Buster Posey seals Bob Melvin's fate after manager's dire comments on Giants future

Given that the San Francisco Giants signed Willy Adames and Justin Verlander during the offseason and then traded for Rafael Devers during the season, the team was obviously looking to make some noise in the 2025 playoff race. Unfortunately, San Francisco was unable to sustain much in the way of momentum and finished the season with an 81-81 record and two games out of a spot in the postseason. For Buster Posey, that was very clearly not good enough.

There is going to be a full accounting of what changes the organization is going to need to make to get back in contention in 2026, including putting together lists of offseason trade and free agent targets, as well as an honest reflection on what players the organization can and cannot move on from.

However, the one decision that Posey wasted little time on was firing Bob Melvin after the Giants' former manager made some comments at the end of the season that made it seem like he knew his fate beforehand.

Bob Melvin is out as Giants manager, although the next steps are tricky

When the Giants hired Melvin, he seemed like the perfect fit that became available at just the right time. He was widely respected across the league and considered by many to be one of the better managers in baseball period. Unfortunately, Melvin was not able to parlay that reputation and continue it with the Giants, as the club could never really find consistency on either side of the ball under his leadership. For an executive like Posey who is clearly looking to shake things up to fix what ails the organization, Melvin is an easy scapegoat.

However, one wonders how much of a difference firing Melvin is actually going to make. The Giants almost certainly hire someone else with managing experience, and the reality is that managers just don't have the same influence over wins and losses in this data-driven era. If San Francisco is going to get back on track, it has to come via changes to their roster.

The team does at least have some pieces to work with. Matt Chapman is criminally underrated, and Devers looked more and more comfortable with the Giants as the second half progressed. Logan Webb is still a bad, bad man. If the front office does its job and reverses the team's fortunes when it comes to attracting big-time free agents, it may not matter much who replaces Melvin.

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