LOS ANGELES — Appearing on KNBR, the team's fundamental radio station, earlier this month, Farhan Zaidi, the Giants' normally upbeat top baseball decision-maker, struck a threatening tone. If his club continues to trend on this direction, “we'll have to think about selling and looking at younger players,” he said.
The Giants were 4 games under .500 on the time and three games out of the playoff spots. Since losing 4 of their first five games after the All-Star break, they’ve fallen to 6 games under water and five games out of the National League's final wild card, their season low. That puts them behind six other teams.
Robbie Ray will take the mound for the primary time in a Giants uniform on Wednesday at Dodger Stadium, with Alex Cobb hot on his heels. This needs to be the turning point of the season, the long-awaited arrival of rotation reinforcements that might provide latest momentum heading into the postseason within the second half of play.
When Ray walked into the visitors' clubhouse on Monday afternoon, he was greeted by a team playing its worst baseball of the season and whose playoff hopes were in free fall. According to FanGraphs, the Giants' possibilities of making the playoffs have dropped to 13.8%, down from 26% before the All-Star break.
“You just know where we are (in the standings),” manager Bob Melvin said Tuesday after his club's 5-2 loss in Los Angeles, where they did not rating greater than three runs for the seventh straight game. “Some other teams are separating us a little bit. We're falling further behind. We've talked about the cavalry coming, but we have to do it now. We have to stay on top today and come out and win a game tomorrow, because the deeper we dig ourselves into our own hole, the harder it will be for us.”
The Giants haven’t won for the reason that second-to-last day of May. Since getting inside one game of .500 on July 5, they’re 4-9, their lowest point since May 14, once they were also six games under .500.
Aside from red-hot rookie Tyler Fitzgerald, who hit his fifth straight home run on Tuesday, the remaining of the Giants' roster has a .149 batting average for the reason that All-Star break. The team hasn't scored greater than 4 runs since July 12 and is averaging a paltry 3.47 runs per game for the reason that start of July.
“We just have to start scoring some runs,” Melvin said. “We've changed a few things (in the lineup). We're five games in. We've done a good job with the lineup as it is. It hasn't looked like that since the beginning of the second half. Tyler is really the only one who's been swinging the bat really well.”
If all Melvin can do is move the deck chairs, perhaps it's time to take into consideration Zaidi's comments.
The Giants have a handful of players who will surely draw interest from other teams, but nearly every considered one of them has a number of drawbacks that might reduce their potential return. The most notable of all is Blake Snell, whose last 4 appearances needs to be enough to indicate opposing scouts that he's back to second-half form.
However, Snell does have a $32 million player option for 2025, the identical circumstances that scared teams away from Carlos Rodón two summers ago. Should his performance decline or he suffer a catastrophic injury, the choice to pick him could be a simple one, and any team that signs him would should cover his salary.
Snell not less than has some footage to indicate contenders he could help them of their push to the postseason. While Ray and Cobb haven’t any shortage of experience, neither could have much, if any, time to showcase before Tuesday's deadline. Concerns about how much each veterans can contribute after surgeries and extensive rehab will likely limit the prospects either can command.
The Giants could make similar moves by trading Austin Slater and calling up Nick Ahmed. Without Ahmed (who was acquired from the Dodgers on Wednesday and added to their lineup), the Giants gave Fitzgerald and Brett Wisely more playing time and were rewarded for it.
But without Slater, Melvin continues to be struggling to search out opportunities for Luis Matos, culminating Wednesday with the 22-year-old outfielder being sent back to Triple-A Sacramento so he can play day by day. If they need those call-ups at the most important league level, they’d presumably should trade Michael Conforto, who will probably be a free agent at the top of the season, or Mike Yastrzemski, who may go unsigned if the club decides he's not value a $7.9 million raise.
Given their ongoing struggles at bat, it’s unclear how much the 2 veterans would fetch on the transfer market.
If the Giants are eager to trade and acquire assets, they’d likely should trade away someone like Matt Chapman, Camilo Doval or, oh horror, Logan Webb. The latter just isn’t an option the front office is considering—why would they, when their very own star is under contract at a below-market rate through 2028?—and while the others boast All-Star credentials, they too have their weaknesses.
Any contender seeking to sign Doval likely already has their very own closer, and Doval hasn't proven he can achieve non-save situations. Chapman was the most useful third baseman in the most important leagues, in line with Baseball-Reference, but like Snell, he has an advanced contract with quite a few player options.
With his job security more uncertain than at every other point in his tenure, Zaidi has done all the pieces he can to make the Giants a contender this season, but because the transfer deadline approaches they find themselves in the same position to the last three seasons. The group of players currently assembled offers little reason to take a position further within the squad and there are few clear assets to sell should they move in the opposite direction.
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