San Francisco Giants: The market was not right for deadline moves

The San Francisco Giants stood pat at the 2017 trade deadline, the first time they’ve done so since 2013. That decision didn’t set well with many Giants fans, but it was the right one.

San Francisco Giants fans are quite disappointed in this 2017 season. They’re terrible, on pace for 100 losses, and have a gaudy payroll in tow. That didn’t set well for those who paid a minimum of $1975 for season tickets, to a team they thought would/should be World Series contenders. Nor did it sit well for the restless fans, angry at every bad thing that happens this year.

Headed into Monday’s deadline, the Giants had a $180 million plus payroll and were sitting 26 games under .500, with 7 less wins than the younger, and cheaper San Diego Padres. We here at Around the Foghorn had done as many trade promotional pieces as well. Of course we’d love to see the Giants get younger, and re-stock a slowly dying farm system.

But nothing happened on Monday. The Giants made their one move six days ahead of the deadline, then stood pat. I won’t say they stood pat. I’m sure they fielded calls for Samardzija, but the contract, plus what they’d want in return was likely to never come together.

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Johnny Cueto‘s option clearly deterred folks, and Joe Panik and the Angels talk was interesting, but not going to happen. The Giants would’ve asked for the best pieces of the Angels farm system, where their top five is made up of three of this season’s draft picks.

The other trade piece was Brandon Belt, but I doubt anyone put together a serious offer for him, or at least an offer serious enough for the Giants not to laugh off. So why was this years deadline so inactive for the Giants?

One, the Giants weren’t going to make moves just to make moves. Which is smart. You also have to look at the market itself. which was not conducive for what the Giants had to offer, and what teams needed, plus what they were willing to give up. Nobody wanted to be this years, and last year’s Cubs, who have decimated their once rich farm system.

Let’s take a look at the two big starters that went: Yu Darvish and Sonny Gray. Gray and Darvish got only one top 100 prospect back. One. We’re talking two aces who have been good this year. Samardzija and Cueto, with their numbers this year, plus their contracts weren’t getting anything worthwhile back for the Giants to pull the trigger on them now.

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The Giants would have been lucky to even add a Tyler Beede type prospect in return for Cueto or Samardzija. So stop wasting energy, complaining about the Giants not giving away players who could either be key pieces for a rebound in 2018, or trade chips whose value will go up on in the offseason. There is also the simple reminder that the Giants didn’t need to set their 2018 roster by the July 31st deadline.

They still have a month to make trades, and they still don’t have to set the roster until March 31, 2018!  They could’ve made some moves, but the market wasn’t right for it. That’s the end of this discussion. Yeah it’s annoying, but I’d rather them be smart than give away people for nothing, just for the sake of making moves.