Ignore the streak — Giants need to be trade deadline sellers

Halfway through the season, the Giants are a playoff team.

Yes, at 14-16 in this 60-game season, the Giants entered Monday morning with a wildcard spot in the National League. I didn’t see that coming.

I doubt the Giants saw it coming either. They’re in this position because of a six-game winning streak that came after dropping the five preceding games. And Major

League Baseball set up a low bar for success in this strange season, and the Giants — however flawed — seem capable of putting enough good days together to get over that bar.

While yes, success is fun, and yes, it deserves to be celebrated by fans who haven’t seen a winning team since 2016, the Giants’ surprising short-term, shortseason successes shouldn’t distract president of baseball operations

Farhan Zaidi from the team’s big-picture goals.

The MLB trade deadline is one week away and while there will no doubt be peculiarities around this deadline — as if there would be anything but peculiarities in 2020 — the Giants

cannot transition from being sellers to buyers.

Yes, winning is important, and it, in theory, begets more winning, but this team is too flawed to win anything of serious worth this year or likely next.

But you know what really begets winning? Talent.

The Giants are on the right path with their half-decade rebuild. But remember that timeframe. San Francisco is in year two, and while this year’s

“success” is fun, it’s really just a diversion, and it’s being authored by plenty of players that have no long-term future with the team.

The Giants held off from several possible trades at last year’s deadline — despite it being evident that the team wasn’t going to do anything worthwhile. So all San Francisco received for Madison Bumgarner and Will Smith leaving as free agents this past offseason were two compensatory draft picks.

But everything about 2020

Giants season should be about 2022 and 2023 — years where the Giants and the young players they have coming through the system should be actually competing in earnest. And Zaidi has another chance to turn some of the short-term talent on their current roster into long-term options for this team.

What should the Giants do with starter Kevin Gausman, who has been strong and is on a one-year contract? Unless the Giants have a plan to sign him to a long-term deal in the next couple of days, he needs to go at the deadline.

Trevor Cahill and Drew Smyly, who are also on one-year contracts? Ship ‘em out.

Now-closer Tony Watson, whose contract expires at the end of the year as well? Adios.

Does anyone want Pablo Sandoval or Darin Ruf? They’re free agents at the end of the year, which means they can end this season wearing another jersey. And if another team wants to take on Johnny Cueto’s $22 million for 2021 and give up some top prospects for the privilege to do so, the Giants need to pack his bags and drop him off at the airport.

All of these deals, of course, would need to be worthwhile for Zaidi, but that bar shouldn’t be all that high — not as high as it was last year, though. This is, after all, a year for low bars.