Nowhere to run as rumors swirled
Panik, Shaw spent winter addressing trade reports
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Second baseman Joe Panik rolled into camp and unloaded gear into his Scottsdale Stadium locker, a bit of an upset considering that the media had him traded to the Marlins for Giancarlo Stanton and then the Mets for Juan Lagares.
Chris Shaw, the Giants’ best power prospect, was also going to Miami as part of the Stanton trade, at least on social media and talk radio, as were Christian Arroyo and Tyler Beede.
All but Arroyo will be on the field Monday for the Giants’ first full-squad workout. He did get traded, not to Miami, but to Tampa Bay for Evan Longoria.
The Giants reached agreement with the Marlins on a trade for Stanton. It was scuttled when Stanton used his no-trade rights to force a deal with the Yankees.
The Giants will not say which two players would have gone to Miami with Denard Span, who The Chronicle reported was part of the deal. A source said none of the four rumored players
was to be included.
Weathering trade rumors is an occupational hazard. Players must try to tune out the noise or at least let it pass through one ear and out the other. But they are human. It can be maddening even for experienced players who have come to grips with the business of baseball.
The anxiety was magnified this winter because the Giants’ negotiations for Stanton were not a secret. Moreover, the saga continued for weeks as the Marlins completed deals with the Giants and Cardinals only to have Stanton withhold his approval for either move while asking Miami to engineer a trade to the Dodgers, Yankees, Cubs or Astros.
Panik understood he was the Giants’ most tradeable big-leaguer because of his relative youth and comparatively inexpensive $3.45 million salary. The wait was a bit unnerving.
“A lot of the rumors, you just kind of ignore them,” Panik said. “This rumor started before Thanksgiving. Afterward, it picked up again. Multiple national reporters were saying, ‘This is who’s in the deal.’ ”
One reporter from Miami insisted the Marlins were focused on Panik, Shaw, Beede and Arroyo. The names were run through the rumor mill so many times, general manager Bobby Evans phoned Panik to ease his mind.
Evans told Panik, “Listen, don’t believe a thing you’re reading. If you’re going to be part of a deal, we’ll give you a headsup.”
No heads-up came. The Stanton deal did not happen, and once the Giants dealt Arroyo to the Rays for Longoria, Panik figured he would be the Giants’ second baseman in 2018 because Arroyo would have been his replacement.
Shaw, who is expected to play left field at Triple-A Sacramento to start 2018, could not hide from the incessant Marlins rumor even though he spends his winters in Boston.
“During the Giancarlo stuff, all the Red Sox radio stations were going off about the Giants offering X, Y and Z for Stanton and why haven’t the Red Sox made an offer?” Shaw said. “I’d go anywhere and my buddies were all, ‘Dude, you’re all over the radio.’
“When your name is mentioned in these things, your immediate thought is, ‘Jesus, that might actually happen.’ But I had the weirdest feeling I was going to remain a Giant.”
Catching prospect Aramis Garcia lives in Miami, where the Stanton talk was nonstop. His solution to staying sane?
“I deleted my Twitter account so I could stay focused on my job and things I could control,” he said.
Shaw figured the uncertainty was tougher on an experienced player such as Panik, who is much more invested in the Giants. Panik said a trade would have crushed him and his wife, Brittany.
“She absolutely loves it in San Francisco,” Panik said. “She’s made a lot of friends with the other wives.
“For me, this is the only organization I know. I won a World Series here. I’ve had a lot of special moments here in my 3½ years. To all of a sudden hear you’re going cross country, after playing in front of 40,000 fans every night then going to Miami, a whole different type of atmosphere, it would not have been easy right out of the chute.”