The Giants’ 2026 season is one of the absolute worst in the team’s 69-year West Coast history, and they’ve become a national story for all the wrong reasons.

Buster Posey, the second-year president of baseball operations, has recently been silent as his team created controversies, with players protesting Pride Night, Rafael Devers disrespecting Tony Vitello, and the team playing sloppy and lethargic baseball.

In a 13-minute discussion with reporters Tuesday in the Giants’ dugout, Posey repeatedly declined to take questions about the team’s response to causing “pain and anger” to fans on Pride Night.

“I’m only going to answer baseball questions,” Posey said.

It’s an embarrassing time for the 31-46 Giants, who are taking PR hits at every turn, as well as for their disgruntled fans. A season that was supposed to be promising has turned into a nightmare with no apparent end in sight, and Posey’s decision to stay silent on all Pride Night matters could further alienate the team’s supporters.

Through it all, the trade deadline is six weeks away, and Posey undoubtedly is preparing for an all-out selling spree.

Despite rebuffing questions about Pride Night, Posey — the man who took over the team intending to bring it back to prominence, only to watch it fall to pieces — addressed several other issues haunting his nosediving club.

Devers spit on the unwritten rule that a player is not supposed to show up his manager. He did so in a major way, refusing to come off the field when Tony Vitello sent in a pinch-runner, Jonah Cox, in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game in Miami, with the Giants down a run.

As Cox emerged from the dugout and approached first base, Devers wagged his finger to signify that he didn’t want to exit the game. Cox is far faster than Devers, who was dealing with leg issues, according to Vitello. It was the right move, yet Devers again tried to wave off Cox.

Finally, Devers gave in and returned to the dugout, seething. When bench coach Jayce Tingler went to give him a pat on the back, the clearly frustrated Devers tried to dodge the contact, a terrible look for the team and for Vitello. For whatever reason, Cox never tried to steal second, and the Giants lost 2-1.

“Sometimes in the heat of the moment, you’re battling, you want to win a game so bad, and stuff comes out and happens probably that you would rather it not to happen,” Posey said.

The Giants have received overwhelming support for their annual celebration of Pride and the LGBTQ+ community. This year, however, four pitchers refused to support the team’s June 12 Pride Night: Landen Roupp, JT Brubaker, and Ryan Walker inscribed Bible verses onto their rainbow caps, and Sam Hentges refused to wear the cap.

Posey opened his discussion with reporters with a statement about Pride Night.

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“I’d like to recognize that the organization has shared this response to Friday night, and I understand that there’s strong feelings on this topic,” Posey said. “There’s differing perspectives, and out of respect to everybody involved, that’s not something that I’m going to revisit.

Posey was asked three questions in a row about the Giants’ response to the Pride Night controversy and said he would address questions about baseball only. During his media session, Posey enlisted the support of a Giants PR official, who reiterated that Posey had finished discussing the matter.

Many Giants fans and Bay Area citizens in general were irate at the pitchers and the team and expressed their disappointment on social media and in letters to the front office. The Giants put out a statement apologizing for the “pain and anger” caused by the pitchers’ actions.

On the flip side, some religious leaders and right-wing politicians applauded the pitchers for supporting their faith.

Both the Devers and Pride matters point to obvious leadership problems within the coaching staff and front office.

Vitello, the rookie manager hired by Posey out of the University of Tennessee, has offered little perspective or insight about either episode. He never needed to deal with Pride Night in Knoxville, and he never had a player with a guaranteed $313.5 million contract defy him publicly.

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Vitello doesn’t seem to have the same control or authority as previous Giants managers; notably, Bruce Bochy and Dusty Baker — both of whom are on staff as advisers and certainly aren’t being summoned enough by the coaching staff, if at all — and, most recently, Bob Melvin. Vitello has been hesitant to rest his big-money players even when they clearly are slumping and need a day off, and he has talked around the controversies, refusing to take a side. After Sunday’s game, he said he wasn’t planning to talk with Devers about the incident. 

Perhaps it’s not surprising. Vitello never coached or managed, or even played, professionally. But he was asked to run a major-league clubhouse full of accomplished pros who certainly look at him differently than someone who played, coached, or managed at the highest level.

The front office’s silence beyond the statement on Pride Night didn’t go unnoticed. A request to interview Chief Diversity Officer Roscoe Mapps was denied. Posey acknowledged his own leadership could be questioned, but defended how his rookie manager has navigated this season.

“I feel like Tony has the clubhouse,” Posey said. “I think he has the respect of the players in the clubhouse. Everything’s going to be heightened when our record is what it is. But there’s no concern on my part that he doesn’t have the respect of the clubhouse.”

Major League Baseball released two statements early last week responding to the pitchers resisting Pride Night by stating that writing on caps violates uniform regulations. The league verbally warned them not to do so again, while noting that the warnings had nothing to do with the content of the messages.

Then, a new stance was heard Monday from Commissioner Rob Manfred. He wrote a letter dated June 19 to Sen. Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, stating that the Giants failed to properly communicate to their players the uniform rules, which are included in the collective bargaining agreement.

“Unfortunately, this year the Giants’ communication with players was inadequate and not clear,” Manfred wrote in the letter, which Hawley posted on social media. “Some players apparently did not understand that they had the option to wear their normal uniform and elected to add messages to their hats bearing the pride logo as a result.”

Manfred said of MLB’s warning to the pitchers: “Unfortunately it was issued before we became aware of the Giants’ lapse in communication. The players were never fined nor disciplined, nor will they ever be.”

Hawley had written a letter to the league suggesting “a pattern of discrimination within MLB against baseball players who profess their Christian faith.” The Department of Justice said it’s investigating the matter.

Posey was asked directly about the commissioner’s letter and repeated that he would answer questions related to baseball only.

Posey and his staff are preparing for not only the July 11 draft — the Giants pick fourth — but the Aug. 3 trade deadline. Luis Arráez and Robbie Ray are obvious trade bait, as both will be eligible for free agency after the season.

It’s no secret that management would like to unload more of its payroll. Devers appears untradable because of the $211 million owed to him after this season, along with his lack of production and Sunday’s shenanigans.

Willy Adames is owed $140 million from 2027 through 2031, and Matt Chapman is due $100 million through 2030. Both Adames and Chapman have full no-trade clauses in their contracts and would need to agree to any deal.

For the Giants to shed huge contracts, they’d likely need to eat much of the salary and perhaps toss in prospects. Trading Logan Webb, who’ll make $23 million in 2027 and $24 million in 2028, is a long shot but certainly would bring a big haul as part of a major rebuild.

“I think we’ll leave all options on the table,” Posey said. “The way things are trending now, I’d say that we’ve got to remain open to seeing what best ways we can try to improve the club.”

Posey said he still believes in the team’s veteran core, but there is at least one player he appears opposed to trading.

When asked if he would consider trading Logan Webb, Posey replied, “No.”