Orange Friday

Giants Are One of Few Active Teams at the Deadline

After what turned out to be one of the most stressful, roller-coaster ride of a week for Giants fans, all of their questions were answered at the deadline. “Will the Giants be sellers?”. Yes. “Will the Giants be buyers?”. Yes. “Will we still be Wild Card contenders?”. Yes. “Will we boost the future?”. Yes. Somehow, Farhan Zaidi managed to make all Giants fans happy, no matter their heavily differing desires. The Giants made a multitude of moves as the trade deadline crept up on Wednesday. None of the transactions were the biggest moves of the day, or the ones that will get the most attention from the media, but Zaidi did not have to make any compromises, as he was able to keep the current roster in a spot where they can still make a playoff push, as well as adding prospects to bolster Giants rosters to come. To sum it up, it was a good deadline for the G-men.

Kicking off the trades made by the Giants was arguably the best one of the day, as Farhan was able to unload Drew Pomeranz, the worst Giants starter this year, and Ray Black, a fireballing reliever that never panned out in the bigs, for the Brewers 3rd overall prospect, Mauricio Dubon. Dubon, a 25 year old middle infield prospect from Honduras, has been called up to the MLB once before after tearing up AAA pitching. However, he will stay down in AAA for the Giants for a bit until they feel comfortable with calling him up, which should be sooner rather than later. Middle infield has been possibly the biggest weakness for the Giants this year, as Brandon Crawford and Joe Panik have been struggling mightily at the plate, so this is a tremendous get for the Orange and Black. Drew Pomeranz was starting to find his groove as a bullpen arm, and Ray Black can absolutely light up the radar gun, but the Giants just couldn’t keep waiting for them to establish themselves, and were more than happy to flip them for such a polarizing prospect.

The second move was a rather unexpected one, as the Giants were able to get a team to take Mark Melancon, a former elite closer who was not able to meet the Giants expectations as a blockbuster free agent signing. Zaidi sent Melancon to the Braves for a package including Tristan Beck and Dan Winkler. I’m not going to touch on Dan Winkler, as he was designated for assignment within a couple of days. This trade was a move of wizardry from Farhan Zaidi. He was able to move Melancon, an average reliever with a hefty contract in exchange for a pitching prospect with a high ceiling. Tristan Beck, a RHP out of Stanford, and a former 4th round pick has gone through his share of struggles and injuries in the Minors, but was a first round talent coming out of high school, and had a successful career at Stanford. He immediately slides into the Giants top 30 prospect rankings by MLB Pipeline, coming in at number 18. Now, even if the deal stopped here, it would still be considered a good move, as many Giants fans wanted Melancon to get the boot anyways, and Beck could be a future rotation member. Shortly after the new of the trade broke, Giants fans learned that the Braves would be taken on the entirety of Melancon’s salary. I don’t know how he did I it, but Zaidi was able to flip an overpaid, 34 year old reliever for a starting pitcher prospect with potential, while also not taking on any of the salary of the player they gave up. I know, it sounds impossible, but I guess this is just what Zaidi does.

The next trade sent reliever Sam Dyson to Minnesota for a 3 prospect package including Prelander Berroa, Jaylin Davis, and Kai-Wei Teng. Now, Dyson was amazing for the Giants this season, and others, including me, will be sad to see him go, but the Giants felt that they had enough trust in the depths of the bullpen to trade him. The three prospects they received are also very intriguing, the budget two being Jaylin Davis and Kai-Wei Teng. Davis is a power hitting outfielder, that like Mauricio Dubon, could be seen in the Majors later this year. Power is the most sought after skill by most teams in the league now, and the Giants hit less home runs than almost everyone every year, so young, powerful prospects are more than welcomed. After hitting 14 home runs in 38 AAA games for the twins, Davis will start with the Giants in AAA Sacramento. Teng and Berroa are both very young pitchers, who are in A ball and Rookie League respectively. Teng has the better numbers on the year, with a 4-0 record, a 1.60 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP, but Fangraphs ranks Berroa 1 spot over Teng on the prospect rankings at 19. Berroa sports a 2-1 record, with a 4.55 ERA, but can hit 98 and has great strikeout numbers. It’s too hard to tell whether this move was a win or a loss for the Giants, but all the players have potential and Teng and Davis have had ridiculous numbers this year.

After selling off players in the first three trades, Zaidi decided it was time to buy a player, literally. The Giants went out and got Scooter Gennett from the Reds, sending cash considerations to Cincinnati. Gennett, a power hitting second baseman, has had a very down year this year due to injury, and will be a free agent and the end of the season, but was absolutely brilliant the last two years. Gennett hit .310 last year, alongside 23 home runs and an all star appearance. He has only played in 20 games this year, and it has not been pretty, but he has been heating up, hitting .307 over his past 7 games. This is a low risk, high reward move, and if the Giants can get anything close to his production from last year, he will start at second base, and this will be seen as an amazing trade.

Written By Jack Smith

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What Should the Giants Do at the Deadline?

July 19th- July 26th

In almost the blink of an eye, the Giants are 15 and 3 in the month of July and have thrust themselves into a ridiculous National League Wild Card race. They have moved from last place to tied for second place in the division in exactly a week. Obviously, this has caused Giants fans to come out of hiding, and are over the moon about this team. The atmosphere at Oracle Park for this past series against the Mets was noticeably more electric and full then the rest of the season. Oh yeah, and they also walked off the Mets 3 times in the series, so that probably helped. But the craziest thing about this entire run is that the team that was regarded by all to be the leading sellers at the Trade Deadline has now pulled their players out of trade talks for the time being. Yes, you heard that right. Farhan Zaidi has taken a step back when it comes to fielding inquiries for Madison Bumgarner, Will Smith, Sam Dyson… etc. There are multiple theories about what this means and why Zaidi did this, and I’m going to cover a couple of them in this article, and give my opinion for what the Giants should do.

The least confusing reason for Zaidi’s actions is that he believes that this team actually has a shot at making the playoffs, and he doesn’t want to trade any key pieces that could help them get there or help them make a late October run. I believe this is most likely what Zaidi is thinking. He probably feels the weight of Bochy’s last season, the fan’s love for the trade chips, and the fact that this is only his first season with the Giants on his shoulders and wants to see where this run could go. This is completely understandable too, as some fans would definitely be upset if Zaidi traded away the stars and brought this playoff push to a halt in his first season as General Manager.

One train of thought is that Zaidi is taking these players off the market for the time being because it will make potential suitors more desperate to acquire targets, and in turn, they will offer up better prospects and trade packages to the Giants. This is definitely a possibility, because it is obvious Zaidi is a very smart man, and a tremendous General Manager. However, it seems to me that the Giants have a shot at the playoffs, and until they prove they are not playoff caliber, I don’t think Farhan will go into full-sell mode, unless the offers are too good to refuse

The final fan opinion is that Zaidi still has absolutely no clue what he is going to do at the deadline, and he is just taking his trade chips off the market to give himself some time to reflect and think about the future. Part of me believes that Zaidi really doesn’t know what to do yet, but deep down I don’t think he can forget about the horrendous start the Giants had to this season, and I believe he knows he can and needs to help the farm system with some trades. Whatever Zaidi is he is feeling, he has to make a decision soon as July 31st is rapidly approaching, and soon some trades will be made, forcing his hand.

No matter what Zaidi decides to do going forward, I personally hope that Giants fans can continue to be happy, whether that means accepting the trades that are made and reflecting on this amazing stretch of games or enjoying a playoff push, and maybe even another World Series. Man, that would be something.

What do you think the Giant’s trade deadline strategy will be? Are they sellers, buyers, or do the stand pat? Let me know in the comment section below, and when you’re down there, be sure to subscribe to Orange Friday so you get notified every time a new article is posted.

Written by Jack Smith

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Tough Decision Looming for Zaidi

July 12th-July 19th. What will the Giants do at the deadline.

On June 9th, the Giants had seemed to hit the lowest point of the season. They had just lost their second straight game to the Dodgers, despite a 7-inning, one run gem from Madison Bumgarner. Bumgarner made one mistake pitch and Max Muncy made him pay, hitting a no-doubter into McCovey Cove. The Giants couldn’t muster one run, and Bumgarner ended up with a loss in his best start of the season. This type of game has been the epitomty of Giants baseball since 2016. The Giants offense has regularly been among the worst in the league, and they never seem to be able to back a great pitching performance with any runs. Oracle Park was empty, the boo-birds were out, the Giants were 26-38 and fans were calling for all of their favorite players to be traded. I’m sure if you told Giants fans that in a little over a month they would be one game under .500, 3rd place in the NL West and 2.5 games back of the Wild Card, they would have laughed at you for a good 5 minutes and went on their way.

Well, it’s a little over a month since that game and out of nowhere, the Giants are the hottest team in the league, and are giving fans reasons to be happy, with stellar pitching and the hottest offense in the league. This last week, the Giants have gone 7-1, rattling off 6 straight wins.

They opened up the second half in Milwaukee, starting what might’ve been the most important road trip in recent memory. If the Giants could keep up their winning ways on this trip, they might have a chance at the Wild Card and they would make the Trade Deadline very interesting. The G-men proceeded to take 2 out of 3 from the Brew Crew and their loss probably should have been a win. They certainly didn’t make it easy, as it took a Buster Posey 10th inning Grand-Slam to win game 1 after Will Smith’s first blown save of the year. They still won 10-7, scoring all of their runs on 5 home runs, which at the time was a reflection of the new and improved, red hot offense. The bullpen collapsed in game 2, giving up 4 runs in the last 2 innings including a walk-off double to Ben Gamel. However, the team bounced back to win the rubber match 8-3, behind a solid pitching and hitting performance from Tyler Beede who had a career-high 7 strikeouts over 6.2 innings, only surrendering 3 runs.

The Orange and Black had to hop on a plane and head to Colorado for a four game series, and ended up with a sweep, winning more games in Coors Field in one series than they had the last 3 years. The first day was a double-header, and the Giants burst out of the gate, putting up a season high 19 runs in game 1, accompanied with a gem from Jeff Samardzija, who has been on a roll. In Game 2, Dereck Rodriguez pitched very well in his first start in a while, and the Giants won 2-1. Brandon Crawford had the best day of his career, going 6-9 with 3 homers and 9 RBI’s, with 8 of them coming in game 1. Game 3 was very similar to Game 1 in Milwaukee, as Will Smith blew another save, but the Giants offense exploded for 4 runs in the 10th again. The Giants completed the sweep in game 4, showing more resiliency, coming back from multiple deficits and winning 11-8. This is easily the best series I have ever seen from the Giants, as they had 59 hits, out scoring the Rockies 50-15.

The Giants came home for a series with the Mets and won an exhilarating game 3-2 in the 16th inning. In what might be his last start as a Giant, Madison Bumgarner threw 94 pitches over 9 innings, only giving up 1 run. This was an absolutely inspiring performance and it heavily reminded Giants Fans of the 2016 Wild Card game. Noah Syndergaard held the obviously tiered offense to only 1 run as well, and the next run wasn’t scored until the 16th. Both bullpens were fantastic, getting out of jams left and right, until Pete Alonso hit a home run in the top of the 16th off of newcomer Williams Jerez. But, again, the Giants refused to give up, scoring two runs with 5 base runners, including an RBI double from Crawford and a walk off single from Donovan Solano. It was truly a great game, and one the old giants would never have won.

Player of the Week:

I struggled with this one for a while, and any other week Mike Yastrzemski or Donovan Solano would have won this award easily, but in the end, Brandon Crawford’s performance was too hard to deny. The incredible performance on the day of the Double-Header, great defense all week, and the game tying 11 pitch at bat that resulted in a double last night secured the Player of the Week honors this week. HM: Mike Yastrzemski, Donovan Solano, Kevin Pillar(incredible defense in CF that arguably won games for the Giants in Colorado)

Pitcher of the Week:

No question, Madison Bumgarner deserves to be named Pitcher of the Week. Over 2 starts, he threw 16 scoreless innings, and the start last night is one of the best of his career, and if it really was his last start as a Giant, it was the perfect send off. HM: Jeff Samardzija, Dereck Rodriguez

The Giants have the rest of this series against the Mets, and then they get the Cubs, but the main story of the next week will be what the Giants do regarding trades. They were widely regarded to be sellers at the deadline, but this string of recent success has put them right in the middle of the NL playoff race. The Giants will be the talk of the deadline, and whether they decide to trade away their studs or stand pat and try and make playoffs, I will be there right alongside them. Farhan Zaidi really has a difficult decision to make, but in the end, it is very hard to deny the fire and fight of this Giants team.

Written by Jack Smith

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