After win, decision time arrives for Giants’ Zaidi
With trade deadline ticking on Monday, will team buy or sell?
Farhan Zaidi is 2for2 as the Giants’ president of baseball operations: two trade deadlines, two tough calls on which way to go with a team that remains entrenched in a longterm rebuild and should sell, yet sits close enough to a postseason spot and needs to buy.
“I don’t envy what they have to do as far as deciding,” left fielder Alex Dickerson said after he had a big hand in Sunday’s 41 victory against the Diamondbacks, the Giants’ final game before Monday’s 1 p.m. PDT deadline and maybe Johnny Cueto’s 78th and final start in the black and orange.
“I know that we’re confident with the group we have now. That’s all we can really focus on. If we add someone new, if we lose somebody, you still go out and you try to win baseball games and get to the playoffs, and we’re in a position where we could make that happen.”
The Giants arrive at the deadline 1719. While the standings are wonky because of vast difference in how many games some teams have played, they technically sit a halfgame out of the eighth and final National League postseason spot.
The circumstances last year were obviously different. The deadline arrived with two months to go rather than one, but Zaidi is sitting in the same spot.
The Giants were 5453 and 21⁄2 games out of a wildcard position last July when Zaidi dealt almost all of his experienced relievers, holding on to closer Will Smith and starter Madison Bumgarner ostensibly for a wildcard push.
Had the Giants won five of six or lost five or six in the past week, Zaidi might have had more guidance from the boys on the field. Instead, they went 33, ending with a solid allaround win that forged their first road series victory.
Zaidi has factors to consider besides the offers or demands coming from other teams. That includes the schedule.
The Giants are 98 at home and 811 on the road. They play 13 of their final 24 at Oracle Park, including the final seven, and have no games left against the Dodgers. But they also play the everfortifying Padres in seven of their last 16 games, which will not be an easy matchup.
Manager Gabe Kapler said he had not spoken much to Zaidi over the previous 48 hours, which suggests nothing was imminent. But that can change in a heartbeat, and the Giants have delayed Monday’s flight to Denver by a few hours so the staff can talk to any players they deal in a hotel room, and not awkwardly on a plane.
Kapler was asked whether he thought he could win a playoff spot with the group he has. Managers often respond by saying, “We like our team but we could always use an extra hand,” but Kapler did not.
“A lot of things have to line up,” he said, “but I believe in this group.”
Cueto is near the top of that group. With Chadwick Tromp catching him again after a onegame pairing with Joey Bart that went haywire, Cueto carried a twohitter and 10 lead into the seventh, when Eduardo Escobar got him for a tying home run.
Cueto is healthy and strong, and he would not be a rental for an acquiring team. In normal years that would make him highly desirable. But his $22 million salary for next year could be a substantial impediment amid pandemic belttightening.
“I love it here, but if they want to trade me that’s their decision,” Cueto said through interpreter Erwin Higueros.
A week ago, Zaidi sounded like a potential buyer, saying he might want to add lefthanded bat and a righthanded reliever. But he made those comments on KNBR before Dickerson started to improve and Sam Coonrod retook the mound after an injury with a 101 mph fastball. Both figured in Sunday’s win.
Dickerson homered off Taylor Clarke in the first inning, then hit the tiebreaking single off closer Archie Bradley in the eighth. Evan Longoria singled against the shift to drive in two more.
After Tyler Rogers pitched a perfect eighth, Kapler gave Coonrod a shot at his first majorleague save. He converted it by getting groundballs from the Diamondbacks’ 345 hitters — just one more piece of information to feed into Zaidi’s deliberations.
Dickerson said the clubhouse has not been abuzz with trade talk as it usually is.
“The leadup here hasn’t been enough time to talk about it like past years,” he said. “It’s just on top of us. We’ll see how it goes.”
“I love it here, but if they want to trade me that’s their decision.”
Johnny Cueto, Giants pitcher