For the fourth straight year, the SF Giants will finish in the middle

Welp. The SF Giants have done it again. They are officially out of the playoff picture for the fourth straight year, and will finish in the middle again. Do they know how to get out of this rut?

For the fourth straight year, the SF Giants will finish in the middle

It feels like you and I have this same conversation every year. We try to dissect what went wrong. The front office and coaching staff do the same exercise, but that is their job. Our exercise is more to get the joy that comes with baseball rhetoric.

In Buster Posey's first season in charge, there were certainly some wins along the way, even if they felt short of their goal. He landed one of the top free agents on the market in Willy Adames and pulled off a stunning trade to acquire Rafael Devers.

For the first time in years, the Giants have a core. Adames, Devers, Matt Chapman, Logan Webb, and Jung Hoo Lee will be with the club for the foreseeable future. Importantly, all five players are still in their primes. Giants fans have undoubtedly taken notice. There has been more excitement and fans at Oracle Park this year.

That is a huge win for Posey. When he took over as president of baseball operations, I had no doubt that he would be able to relate to free agents in a way most front office executives cannot. I did not expect him to have such a knack for the big move so quickly.

So, the Giants have a core. On paper, this should be a solid core. One that can win the Giants some games. But why is that not happening?

It is not necessarily the core players that are the issue. That said, signing free agents may become increasingly difficult in the next couple of seasons, as they have a handful of players locked up to lucrative, long-term deals. This may force the front office to get more creative in free agency to address some roster weaknesses.

Part of the issue is the supporting cast. This is the same issue that has plagued them for the past 15 years. The farm system is just not giving them enough value. This is forcing them to address roster issues in free agency. That is an expensive and often difficult way to build a roster.

Of course, there were some wins this year on that front. Landen Roupp looked like a reliable rotation arm before he went down with an injury. Casey Schmitt has had some nice moments while moving to second base. And, Randy Rodríguez earned an NL All-Star nod. Unfortunately, he underwent Tommy John surgery and is expected to miss all of next season.

That is just not enough wins from the farm system. They are not doing enough to raise the floor of the roster. They are not filling in the gaps that the core players need them to fill.

In the second half of this year, the lineup has consistently featured several homegrown players, including Schmitt, Heliot Ramos, and Patrick Bailey. Ramos can hit, but struggles badly on defense and on the bases. Bailey is an elite defensive catcher, but has been a well below-average hitter for three seasons. Schmitt can hit for power, but may not have a true standout area of providing value as a second baseman.

The Giants hope that Bryce Eldridge can add a dynamic to the lineup. He has struggled in his brief stint with the Giants, but he made a lot of loud contact when he connects.

The Giants are where they have been for the past several years. They have had bouts of optimism throughout each year, but a second-half nosedive has too often tanked their playoff hopes.

Buster Posey was not going to fix everything in one offseason. It does feel like the roster is moving in the right direction. This is still an organization that needs to be fixed from the bottom up. That takes time, and that will be the key for the Giants when they get back to being a playoff contender.

For now, they are good enough to be on the fringes of the playoff races. They are not bad enough to tank, and this ownership group likely would not let that happen. They are stuck in the middle, which can be the worst place to be in sports.

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