Politics not a factor as Giants trade Coonrod
The Giants traded reliever Sam Coonrod to the Philadelphia Phillies on Saturday, but president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said Coonrod’s controversial opinions on the Black Lives Matter movement did not play a role in the team’s decision to cut ties.
“None at all,”
Zaidi told reporters.
In exchange for Coonrod, a 28-year-old right-hander who regularly topped 100 miles per hour last season, the Giants received pitching prospect Carson Ragsdale, the Phillies’ fourth-round draft pick in 2020.
Prior to the Giants’ Opening Night matchup with the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 23, 2020, Coonrod was the only member
of either club to remain standing during a “moment of unity” intended to support the Black Lives Matter movement.
Coonrod cited his faith as a Christian as his rationale to remain standing, explaining he believed he would be a “hypocrite” to kneel “before anything but God, Jesus Christ.”
Zaidi pointed to the Giants’ willingness to trust Coonrod in high-leverage situations late in the season as an example of how the team’s view of the reliever wasn’t influenced by his political opinions.
“It was really a trade we made for baseball reasons,” Zaidi reiterated.
Zaidi indicated multiple teams expressed interest in acquiring Coonrod, but the Giants executed Saturday’s trade with the Phillies because they were eager to acquire Ragsdale.
The Giants view the 6-foot- 8 right-hander as a starter and liked what they saw from Ragsdale in a brief stint with the University of South Florida last year before the coronavirus pandemic brought college baseball to a halt. Ragsdale boasts a fastballcurveball combination and struck out 37 hitters in 19 innings for the Bulls before his season came to an end.