Grant Bisbee wrote an article in The Athletic recently (here, if you have a subscription: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6343684/2025/05/09/sf-giants-buster-posey-farhan-zaidi/ ) in which he debated who built the 2025 giants, Posey or Zaidi. You can read his article for the arguments, including WAR totals in each group so far this season. I’ll purloin only his list of players who came into the organization under this or that front office:
GM Brian Sabean (1997-2014): Rogers, Webb
GM Bobby Evans (2015-2018): Doval, Matos, Ramos, Rodriguez, Villar, Walker
POBO Farhan Zaidi (2019-2024): Bailey, Birdsong, Bivens, Chapman, Fitzgerald, Flores, Harrison, Hicks, Koss, Lee, Miller, Ray, Roupp, Schmitt, Wade, Wisely, Yastrzemski
POBO Buster Posey (2025): Adames, Huff, Trivino, Verlander
There are only 29 total 2025 players listed above, because just two in-season injuries is very fortunate, and only one guy has been released. That leaves 3 guys signed in the Posey era. And, if you will think back, there was a main post late in spring listing a fairly small number of changes in the front office and on the coaching staff under Buster. The thesis of Brisbee’s article was the notable continuity in the Giants.
The Giants have a 25-19 record, heading into Thursday’s off-day. Approximately 25% of the season is complete, so now is a reasonable time to poke into statistics. Baseball Reference keeps a table of team batting, fielding, and pitching statistics, here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/majors/2025.shtml which is always fun to look at. It has a column marked number of batters, which is actually the number of players who have been on the roster, including pitchers. The Giants and the Phillies have the smallest number, at 29. The average MLB team has now used 36, which is also the number used by the Padres. The Rockies at 38 and Snakes and dodgers at 39 are up close to the maximum 41 used by the Mariners and Angels.
And now a few of those statistics, just to fill out this page, listing worst to best:
• runs scored: Pirates 131, Rockies 135 (both managers gone), MLB average 183, Giants 202, Yankees 247 • homers: Royals 28, average 45, Giants 45, dodgers 64, Yankees 74
• steals: Tigers and A’s, 18, Giants 25, average 34, Cubs 50, Brewers 56
• whiffs: Padres 278, Royals 306, average 348, Giants 369, Angels and Rockies 404
• walks issued: Twins 99, Rangers 114, Giants 134, average 139, Marlins 174
• runs allowed: Mets 136, Giants 164, average 183, Marlins 243, Rockies 267
• errors: Astros 14, Phillies 15, average 22, Giants 23, Rockies 36, Red Sox 38
• team WAR: Rockies -12.0, Angels and Marlins -7.0, Giants +1.2 (15th), Yankees +6.7, Mets +8.1
Note: this does not include Wednesday’s games. And the Orioles have played only 39 games, the Giants 43, and the Red Sox and Royals 44. You can see the Giants are more of a pitching team than a hitting paradise.
One of those 45 team homers was Christian Koss’ first career MLB blast, a grand slam Tuesday night! That homer erased Robbie Ray’s rough first inning in one blow, woke up the rest of the line up, and directly led to the first win in the new “city connect” uniforms. And it wasn’t just the grand slam: Koss was 4-11 with 6 RBI in the series, and in the middle of everything. He almost knocked himself out on the basepaths late in the third game, and went on to almost drop a game winning bloop in the bottom of the 9th. Well done, Mr. Koss!
