second baseman and right fielder, the Giants should look to continue to develop the young guys like Drew Gilbert and Casey Schmitt.

With two and a half seasons under his belt, Schmitt should get nod top start the season so the Giants can definitively know what they have. The second baseman market isn't exactly booming either, with the best option being Jorge Polanco who had a lackluster regular season, but did come alive in the postseason for what it's worth.

It will be exciting to see what Buster Posey does this off-season considering the big moves he made during the regular season. He made moves that absolutely paid off and are shaping up to be good for years to come. Posey has started his tenure off incredibly well. He has already been making savvy moves that should quietly bolster the strength of the roster but he needs to take some big swings to boost the pitching staff.