San Francisco Giants Trade Deadline Questioned By Rival Execs

The San Francisco Giants trade deadline was put into question by rival MLB executives.

Jul 28, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants designated hitter Jorge Soler (2) hits an RBI triple against the Colorado Rockies during the second inning at Oracle Park. / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants did make a ton of moves at the MLB trade deadline which was questioned on it's own, but the move they did make might have been even more confusing to some.

In recapping the deadline moves, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com spoke to executives around the league to see what they thought of the action.

The Giants were one of the teams that came up a couple of times, but for different reasons.

“I get the teams that made moves and why they made them, but I was more interested in the teams that didn’t do much,” said one AL executive. “If you’re the [Detroit] Tigers or [San Francisco], you can squint and see a path to contention over the next couple years because they have good resources and some good young players."

Now it's not the most shining review of the future of the team, it is at least somewhat of a positive one.

While they won't be catching up to the Los Angeles Dodgers for the top spot in the NL West, San Francisco could potentially battle for a Wild Card berth. They got back to a .500 record are just 3.5 games back from the Arizona Diamondbacks, whom they have two more series against this season.

That could be reason enough for the front office to believe that they are in the right for keeping players that are likely leaving after the year such as Blake Snell and Matt Chapman.

Players like Jung Hoo Lee, Heliot Ramos, Patrick Bailey, Logan Webb and Kyle Harrison could be the young talent that the executive could be talking about for the future.

There was a key player moved, though, and one that was under contract for a couple of years. That trade was put under some criticism by another exec.

“I didn’t quite get the Giants moving [Jorge] Soler and then not moving any of their other guys,” said an NL executive. “He’s been a good player for them, and if they were going to keep the rest of that roster intact, why not keep him on it, as well?”

San Francisco moved Soler along with right-handed pitcher Luke Jackson to the Atlanta Braves in exchange for Tyler Matzek and Sabin Ceballos.

The slugger hasn't exactly gotten off to a hot start with his new squad. He has a .118/.250/.118 slashing line with the Braves. That's a far cry from the .905 OPS he had during his last 25 games with the Giants. Still, it was a shocking move given how hot of a bat he had.

San Francisco did get back a veteran pitcher in the move, Matzek, but he has a 9.90 ERA over his 11 games this year. Ceballos has done a nice job in the minors so far, a .313/.450/.813 line in the Giant system, but he won't be to the majors anytime soon. Neither will have an immediate impact on the playoff race.

It was a confusing deadline and one that Farhan Zaidi will likely have to defend after the season is over as many have begun to speculate about his job safety.