The case against the SF Giants trading Wade and Yastrzemski

There have been reports that the SF Giants are open to trading LaMonte Wade Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski this offseason. While this makes sense, there is a case to be made against trading these two well-liked veterans.

Both Wade and Yastrzemski are solid big league players. They are not super stars by any means, but they are average players who could make solid contributions on basically any big league team. That is both a positive and a negative.

One could argue that Yastrzemski and Wade are emblematic of the last three seasons of mediocrity that the Giants have endured. They are good players who do several things well, but they are not good enough to get the team over the hump and back into the postseason.

The case against the SF Giants trading Wade and Yastrzemski

It makes sense that the Giants would consider moving on from these players in an effort to get over the hump, but they must ask themselves first what they are giving up. Both Wade and Yastrzemski are well-liked veterans who have won the Willie Mac Award and carry themselves the way Giants should. Some may scoff at this, but trading away guys like that could send a signal to the other guys in the clubhouse that these things do not matter.

In the case of Yastrzemski you would be losing an above-average defensive right fielder who can play all three outfield positions and will give you 15-20 home runs in a season. In Wade you would be giving up a solid defensive first baseman whose .380 on base percentage last season will not be easily replaced.

It is also worth wondering what the Giants could actually get for Wade or Yastrzemski. On their own they would probably not get much of a return, but if they were packaged together or maybe even combined with a more valuable trade piece like reliever Camilo Doval, then maybe the Giants could get a decent player or two in return.

Yet, there are no obvious replacements on the roster for either of them. If Wade was traded the Giants still have Wilmer Flores who could bounce back from his rough 2024 but the more likely solution would be them signing a first baseman in free agency. With Yastrzemski, the Giants would have to replace him with Luis Matos and Grant McCray if they could not find an external replacement and something tells me it is not going to be Juan Soto.

I understand the desire to try and move beyond mediocrity, but if the Giants do not have a clear plan to replace Yastrzemski and Wade they should not trade them just for the heck of it especially when they have both been good Giants.