San Francisco Giants: What were the worst moves of the 2010s?

SF Giants’ worst deals, No. 3: Evan Longoria for Christian Arroyo trade, 2017-18 offseason

This trade is an interesting one in so many ways. But the biggest reason of all is because it feels like the Giants and Rays both reached for the second time after making the Moore-Duffy deal. Maybe the Giants and Rays should avoid each other when it comes to making a deal for a while.

However, to this day we should all wonder what the Giants were thinking when they pulled the trigger on this deal. The biggest concern when they made this deal was that they acquired a player in Evan Longoria who is in the twilight of his career and on the other side of 30.

On top of that, Longoria’s salary wasn’t a great idea for a team to take on that was desperately trying to get under the luxury tax that season. Sure, the Rays took on some of the remaining salary, but San Francisco still ended up having to take on the bulk of the money.

It also doesn’t help that Longoria has underperformed in his time in a Giants’ uniform so far. Not to mention, the once durable third baseman has been on the IL each of the last two seasons for an extended period of time.

As far as the Rays go, they won out on the deal — well sort of. They got Christian Arroyo who at the time was one of the Giants prized prospects, but he only played 36 games in a Tampa Bay uniform. Last season, the Rays sent him and another prospect to the Cleveland Indians, which brought an end to his time in Tampa Bay.

This is definitely a move that Farhan Zaidi is still trying to maneuver around.

For more information on this deal, read Jeff Young’s story from last October.