{"id":255649,"date":"2025-11-01T14:49:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-01T14:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255649\/"},"modified":"2025-11-01T14:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-01T14:49:16","slug":"giants-chairman-greg-johnson-details-the-teams-financial-outlook-for-2026-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/255649\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants chairman Greg Johnson details the team\u2019s financial outlook for 2026 and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"

Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section 415 email newsletter here<\/a> and subscribe to the Section 415 podcast wherever you listen<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Buster Posey and the rest of the Giants\u2019 brain trust are banking on Tony Vitello bringing that \u201cit\u201d factor to the dugout and clubhouse, an energetic and charismatic brand of leadership that will inspire players and lead them to new heights on the field.<\/p>\n

The task is to significantly elevate the play that led to four straight seasons of non-winning records, and the front office and ownership believe Vitello gives them a head start.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not in any way saying anything negative about Bob Melvin, who I think is a tremendous manager,\u201d Giants chairman Greg Johnson told The Standard, \u201cbut I think what we haven\u2019t really seen is the player development progression. If I look at the last couple of years, I\u2019d say there\u2019s too much talent that wasn\u2019t performing up to its level. So we need to do something different, whether that\u2019s the clubhouse leadership, the accountability, the player development, just a different approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, numbers don\u2019t lie, but I just think we haven\u2019t seen the emergence and progression, especially last year, that the team we had on the field should have, and I think Tony has been proven to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Listen toSection 415<\/p>\n

Today<\/p>\n

Section 415: Tim Kawakami analyzes the 49ers, Giants, and Warriors <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

3 days ago<\/p>\n

Section 415: Min Woo Lee, Steph Curry, and the story of The Bay Golf Club<\/p>\n

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Section 415: The Giants\u2019 hire of Tony Vitello marks the start of a bold new era<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Vitello was a winner at the University of Tennessee, but he\u2019ll need to adjust to the big-league lifestyle and mindset and make believers of a team that finished 81-81 last season, costing Melvin his job.<\/p>\n

In separate interviews with The Standard, including with columnist Tim Kawakami, Johnson shared his vision of Vitello, the 2026 season, and the payroll going forward. He seems confident Vitello can prevail in this new environment, calling him a \u201crockstar leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ThreeTony Vitello sat between Buster Posey and Zack Minasian at his introductory press conference on Thursday. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

\u201cThe whole debate on \u2018you haven\u2019t been at the major-league level, you haven\u2019t played,\u2019 I would say I looked at the person first. leadership skills, what they\u2019ve done, what they\u2019ve accomplished,\u201d said Johnson, adding he expects Vitello will benefit from his \u201cEQ and leadership and accountability and surrounding himself with strong people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vitello is working on building a coaching staff in collaboration with the front office, which already is examining the available pool of players in free agency and trades.<\/p>\n

The payroll for now, according to Spotrac, is $141 million. It\u2019s $164 million for the purposes of the luxury tax threshold, and the Opening Day estimate is $186 million. It must be noted the Giants still owe $17 million to Blake Snell, due Jan. 15, and another $1.9 million to Jorge Soler.<\/p>\n

The Giants would be subject to a competitive balance tax if they exceed the 2026 tax threshold of $244 million. They\u2019re currently 10th on the MLB payroll chart, far below the No. 1 Dodgers, as is pretty much any other team. Exceeding $200 million in payroll depends on whether the Giants can land more elite players. Last winter, they signed Willy Adames for $182 million, and in June, they added Rafael Devers with more than $250 million left on his contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just depends on what\u2019s out there,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cWe may be over. We may be under. We\u2019re going to look at each situation and make the decision and see how it fits into not only next year, but the longer-term plans. Obviously, we could use some starting pitching help. That\u2019s probably No. 1 on the list, probably some relief help. Losing (Randy) Rodr\u00edguez was a real blow. But outside of that, it\u2019s pretty set on most of the position players.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants would prefer long-term payroll flexibility and adding players to shorter-term contracts \u2013 they brought in Justin Verlander last winter on a one-year deal \u2013 which isn\u2019t always possible with premium free agents. It\u2019s why the trade market would seem advantageous. They currently have five players signed long term: Logan Webb through 2028, Jung Hoo Lee 2029 (with an opt-out after 2027), Matt Chapman 2030, Adames 2031, and Devers 2033.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can go up, but I think the risk is having too many people on similar six-year-type deals that create less flexibility to the payroll,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI think you can always do things on a shorter basis, but you\u2019ve got to be careful about having too many of your players being late 30s at a high-payroll level. I think you have to balance that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The top free-agent starting pitchers are Dylan Cease, Zac Gallen, Framber Valdez, Ranger Su\u00e1rez, Shane Bieber, and Japanese right-hander Tatsuya Imai, all of whom will receive hefty contracts. The Giants have signed just three pitchers to deals topping $100 million, none since Johnny Cueto in 2015. The others went to Matt Cain and Barry Zito. In recent years, the Giants took a pass on re-signing Kevin Gausman and Carlos Rod\u00f3n, who landed with the Blue Jays and Yankees, respectively.<\/p>\n

Asked if the Giants could sign a pitcher for $100 million or more this offseason, Johnson said, \u201cI\u2019d say we\u2019re going to be very cautious about those kinds of signings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ABuster Posey signed Willy Adames to the biggest contract in franchise history and then traded for Rafael Devers. | Source: Amber Pietz\/The Standard<\/p>\n

Big-money signings for pitchers can be riskier than for position players. Then again, the Giants haven\u2019t hesitated when targeting certain pitchers \u2013 they were competitive in the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes two years ago before he took $325 million to become a Dodger. And, of course, they offered two-way legend Shohei Ohtani the same contract he got in L.A and, previously, heavily pursued sluggers Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper.<\/p>\n

Also, the Giants are committing more dollars to the manager\u2019s spot in the next year than any other team: $10.5 million. Vitello will make $3.5 million in the first year of a three-year deal, plus ownership paid his $3 million buyout at Tennessee and will pick up the remaining $4 million on Melvin\u2019s contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpen to what we need and what puts more competitive talent on the field. \u2026 And again, I just think it comes down to who is available and what our needs are and then balancing that out against the framework of next year versus the next five years,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

No team will outspend the Dodgers next season. The Padres, another division foe, are top five in payroll for now. Desperate to make noise in a top-heavy National League West, the Giants have turned to creative decision making under Posey. The Devers trade was an example. And now the Vitello hiring.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel like we can compete with a strong payroll,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cYou don\u2019t win by the highest dollars. It certainly helps your odds. I think we feel like we could be an improved organization with this kind of leader. That\u2019s really the end game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson attended Vitello\u2019s introductory news conference Thursday and is confident the 47-year-old can smoothly transition from the college ranks in part because of the organizational resources and support group from Posey on down to the clubhouse staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe understands relationships and knows leadership starts with getting to know the people,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe\u2019s a passionate leader, and winners win no matter what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Want more ways to catch up on the latest in Bay Area sports? Sign up for the Section…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,31170,591,5157,85],"class_list":["post-255649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-buster-posey","tag-mlb","tag-san-francisco-giants","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}