Three lessons the SF Giants hopefully learned in the 2022 season

The SF Giants had a disappointing 2022 season. Looking to replicate most of the success of their franchise-record 107-win 2021 campaign, the Orange and Black started well before taking a dive; only a late push helped the team avoid a sub-.500 mark overall.

Obviously, the coaches and front-office staff know the ins and outs of their team and strategy better than us fans - but there were a few decisions made this year that seemed questionable from the beginning and ended up hampering the team's present and, possibly, future. Hopefully the braintrust led by President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi learned a few lessons in these important areas:

1. Make a decision at the trade deadline

When the Major League Baseball trade deadline rolled around in early-August, the Giants had multiple paths to consider. Was it best to sell the top performers and rake in prospect talent? Shore up glaring weaknesses with a big deal that sends away prospects? Or stand pat with only minor moves here and there, keeping the team relatively intact?

The Giants chose the last of those. It was questionable in the moment, and as the team continued to watch their playoff opportunities disappear it became more of a glaring mistake. Going into the deadline the team was one game under .500 and got smoked by division-leading Los Angeles the night before. Almost 20 games out of the division and over four games behind the last Wild Card spot, with an offense riddled with injuries and age (more on that later), they probably should have picked one of the other two options.

Imagine: trading a dominant Carlos Rodon brings back a couple of top-100 prospects, and Joc Pederson in the midst of possibly his best season nets one more and/or a young player in the Majors already who just needed an open spot and playing time to break out.

On the flip side, sending some decent prospects (not their top guys like Marco Luciano and Kyle Harrison, of course) for players like Brandon Drury or Josh Bell could have helped in areas where the regulars were hurt or under-performing.

A bit of help was unlikely to make up the six games by which they missed the playoffs, and the big names traded at the deadline didn't perform as well as their teams expected (such as Juan Soto). But small deals for a team that wasn't inspiring confidence for over a month before the deadline was the worst choice.

3. Show confidence in young players getting their first extended chance

Buster Posey's retirement a year ago created a hole the Giants hadn't needed to consider for over a decade. Luckily, they took a college backstop with the second-overall pick in the 2018 draft, and he got experience at Triple-A in 2021.

But Joey Bart wasn't given the reigns at the beginning of the season.

Curt Casali, an excellent backup in 2021, was re-signed for 2022 to help Bart but also be a safe option if the youngster failed.

It seemed as though Bart felt the looming presence, and he responded with just a .156 average in the first two months before being demoted to Sacramento, while the Giants traded for well-traveled Austin Wynns to split time with Casali.

After Casali got hurt in early-July, Bart was back in the Majors and looked like a different player. He hit .236 in July and, after Casali was dealt at the trade deadline, .328 with an .888 OPS in August. It was apparent he just needed to be trusted with the job and not have to look over his shoulder.

Have other players in the past few years been affected the same way? Probably not to the same extent with the Giants, who were willing to give a longer look to players when they weren't in contention for the playoffs in 2017-2019. Would they have won more early on and staved off the mid-summer slump that sunk the season if Bart was the clear starter from Day 1? Maybe, but San Francisco probably would have been closer to a playoff spot if so.

This is one lesson the team may have learned immediately: they brought up third-base prospect David Villar in July and early-August then brought him back in September, and he responded with a .231/.331/.455 line over 52 games. Villar homered nine times, including twice in the final game, and his September performance showed the ability to be a regular (.269 average, .570 slugging).

In the coming years, players such as Kyle Harrison, Marco Luciano and Luis Matos will be stepping on the field at Oracle Park with the weight of high expectations on their shoulders. The Giants would be wise to give them every chance to work through issues, not giving up on them after just a short stretch or keeping an obvious contingency plan when the youngster has mastered the minor leagues.