Politics not a factor in Giants’ decision to 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’ fourthround draft pick in 2020.
Prior to the Giants’ opening night game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 23, 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.”
“I’m a Christian,” Coonrod said at the time. “I can’t get on board on a couple of things I’ve read about Black Lives Matter, how they lean toward Marxism and said
some negative things about the nuclear family.”
Coonrod debuted with the Giants in 2019 and made 51 appearances with the club over two seasons, but struggled to live up to the expectations that come with a fastball that hits triple digits. In his final two appearances of the 2020 season, Coonrod allowed five runs and blew a pair of saves including one against the San Diego Padres in which outfielder Trent Grisham hit a three-run, walkoff home run at Oracle Park.
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.
After the Giants’ bullpen posted the third-best ERA in the majors during the month of September, Zaidi is confident the club has added quality reinforcements that have improved the group’s overall depth.
The Giants have added six right- handed relief candidates to the 40- man roster this offseason including freeagent signees Matt Wisler and John Brebbia and Rule 5 Draft pick Dedniel Núñez. The club also protected three righthanded pitching prospects to the roster in Gregory Santos, Kervin Castro and Camilo Doval.
Of the six righties the Giants have added to their bullpen mix, it’s possible only Wisler will be in the Opening Day bullpen as Brebbia is still recovering from a June Tommy John surgery while Núñez, Santos, Castro and Doval have never appeared above A- ball in the minor leagues.
Zaidi said the Giants also expect to have right-hander Reyes Moronta ready to compete for a job during spring training after the potential closer missed the entire 2020 season following a 2019 shoulder surgery. Manager Gabe Kapler indicated Moronta was in the mix to secure a bullpen job toward the end of the 60-game season, but the hard-throwing righty had not regained the high-90s fastball velocity he showed prior to his injury.
At times during his Giants tenure, Coonrod demonstrated the potential to pitch at the back end of a major league bullpen but finished the 2020 season with a 9.82 ERA in 18 appearances as he consistently struggled with command issues.
By trading Coonrod, the Giants have opened up a 40-man roster spot that could be used to acquire another starting pitcher or a left-handed hitter with positional flexibility prior to spring training.
R AG S DA L E TO REMAIN A STARTER >> 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 fastball-curveball combination and struck out 37 hitters in 19 innings for the Bulls before his season came to an end.