San Francisco Giants: The 10 worst Giants trades of all-time

4. Giants trade away Zack Wheeler

Again, another modern trade that we are pretty confident was a bad one. The Giants were reeling from Buster Posey’s ankle injury back in 2011 and they needed a bat. While they were still leading the division, they needed a bat and Carlos Beltran was a hitter with a strong track record that also happened to be available. So, at the end of July, the Giants traded pitching prospect Zack Wheeler to the Mets for Beltran’s services.

To be clear, Beltran was quite good when he was on the field for the Giants as he slashed .323/.369/.551. The problem was that he was hurt too much to make enough of an impact to justify the cost as a wrist injury cost him a chunk of time. Beltran would then hit free agency after the season and sign with the Cardinals and make three ASGs elsewhere. As for Wheeler, he has turned into one of the best pitchers in baseball over the last four seasons. Not great….not great at all.

3. Giants trade for AJ Pierzynski

This trade is mentioned a lot by Giants fans when listing the worst trades ever and frankly, they are justified in doing so. Back during the 2003 offseason, the Giants found themselves in need of a catcher with Benito Santiago in the twilight of his career. So, they got with the Twins and acquired AJ Pierzynski for Francisco Liriano, Joe Nathan, and Boof Bonser.

AJP was serviceable in his one season with the Giants with a .729 OPS, but was far from a long term solution as he signed with the White Sox the following season after being non-tendered by the Giants and went on to a long career elsewhere. Joe Nathan would become a six time All-Star closer with the Twins and Rangers and Francisco Liriano would finish in the top three of the ROY voting in 2006 and have a 14 year career on the mound with a handful of teams.