The SF Giants are off to a disastrous 20 – 30 start. There are plenty of culprits for this, but Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated highlights the lack of flexibility and bench strength as the top option.
In his first year as manager, Tony Vitello has not shown much willingness to leverage the bench. In fairness, he does not have many options to leverage.
At the end of the day, there are still 26 players on the roster. The manager needs to find a way to get everyone into the game, and in a position to succeed. That was not the case for Christian Koss, who was optioned out over the weekend after receiving just 15 plate appearances through the first six weeks of the season. It is impossible to find a rhythm.
The Giants have far too many players who do not offer enough production in matchups. Verducci highlights this, saying the Giants are easy to match up against:
“Their hitters get the platoon advantage less often than all but two teams, which makes them easy to manage against. They don’t have the impact hitters or platoon pairings to force pitching decisions.”
Tom Verducci on the 2026 Giants
SF Giants matchup problems were apparent in 2025, and have carried over into this year
The one notable matchup problem the Giants have is against left-handed pitching. This was a problem last year, and remains an issue in 2206. Though, there has been some improvement.
The Giants slashed .214/.279/.351 (78 wRC+) against left-handed pitching last season. They have registered a .250/.296/.360 line (86 wRC+) in those matchups this season. While that is an improvement, there was only one way to go.
The Giants have similar matchups against right-handed pitching, too. They have some good hitters, but few give them any type of leverage in matchups. For the most part, Giants hitters are either fine in matchups or should be platooned in matchups. There are only a few hitters with a true platoon strength. To put it another way, there is too much homogeneity in terms of skill sets.
The Giants invested a lot of money into this roster. According to Cot’s, they have committed $230.4 million against the luxury tax. Despite this, they ignored an area of the lineup that plagued them last year, and one that can be upgraded through cost-effective options. To some degree, every team platoons. The Giants want to go against the grain in that regard, and they are paying the price for it now.
