Complete list and grades of every trade Buster Posey, SF Giants made in obvious trade deadline reset

Well, deep breath everyone. The MLB trade deadline has passed and while some SF Giants fans were antsy about how inactive the team had been this time yesterday, they sure were active in the last twenty hours or so and made a lot of trades. Buster Posey was very busy and it seems like he did quite well given the circumstances.

With how bad the team has been this year it was pretty clear that they were going to be sellers and while it wasn’t the complete teardown that some fans were hoping for (Logan Webb, Jung Hoo Lee, Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, and Rafael Devers all remain with the team), they still gave up quite a lot. It was not a rebuild, but it was certainly a reset which is justified given their 47-65 record.

Let’s do a quick breakdown of every trade the Giants made these last two days and give them a trade for their efforts.

Grading every trade SF Giants made at trade deadline

Tyler Mahle to the Atlanta Braves

On Sunday night, the Giants made their first deadline move by trading starter Tyler Mahle to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for relief pitcher Anthony Molina.

With Mahle set to be a free agent it was an obvious move to trade him even though he was one of the team’s disappointing free agent additions.

Molina has a 6.89 ERA in his big league career in 55 games so he’s not a huge return but maybe he can at least help San Francisco eat up some innings the rest of this year.

Grade: C

Luis Arraez and Caleb Kilian to the Philadelphia Phillies

The first major move the Giants made came on Monday morning as second baseman Luis Arraez and reliever Caleb Kilian were sent to the Phillies in exchange for No. 4 prospect pitcher Ramon Marquez and another pitcher Marty Gair.

Marquez is a really nice get for the Giants especially after some insiders predicted the return for Arraez wouldn’t be all that substantial. He has a 1.86 ERA in the minors this year with 93 strikeouts in 59 innings so the raw stuff is there.

Gair has a 4.50 ERA in the minors this year but he too has impressive stuff with 66 strikeouts in 36 innings. 

It’s sad to see Arraez go but with him set to be a free agent trading him was inevitable. Kilian also turned out to be a nice signing in the offseason and was an effective bullpen arm at times. At least the Giants got a nice return for them.

Grade: B+

Robbie Ray to the San Diego Padres

Robbie Ray was another obvious trade chip for San Francisco and they decided to keep him in the NL West by sending him to the Padres in exchange for pitcher Miguel Mendez and shortstop Joniel Hernandez, both prospects.

MLB Pipeline has them ranked as San Diego’s No. 4 and No. 9 prospects respectively but it’s important to remember that many consider San Diego’s farm system to be fairly weak.

Still, Mendez and Hernandez seem to have a lot of upside as Mendez features high velocity and Hernandez has a lot of impressive tools even though he’s just 17.

Grade: B

Heliot Ramos to the New York Yankees

It began to be clear that the Giants were open to trading outfielder Heliot Ramos and the Yankees made a ton of sense since both Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge are injured.

The Giants got Henry LaLane and Kaeden Kent in return which is a very nice haul. LaLane is a tall left-handed pitcher who features some electric stuff and could one day be an elite starting pitcher if everything goes to plan. Even if it doesn’t, it’s not hard to see his stuff translating well to a bullpen role and potentially even as a closer.

My wish finally came true and the Giants got Kaeden Kent, Jeff Kent’s son. It’s a cool story and will make Jeff Kent my number retirement ceremony at Oracle Park later this month even more special. He’s also a contact hitter which we know the Giants have targeted under Buster Posey so he makes sense with San Francisco for a number of reasons.

Grade: B+

Erik Miller and Carlos Gutierrez to the Boston Red Sox

The Giants had relievers to trade even though the bullpen has been bad this year. The Red Sox liked Erik Miller, and minor league outfielder Carlos Gutierrez, enough that they were willing to give up Marcelo Mayer who is a former top-five draft pick and could be a steal.

Mayer struggled in the big leagues with Boston but he’s still young at 23 and the upside is there so the Giants made a good move to get a guy like him even if there is some risk involved giving up a controllable arm like Miller.

Grade: B-

In all, it was a busy and productive day for the Giants. Overall I’d give them a grade of B for their efforts but the truth is we won’t know how these trades turn out for some time. One hopes these young players will be future contributors for the Giants but nothing is guaranteed. The Giants had no choice but to sell though and given that was the imperative, Posey and the front office did quite well. 

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