The San Francisco Giants are going into an offseason filled with more questions than answers. One of the worst parts of the Giants team in 2026 was their bullpen, which ranked in the bottom 10 in baseball. That is a unit that Buster Posey and his staff must go to work on and address.

Roster Concerns

The Giants roster overall is in a bad spot. The team has until Monday, November 2nd, five days after the end of the World Series, to cut the 40-man roster down to 40 players. Currently, the Giants roster sits at 55 players, so they need to shed it down quite significantly, and that does not include making room on the roster for later additions.

Likely, they at some point this offseason need to eliminate 20 people from the 40-man roster, which would then allow five open spots. The Giants roster is in a really rough position because of this, because you need those depth pieces, especially pitchers, to get through any season, and because they needed them in 2026, they will likely lose all that depth.

One of the biggest candidates for the Giants to cut ties with and clear space on the 40-man roster is José Butto.

About José Butto

The Giants acquired Butto from the New York Mets in July of 2025 in a trade that brought back Blake Tidwell and Drew Gilbert for reliever Tyler Rogers. He was ineffective with the Giants in the season and a half he was on the roster, posting a 4.50 ERA in 20.0 innings in 2025 and an inflated 22.50 ERA in 2.0 innings of work in 2026. He was sidelined in April after a blood clot was discovered in his pitching arm, which ended his season.

Butto had good stuff before his injury, but it's too much of a gamble for the Giants to keep him. With the amount of moves the Giants must make this offseason, cutting bait with Butto is one of them. His injury history is longer than just this one, with him landing on the IL when he was with the Mets once at the MLB level, but several times in the minors.

Yes, the Giants could use all the bullpen help they can get, but they need to prioritize quality. Butto is not the kind of arm they should move heaven and earth to keep on the 40-man roster.