SF Giants POBO Farhan Zaidi drops surprising quote about plans at MLB trade deadline

There is no denying that the SF Giants have been a disappointment in 2024. However, Farhan Zaidi dropped a surprising hint about the possible direction of the club down the stretch as he affirmed that selling may be on the table.

SF Giants POBO Farhan Zaidi drops surprising quote about plans at MLB trade deadline

In an interview on the Tolbert and Copes Shown on KNBR, Zaidi indicated that the team could sell off its veterans if they cannot show improvement:

The Giants are 45-49 while sitting comfortably in fourth place in the NL West. The Los Angeles Dodgers will likely run away with the division, but one of the Wild Card spots remains an option.

Despite the subpar record, the Giants are still on the periphery of the playoff picture. They only sit 3.0 games behind the New York Mets for the third and final Wild Card spot. With a little less than half the season to go, that is not an overwhelming number to overcome. However, it bears mentioning that five teams sit between the Mets and the Giants for that Wild Card spot.

The good news is that the NL seems to be on the weaker side in 2024. Just about every team is one short winning streak away from getting into the Wild Card race. The bad news is that the Giants just have not consistently played good baseball this season.

In some sense, Zaidi's comments are not all that surprising. After all, the Giants have begun shedding the veterans on the roster by parting ways with Austin Slater and Nick Ahmed earlier this week. This was done in part to create playing time for some of the younger players on the roster.

That said, the concept of selling might be a tough vision to pitch to the ownership group. They have committed about $255.2 million against the Competitive Balance Tax (CBT), which is a franchise record. The owners likely want to see a better return on investment in terms of the on-field product.

Plus, Zaidi is arguably in a precarious position at the moment. The team has been more aggressive in free agency over the past couple of seasons and few of those deals have panned out. The Giants top executive is in his sixth season at the helm and their just has not been enough progress made.

Through his first five seasons, the Giants have posted a winning record once. At this point in the season, it looks like it might be another losing year if they do not right the ship. Can he realistically sell at the trade deadline while keeping his job? That is tough to envision, but it is possible.

Of course, Zaidi could just be trying to use the media to publicly motivate the club. Front offices do not often show their cards with this much time before the trade deadline. However, it is one of the first times that Zaidi has openly discussed the idea of selling.