San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer can only hope for a better future as poor decisions and a struggling team have hampered the club all 2026 season long (photo from Axios)

Giants 2026 Season Organizational Failure

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

The San Francisco Giants’ failure this season is an organizational failure. I cannot blame a rookie manager who has never played or managed a single game in the minor leagues or the majors for this failure. The team signed Tony Vitello for three years with an option for a fourth season. Personally, I didn’t like the novice manager hire, like a pilot telling passengers, “Buckle your seat belt; this is my first flight, and I’ve never flown before, so wish me good luck”

But it is silly to blame him; the best Jockey in the world cannot win if his horse is limping. I thought the Giants should have given the skipper’s job to Ron Washington, their current infield coach. He has managed before, unlike Vitello, and has a great reputation in the baseball world. This team’s failure rests with the front office and the people who built it. The front office allocated minimal financial resources to upgrade or heavily retool the back end of the bullpen, which proved to be a liability all season long. Nobody wins without a good bullpen; today, the average starter throws between 5 to 6 innings.

The Giants now have offered to pay it’s fans to come to September games as ticket sales have fallen.

Numbers do not lie: The San Francisco Giants have recorded 22 blown saves out of 48 save opportunities, a 54% save success rate, contributing directly to a large portion of their late-game struggles. The Giants are #11 in total payroll among the 30 teams in Major League Baseball. Teams with much smaller payrolls are fighting for a postseason berth. In fact, the Tampa Bay Rays have the #17 payroll, the Chicago White Sox #29, and the Miami Marlins #30. With about 15 games left for most teams, the Rays lead the American League East, the Chicago White Sox lead the American League Central, and the Miami Marlins are in third place behind two powerhouses: the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies. I would not be surprised if the Marlins make it as a wild card team. The Marlins won two World Series (1997 and 2003) as a Wild Card.

If money won you anything in baseball, the Mets today should have close to 100 wins, but look at the standings, living around the cellar of the NL East with a Payroll the size of the Pentagon. The Dodgers are also in that group, and with all that talent and bankroll behind them, yes, they are in first place, but teams like Milwaukee and the Cubs, with half those riches, are there contending with a real shot at a World Series. Dodgers Shohei Ohtani’s injuries are hurting the World Champs, but he was back in the lineup on September 7th; he probably will not pitch anymore this season.

.I am old enough to remember how important Major League scouts were to the game, but today front offices are all about Analytics; soon, if not already, AI (Artificial Intelligence) will be running baseball. Why not? They are already running everything else, and Data Centers are on the way. WAR in baseball stands for Wins Above Replacement, an advanced statistic that estimates the total number of wins a player contributes to their team compared to a minor-league replacement player or a free-agent fill-in. About Artificial Intelligence: Former Anthropic and OpenAI researcher Jacob Coxon stated that AI could kill all of humanity by the end of this decade, so by then we will not need a bullpen.

The San Francisco Giants have about a dozen games left this year, and then, like they say in New York, “fuhgeddaboudit”

Jorge Posada, former catcher for the New York Yankees, criticized the modern game as “garbage” and too analytical, arguing that the heavy reliance on numbers has made the sport overly robotic.

The Giants now have offered to pay it’s fans to come to September games as ticket sales have fallen. For any season ticket holder that attended the last series against the St Louis Cardinials they will be offered a credit “equal to 15% of that ticket’s value.” Including a five percent credit as season ticket holders got in the three game series with the Cards which works out to 20%.

Quote: “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer: –Ted Williams.

Amaury Pi-Gonzalez – Cuban-born Pi-González is one of the pioneers of Spanish-language baseball play-by-play in America. Began as Oakland A’s Spanish-language voice in 1977 ending in 2024 (interrupted by stops with the Giants, Mariners and Angels). Voice of the Golden State Warriors from 1992 through 1998. 2010 inducted in the Bay Area Radio Hall of fame.

While in the Bay Area, great food and great prices. 998cuba.com