SF Giants stand pat at trade deadline

If you were expecting the SF Giants to be more active at the trade deadline, then you were likely pretty disappointed with the final outcome. The trade deadline came and passed and the Giants did not make a last-minute move.

SF Giants stand pat at trade deadline

The one move they did make was acquiring veteran bat AJ Pollock and infielder Mark Mathias in exchange for cash considerations or a player to be named later. Pollock is in the midst of a down year as he had struggled to the tune of a .547 OPS in 138 plate appearances with the Seattle Mariners.

The 12-year veteran battled both injuries and sporadic playing time. However, he should see pretty consistent playing time over the next few weeks. Pollock has excelled against left-handed pitching with an .838 OPS throughout his career, so he should see his name in the lineup against southpaws. However, Giants manager Gabe Kapler relies on his bench throughout the game, so even if he is not starting, he should see an at-bat or two every game.

That is the only trade that the Giants made. If you are underwhelmed by the Giants' activity, I would tend to agree. They began Tuesday in first place in the Wild Card standings with a 58-49 record. I do think it would have been nice for the front office to reward the team by finding a way to bolster the roster.

The Giants had a couple of obvious needs, including the starting rotation and the middle infield. However, if you look at the moves that were made, there just were not many obvious upgrades. Of course, the Giants were connected to pitchers like Justin Verlander, Jordan Montgomery, and Michael Lorenzen.

The New York Mets were clearly trying to maximize prospect return by paying down as much of Verlander's contract as possible. On the other hand, the Texas Rangers and Philadelphia Phillies gave up a quality prospect or two to acquire Montgomery and Lorenzen, respectively.

The Giants had the prospect capital to make those trades. I am conflicted over whether that would have been the right move to make. The Giants clearly needed rotation help and one of either Montgomery or Lorenzen would have helped, but how much?

Maybe they make 10 - 12 good starts down the stretch to help the Giants reach the playoffs, but could they carry them through the postseason? I am skeptical.

The rest of the moves were underwhelming for the most part. Paul DeJong of the St. Louis Cardinals was shipped to the Toronto Blue Jays in exchange for a bullpen prospect. He made sense for the Giants given that the middle infielders have struggled lately, but those struggles were due in part to the starters being on the injured list. He would have been an upgrade, but a marginal one.

There were a couple of smart moves like the Marlins acquiring corner infielder Jake Burger or the Cleveland Guardians, in essence, buying a prospect in Kahlil Watson from the Marlins in a Josh Bell-Jean Segura swap.

Maybe the Giants could have made a move or two to upgrade the roster, but maybe there were not any moves to be made. Only five NL teams acted as classic sellers, whereas the rest of the league were labeled as buyers at the trade deadline.

That's two buyers to every seller in the NL and few of those sellers had meaningful pieces to trade. It was a seller's market, so there were some overpays to acquire the pieces that were available.

I can understand if you are disappointed with Giants' lack of activity at the trade deadline. I just do not know if there were many moves to be made. Time will tell whether they made the right call. For better or worse, they will be making a final push for the postseason with pretty much the same roster they have had over the past few months.