Report: Giants retaining GM Dave Gettleman; team has won 15 games in 3 seasons
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New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman is reportedly expected to keep his job for the 2021 season, according to ESPN reporter Jordan Raanan.
Dave Gettleman is being retained as the Giants general manager. My understanding is that his role and responsibilities will be unchanged despite three straight double-digit loss seasons.
Gettleman and owner John Mara are expected to speak later this morning. #Giants— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) January 6, 2021
Gettleman was hired before the 2018 season and since then has overseen three straight losing campaigns. He won just nine games in his first two seasons. With six wins in 2020, he now has a 15-33 record as GM.
Why is Gettleman keeping his job?
It’s not entirely clear why Gettleman is keeping his job, and it’s also a bit surprising. Owner John Mara told the media a year ago — after the Giants’ disastrous 4-12 campaign in 2019 — that Gettleman had a clear directive to get better in 2020.
“He does know the batting average has got to increase going forward,” Mara said via the New York Post. “We need to win more games and Dave knows that.’’
He reiterated that just a few months later.
“We should be a better team this year,” Mara said in April via the New York Post. “We better be a better team this year.”
Technically, the Giants were a better team than in 2018 and 2019. They won five games in 2018 and four in 2019, so six games in 2020 is the very definition of improvement. But is it enough? In three seasons Gettelman has been traveling at a snail’s pace to return the Giants to where they were in 2016 when they went 11-5. At the current pace, the Giants won’t finish with a .500 record until 2023 or 2024.
Maybe Gettleman earned a reprieve because of the mild success of new head coach Joe Judge. With six wins, maybe success isn’t the right word, but Judge at least hasn’t been a flaming failure. Or perhaps the strangeness of the COVID-19 season led Mara to give Gettleman another chance.
Regardless, it’s hard to ignore that the Giants were barely better than their hated division rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles, whose 4-11-1 record might have been the result of an intentional tank in the final game of the year. Next season will likely be Gettleman’s final chance to improve the team before he’s shown the door.
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