Naivety or insanity? What to make of SF Giants' lack of major changes after awful season

The SF Giants had their end of season press conference on Tuesday. Buster Posey, Zack Minasian, and Tony Vitello fielded questions about the awful 2026 season and the future. One thing that was clear is that we shouldn’t expect any wholesale changes to either the front office or the coaching staff.

While it’s been obvious for a while that both Buster Posey and Tony Vitello would be coming back in 2027, it only seemed fair to assume there would be some changes to the front office and coaching staff. Surely, something had to change after the team went 65-97, right?

Maybe not.

Posey said that there may be some changes to the coaching staff, but per our own Jeff Young it did not sound like he envisions any major changes to the staff. While there are very fair questions about the coaching staff on the pitching side especially after seeing pitchers like Tyler Mahle and Erik Miller enjoy such great success after being traded, it doesn’t seem like there will be a new pitching coach.

The fact that general manager Zack Minasian was at the press conference suggests that he is going to be back as well. While it would be unfair to blame everything on him, it’s not altogether clear what role he plays in the front office and replacing him with a different executive who has different ideas might have been a smart move especially since the front office has been criticized for a lack of creativity.

Instead, it seems like the same group responsible for fielding and overseeing a roster that had one of the worst seasons in the history of the franchise is going to come back largely intact.

Will Giants improve without any leadership changes?

Maybe the Giants don’t have much of a choice. Both Posey and Vitello are inexperienced and they seem to be betting that both of them will learn on the job. Maybe 2027 will be their last chance to prove that this current configuration can bring about better results, but given the fact that 2027 could be a shortened season with a lockout likely maybe that won’t be the best season to judge them on.

At some point though, they’re going to have to start winning. The nice thing for Posey and Vitello is that if the Giants go .500 next year it will seem like a positive development even though mediocrity got Gabe Kapler, Farhan Zaidi, and Bob Melvin fired. 

Whether the Giants can even get back to mediocrity, let alone contention, is a major question mark. Posey said that he thinks the Giants can be a contender next year but the fact that he’s unwilling to make major changes to the front office or coaching staff makes one skeptical of that optimism. 

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