San Francisco Giants Could Regret Not Making Stronger Push on Pitching Market

The San Francisco Giants' biggest regret this past offseason could be their handling of the pitching market.

Feb 20, 2025; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Justin Verlander (35) poses for photo during media day. / Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images

The San Francisco Giants suffered a few losses this offseason from their roster with players hitting the open market and opting to move on.

Their biggest loss came on the mound, where Blake Snell decided to opt out of the second year of his contract. Not only did that create a huge void in the starting rotation, it hurt even more when he decided to sign a massive contract with their rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

He signed a five-year, $182 million deal, joining a stacked rotation that also includes Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Roki Sasaki.

To replace him, the Giants did make a run at former National League Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes. But, he also spurned them for a division rival, agreeing to a deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

In need of some pitching help, new president of baseball operations Buster Posey was not going to be deterred.

He made a sizable splash, coming away with future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander. The two sides greed to a one-year, $15 million deal, which Tim Kelly of Bleacher Report believes could be the team’s biggest regret from this offseason.

Coming off the least productive season of his career, it makes sense why the MLB writer would have some skepticism.

Verlander dealt with a neck injury in 2024, making only 17 starts. He wasn’t effective while on the mound, pitching 90.1 innings and recording a 5.48 ERA.

With his fastball velocity down, he looked human for the first time in a long time. His breaking pitches weren’t nearly as effective and opponents hit him with more success than previous years.

“Is it possible a healthy Verlander bounces back in 2025? Sure, it wouldn't be the first time in his illustrious career that he seemed done and came roaring back…The more likely scenario is that Father Time has finally caught up with him,” wrote Kelly.

San Francisco is certainly taking a huge risk counting on Verlander to the level in which they are. At this stage of his career, he is best suited as a backend starter, not a No. 2 or 3, which he is looking to be out of the gate in 2025.

However, it is easy to see why the Giants would have some confidence in him being able to bounce back effectively.

His numbers before the neck injury, both production and stuff, were in line with what he showed in 2023 with the New York Mets and after being acquired back in a trade by Houston.

Healthy is the x-factor to Verlander’s production.

At 42 years old with 3,145.2 regular season innings under his belt, staying healthy will be a challenge.

Ideally, their young starters will emerge and rise to the occasion to take pressure off of the veteran. But, adding a pitcher with a little more upside would have also helped this past winter.

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