Deadline deals

I remember someone asking Pedro Martinez the classic question "what is the secret to your success?" He said "I'm not afraid to fail." I remember really liking that answer at the time. Buster Posey is not afraid to fail. He made a big splash—right away—with the Willy Adames signing. Then he traded away the team's young hot shots for Rafael Devers well before the trading deadline. Blockbuster deals, both of them. Neither one of those moves, unfortunately, has helped the team. The Giants aren't any better right now than they were last year. Or the year before. Or the year before.

Buster can see what the rest of us are seeing. This 2025 team is going nowhere fast. What does the Modern Executive do in Today's Baseball Landscape at the Trading Deadline? Well, pivot to "sell" mode, obviously. It's an ugly reminder of the ruthless economics of the game.

Our PoBO made a bunch of last-minute deals that clearly signal "throwing in the towel for this year." The flip side of that is "stocking up for next year." So, let's look at the deals.

Tyler Rogers went first. The Mets parted with three players. 27-year old RH reliever José Buttó is in his fourth season and can take a bullpen spot immediately. 24-year old rookie RH Blade Tidwell was a 2022 2nd round draft pick from Tennessee. He's been a starter in the minors. Carson Whisenhunt was taken in the same round. Lefty OF Drew Gilbert is also from Tennessee but is still in the minors. He'll be 25 next month. Rogers is headed for free agency and at $5.25 M/yr there was a good chance he wasn't going to be re-signed for 2026. I'm bummed as I'm a big fan of the quirky submariner. He's been with the organization since he was drafted in 2013.

Camilo Doval went next. The Yankees parted with four players. Doval, like Rogers, originally signed with the Giants. He's been in the system since 2015. He's still arb-eligible and isn't a free agent until 2028 and currently making $4.5M. All-Name Team candidates Trystan Vierling and Parks Harber head the list. RH Vierling, 25 in October, is a 2022 3rd-round pick from Gonazaga. He's a starter and in the minors. Harber is a 1B/3B who played at Georgia and NC State. He's 24 next month and in the minors. 17-year old lefty hurler Carlos De La Rosa is the biggest unknown of the bunch, and 23-year old Jesús Rodriguez (C/3B/1B) rounds out the quartet of FNGs. We all know Doval and have a love-hate relationship with the talented but mercurial righty. He can be electric and he can be maddening. He'll be fun to watch if the Yankees are in the playoffs!

Finally, fan favorite Mike Yastrzemski was traded to the Royals. That one I could see coming. He's also a free agent next year and was most likely not coming back, especially at $9.25 M/yr. The Giants get minor league reliever Yunior Marte. He's a righty who turns 22 next month. (This in NOT the Yunior Marté who was on the Giants in 2022 and currently with the Phillies.) Yaz was a solid player, a good guy, and well-respected around the league. The connection to his famous grandfather was pretty cool, too.

Buster isn't fooling around. He's not afraid to pull the trigger and re-make the team. It hurts in the short-term, but what hurts worse is a lousy ballclub. Let's hope we see improvement going forward.

--M.C.

 

p.s. Buster PLAYED with all three of the guys he traded! He caught both Doval (2021 debut) and Rogers (2019 debut). Yaz joined the team in 2019.

6th inning: 6-12

1st inning: 13-5

2nd inning: 9-9

3rd inning: 9-9

4th inning: 10-8

5th inning: 7-11 

6th inning: 6-12 

Last night's 3-1 loss to the Pirates was the 108th game of the year and brought the Giants to a 54-54 record. That's six seasonal innings or two-thirds of the season. As you can see it is the worst stretch of baseball for 2025 and certainly complicates things here at the end of the month and the Trade Deadline.

The Giants had one more contest with the Pirates this afternoon. Logan Webb whiffed eleven but also walked four and hit a batter. He left in the 6th after 109 pitches and the game tied 1-1. It went to extras and Ryan Walker made a bonehead play in the top of the 10th that let the Manfred Man score the go-ahead run. In the bottom half, the Giants got an extra runner via an error and both were bunted over. But Patrick Bailey and then Heliot Ramos whiffed to end it.

So they start their final third of the season with a 2-1 loss in ten innings. That's a clean sweep! This is the first time the team has been under .500 in 2025. It's an off-day tomorrow, thank goodness. They end the month of July with a 9-15 record.

On Friday (the 1st of August) they open a three-game set in NYC against the Mets and then go to Pittsburgh after that for another three-game set. Let's hope they do better than 0-for-6.

--M.C

0-for-23

The Giants went 0-for-23 with runners in scoring position over the weekend in the three-game series with the Mets. They lost all three games.

Now, the team doesn't hit all that well. They bat .233, the 26th-worst in MLB. Their OBP is .311, which is 21st. They slug .375, also 26th out of 30 teams. At 4.12 runs per game, the offense rates 23rd.

That's bad. So, we shouldn't expect much from the lineup. They just aren't very good. But this RISP thing is truly weird. I mean, 0-for-23!! Yikes. How is that even possible?

In the good news department, Carson Whisenhunt is getting promoted. He'll be activated tonight. They'll have to clear a spot for him on the roster.

--M.C.

Two in a row

SF 9  ATL 3

It was another big day for the Giants. Rafael Devers, back in the DH spot, hit two homers and a double, driving in four. He's healthy, apparently. That's good. They need him to hit! Matt Chapman and Heliot Ramos both got big hits today. Even Luis Matos had an RBI single. The Giants scored three runs in three consecutive innings (5th, 6th, 7th) to back Justin Verlander. JV notched his first "W" of the season with five innings of one-hit ball. He walked four but that didn't hurt him. Maybe the baseball gods will flip the script and he'll get nothing but "W's" the rest of the way.

The next two weeks are weird. They are off tomorrow, then they go home to SF to play the Mets (Fri-Sat-Sun) and the Pirates (Mon-Tue-Wed). Thursday is an off-day before they go to New York City to play the Mets (Fri-Sat-Sun) and to Pittsburgh to play the Pirates (Mon-Tue-Wed).

Logan Webb gets the call Friday at 7:15 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

Hallelujah!

SF 9  ATL 0

After that horrid loss yesterday when Hayden Birdsong couldn't get anyone out and the losing streak hit six games I was ready to throw in the towel. Then today they went out there and put up a bunch of zeros and got a bunch of big hits and scored a heapin' pile o'runs. Thank goodness. I'm saved.

Starter Landen Roupp had to play stopper and stop them he did with five innings of four-hit ball. Sean Hjelle and Joey Lucchesi got the 6th and the 7th and BoMel turned the last two frames over to Carson Seymour. Hot-shot prospect Carson Whisenhunt keeps getting talked about but the Giants are sticking with the Other Carson so far. Seymour's had a couple of mop-up appearances in the last few weeks. Tonight he finished with a flourish by striking out three in the 9th.

Rafael Devers played first base for the entire game. That was the first time he's played first base in his career. He went 2-for-5 with a double. He also hit into a double play. Wilmer took the DH spot and hit a three-run homer. Willy Adames had another good night. I'm glad he's hitting better.

Justin Verlander tomorrow morning (9:15 PT) in the getaway game, off-day Thursday, then Logan Webb on Friday night at home against the Mets.

Go Giants!

--M.C. 

Swept out of Canada

The Blue Jays clobbered Justin Verlander on Friday, no surprise there, but they also clobbered the team's two best starting pitchers (Logan Webb and Robbie Ray) over the weekend. And they shut down the Giants offense, and when they didn't, they just scored more runs. It was a mismatch. Toronto looks like a real contender.

Coming out of the Break the Giants were looking for something better than a pratfall. The trade deadline is at the end of the month and I have been a "buyer" all season long but I'm questioning that. Not that I want the team to be "sellers." Not by any means. But if the team is still on the margins of the race I'm not sure that's enough reason to do more on the transaction side. The big move—Devers—hasn't moved the needle on the team's chances.

And the team's needs are too many. They have to beef up the bullpen and they probably need another starter. Perhaps it's best to look within and promote some deserving youngsters. And any additions to the lineup will have to come the same way, or at least nothing bigger than a waiver wire pickup. This team, short of a ten-game winning streak, isn't going anywhere. A playoff appearance would be great, of course, but they are going to need a change of luck and start seeing better outcomes real soon.

It's on to Atlanta. Hayden Birdsong gets the start, 4:15 Pacific.

Go Giants!

--M.C.

At The Break

The 2025 Giants (52-45, .536) find themselves six games behind the Dodgers and a half-game behind the Padres. There are three Wild Card spots allotted to the NL and the Giants are a half-game behind that bunch. The Brewers and the Mets have the top two seeds right now. It will be hard for three NL West clubs to get in to the post-season. The Cardinals and Reds aren't far behind, either.

The team ended April with a 19-12 record. They had a nice opening to the season scoring 142 runs against 119 allowed in the 31 games. Since that high point they've been a .500 club (33-33).

FanGraphs projects the Giants to go 33-32 in their final 65 games for an 85-77 finish (tied with the Padres!). Currently the Giants score 4.11 runs per game and that's projected to go up a bit (4.28). The pitching, currently allowing 3.94 rpg, is projected to regress a bit (4.16). 85-77 would be their best record since 2021 but might not be enough for the playoffs.

Buster Posey took a big swing in the off-season to land Willy Adames and took an even bigger swing last month to get Rafael Devers. On one hand, the team is winning. On the other, neither player is contributing close to what was expected from them. Devers is injured. Is he hurt bad enough for the nuclear option? That is shut him down, get him fixed, and have him healthy for 2026? They did that with Robbie Ray after all—he was on the shelf when they acquired him. They were patient and now that he's fully healthy it's paying off. He's kicked ass all season.

We'll find out soon enough whether or not Devers can help in the stretch run. They could use another arm or two, especially a lefty reliever, and it wouldn't hurt to pick up a right-handed OF bat. Unless you think Luis Matos can play that role the rest of the way. It doesn't look like they'll get any help from Bryce Eldridge although we might see Carson Whisenhunt. Otherwise all the youth has already been promoted to the big squad.

They open the second half in Toronto on Friday afternoon (4:07 Pacific). The Blue Jays are a good team and lead the AL East by two games. It looks like Verlander-Ray-Webb for the weekend series.

Go Giants!

--M.C.