We all know the House that Steroids Built can never be trusted to do the right thing, and this edition of MLB Monday examines the 2025 San Francisco Giants, a team that spent almost $177M to miss the postseason for the ninth time in the last ten seasons. Teams can cheat and still fail, of course, as we all remember from the Bonds years in the City by the Bay. We’d hoped a relatively honest manager would help now, but … no.

The Giants finished 81-81, a one-game improvement over the season before, mostly because they finished with the sad-sack Colorado Rockies at home and started all their “stars” despite having been eliminated from the postseason. In reality, this was an 83-79 team on paper that underachieved, due to questionable bullpen issues that the front office worsened at the trade deadline, leading to a 29-36 record after mid July.

So much for Buster Posey, the golden boy, running the team from the front office to inevitable success, as the laughable preseason narrative from the local (and some national) media offered up. Meanwhile, down south, the rival Los Angeles Dodgers made the playoffs for the 13th straight season, including winning a 12th National League West Division title in the process. You can just see the Giants fans turning green, eh?

It is amusing to recognize that in their S.F. residency, the mighty Gnats have made it to October in consecutive seasons just once (2002–2003) in 68 seasons. It must suck even more to realize that the Dodgers alone kept San Francisco home for the postseason by winning nine of the 13 games between the two teams—including five of seven in late September when the Giants were trying to make a last-minute push to win.

Alas, we’re drifting from the topic here. Which players turned in the usual-suspect seasons for S.F.? Read on.

Exhibit A: Dominic Smith

Who? Exactly. It’s not always the “stars” who dabble in juicing. Last year, he had negative value (-0.1 WAR) for two teams at age 29, and he had not posted an OPS over .700 for a full season since the 2020 Covid season, which wasn’t a full season. In fact, he had not played a full season since 2021 when he posted a .667 OPS in 145 games for the New York Mets. Even this year with the Giants, he only appeared in 63 games total.

However, his .750 OPS in 204 ABs was enough to generate 0.4 WAR, and his .284 batting average raised his career mark to just .250 overall. After making almost $4M in 2022 with the Mets, he only made $1.4M in 2024, so you know he was getting desperate at his age to make a splash and get another contract. That fits the pattern we’ve confirmed for years here. We wonder if this effort was enough to generate some interest.

Exhibit B: Justin Verlander

We covered this already, but the final numbers need updating for the known louse at age 42 as he publicly stated his desire to reach 300 wins (by hook or by crook, evidently). Verlander went 0-7 with a 4.70 ERA in the first half of the season, and as an old man now, his stamina should have faded in the second half as it did with his younger teammate (see below). But no: he went 4-4 with a 2.99 ERA after the All-Star break.

His strikeout rate also improved in the second half, by half a K per nine innings pitched. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but considering his age and injury history, it is quite “impressive” to see a guy in his early 40s get stronger as the season progresses. It’s quite unnatural, actually, and again, considering what we already know about him, there’s only one logical conclusion. He made $15M this year; will the Giants bite for 2026?

Exhibit C: Joey Lucchesi

After missing the entire 2022 season to injury, he had pitched just 10 1/3 innings in 2024 before being let go by the Mets. So, despite his 5.23 ERA last year at age 31, of course the Giants signed him, and in 38 1/3 innings, he delivered a 3.76 ERA and a 1.226 WHIP for San Francisco at age 32. This is a guy who has only pitched more than 162 innings once in his career (2019), so why take a chance on him, unless … yeah, bingo.

Exhibit D: Robbie Ray

In 2023-2024 combined, he put together just 34 IP for the Seattle Mariners and the Giants. At age 33 this year, he was officially past his prime, based on historical data and trends. Yet somehow, he made the All-Star team after going 9-3 with a 2.65 ERA in the first half of the season. That alone was fishy, but his inevitable second-half crash (2-5, 5.54 ERA) was not suspect; it was to be expected for a guy his age, etc.

Let’s remember the Giants traded for him before the 2024 season and threw away $23M as he only tossed 30 2/3 IP for that cash. So, with $50M left on his contract for 2025 and 2026, we are pretty sure the S.F. front office told him to put up or shut up. Again, this is a guy with talent who had not been healthy in three years, but like so many reclamation projects over the years in the House that Steroids Built, he “earned” his salary.

Exhibit E: Randy Rodríguez

So, a pitcher cuts his ERA from 4.30 in 2024 to just 1.78 in 2025, makes the All-Star team in the process, and also drops his WHIP from 1.242 to 0.888 while jumping his K/9 rate from 9.1 to 11.9 in the same time frame. Normally, these would be huge red flags, but he is just in his age-25 season, so we’re willing to give him the benefit of the doubt here. Yet … this was a guy who posted just a 3.75 ERA and a 1.338 WHIP in the minors.

That’s an impressive leap, considering the coaching staff didn’t change. Did he suddenly learn how to pitch? Without knowing his age or his MiLB stats, one would assume he was doing something untoward. Knowing his age, we might assume it was just a big leap in growth overnight; looking at his six years in the minors, we can toss that out the window. His 2024 stats are in line with his minor-league production; not 2025 at all.

Exhibit F: Tyler Rogers

The team traded him away the trade deadline to the Mets, perhaps costing S.F. a real shot at the postseason as the bullpen collapsed in the second half (26 saves in the first half; 15 in the second half). We’ve discussed his suspect career already before, but it just got worse for his case here with the 1.80 ERA he posted for the Giants at age 34 before being traded. Even for a situational reliever, this has been just very unnatural. Doh.

Conclusion: Same ol’ Giants with Posey in charge?

We have to remember that the current S.F. Director of Baseball Operations learned MLB “magic” at the foot of a PED-enabling manager, Bruce Bochy. And again, this is the Giants we’re talking about, a team that cheated openly for years with Barry Bonds—yet never was punished for it, either individually or collectively. Basic psychology tells us behavior does not change without punitive course correction: facts.

So, this is what we have going again in the House that Steroids Built. Keep an eye on this team over the next few years, as it has major salary commitments to overrated, underperforming players throughout the rest of the decade. The only it can compete with the Dodgers is by spending more money—or doing other stuff on the side. Considering the lack of consequences for this franchise, like ever, you can assume shenanigans.

Also, we repeat cheating and spending a lot of money doesn’t guarantee success; it just makes it a lot easier.