Two weeks ago, it appeared as if the Giants would be clear-cut sellers by the August 31st trade deadline. However, after they caught a hot streak and have moved back into playoff contention, it was unclear on exactly which way they would go.
After the 1 PM deadline came and passed Monday, the only semi-significant Giants news to come out was that Dereck Rodriguez, someone who figured to fit into future plans as recent as last season, was claimed off waivers by the Detroit Tigers. Hardly earth-shattering news as the 28 year-old right hander had fallen behind numerous other arms on the organizational depth charge over the last 18 months. There was no big selling as it appeared there would be when this team sat at 8-16 halfway through August, and there were no additions at all, either significant or a small one, that would help aid in a possible playoff push over the final month of this truncated 2020 season.
I wasn't entirely sure which way the Giants would lean heading in and I don't think anyone really was. Even though they are technically in it with a month of baseball left, the chances of this team making any noise if they reach October is very minimal. I am, however, very surprised that Farhan didn't make a single move. While I don't think it was plausible to see a huge deal involving someone like Johnny Cueto or one of the veteran infielders, I was more so expecting to see guys like Kevin Gausman and Tony Watson on the move both to further bolster the minor league system the Giants have been developing under Zaidi, and to clear some roster space for some of those younger guys to get their feet wet at the big league level in September. The Yankees were said to have major interest in Gausman, but that need maybe dissipated a bit for New York after 21 year-old Deivi Garcia came up yesterday and shut down the Mets. I think the keeping of Watson was the most surprising though, as the Giants have a plethora of younger left-handed options in the bullpen right now and could have been able to sustain losing Watson while still keeping the bullpen in pretty good shape from that side.
As far as a couple of names that were linked to the Giants in possible "addition" scenarios were Boston's Jackie Bradley Jr. and Texas' Joey Gallo. Zaidi was quoted last week saying that if they were to add he would be in the market for a left-handed bat/right handed relief pitcher. I was intrigued with the Gallo rumors especially, as he's a 26 year-old left handed slugger with 40 home run potential. That's power that the Giants haven't come close to having since the Barry Bonds era ended well over a decade ago. Sure his career average raises some red flags, but his OPS numbers are still well above average and the impacting power in the middle of the Giants lineup would have looked good.
The fact the Giants will stand pat over the last month of this season isn't necessarily a bad thing though. With this shortened season, the return for players in trades, especially rentals, are at an all time low. The Giants may very well be better off trying to sneak into the playoffs this year with the likes of Gausman, Cueto and Watson instead of dealing they away for likely mid-level prospects. Gausman is a free agent after the year, and while he's been largely a success for the Giants so far, team's weren't going to give up a top-5 prospect for the rental of a #4 starter for 4 weeks. The idea of adding Gallo was intriguing for the same reasons, the cost would probably be lower than it relatively would in normal circumstances, but being that he's under team control through 2023 would likely have meant the Giants would have had to part with something pretty substantial in order to get him.
I'm still very interested to see what this team does over the next few weeks as the playoff race tightens up. Maybe Joey Bart will get comfortable and really break out, alleviating that need for an extra bat, and maybe a healthy Sam Coonrod will thrive in the closers role, alleviating the need for that extra right-handed arm Zaidi was reportedly seeking. This team has shown they're good enough to compete and we all know that once you make it into that postseason tournament, anything is possible so things should only get more interesting as the days go on.
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