San Francisco Giants Receive Harsh Grade for Jorge Soler Trade

An ESPN analyst gave the San Francisco Giants a harsh grade for their trade with the Atlanta Braves centered around Jorge Soler.

Jul 26, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants designated hitter Jorge Soler (2) jogs the bases after hitting a solo home run during the first inning against the Colorado Rockies at Oracle Park. / Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

Hours before the MLB trade deadline, the San Francisco Giants let their stance be known. They were going for it over the final two months of the season and would not be having a firesale.

That meant ace starting pitcher Blake Snell would not be going anywhere. Same for outfielders Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski. The Giants want to see what this group can do when healthy.

But, they did make some moves ahead of the deadline, parting ways with two veterans. Starting pitcher Alex Cobb was traded to the Cleveland Guardians as San Francisco wants to give more starts to rookie Hayden Birdsong.

Outfielder/designated hitter Jorge Soler was traded to the Atlanta Braves, where he helped win the World Series in 2021 as the MVP. Heading to the Braves along with him is right-handed pitcher Luke Jackson. 

Jackson, like Soler, has also previously played for Atlanta. He spent five years with the franchise before missing 2022 with an injury and spending two seasons with the Giants. Coming back to San Francisco are left-handed pitcher Tyler Matzek and infield prospect Sabin Ceballos.

From the look of this deal, the motivation for the Giants in this deal was moving off of Soler’s contract. The money saved is partially what motivated the team to not become major sellers and move someone such as Snell.

But, the money saved is about the only positive thing about this trade for San Francisco in the opinion of Bradford Doolittle and Davis Schoenfield of ESPN. They have been handing out grades for all of the moves at this year’s deadline.

From the Giants’ perspective, Doolittle was not a fan. He gave the team a C- for this deal.

“Matzek, as great as his story is and as good as he was during that Braves run, is not the same pitcher since he went down with a major arm injury. His velocity has been well under what it was in 2021, and his stat line is hard to look at. He missed all of last season, and perhaps the Giants are hoping he'll tick up as he regains arm speed (if he regains arm speed).

Ceballos was not a ranked prospect by Kiley McDaniel before the season. He is a 21-year-old corner infielder who has spent more time as a first baseman and DH than you'd like to see in a prospect of that age. That's especially true given his .356 slugging percentage as a minor leaguer,” wrote Doolittle.

C- is one of the lowest grades that Doolittle and Schoenfield handed out thus far. It certainly isn’t the most exciting return package for the Giants, but it was nice to see them not waffle and pick a route.

They want to see things through with some of the offseason additions they made. Younger guys will also get a shot at regularly contributing with Soler, Cobb and Jackson on the move.