The Giants want to move on from this season as quickly as possible, but 10 years from now, what will you remember about it?
This morning, the incomparable and wonderful Jayson Stark published his list of mind-blowing facts, figures, and games from 2024 to The Athletic (sub required). In it, he spotlighted the Giants’ 6-5 loss at Rickwood Field to the St. Louis Cardinals as being one of five “Strange But True” games of the season because the two home runs hit in the game effectively honored Willie Mays, whose life was honored before, during, and after the game.
While that was definitely one of the most emotional moments of the season that game was still a loss. That was a recurring theme throughout the season, though: emotional highs leading to a loss. The 2024 Giants were, ultimately, a failure in a lot of ways, and while some might see the termination of Farhan Zaidi (regardless of his successor) as a sign that it wasn’t a total failure, it’s still the case that the team had a disappointing season that necessitated a change in a leadership.
Beyond that, not only did we lose Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, and Reyes Moronta, but Renel Brooks-Moon was deleted from Oracle Park and replaced with an aural simulacrum, the Jung Hoo Lee bandwagon lost its wheels after he busted his shoulder, the team moved on from Joey Bart and J.D. Davis in rather public maneuvers that both did and did not blow up in their faces, and Marco Luciano, Luis Matos, and Kyle Harrison underwhelmed or outright disappointed to the extent that it raised the question of whether or not the team’s rebuild will ever end.
And I’m sure there are dozens of other negatives we could highlight, because negatives are easy to snatch from the ether when a team disappoints or is bad — but, let’s see if we can find a real headline that positively memorializes this past season. I’m staying away from individual games or plays within games because, well, I’m getting older and forgetting most of them the deeper we get into the offseason.
I’ll give you some options for headlines, then we can vote at the end, and if you have a different suggestion, you can offer it in the comments and people can vote on it instead by giving it a thumbs up/rec.
Tyler Fitzgerald’s emergence
Why vote for this (Pros): He was the third-most valuable position player on the Giants in 2024 (3.0 fWAR) who, unlike Patrick Bailey (2nd-most valuable at 4.3 fWAR) actually provided positive value offensively (132 wRC+). You could make the argument that he was the team’s best hitter because of that offensive value, but what he did was in a 96-game sample (341 PA), so it’s enough to say that the Giants might’ve simply found themselves another late bloomer prospect (26 through most of the season). I raved about his power-speed combo in my review of his season, and while it’s easy to weigh his future potential against his actual season performance, if you can manage to bifurcate this season from 2025 and beyond, his emergence is meaningful. His season line of .280/.334/.497 (.831 OPS) is somewhere between the 17th and 19th-best seasons by a right-handed Giant in the Oracle Park era.
Why you might not vote for this (Cons): The bulk of his value came in a 26-game burst from July 20 to August 15 (.346/.395/.779 – 12 HR, , 7 2B, 1 3B, 7-for-8 in SB, 20 RBI), after which he became the 16th-worst player in MLB, sporting a 37% strikeout rate (32% on the season). Even though Buster Posey said he likes Fitzgerald as a second baseman (and, indeed, the metrics say that’s where he’s best suited), we’ve seen players like this before, who have a brief hot streak and then flame out of the sport. If you are someone who senses flash in the pan from Fitzgerald, then yes, voting for him might not make much sense.
Heliot Ramos’s emergence
Pros: One of the Giants’ two All-Star representatives and who was second on the team in home runs (22) despite playing in 33 fewer games than the team’s HR leader (Matt Chapman – 27). A genuine outfielder to emergence and stick in a starting position. He was the lineup for a time, just like Fitzgerald, and another development success who solidified the roster in a time of need. He also turned 25 in September, so he’s perhaps right on track for a major league breakout versus some sort of flash in the pan.
Cons: Like Fitzgerald, he had a significant drop off (.242/.278/.417 in the second half, includng a 5:1 strikeouts to walk ratio) and the Giants really only turned to him out of absolute necessity. Can he hop back in to being a middle of the lineup force or was his breakout, too, a mirage?
Hayden Birdsong’s emergence
Pros: I’m fascinated by the hype around Birdsong. To be clear, I share in it. I don’t know why when there’s a staff that has Kyle Harrison in it, Jordan Hicks converting to a starter, a coterie of Carsons and Mason Black in the minors, plus Landen Roupp, Keaton Winn, and Tristan Beck, it’s this guy I’m most excited to see next season. But he looks like a gamer, a guy who has that dog in him. And we saw him be effective (2.45 ERA in 25.2 innings in July, with a 33-12 K-BB). The flashes of good looked borderline dominant, and since development isn’t linear, it’s easy to wishcast that this bumpy freshman year could pave the way to an All-Star future.
Cons: Who knew that adding a changeup could be such a big deal for a pitcher’s repertoire? Still, despite the whiffs (35%), it had a -3 run value, and that’s because — at least, what I believe — is his four-seasmer was hittable and his stamina (the Giants really pushed him) ate into the effectiveness of his curveball and slider, which didn’t get a lot of chase. Development isn’t linear, though, which means that some of this stuff could come back to haunt him in that he’ll have to adjust to the league’s adjustments. And maybe you have the sense that his headline-grabbing performance is still to come.
Ryan Walker’s dominance
Pros: Do I need to make much of an affirmative case here? He’s like the perfect modern pitcher, with a high velocity sinker and wipeout slider. For the moment, forget that the Giants probably ruined him for next season (80 innings!) and just focus on that dominant 1.91 ERA (2.52 FIP) and overall reliability.
Cons: It comes at the expense of Camilo Doval, and the idea of selecting “setup guy steps into closer’s role after closer falters” is NOT the story of a season you want to remember 10 years from now. At least, not if you want to think back on it with any fondness.
Buster Posey takes over
Pros: Well, he’s Buster Posey, for one. He looks great in a suit. He says he loves the Giants and acts like it. Meanwhile, he stepped in to close the Matt Chapman extension, which we might all agree is a great thing that happened to the team this season.
Cons: It’s management turnover. Is that what we want to remember? I’m not sure I remember 2019 as “Farhan Zaidi’s first year” so much as “Bruce Bochy’s final year,” but maybe I have it wrong here.
Matt Chapman became a Giant
Pros: Well, he’s the best player on the team, which is one of the rare times when a great Giant is not a mediocre player when compared to the rest of the sport. According to FanGraphs, he was the 12th-most valuable player in MLB in 2024! Maybe you also hate the A’s, A’s fans, and the City of Oakland and revel in their misery (a very common American trait!), so you’re more than happy to grin from ear to ear like a little devil and say “He plays for us now.”
Cons: Maybe you don’t want to be reminded of the A’s and what the A’s did to Oakland and their fans or how the Giants helped John Fisher and the league do it.
Blake Snell was a Giant
Pros: That 10-start stretch when he was the best pitcher in baseball.
Cons: His six months of Spring Training, constant injuries, and then offseason defection to the Los Angeles Dodgers. But also, the grand plan that brought him into the fold backfired so spectacularly that it rightfully cost someone their job.
Bryce Eldridge buzz
Pros: Could the Giants have a generational hitter coming up through their farm system right now? The hype is very real. He could be the face of Prospect Hype Becoming Reality in 2024, if you want to convince yourself that the Giants did accomplish exactly that this season (I’m skeptical).
Cons: The Giants don’t usually develop prospects, especially hitting prospects, and definitely not generational talents — so, the bust potential is there. He’s just a prospect, too, and so selecting someone with just 17 games played above A-ball doesn’t suggest that this season went very well or is worth considering very much. It would make more sense to wait for when/if Eldridge is promoted to see if he becomes a positive headline.
What do you think?