After trade storm, Phillies’ thunder ANN KILLION
Masterful: Zaidi walks tightrope, helping team, keeping fans happy
The Giants were crushed in Philadelphia on Thursday, and wound up with their first series loss since late June.
But, no big deal. Because Farhan Zaidi crushed it a day earlier.
As the calendar flipped Thursday, the Giants said goodbye to their best July as a San Francisco franchise. Whether or not they can carry that momentum through the final two months of the season remains to be seen.
But thanks to their firstyear president of baseball operations, they have hope: both for the short term and the long term.
Zaidi masterfully walked a difficult tightrope through the trade deadline. He somehow accomplished the impossible: He managed to
please all sides, fulfill his goals, frustrate no one and neither squash dreams nor offer false hope.
Who knows what this season will produce? But Giants fans should feel good about the man in charge of the long term. Zaidi’s actions felt fresh and innovative and like a change from the past regime.
This glimmer of hope in recent weeks is the kind of mirage that would have had the former frontoffice bosses rushing forward to fill up their water bottles only to find out, too late, that they’re still in the desert, still parched. You can imagine Bobby Evans, at the behest of Larry Baer, trading prospects for older players to try to eke out a few more wins. To sell a few more tickets. To further the illusion a bit longer. All at the expense of the future.
There was risk involved in Zaidi’s deadline transactions, with losing three arms out of the bullpen. But trade deadlines are no fun at all without some risk.
The biggest risk of all did not take place. Zaidi did not move Madison Bumgarner. If Zaidi had done that, he risked losing the faith of — at long last — reenergized Giants fans. He risked disappointing Bruce Bochy, who has made no secret of his desire to spend his final days as the Giants’ manager with Bumgarner on the roster. Zaidi risked sucking some of the newly minted confidence out of the clubhouse.
And he risked being the man whose team makes it to the wildcard game but no longer has this era’s most dominant postseason pitcher to take the mound.
There’s no doubt that if Zaidi had been offered a package that he truly felt he couldn’t refuse, Bumgarner would be gone. But Zaidi didn’t have anything that he thought was worth even bringing to Bumgarner, in order for the lefthander to consider whether it would be worth waiving his notrade clause.
Apparently, the Yankees and others think they’re fine without a pitcher who almost singlehandedly brought his team a World Series victory in 2014. Apparently, no contenders were interested enough in shoring up their bullpen with Giants AllStar closer Will Smith to make a dazzling offer.
The conventional wisdom was that Zaidi would need to give up either his top starter and his closer to get decent prospects and add depth to the Giants’ farm system. Yet that turned out not to be true.
In exchange for Drew Pomeranz, Sam Dyson and Mark Melancon off the majorleague roster, Zaidi received six prospects, and added intriguing rental infielder Scooter Gennett, in exchange for a player to be named or cash.
The most exciting of the new prospects might be infielder Mauricio Dubon, acquired from Milwaukee. A Honduras native who went to high school in Sacramento and was considered one of the Brewers’ best prospects. Jaylin Davis, a corner outfielder acquired from the Twins, has shown impressive power at the plate.
But Zaidi’s most valuable move for the future was in getting the Braves to pick up the $18 million remaining on Melancon’s contract. Though Melancon had recently been pitching the way the Giants had hoped when they signed him in December 2016, his contract was still a weight on the payroll.
Now Zaidi has $18 million that he can use on someone else. Perhaps for a qualifying offer for Bumgarner, who will be a free agent at the end of this season. If the Giants make a qualifying offer and Bumgarner signs elsewhere, then San Francisco will receive a compensatory pick. If Bumgarner rejects a qualifying offer, he risks being like Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel, who weren’t signed until June.
But all of that is fodder for the future. For the present, the Giants still have Bumgarner. They have their team mostly intact. They bolstered their farm system. They got rid of future debt. And their president of baseball operations accomplished all that without incurring the wrath of fans.
That’s a very successful trade deadline.