The Giants' biggest issue is in the dugout
Bob Melvin's days as manager should be numbered
While Buster Posey has impressed in many ways as the new General Manager of the San Francisco Giants, his biggest mistake so far has been hiring and extending Bob Melvin. Posey’s new role and some of the signings he’s made have brought a lot of hope to Giants fans, and I’m afraid his choice of manager is undermining his positive efforts.
In short, Bob Melvin needs to go.
If you’ve watched a Giants game with me this season, I’m sure this is a phrase you’ve heard me utter more than once. While in many ways this piece is for any Giants fan who is interested enough to read what I have to say, it’s also to spare my closest friends and family from any more long soliloquies about a 63-year-old man being one of the biggest problems in my life.
You may be asking how it’s possible someone who hasn’t picked up a bat is the biggest reason the San Francisco Giants have underperformed expectations in 2025. A few months ago, I was asking myself the same question. But after carefully watching the Giants play this season, I feel confident in saying Bob Melvin’s decision-making alone cost the team in more ways than one. This article aims to clarify why Bob Melvin wasn’t the only reason, but the biggest reason the Giants fell short this year.
I do speak about this year in the past tense, despite there still being a month left in the season. I officially gave up hope after the team lost 13-14 at home, its worst stretch since the 1940s.
I want to be clear that my goal is not to bash on Bob Melvin; he grew up in the Bay Area, had an impressive playing career, and has had some great moments as a manager. My only bone to pick with him is that I don’t think he should be tasked with managing my favorite baseball team.
When the Giants announced in October 2023 that Bob Melvin would be the team’s new manager, I was skeptical at best.
The first reason for this was because I felt as though the team’s issues lied in the front office with former GM Farhan Zaidi, and that firing former manager Gabe Kapler was a distraction from the team’s deeper-rooted problems. Kapler, despite being dealt a mediocre roster, led the team to its winningest season in franchise history in 2021.
Second, even if we agreed the Giants needed a new manager, I wasn’t sure Melvin was the right choice. Growing up a Giants fan, I was no stranger to the manager Bob Melvin. He managed the divisional rival Diamondbacks from 2005 to 2009, the crosstown Athletics from 2011 to 2021, and Padres from 2021 to 2023. For a manager who has never won a Championship Series in roughly 20 years of managing, his job security is something I’ve never pretended to understand.
Typically when a good coach chooses to leave a team for a division rival, fans of the departed team will be up in arms. Take Craig Counsell as a great example, who left the Brewers to sign a big contract as the Cubs’ new manager. Brewers fans have hated Counsell since that day, and let him hear it every time the Cubs play in Milwaukee. When Melvin chose to leave one of the most talented rosters in baseball to come to the Giants, we heard crickets from Padre fans. That should have been a bigger red flag to most than it seemed to be.
One thing I’ve learned over the years of watching baseball is the importance of a competent manager. I’ve watched many well-managed teams with middling talent win World Series’ and some of the most talented rosters on paper struggle to win playoff games. While I do not mean to diminish the roles of any players or front office executives, I do believe that a manager’s impact on a baseball game is more prominent than in other major sports.
All of this to say, I believe Melvin’s lack of feel for his players since he was hired as manager has held back the Giants not only from a playoff spot in 2025, but from the development of its younger talent. Bringing him back in 2026 would be a disservice not only to the team and its chances of winning, but the fans who are excited to support a winning baseball team in San Francisco.
Too often, I feel as though managers are evaluated based on the results of their decisions, rather than the process. My argument here being that Melvin’s flawed process was what led to this season’s poor results. Please bear with me:
If a manager brings in a reliever who hasn’t given up a hit all season, but gives up the game-winning hit on a particular night, is it the manager’s fault for bringing him in? I’d say no. The results were poor, but the process was sound.
If a manager has a sound process every time he makes decisions, it would be fair to say the results will not always be great. Sometimes you bring in the right guy for the job and they still can’t come through. It happens.
If a manager has a poor process every time he makes decisions, however, the results are pretty much guaranteed to be terrible. To a degree, that’s what the past two seasons have felt like under Melvin.
I do feel it is important to reiterate that Melvin was not the only issue with the Giants this past year. The Giants’ front office has spent more money the last few seasons on some bigger names, and those names have not played up to their standard. Offense has also been tough to come by at catcher, right field and second base, and I wouldn’t put most of that on Melvin.
After signing the top shortstop on the market this past offseason in Willy Adames, however, the Giants felt as though they would at least be in contention for a Wild Card spot. One would think that after adding one of the best hitters in baseball in Rafael Devers on June 16, those chances would only improve and maybe the team’s goals would become even loftier.
An abysmal month and a half of baseball led the Giants to officially decide on July 30 to become sellers at MLB’s Trade Deadline and prioritize future needs over winning in 2025. A team wanting to win playoff games does not trade two of its highest-leverage relievers, regardless of depth at the position. Since the All-Star Break and the Devers trade, the Giants have had one of the worst records in all of baseball.
Hitters and pitchers go through slumps over the course of a season, but when it feels like everyone is going through one at the same time for an extended period, it can often be a sign of something bigger. For the 2025 Giants, that something bigger was the coaching staff.
Melvin and his staff lacked aggression on the basepaths, with the Giants ranking 29th out of 30 in baseball in steals. For a team that doesn’t hit the cover off the baseball, there isn’t an excuse for not finding other creative ways to manufacture runs. I’d go as far as to say that any team ranking in the bottom five in steals that plays in a run environment like Oracle Park is poorly managed, regardless of personnel.
Something else to note was the team’s losing record at home this year (at the time of writing), a place they and most teams historically play their best. As I mentioned earlier, the team suffered its worst home stretch since the 1940s.
More than anything, the team was playing an uninspired brand of baseball. With weeks before the trade deadline and only a few games standing between the Giants and a playoff spot, the team lacked a sense of urgency and seriousness. Was the team even aware a playoff spot was within reach? The team looked sloppy for long stretches, and while things like a player not knowing the infield fly rule aren’t necessarily the manager’s fault, they aren’t a great reflection of his leadership.
Melvin’s season was marred with calls to the bullpen that left me wondering either why he was going to the bullpen at that particular moment, or why he was going to a particular reliever at a time that didn’t make sense. His process was off, and the results followed quickly.
In no way am I on a high horse trying to imply that if a manager makes a move I disagree with, it is automatically the incorrect move. In fact, managers make moves all the time I disagree with and it works out beautifully for their teams. However, if it concerns the team I’ve watched religiously for two decades and I’m disagreeing with almost every move the manager makes, I begin to question the process.
Posey’s decision to extend Melvin’s contract next year during one of the roughest stretches of the season was questionable at the time, and remains even more so now. That being said, it’s certainly not too late to right the ship and ensure the 2026 Giants have the right manager. In my humble opinion, no iteration of this team can win a World Series with Bob Melvin at the helm, and if that’s the goal, then there’s no point in wasting time.