The Giants are 52-45 coming out of the All-Star break and have positioned themselves to at least be in the mix for one of three NL wild-card spots. The next two-and-a-half months will determine whether Buster Posey’s first season at the helm ends in with a return to the playoffs.
“We’ve put ourselves in a position where, starting in the second half, our objective and where we want to go is still attainable,” said manager Bob Melvin.
The Giants return to action Friday in Toronto. They trail the Dodgers by 6.5 games in the NL West and are a half-game behind the second-place Padres. Here are five questions that lie ahead with 65 games remaining in the regular season:
Does Rafael Devers turn it on?
There are few Giants more deserving of a break — mentally and physically — than Rafael Devers.
Following numerous public back-and-forths with the Boston Red Sox, the Giants acquired the three-time All-Star in one of the most shocking trades in recent memory. The team addressed its biggest need: offense. But Devers has yet to look like one of baseball’s best hitters.
In 25 games with the Giants, Devers is hitting .202/.330/.326 with two homers and two homers and 10 RBIs. Devers owns a career .277/.349/.506 slash line.
The slow start has been due in part to back and groin ailments. Those injuries have also prevented Devers from playing first base, a position he said he’s willing to play in San Francisco after very publicly balking at the idea in Boston. When healthy, Devers will likely see some time at first in the second half.
On the subject of first base, there was also a very odd beef that emerged earlier this month.
Will Flemming, the brother of Giants’ broadcaster Dave Flemming, said Devers no-showed a workout with Will Clark during the Giants’ series against the Red Sox just days following the trade. Clark, though, clarified that he understood why Devers didn’t show up, noting how Devers didn’t want to practice in front of his old team — at a position he didn’t want to play for them. Clark later had an expletive-laden response to Flemming on his Deuces Wild podcast for “blowing this thing out of [expletive] proportion.”
Do the Giants add to their pitching staff?
To acquire Devers, the Giants had to part ways with pitchers Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks along with prospects James Tibbs III and Jose Bello. San Francisco’s rotation depth is considerably weaker with Harrison and Hicks gone, and it’s very unlikely the Giants get through the rest of the season with Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Landen Roupp, Justin Verlander and Hayden Birdsong as their only five starters.
Outside of those five, the Giants don’t have many starters in their system with major-league starting experience.
Keaton Winn has 17 starts in the majors and is currently rehabbing from a right shoulder injury. Mason Black has a career 6.47 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts) in the majors. Trevor McDonald and Carson Seymour have pitched in the majors, but have yet to start. Carson Whisenhunt is still waiting to make his major league debut.
Ray, Webb and Verlander all know how to navigate full seasons, but Birdsong and Roupp are in the midst of their first full seasons in the majors (Birdsong took Hicks’ place in the rotation in the rotation in late May).
Roupp, 26, has thrown 96 1/3 innings and will likely eclipse the 107 1/3 innings he threw in the minors in 2022 by the end of July. Birdsong, 23, is sitting at 65 2/3 innings and could top 100 2/3 innings he threw in the minors in ‘23. Can the Giants rely on both to throw volume innings down the stretch?
Can Willy Adames continue his strong end to the first half?
Before Devers, Willy Adames held the title of the Giants’ splashy new addition. Like Devers, Adames got off to a slow start as a Giant.
Over his first 65 games, Adames was hit .193 with five homers, 26 RBIs and a .584 OPS. Then Melvin gave Adames a double off-day, keeping him out of the lineup for the first time on June 8th, followed by the team’s off-day on June 9th. Since June 10th, Adames has looked the part of a $182 million-dollar man, hitting .282/.364/.527 with seven homers and 22 RBIs.
Adames’ defense has improved as well. Following his two-error game on May 5 against the Chicago Cubs, Adames was worth -5 outs above average. At the break, Adames was worth 2 outs above average.
Does Jung Hoo Lee regain his April form?
Jung Hoo Lee’s season has been the reverse of Adames.
Lee began the season looking like an All-Star. By the end of April, Lee had a .319/.375/.526 slash line with three homers and 18 RBIs. He shined in the Bronx, hitting three homers in three games against the New York Yankees.
Since May, Lee has been below league average. Over his last 62 games, Lee is hitting .214/.288/.341 with three homers and has fallen to the bottom half of San Francisco’s lineup. By wRC+, he’s been 21 percent worse than a league average hitter during this span.
Lee is susceptible to these hot and cold steaks because of his profile as a high-contact, low-walk, low-strikeout hitter. Through April, Lee had a .351 BABIP, or batting average on balls in play. Since May, Lee’s BABIP is down to .228.
Can Bryce Eldridge make his way to the majors?
The probability of Eldridge making his debut this year has changed a couple times.
During last year’s MLB Winter Meetings, Posey threw some cold water on the possibility. When the Giants promoted Eldridge from Double-A Sacramento to Triple-A Richmond, Posey seemed more open to the idea of Eldridge playing for the Giants in 2025. Then, Eldridge sustained a right hamstring strain in late June that kept him out of action for several weeks.
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Eldridge began a rehab assignment with the ACL Giants on July 13 and has played two games. The Giants haven’t provided any specific updates on Eldridge, but a return to Sacramento this month seems possible for the 20-year-old.
The Giants’ top prospect had a slow start with Sacramento before the injury, hitting .230/.284/.426 with three homers and 13 RBIs in 16 games. San Francisco doesn’t want to rush Eldridge, whose defense at first base remains a work in progress. That said, if Eldridge catches fire after the break and the Giants’ offense is still pedestrian, would the team entertain the idea of bringing him up? Even if it’s in the middle of a playoff race? And if that happens, who would play first base: Devers or Eldridge?
If Eldridge doesn’t mash with the River Cats, the Giants won’t have to truly entertain this question. If he does? It could make for a tough call.
